Monday, June 30, 2008

2008

Tomorrow I won't be blogging (go gimmick!) but I wanted to mention the fact that tomorrow is the exact center of the year. Whether you say the year is half empty or half full is, of course, dependent upon your view of things.

Yesterday was the first trip to the library for the LAtZ gimmick, and I have a few thoughts on the matter. But first, here's what I wound up with:

Movie - American Dreamz

CD[s] - In Stitches by The Actual
AND!
We Can Breathe Under Alcohol by An Angle

Book[s] - I'm a Believer by Jessica Adams
AND!
Flight by Sherman Alexie

Note: Reviews of these will be done next week, and that's when I'll list the items I picked up for the Bs.
Thoughts: I couldn't decide on the CDs and Books, so I wound up getting two of each. Who knows if I'll be able to finish either book in a week's time (especially since I accidentally left I'm a Believer at work. Lotta good it does me there!). I also don't plan on making it a habit of getting more than one piece of work, but, obviously, I'm not opposed to it, if it happens.

Also, I am going to attempt to get things I've not heard/seen/read before, BUT, if next week, I happen to pick up a Beatles album, for example, that won't be so terrible. Heck, this week, the very first CD I looked at was a double-disc of ABBA. Now, I've heard of ABBA, and even enjoy some of their songs, but I didn't pick that up because
1) trying to go with new-to-me artists
2) who needs that much ABBA?

I think also that the music selection will wind up being the most varied in quality. Because with movies and books, you at least have a blurb (usually) telling you what it's about, and you get some sort of idea what to expect. With the CDs, though, we're really going to have to judge them by their covers. And perhaps song titles, if they're listed.

Regarding voting/suggestions from the peanut gallery - I nixed the idea of writing down some of the "B" albums and movies while at the library, because, dude. That's a lot of work. Instead, please note that the library's catalog is online, here, so if you *really* want to recommend something to me, pop over to that site and see if my library even carries it. (Psst, hey Will - they *do* have Zardoz! I'll have to cross my fingers at the end of the year that it's in stock.)
Additionally, the branch we most commonly pick things up from is Green Valley. That, or Whitney.

Also of interest - I mentioned this in my comments earlier, but it bears repeating: Steph is also taking part in this little experiment. Although, as I said, she's going in reverse. She'll also be blogging her experiences, and undoubtedly, also taking suggestions. Just so's ya know.

I'm oddly very excited about this whole endeavor. I seriously don't know about finishing a book (or more!) each week for the remainder of the year (I'm so picky when it comes to books, and it's difficult for me to stick with books I like) but the movie and CDs ought to prove ...interesting.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Library A to Z

You're here to witness the birth of a new gimmick!! Hooray!

There are 26 weeks left in the year. There are 26 letters in the alphabet.
The plan is to go to the library every week (something we try to do anyway) and each time I go, I will pick up the following:
A book
A CD of a musical artist
A DVD of a movie (or possibly television series)

The first week, each item will be from the "A"s. Meaning the author's last name will start with A. The artist of the CD will start with A, and the title of the movie will begin with A.
The next week, I'll move onto the Bs, then the Cs, and so on.

If I have the time and wherewithal, I'll even write down some of the next week's titles and that way people can help me choose. (of course, it won't guarantee that the book, CD, or DVD will still be there the following week, but that's the risk you take with the library.)

And of course, this will help give me things to blog about throughout the year.

So... any suggestions for the A's for tomorrow's trip to the libe?

Thursday, June 26, 2008

I ain't afraid of no ghost

Lately Steph has been on a ghost kick. In fact, she is currently in the bedroom watching a DVD of Ghost Hunters. I'm not watching it because that show drives me insane.
Not in the good way, either. It's too...manufactured, I guess is the word. Or not detailed enough? I don't know. It just bugs me that with the program there is no way for us to absolutely know that things weren't set up or faked or naturally occurring phenomenon(s) or equipment failure or any number of things. Including, I suppose, actual spirits.

Anyway. The other night when we had our date, Steph & I discussed supernatural events in our lives. I couldn't recall any except for the time when I was homeless and living under a bridge in Miami, Florida. ...and that may have been more drug-related than anything other-worldly.

So the question becomes, I guess, have I not had any experiences because I'm "too closed minded" - as some believers like to use as an excuse for when skeptics don't experience things - or is it because there is nothing to truly experience? Or is it just luck of the draw, and I will be visited by three spirits tonight? (Or, you know, on Xmas Eve) Who knows?

I'm open to the idea of investigating stuff like that. The EVPs are something that I'd like to look (or listen, heh) into more. But those in particular freak Steph out.

Ultimately, as of right now, I don't believe in ghosts. Because I don't believe in an afterlife of any sort.

But! Just because *I* believe (or don't), does not make it true (or false). That's the great thing about stuff like this - nobody knows absolutely whether there is anything beyond.

So, now I open it to the P@riots out there. Any ghost stories you have that you feel like sharing? Do you believe? Do you not? Do you see dead people? Who you gonna call?

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I've undoubtedly asked this before

But I'm asking again:

What do you do for inspiration? I feel like I want to write - or do something - but I simultaneously feel like I don't know what or that any ideas I come up with are ...boring? Not interesting enough? Blah blah blah blah blah?

So, when looking for a muse, where do you turn? I think in the past I've gone with listening to music of bands that I find inspirational.

Actually, you know what, I don't even want inspiration. I just want the ideas given to me. I think what I'm really asking is - what should I write about? What should I do? Why doesn't someone do the work for me? [/whine]

BLAH!!

Let's see. A (moderately) more interesting post:
Tomorrow is Wednesday, and three things of note are going on in town:
1) "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" will be having contestant try-outs, between 7am and 11am, at a casino that is, quite literally just down the street from our house. I would SO be there, except for...
2) at work tomorrow we are having one of the single most important conference calls of the year. (It's that time of year when we lay out the Fall Lineup for both stations) So, really, I pretty much have to be present for that.
and
3) MCCAIIIIIN!!!!
Yeah, John McCain will be in Vegas tomorrow. I suspect he's trying out for the game show, "Who Wants to Be a President?"

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Be Excellent to each other

I got online to blog, and was coming up blank, so I surfed around a bit, trying to find inspiration. I stopped at Annika's blog, and found in her twitter column that she said: "Oh crap. So much for my Bill & Ted sequel."
I instantly pulled up imdb, to see if it was Keanu Reeves or Alex Winter that had passed away. There was nothing on the front page, so I hopped on over to Metafilter, and discovered that it was neither Bill nor Ted, but, instead, Rufus.
George Carlin has passed away at age 71.

Oddly enough, two co-workers of mine just went and saw Carlin perform about a week ago. Hard to believe how quick these types of things happen.

I added both Bill & Ted movies to our Netflix queue just now. (The girls haven't seen either one, and I wouldn't mind revisiting them.)

In honor of his passing, I think all television and radio stations should broadcast the "7 Dirty Words".

Moving on, today we watched a Nova special on Super Volcanoes. As is required by all documentaries on natural disasters, this one ended with the fear mongering factoid about how the Yellowstone Super Volcano is overdue to erupt. 12/21/2012, anyone?
We also went to the library, where we picked up lots of books, and then had ice cream from Dairy Queen, because, good god, it is HOT outside, and if you don't have ice cream you will most certainly perish in this heat.
Tomorrow Stephanie and I are going to drop off the girls at Steph's mom's house, and go out on a romantic date (heh), although we haven't decided what we're going to do, yet. Of the movies that are currently out, Iron Man or Indiana Jones and the Deathly Hallows look to be the most promising (although I'm bummed that neither Hancock nor Dark Knight are out yet).
If we decide to opt out of going to catch a flick, we could ...I don't know? Mini-golf? Just have dinner? Go to the bookstore? What do people do when they have free time, anyway? Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Friday, June 20, 2008

When we can't afford electricity anymore

I will miss the internet, but I will sure as hell NOT miss pop-up ads and viruses. Good god, computers piss me off sometimes.

In other news, it's officially summer now. And as I stated today when walking outside, where the air feels as though it's literally on fire, "It is stupid-hot out here."

Yesterday we went out & bought our digital conversion box. We are now able to see digital television signals, which do look much clearer than analog. Also, that means that come February,when the transition from analog to digital takes place, we'll still be able to actually watch Lost (assuming, of course, that we can afford the power bills at the time). Hooray!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

LOST my voice

Inexplicably, my voice has become that of either
Squeaky Voiced Teen ("I'll have to ask my manager!")
Marge Simpson ("Mmmmm.")
Evil Ed - warning, not particularly suitable for younger viewers
Professor Umbridge
or
a victim of the Gentlemen

over the past two days.

So, since I can't really do any talking, I'll let the internet do my speaking for me.
Here are some youtube videos that show some folks from the TV show LOST using some...shall we say, familiar phrases?

First, Michael:



Then Desmond, my brotha!



And that son of a bitch, Sawyer:



And to anyone who says that LOST is repetitive, I can only reply:

Monday, June 16, 2008

worn out

so we went to steph's mom's house for dinner tonight, and just now (well, about ten minutes ago) got back home.
I'm completely exhausted, but in a good way. It was great to see Chance again - it's too bad that he still doesn't live in town - or better yet, that we don't live in Portland too. And it was also fun to have a DS so we could play multiplayer MarioKart. ("First place monkey!") Even if I did wind up losing. A lot.
And dinner was really yummy, too. Mmm. Cheese and veggie lasagna.

And of course, ther'es the reason that I'm so bloody tired now. The hour and a half that I spent running around tossing and catching (and missing) frisbees and footballs. Dude. Exerting yourself when you are thirty-three years old is, amazingly, a reallyl good way of making sure you get a good night's sleep. I have no doubt that in about three minutes when I hit publish post, and my head hits the pillow... I'll be out.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

.................................

Speak to me in a language I can hear
Humour me before I have to go
Deep in thought I forgive everyone
As the cluttered streets greet me once again
I know I can't be late, supper's waiting on the table
Tomorrow's just an excuse away
So I pull my collar up and face the cold, on my own
The earth laughs beneath my heavy feet
At the blasphemy in my old jangly walk
Steeple guide me to my heart and home
The sun is out and up and down again
I know I'll make it, love can last forever
Graceful swans of never topple to the earth
And you can make it last, forever you
You can make it last, forever you
And for a moment I lose myself
Wrapped up in the pleasures of the world
I've journeyed here and there and back again
But in the same old haunts I still find my friends
Mysteries not ready to reveal
Sympathies I'm ready to return
I'll make the effort, love can last forever
Graceful swans of never topple to the earth
Tomorrow's just an excuse
And you can make it last, forever you
You can make it last, forever you




I was originally going to link the lyrics to various pictures and/or websites that related to the words (ala Ape10) but have decided (obviously!) against taking the time and energy to do that. Go team lazy!

So. 33 years old today. The day has been overall a really good one. First and foremost, we're all alive and not undead (even Angel, whom I did not truly eat). Which is something to be thankful for on a daily basis and that we really do take for granted.

But other things that made today great:
Ghost Busters (both 1 & 2 on DVD were given to me. We watched the first one this afternoon.) That really is a classic movie.
I now own a Nintendo DS! Hooray! This will come in quite handy (ha! pun!) when I'm on the bus - which will probably be much more often what with gas prices and all.
Pop Tarts for breakfast.
The finale of the birthday songs. Which included the lyrics, "Say good bye to young, say hello to old." Ahh, childhood.
Racing on MarioKart.
The Pepsi symbol coaster that Saren made for me. (It's extra large to compensate for the Super Big Gulp cups I use)
The drawings made by Harper - especially the MarioKart one.
Saren's hand-made "Picture holder", for me to hang the drawings on.
Hugs.
Leftover cake birthday cake from yesterday.
Amusing youtube videos (I'll post/link them on another day)
Purchasing (and reading) Buffy Season 8's episode #14. (I think I'm still two issues behind, but we'll get those eventually.)
Washing the van.
Stephanie posted her one millionth post! Yay!!
Being together.

So, yeah. This has been a good birthday.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Z...OMG?

What a fucking day.

Look, I know that I'm not even supposed to be blogging today, but due to extenuating circumstances, I think I can cut myself a break. Besides, I don't even know if there will be a tomorrow.

Jesus, my arm hurts. And my leg is itchinhg so freaking badly. God. I hoep to hell that I am able to 1) finish this entry and 23) ...Actually, I don't know what I want to do beyond finish this entry. I'm typing in a hurry because of everything that is/has gone down, and also because I'm worried about losing power and not having it be able to load. Man, that would just be the icing on top of the shit-cake of this day, wouldn't it/

So, the day started off more or less normally. I mean, it's Friday. The 13th. So, even though I don't buy into any of hte superstition, there alwasy is an element of weirdness to the day, ya know? It's that whole 'perception creates realiity' aspect. Because (someP people expect ...whatever, it kinda puts it into the air.? If that makes any sense. It makded saense to me. At least when I first had the thought.

Anyway. Day started normally. Went to work, and had many people wihs me an early happy birthday - heh. Yeah. I'm turning 33 tomorrow (assuming i make it) so this is the last day I'll ever be 32. But I gotta say, I don't really like the birthday present the world has given me sof ar.

Point? Man. I know I was never a coheerent story-teller, but I just can. not focus on my thouhts today. Mayperhaps I'm in a state of semi-shock? That would makes ense. The other possibilty ...is one I don't really want to think too mcuh about. I mearn. >.you konw. Yet. (So itchy!)

So, before everything went fubar, the day was turning into a good one. Lots of birhtday waishes, and everyone was offering to take me out to lunch. Tommmie won out, because he'd promised me earlier in the week, so, there ya go. Yay for free food, is waht I walways say. And, god. I could really go for a burger right about now. Or some chicken. Meat. I wonder whatsi n the firdge..

I'll check in a mintue.

Around 1130, Tommiea nd I and art all went ot go to lunch. I chose Applebees because I was wanting to eat good in the neighborhood. (Heh.) But when we gto there, we could tell soomthing was ...wrong. First, there were about a billigon people outside the restaurant. And there were police cars all ofer the place. We pulled into the aprkeing lont, and tried to make aour way to the front rof the restaruaran, but the croewd satarted turning back because the cops were shotint the place down. We found out via the crownd, and I think one of the cops that there had been an some osrtof attack inside the building. some homelyess guy or somthing had gone inside and started just ...biting people? Pretty freaky. At that point, i started ot get a starange feeling of deja vu that i've ahd all day long and can't quite shake...

soanyway we decided that since we ouldnt eat at that place, we would head toward the mall to dine there.

tunrs out, that applesbess ewasn't the only place in town where biting folks was going on.

we never did get to the maml, because the roadas there were blocakeded from different police blockaeds at various points in the city. the traffic was alvet afda.a..adf

ontheweay therere, though, we saw this, like, dog...that.. id ont'wknow it was...some kinda of mutant sor osthineg, because it looked like ti had it's fucktng entrails ahing out of its guts and waltking down the road, groeawling at paeople and bareking angd tryienr to atteak everytone. it was reaelly fuckinte groos, actually. and kindat esad at teh same itme.

bytehos potine, though, i wase toatally satraving, and all hte pelaces thate we were tryint toe get to kept being either shuteonw or had people at thems creaming or fightine eachother or ...it was asa theouh the whole city had stareted ot go insane.
atommeis' cellep heone reant though, and he got some text messagese that prettyenuch told us the teisuation that wtas goitn on. and...it souneds even crazya now to say it, but it's not a hoax.n to after everythihnt that i've seen toeay.
it's zomebine.s fucknt zombies.
the people who haee deied are reaninmiating and tey ocme back hungyr for the flesh of the living.
apparently, teoo, its neot just hujans. any mammal thaet getsa bitten sor scratched 9liek ie did - gur i'tll gets to that point in a bintute) apparentely dies anda then reaninmenateds into eone of the horde of living dead. jesus. just like the movies.
bridas and lzareads and insecst and fisah, are, acroding to hte news repotss, immune somehow. itsa just a mamala hting. so, yay for that? Did ya hear that, dinosarus? You get to have ryour workd back!

so we were drivtinta round all stareting to get freaking out, and also, you know, hungry, and the traffic was getting worse everywhere we were going - peoplke honiking at us and cutting everyone off, and there was a cop car blockade at Flamingo and Rainboaw where the cops that were standing tou tehre had shotguns, and they totally blew this guy's head off. This montster's head, is houslt dasy, because he was not a ugy at that point. And then at atht other point, he wasn't antyhign.

i treid to call home, but when i called, the line was buys, which made me really panicky. it old tomore that iwantedt o go back to athe staiton and take my van home, and artesais the same thing - only,k ouknow, he wanted to go to hishome, nost mine. ha ah .

god. acan i finshe hits? Itam aos hungry.. aica...i . i ate angel.j sut now. he was lyint at my feetand i pikced him up,and bit him on his bely, he scratchedd me , of course, tand tryed to run awya from me, but I held him harder, and took a few more bites out of his guts, which sounds really disgusting, but he soon stopped squirming, and now that i've had some MEAT in my mouth, I'm feeling much better, and able to think a little clearer.
I am sorry that I ate the cat, though. He probably didn't deserve that. (But mostly, if we're being honest, I'm upset that there wasn't more of him to last. He was big, but it turned out that a lot of it truly was fur. And now that I don't have him around anymore, what am I going to eat when I get hungry again? Eh. I'll figure it out. Lickorish is, I presume, somewhere around here.)

So anyway. We got back to the station, and by that time, it's all over CNN and the local news stations are covering it (and again I thought to myself, "This seems really familiar..."). And the people who haven't already left the station are there trying to stay calm and collected. The three of us were grilled on what we saw on our excursion, and we learned what everyone else had seen from the news.
Basically - what I already said.
Undead mammals, worldwide, the 'disease' seems to pass via bites and scratches, and takes about 45 minutes to an hour to 'convert' someone that has been infected. The only way to keep them down is to destroy the nervous system (meaning, of course, the brain.It's always the brain.)

The government(s) are telling people to stay inside unless absolutely necessary, and martial law had been declared in several areas.

CCloser to home, it turned out that Martha and Billy left as soon as what was happening was made clear (I assumed they probably went to get drunk). Kim, Regina, and Sherry all left for their families as well. Tom (new guy Tom, not my boss Tommie) was ordering people to stay calm, to get make-shift weapons so that the doors could be guarded against intruding zombies, and was stockpiling the food from the snack machines and fridges.

I tried calling home several more times, but still got the busy signal each time. I checked my email and found an email from Steph that simply read, "Please come home when you can." I emailed her back saying, "I keep calling, but get a busy signal. If you get this, call me on my cell. I'm on my way home now, but the roads are bad. I'll see you when I get there. ily, P@"

I surreptitiously made my way through the station -avoiding Tom and his newfound dictatorship - and said my goodbyes to everyone.I then mdae my way to the van, and began to make the drive home.

The trip through what has quickly become an anarchy-filled war-zone was surprisingly uneventful. I only made it to Desert Inn and the strip before I simply could not go any further due to the ammount of traffic and crowds and police. The number of zombies I saw while in the car numbered in the 30s...

I got out of the air-conditioned van, and the heat was instantly near-unbearable.
I began walking toward home, sticking to the middle of the crowd, not saying anything, but taking in what others were saying:
"Governemtn's fault."
"End times"
"Friday the 13th."
"Saw one take out three buddies of mine."
"Oh My god. Oh My god. Oh My god."

A good precetenage of us, like me, were just silent.
Every once in a while, a zombie would approach our herd, and people would take off running. Not a lot of camaraderie there. It was much more 'every man for himslf'. Fortunately, the zombies are really slow. They're easy to outrun, even in 100 degree weather, and by me, a guy who enver runs. Plus, they're pretty stupid. I think they dn't have very good senses, either - dude. they're dead! - because one time I simply hid behind a telephone pole nad one that was really close to me (it was around 4:30 at that point...I'd been walking for over two hours, and I was exhasusted) just got confused and walked away.

During the walk, sometimes poeople had animals with them. Dogs from their cars,mostly. The canines were good companions. They were like detectors of approaching zombies, by barking furiously whenver one of the ghouls got nearby.
Once i got off the main roads, into our neighborhood, I was alone in my walk. Whenever I saw a copule of zombies appraoching from the other direction, i'd give them wide neough berth that I culd easily avoid them and outrun them if needed.
...i'mg getingg hungry again.
So, I got home around 6, and the door was open. the fphone was off the hook (not in *that* way) and the place was a shambles.
Steph was sitting ont thcouch. I ran to her and aske dher, "What happenede/ Are you okay/ whereware teh girls/?"

She said, "shouldtn've gone to wal-mart', and she sounded ..not all good.
my stoucamch dropped when i started to realzied waht had hapened. "Where are the girsl?" I aseked again.
She pointed back toward the bedrooms, and i saw the doors were closed, and i could here soem thumping noises. "Are they//?"
Steph nodded, withe tearsi nher eyes.
Beginingn to cry, i said, 'ANre are you??'
she noedded again.
I held out my armas and said, "bite me, too."

She stood up and bit my arm, hdard.

"ilveyou." i told her.
;Iand ilove youl." she told me.
She headed back to be withe the rils.
"Illbe right there,; I tld her. "I jst want to blog first."

Thursday, June 12, 2008

One of the many ways in which Harper is amazing is that each night this week she has made up an entirely new Birthday Song for me.
She's also been giving me "early presents" periodically this week. Like the remote control to the DVD Player. Wrapped in tin foil.

This morning when I went to leave for work, I found a note from Harper on the door telling me that she loved me.

Today Harper requested that when we watch Terminator 2 (still have yet to do that - I've been holding off on watching it until we can acquire Terminator 1 first) that I could pause it before the scary parts happen to let her know what's going to take place. I promised her I would.

Harper's 8th birthday is on July 2nd. I requested that day off of work today so I can spend the whole day with her. The plan is to go out as a family to go see Wall-E, which Harper really wants to see ("I can't wait for it to come out! Let's go see it now!") and then for us all to go swimming at the pool down the road.

Yay, for Harper!!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Yes, we have no tomatoes

Sorry, Steph. Someone had to use that title.

But, don't worry, I'm not really writing about the tomato shortage.

We just finished watching The Mist, and while the ending was the worst thing ever put on film (with perhaps the ending of Children of Men being a very close 2nd), I have no doubt that it's going to stick with me for a while.

Speaking of grocery stores (I wasn't, but it's related, since The Mist takes place [mostly] in one...), something I like to do is to leave my grocery lists in the shopping carts once I'm done. Because I like finding other people's lists, too.
But I think from now on I'm going to start adding outrageous items to our lists, just for fun.
Milk
Bread
Doomsday device
Pepsi
Human bones
Apples
Cereal

You know, just throw in random things to make life a little more exciting. :)

Sunday, June 08, 2008

We all scream for ice cream

The Springs Preserve, which we have been to once before was celebrating their one-year anniversary today. We heard about it on the radio earlier this week. The festivities were to include, "All you can eat ice cream, free concerts from Celtic bands, behind the scenes tours of the museum, and, of course, the museum itself." All for only 6 dollars a person! (It's normally something outrageous, like 20. [okay, maybe 14? I don't know. more than our family of five can afford is all]
So, anyway. We were all, "Woo! Free ice cream!? Free music (even if it isn't something we'd normally listen to)!? Free edutainmental activities!? We are so there!"

The celebration was being touted as going from 11am to 4pm. A little before noon today we were getting ready to leave, but we decided to see what (if any) food (other than ice cream) was available at the Springs Preserve. According to their site, they only have the one cafe, and it is "Cafe By Wolfgang Puck". ...which didn't exactly sound like it would be in our price range.
We opted to find something nearby (and cheaper) to have for lunch before going into the SP.

After lunch, we drove toward were the SP is. Except we found that there were construction signs and pylons indicating that due to the "Event", that the main parking lot was full, and to park in the parking lot of the Meadows Mall instead. We also saw a good deal of people walking, and practically every nearby parking spot taken. Hrm. This was starting to feel less exciting, and more like 'dealing with crowds'. But. We found a parking spot that wasn't too far from the entrance to SP, and we began walking. Fortunately it wasn't in the triple digits today, and as we were walking among the hordes of folks making their way to the line, we commented that at least the weather was comfortable.

When we got to the end of the line, we marveled at just how long it was. (For those playing along at home... it was long.) We contemplated not going in, but we'd already come this far. Plus... ice cream!

So, we made our way through the line, moving a few feet every 30 seconds or so. ALong the way, we passed a couple of vendors selling "ice cold pepsi", who were stating that the line was "long...and getting longer" (They were putting people in front of us?? How dare they!!) as well as a stream that Irina and the girls dipped their hands in.
Eventually we got to the cashier, paid our money, got our handstamps, and made our way inside. ...along with the other 50,000 people who were there.
We had brought some nature to bring to the nature-trading section of the SP, and so Harper did that. Turned out that some of the rocks she traded in were volcanic, and therefore worth a bunch of points. Hooray!!
All 3 girls used the points to pick out some shells and/or other items, and Harper still has 1115 points in trade left, for (if there is a) next time.

After that we decided to look to see about the ice cream. There were two lines - one labeled 'sundaes' and one labeled 'cones', and both snaked around and around and around pretty much throughout the entire park section and sidewalks of the place. We opted to NOT get in line at that time. (It didn't help matters that I don't think I ever saw the true ending of the line. I suspect it actually looped back in on itself.)
Instead we went into the building with the displays about the history of Springs Preserve, because it was super-air-conditioned.

It was also, of course, super crowded. We made our way through there, not really looking at any of the displays, and instead headed toward the outside zoo-area. I saw some lizards, and the girls got to take a look at a bat. And I think Irina saw a rabbit or two, but I'm not certain.

As we were heading back inside, we heard an employee asking people if they wanted to take a 'behind-the-scenes' tour of the flash flood display. We saw that last time we went [the flash flood display, not the behind the scenes part], and it was impressive. So getting a chance to see how it worked sounded pretty good to me.
We got in line for that, and followed the employee, along with about 20 other people, through a door that I hadn't noticed before, into a large room with two massive pipes and a bunch of computer equipment and whatnot. The employee rattled off a few stats about the flash flood display and how the pipes in this room controlled it all, and... that was it. Um. Oh...kay.

After that, we went to a small park-area, where Irina played on a train, and Saren climbed around on equipment that looked like desert animals.
And then we were all more or less ready to leave. There were just too many people and not enough things to do that were interesting to all of us.
We made our way through the gift shop and on the way out we of course decided that ice cream must be had...from somewhere else.

On the walk back to the van, some of the businesses near Meadows Mall had their sprinklers on. It was hot, and everyone was cranky, so to help cool off - and make everyone laugh - I ran through them like a loon. The girls quickly followed suit, and it made things a little bit better.

We got to the van and cranked the AC, and drove to Dairy Queen, and had sundaes there.

Friday, June 06, 2008

j p q v x z

Some random things.

[-] I've figured out what to do about the high gas prices. Just wait until after they get up to 9.99 a gallon. After that, they'll cycle back around to 0.00. Whoo!! Free gasoline!!

[-] People will watch anything.

[-] I'm reading a very fun novel, "Soon I Will Be Invincible", about superheroes and supervillains. I'm only a few chapters in, but I could easily see this being made into a movie. And it could conceivably even be a good movie. Eh. If nothing else, it's making me even more eager to see Hancock this summer. (That and The Dark Knight are the only two movies I absolutely must see from the aught-eight summer season)

[-] How come 'superheroes' is an acceptable word [to Blogger's internal dictionary], but 'supervillains' is underlined in red? (For the record, the suggestion is just to split it into two words.

[-] Next week is Friday the 13th. It's the only one this year. Yay? I looked it up on wikipedia earlier today, and that was kinda interesting. I knew that there were more Friday the 13ths than any other day, but they break it down in a nifty chart and everything. (Also, reminder to people that they should sign up for that zombie-thing that's taking place that day.)

[-] Today is Simon's birthday. Hope he had a good one.

[-] MarioKart for the Wii is so. freaking. fun. We've had it for several weeks now, and it still hasn't lost any of it's appeal.

[-] Season 4 of Lost wound up being the best one so far. Except, dude. Where's Vincent?

[-] I keep forgetting (and then remembering, and being upset by the fact) that it's Two Thousand and EIGHT. Doesn't it feel like it should still be, I don't know, '04 or something?

[-] Speaking of. I'm going to age again in 8 days.

[-] I'm fairly confident that I've forgotten about 13 other things I was going to talk about in this blog entry. Ah well, fodder for later dates.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Choppin' Barack-illy

I was going to talk about Obama and how, despite my stance on the democratic system and how, despite seeing half of Recount during our vacation [and being impressed and depressed simultaneously by the movie], and how, despite not really knowing what change Obama is for... I might just go ahead and vote for him in November.

Like I said, I was going to blog about all that.

Instead, an awesome related video from The Daily Show:

Monday, June 02, 2008

I'm not dead and I'm not for sale

"Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart" by Stone Temple Pilots


So it's June now.

As you all may remember, last June, around mid-month, there was an outbreak of zombies.

Well, this year, it might just happen again.

Now, I'd normally be all over this (it really was a lot of fun last year, and while my entry turned out pretty decently, it wasn't *nearly* as great as I had wanted it to be)... but, due to the randomness of the year, it has turned out that my blogging every other day has wound up with me blogging on even numbered days in June.
And BLITEOTW2 is happening on the 13th...

I may make a special exception for this 'event' and partake anyway. We'll see when the day arrives, I suppose. But, mostly I wanted to get the word out and urge everyone out there to, on June 13th, post a zompocalypse-related post (or ten) of your own. Even if I don't write my own, I'd greatly enjoy reading about everyone else's dooms. :)