Saturday, February 28, 2009

Yep.

The wordle cloud for February's entries is here.
I... apparently *really* like the word really. (Really!)

Friday, February 27, 2009

Thanks, Allison!

I felt like blogging, but had (of course!) nothing to blog about. So I was surfing other people's blogs, and found that Allison had asked a bunch of questions. So that gave me something to say. Hooray!!

# Why is it so easy to read 30 blogs every day and so hard to write just one?
I KNOW!! Although sadly, I find it difficult to read 30 blogs, too.

# Remember when Heroes used to be good?
Yeah. Remember when I gave up on it (on a weekly basis)? Why do I keep going back to it? Oh, Heroes, I wish I could quit you.

# I am listening to Fields of Gold by Sting (shut up! I like Sting). Why is it so much sexier when someone kisses "her mouth" instead of "her lips"?
I... don't really have an answer for that.

# Maybe if I refilled the bird feeder, the pretty birds would come back. Unfortunately, that currently entails navigating the sea of dog poop that is currently my backyard.
Heh. That's not really a question. But, you know, that would make a pretty decent online game.

# You really didn't need that last bit of information, did you?
It's all good. I mean, everybody poops.

# I didn't give up anything for Lent. I never give up anything for Lent. Do you?
Nope. What with the not being Catholic and all.

# I thought the Academy Awards rocked this year. I especially liked the groups of five previous winners doing the acting nominations. I thought it gave real power to the idea that it was an honour just to be nominated. Seemed to me that most of the actors really appreciated the acknowledgment. Since when did giving people compliments become boring?
I agree.

# This is very nearly a BoQ, isn't it? Don't you miss BOQs? How do you write bOq?
Yes. Yes. I usually say 'boq'.

# I had iTunes Genius make me some playlists from my music. It pretty much scored a home run.
TNAQ. But... what is iTunes Genius? Sounds intriguing.

# Are you looking forward to baseball season? Do you ever look forward to a sporting season?
Not so much, no. (Sorry!)

# I have fingerling potatoes to roast for supper tonight. You envy me, don't you?
I don't really know what fingerling potatoes are, but right now I'm starving and ANYTHING sounds delicious. So, um. Yes.

# What state would you most like to visit?
Idaho. Just to visit, though.

# After I wrote the last item, the Genius playlist just moved to New York State of Mind. It really is a Genius, isn't it?
"Who knows the wily mind of computers?" ;)

# Have you watched Life on Mars? You really should. Trust me.
I've seen promos for it. Does that count?

# Which reminds me: I am actually feeling somewhat nostalgic for the 70s. I blame Milk, The Pursuit of Happyness and the aforementions LOM. What decade do you feel nostalgia for?
The 90s, weirdly. They just had some really good music. Although I suspect that the 20s probably will as well. We'll just have to see.

# I think this one is done for now. Thanks for playing
Hey, no problem! Tell me what I've won!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Haiku Review: Lost - 316

Hello, Lamppost. What
ya knowing? Can you tell where
the Island's going?

We finally learn
Eloise Hawking's middle
name - Exposition.

Kate says, "Don't hold on
to things that make you sad." I
say, "Like toy airplanes?"

Anyone else wish
that when changing Locke's shoes Jack
had counted his toes?

Bloody Ben better
not have hurt Desmond, Penny
or baby Charlie!

Not really down with
the whole Kate and Sun giving
up their kids angle...

Jin!?! In Dharma clothes?!!?!!!
Does that mean they're stuck in the
'70's? Groovy.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Haiku Review: Lost - This Place is Death

I wonder if I even need to spoiler-tag my haikus. Unless I hear otherwise, I think I won't anymore.

Montand (the French guy)
versus Smokey. Smokey wins!
Give that guy a hand!!

Ben's meeting on the
pier...didn't go so well. Kate
leaves, so does Sayid.

Aww. Sawyer and Jin
share a hug. And now, onto
the Orchid, to find...

Well, well, well. Looks like
Locke got himself buried. But!
He did turn the wheel.

Note to the ladies:
Don't fall in love with Daniel!
(Unless you like death.)

Ben, Desmond, Jack, Sun
are with Mrs. Hawking, who
says, "Let's get started."

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Haiku Review: Lost - The Little Prince

I need to pick a specific day to start doing these, rather than jumping through the week. Perhaps Sundays will be the new Lost review days.

Spoilers, of course:


Oh, look! Sawyer found
a DVD of season
one in the jungle!

"Run when trouble brews."
That was Kate's motto back then.
And...she hasn't changed.

"I can fix it!" was
Jack's mantra pre-Island and...
he's not changed either.

No Rose or Bernard
on the Future(?) beach. Are they
Adam's and Eve's bones?

Jin's alive! Not a
surprise, still good to see him.
Time to learn French, Jin.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Digital Conversion - 0111001101101110011000010110011001110101

In a move that will please nobody, the House approved the delay on the Digital Transition date, from February 17th to June 12th.
However, the bill allows stations to switch off their analog signals early - provided that a) they file with the FCC by February 9th and b) that the FCC approves it.

Sigh.

Of course stations want to turn their analog signals off on the 17th. Running two transmitters - both analog and digital - costs money. Depending on who you talk to, the cost of keeping the analog going will be anywhere between 5,000 and 20,000 dollars per month. Either way, that's pretty pricey. Many stations have not budgeted keeping their transmitters running an additional four months. (And rightfully so. The fricking 2/17/09 date was set TWO. YEARS. AGO.)

Additionally, this delay means an extra 4 months of talking about the transition for stations. It means an additional 2 more quarters of having to file the 388 forms with the FCC [the 388s are the forms they require stations to submit that keep track of how many DTV transition PSAs, crawls, and advertisements they've aired over the past 3 months]. It also means that the public is going to be more confused as to when the transition actually takes place. And let's not get started on the amount of confusion, irritation, and non-conformity that is going to result with *some* stations being able to make the transition early, while others wait until March. Or May. Or June. Christ.
And the kicker is, the whole point of pushing this back was because there are reportedly some 6.5 million households still not "entirely" prepared for the switchover. (Some people state that those reports are exaggerated. I get that, because we are, by Nielsen's standards, not entirely prepared, since we have one TV with a converter box and one TV without. That being said, we're still ready, because we really only watch the one with the converter box hooked up.) But, the thing is, there will ALWAYS be people who aren't going to take action until they absolutely have to. Punishing everyone else because of their inaction makes no sense.
And really, would not having television access be such a horrible thing? Proponents claim that citizens require the ability to get emergency information, but, um. Radio? The Internet? Friends?? I mean, it's highly irritating that this much importance has been placed on the digital transition to begin with, but the fact that it's being screwed up is like icing on the cake.

Bah. I know that the above was very stream-of-consciousness-esque and probably didn't make as much sense as it should have, but it's been a long day and I felt like ranting.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Haiku Review: Lost - Jughead

Better late than never, no? Although I don't know that these are all that illuminating or remarkable haikus. It was a good episode, just not one that lends itself to Japanese poetry, apparently.

That being said, spoilers!

Papa Widmore was
on the Island way back when.
AND was an Other!

Daniel's favorite
band must be U2. (Get it?)
Hope things don't go boom.

John Locke and Richard
Alpert - BFFs!! Are they
each others Constants?


One more day until a new episode!

Monday, February 02, 2009

6 more weeks of winter

Apparently Phil saw his shadow (again!), so according to folklore, we're due for six more weeks of winter. Of course, it was 62 degrees out today, so I won't complain with another month and a half of that type of weather.

Yesterday was busy.
In addition to the birthday celebration of Irina, I also got my haircut, and Buffybowl 8* happened.


*Looking back over the years, I've never quite pinpointed exactly what number it is. But from here on out, it's officially going to be that yesterday's was the 8th one. Now, if only I can remember that for next year.


For Irina's birthday, we ate at both DQ and Chuck E. Cheese. Paragons of health are we!
That being said, she greatly enjoyed the outings. Especially going to Sunset Park for a while in the afternoon in order to enjoy the awesome "winter" weather we're currently experiencing.
We also ventured into Toys 'R' Us, where we found that they had WiiFit in stock. Woo! The girls have been spending all day tight rope walking and hula-hooping and doing yoga. Fun!

The Buffybowl game was another showdown between Adam and the Scoobies. Adam, of course, won, because Saren was Evil, and Saren always wins. (She's claiming that she's going to play as Good next year. I'm typing this as a way of reminding her of this fact.)
Actually, I think that Buffy would've taken Adam out ...if he'd been on the board from the beginning!! [Yes, due to an error by the Powers That Be, Adam didn't get placed on the board until about halfway through the game, and was thus completely safe from any attacks. Of course, in Season 4, Adam didn't really show up until about halfway through, so in that way it was more accurate.]
But, in the end, even with the Glove of Mahna-Mahna, Buffy could not defeat the evil demon, and was killed by Spike. Sad.

The commercials we witnessed were ...okay. We didn't see much of them, but from all reports of what I've read/seen today, I don't think we're any poorer for having not seen them. We did see the 3-D commercials, and we did have our 3-D glasses, but none of us were overly impressed with the results. Apparently NBC went and lessened the effects so that people who didn't have the glasses would be able to see the spots with less problems, which is... really a bonehead move, actually. Why go through all the trouble of promoting the technology if you're not going to actually use it? [sigh] We're looking forward to Chuck tonight, which is also supposed to be in 3-D, but we like Chuck regardless of how many Ds it's in. :)

Today I had an interview with the local PBS affiliate. I'm feeling confident about it, but dumbly I forgot to ask, "When will you make a decision?" so now...it's a waiting game, then.