blog post

Just a collection of random stuff.

Today at work was a good day. I had lunch! And now I have four days off, which will come in handy before the week of unprecedented busy-ness.

I also saw my old supervisor, Tina. She was back in town for Thanksgiving, and stopped by the station to visit for a bit. It was great to see her again. She might just be moving back to Las Vegas, if she can get a job here. Things haven't worked out too well for her since her move to Oregon. Hard to believe that that was four years ago already. Time flies.

I picked up Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of Lost from the library, which was sorta dumb, because how in the world am I going to watch all those before they're due back? Especially since we're going out of town for the next two days? Oh well. Maybe if I put the subtitles on, and watch them at double speed... (heh. then they'd have to enter the numbers every 54 minutes. [/season2dorkhumor])

Silas likes Jeopardy!, but the Daily Double noise always startles him. So sad. (And, yes, slightly amusing. But mostly sad.)

I just realized that yesterday was my 14.5 year mark at the station. Fourteen and a half years. Wow.

Speaking of time going by too quickly, it's going to be 2010 soon. No more oughts. :(
This decade was one blurry one. It went by much faster than the 90s did. And also not fast enough.

I had more I originally was going to blog, but it's lost to the ages now. Very likely wasn't important or interesting anyway.

Haiku Review: Quarantine

Camcorder gimmick
works, to an extent. But, since
you don't care about...

...the characters, most
of the time I spent rooting
for the zombie-folk.

Haiku Review: The Monster Squad

I wanted to still
enjoy this (loved it as a
kid) but...it's just bad.

What's sad is, it has
potential. It could have been
a timeless classic...

...but instead, it's just
a lazy Goonies knock-off.
It's a shame, really.

Haiku Review: Lost - Pilot, Part 1

Lost begins with a
creepy wind-chime theme song, which
sets the mood nicely.

We start the show with
a closeup of an eyeball.
Hey! It's Matthew Fox!

He's lying on the
ground in a jungle. He hears
rustling. It's a dog.

A golden lab, to
be precise. The dog darts off,
and the guy stands up.

He's mildly hurt,
but at least he's got vodka
in his pocket. Yay!

He runs through the trees
(one of which grows sneakers) and
winds up on a beach.

It's a gorgeous beach,
except for the plane wreckage
and screaming people.

Obviously there
was a plane crash. Lots of
chaos and screaming.

As Matthew Fox looks
around, we see a guy who
yells in Korean...

...a Hobbit who looks
dazed and confused walk by the
plane's whirring engine...

...a black guy who is
yelling "Walt!!" repeatedly
(we hear it twice here)...

...a young blond woman
who is simply screaming at
the top of her lungs...

...and a guy who is
pinned under a piece of the
plane. He goes to help.

The guy's got bloodied
leg. Fox uses his tie as a
tourniquet, and then...

...runs over to help
a woman who is having
contractions. Don't! Can't!

She's eight months along,
but before we can find out
more, Gary Troup dies.

What a way to go!
He gets sucked into the plane's
turbine, which goes boom.

Fox asks a big guy
to stay near Preg-o and call
him if labor starts.

Big guy asks his name,
and we learn it is "Jack!" So
now we do know jack.

Jack approaches a
young guy doing CPR
on a black woman.

Jack admonishes
him for doing it wrong. He
says he's a lifeguard.

Jack's all, "Well, you're the
worst lifeguard I've met today!"
and begins CPR.

Lifeguard suggests a
pen to do a trach on her,
then goes to find one.

Jack revives her, then
has to race back to Preg-o
to save her. Again.

Because the plane's wing
was about to fall on her
and that other guy.

Once he's made sure that
they're both okay, he tells the
big guy to stay there.

He responds, "Dude, I'm
not going anywhere." Yay!
The first Lost 'Dude'!

World's Worst Lifeguard comes
back with, like, eight pens and he
hands them to Jack. Heh.

Jack rummages through
some luggage, finds thread, goes to
the jungle alone.

He removes his shirt,
revealing his scratched up back
and also, tattoos.

Jack can't reach his back
(so there is something he can't
do!). But here's someone!

A brunette woman
rubbing her wrist has shown up.
Jack asks if she sews.

She has. Jack asks if
she'll sew up his back. She says
'yes', but seems squeamish.

As the sun sets, we
see: Big Guy sorting food, a
bald guy just sitting...

...World's Worst Lifeguard walks
by with a cell phone, but he
gets no reception.

We meet Charlie (he's
the Hobbit) who helps Sayid
with building a fire.

Jack and the brunette
are still sewing him up (jeez!
it has been hours, guys!)

Jack tells a story
about how when he was a
surgeon, he goofed up...

...and cut a girl's dural
sack. He was terrified, but
he counted to five...

...and then he was good.
Jack can control his fear, you
see. Jack is a douche.

The woman says if
it had been her, she would have
run for the door. (HA!!)

Jack says, "That's not true.
You're not running now." Give her
time, Jack. Give her time.

Night time! Charlie is
writing FATE on his bandaged
fingers, Sayid says...

..."Where's the rescue?" The
blond who was screaming is now
painting her toenails.

World's Worst Lifeguard sits
next to her, offers candy.
She refuses, since...

...according to her,
rescue is coming. She'll eat
on the rescue boat.

Her name, by the way,
is Shannon. We still don't know
Lifeguard's real name, though.

Big guy gives food to
Preg-o, who says contractions
have, for the time, stopped.

Black guy looks over
a young black boy, asks if he's
warm enough. Kid nods.

Korean man tells
the woman he's with they need
to stay together.

Jack looks over an
injured man. Brunette asks "Will
he live?" Jack: "Know him?"

Spoiler! She knows him!
But she simply says she sat
near him on the plane.

Jack recalls some of
the flight: they hit turbulence,
and then he blacked out.

THe brunette did not.
She knew the tail section fell
off, as did the front.

Jack wants to find the
cockpit, cuz there might be a
transceiver inside.

Brunette wants to go
with him. Jack finally asks
for her name. "I'm Kate."

Seriously? They
didn't introduce themselves
until just now? Huh.

Suddenly there's a
weird metallic clanky sound
as lots of trees move...

...well, not so much move
as get pushed around. Something
large and powerful...

...is causing this scene,
which is really quite creepy.
The survivors look...

...toward the jungle
with a mix of confusion
and fear. The kid asks...

..."Is that Vincent?" The
black guy answers, "No. That's not
Vincent." (or is it??)

Charlie utters an
understated, sarcastic,
funny: "Terrific."

And with that we go
to the first commercial break.
This show is awesome.

Hey! Jack's on a plane!
That sure was a quick rescue!
Should have shown it, though.

Jack begins talking
to the black woman he saved.
Then, there's turbulence.

Again? Jeez. These guys
have the worst luck when it comes
to flying in planes.

Cut back to the beach,
and we see that previous
scene was a flashback.

Folks on the beach
are discussing the "monster".
(So are folks online!)

Jack is prepping to
go look for the cockpit. Kate
insists she's coming.

She'll need better shoes,
though. Fortunately, there are
plenty of corpses.

And they don't need shoes.
So. Kate looks for shoes that fit.
And gets a look from...

...a bald man (Terry
O' Quinn!) who smiles at her while
eating an orange.

It's hilarious,
but Kate seems disturbed by it.
Jeez, Kate, lighten up.

Charlie decides he
wants to tag along with Jack
and Kate. Off they go!

On the trek in the
woods, we learn Charlie was in
a band called Drive Shaft.

He sings a bit of
one of their hit songs, called "You
All Everybody!"

When a rain storm comes
from out of nowhere, people
on the beach scramble...

...except for Mr.
Orange Peel, who sits in the
rain, arms extended.

The trio has found
the front part of the plane. They
make their way inside.

Jack and Kate get to
the cockpit door, which is locked.
Dr. Jack breaks in.

Pilot is still in
his seat, presumably dead.
But, no! He's alive!

He asks how many
people survived the crash. Jack
tells him: forty-eight.

"How long has it been?"
the pilot wants to know. Jack
tells him: sixteen hours.

The pilot then gives
Jack and Kate (Charlie's not there)
some really bad news:

Turns out, during the
flight, the radio went out.
They turned around, and...

...by the time they hit
the turbulence, they were way
off course. Rescue crews...

...will be looking for
them in the wrong part of the
world. That can't be good.

Also not good? There
are sounds of the "monster" near.
We see it's shadow.

And then, the pilot
gets pulled out of the freaking
window!! Yoink! He's gone.

The trio run like
hell through the jungle while the
monster pursues them.

Charlie gets his foot
caught in a vine. Jack goes back
to save him. Kate screams.

She hides, alone, and
starts to count to five. I don't
think it's working, though.

Charlie finds Kate, but
Jack isn't with him. Kate says
they have to go back.

They find the pilot's
pin lying in a puddle.
Jack arrives there, too.

He managed to get
away from the monster, but
he didn't see it.

Charlie points above
them, to where the pilot's dead
corpse lies in the trees.

Charlie asks "How does
something like that happen?" And
with that, this ep. ends.

why do i always forget about the monkeywrench when making plans?

so, as Steph mentioned, our main computer died, thus leaving us with a sort of zombie/Frankenstein's monster type of computer deal in order to get online.

which somewhat dampens my plans of typing up my haikus for Lost. (Ironically, I have the Pilot (part 1) episode halfway done. I was working on it on Sunday, and had planned on finishing it up, but then the computer and universe had other plans.)I would instead type up the haikus at work and then publish them all later, but the thing is that work has been INSANELY busy lately, so I don't have time to do it there. And then when I get home I'm too damn exhausted to do anything.

Eh. Enough whining. It'll happen. Or it won't.

In other news, Silas is going to be six months on Tuesday. How the hell did that happen?

Speaking of time passing quickly - two months (LESS!!), and we will be out of this house, and into a (presumably) better one. 50 days, people. Fifty. I can. Not. Wait.

Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?

("1999" by Prince)

So early this morning - around ten after midnight, actually - there was a very strong knock on the door.

Turns out, it was two Las Vegas Metro Police officers, who informed us that we needed to evacuate our house because they had found an "explosive device" in the park behind our home.

I grabbed Irina (who was still sleeping at that point) and Saren and Harper began getting their shoes on while Steph grabbed Silas. At one point, one of the officers asked me how many people were in the residence, and I was still half asleep and answered, "Five." I did a quick (or somewhat slowed) mental count and corrected myself, "I mean six." Gah. Talk about a Homer moment.

The plan, according to the cops, was to have the neighborhood go down to the Wal-mart parking lot, where some buses would be ordered for us all to sit in and wait.

They said that we could drive our van down if we wanted to, and we were going to do that, but it turns out that Silas' car seat cover was not put together at the time, and we didn't know if we had the time to put it together, so we just opted to walk the short distance down to Wal-mart.

As we were walking down the street, looking at all the police and fire vehicles littering the road, we noticed that no other neighbors were making the exodus. It felt very weird. Almost like a really elaborate prank against us. (Surely that feeling was a combination of shock and lack of sleep, though)

We got to Wal-mart, and there was nobody else there, either. Or at least, nobody that we could tell was from our neighborhood. The greeter saw us and asked if we needed a shopping cart. (Heh) We explained the situation to her, and she offered us some seats at the McDonald's inside the store (and also told us of the time she was working at another Wal-mart where a gas station exploded so they evacuated that neighborhood).
The greeter, a few minutes later, came by and told us that she was going to treat us to anything we wanted from McDonald's, in case we were hungry. The girls (and I) did want a tiny snack, so even though we both refused her kindness at first, she insisted, so we ordered a few cheeseburgers, some nuggets, and 2 drinks.
The food helped make the time go a little quicker.

I went outside to check to see where the bus was, and saw another woman who had been evacuated. She said that the person living next to her had been picked up by a family member, but she was just waiting for the bus like we were. I told her to come inside the Wal-mart where it was warmer. A police officer drove up at that point and informed us that the bus would be there within ten minutes.

I asked him if he knew how long it would be until we could return to our homes. He didn't know, but said it could take up to 3 hours. Ugh.

I went back inside, and told the family the deal.

Then, about ten minutes later, the bus did show up. We boarded, as well as a rather cranky old woman who is one of our neighbors, and we all sat on the bus for approximately 30-40 minutes. Well, Irina played. She was having a grand ol' time. :)

At 1:25am, the police officer I had seen earlier came on board the bus, telling us that it would be about another 20-25 minutes until we could go home. Hooray!

At around 1:50, we were told we could go home. We made the short walk back to the house, wondering if any of the cops would tell us what happened (most of them were already getting back into their cars and leaving). We did stop one really young officer who was removing the yellow police tape as we passed, "What was it?"

He chuckled and said somewhat embarrassed, "It was a smoking bong."

A bong?

Not a bomb?

Not a buh-- ?[/Airplane]

Nope. A bong. *sigh* Well, at least we were all safe and sound back in our house, and able to get some sleep. Although I have to admit that I could easily use a few more hours.

And, I suppose, technically, it's July, August, and September's as well

October's word cloud is here.