Blogpost 2008

I quit my job.  I will write more here.  It will be interesting.  Just not today.

Halloween 2007: Unhappily Ever After

Halloween has passed and I’ve got the pictures to prove it was here… despite all the Christmas crap that’s already adorning the shelves at WallyWorld.

 I’ll just link to the Photobucket album.  There are several of my front yard (a couple below).  It’s the standard Halloween graveyard.  All the tombstones are ‘homemade’ and handcrafted by your’s truly.  Halloween Album

 

This year, my wife and I though a Fairy Tale party.  A little twisted theme on the traditional Fairy Tales.  We dressed up as “Tradgedy Ann & Andy”, though I have yet to find pictures of us.

 The inside of the house was decorated into different stories for each room.  Example:  Living room = Hansel & Gretel witch’s cottage, Dining room = Snow White, Breakfast nook = Rumpelstiltskin, TV room = Enchanted Forrest, Office = Red Riding Hood, and finally, the bathroom = Mermaid (general theme).  Lots of little details in each room that don’t show up on the camera.

 About 80% of the inside was, in some way, created by me (cage with child made from PVC strips for sealing windows, paper mache, paint, and screws; styrofoam coolers painted and lined with plastic for ‘mine carts’, and plenty more).  Enjoy!

Book Review: I Am Legend

  I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

With the new movie coming out starring Will Smith, I Am Legend was previewing in theaters several months ago.  Trying to be the studious person I am, I decided this would be a good time to start reading stories before I see them in theaters – especially since I hardly go to the movies anymore, I’ve got plenty of time to read before they open.

I enjoyed this book.  It’s much different than I expected, in fact, I didn’t really know what to expect since I’d never heard of the story until I saw Will Smith on the big screen.  Let me start off by saying this story was written in 1954.  So it isn’t like it’s a new thing.  And after a little research, I found several movies were based off this story, but after several interviews with Mr. Matheson, they apparently never stuck to his story.  I’m real excited about this film.  I hope it’s as good as the book.  Let me talk about the book – I’ll save the move review for later (when it comes out in December 2007).  

The book is very short – I finished in just under a couple of hours (including interruptions).  The all knowing Wikipedia says 317 pages, but I thought it was only 100-something.   I’ll check.

Please note:  Spoilers below!

The book begins in the then future 1970’s.  Robert Neville is the protagonist and the first few pages describe him going through mundane tasks of patching up his house and ‘resetting’ it with garlic and other items before nightfall.  He’s the only ‘person’ alive.  No family, neighbors, or anyone else is alive around him… apparently. The book really plays on the loneliness he experiences.  There was an Apocalypse of sorts not too long ago and he survived… sort of.  He’s human, just like you or me, but every night his house becomes surrounded by vampire-like creatures.  They moan, call to him, and the women try and seduce him, all to try and coax him outside so they can devour him.  His old neighbors and strangers alike roam his front lawn.  During the daytime, when the creatures hide in the shadows and darkness of abandoned homes, Neville ventures outside to gather supplies, restock, fix up his house, and even kill the sleeping vampires.

This is very important to the story.  He eventually realizes that his staking them through the heart isn’t necessary – he learns that while they act like vampires, they aren’t necessarily subject to the stereotypes that vampires receive from folklore.  The book really focuses on his struggle, not only with the creatures, but himself.  He often drinks himself to sleep and goes stir crazy from the vampires calling his name.  He’s alone, misses his family, and doesn’t really serve any purpose except to survive.  But why?  There’s a part of him that still has hope. Over time, Neville decides to research the cause of society turning into these creatures.  He discovers it’s bacterial – nothing like the folklore he thought.  This is an awesome point in the book.  It’s where we discover Richard Matheson taking this horror story with a traditional character – vampires – and making them into something believable.  They weren’t turning into bats and flying away.  Not living in coffins or wearing capes.  They were normal people that were exposed to a bacterium (during the apocalypse before hand, the world was engulfed in war and biological weapons were used – thus being the cause).  So the author takes a an unreal character and makes it real.

The ending is phenomenally brilliant!  Basically, Neville ends up finding another person.  A woman that’s just wondering around looking lost.  It’s the first person he’s talked to in years.  She ends up being a ’spy’ for the ‘others’.  A group of humans that were effected by the bacteria storm Neville’s neighborhood and take him hostage.  Robert Neville finds out there are two kinds of ‘vampires’ out there – the ones roaming his front lawn – they’re disseased and take on the charactaristics of vampires (Neville’s theories were that they kept the stereotypes in there minds when they were affected by the bacteria, so they ‘act’ like vampires) and then there were those that took him – almost normal people, except they grew an immunity to the disease by taking pills that subdue it’s reaction. The last paragraph describes Neville looking out the window of his captors’ hospital window and seeing a crowd of people look up at him in fear.  He was the “creature.”  He was the one everyone feared.  It’s an awesome role-reversal .  They saw him as the thing that crept in the daytime killing their family and friends. 

He was the Legend.

Not neccessarily a feel good story, but great if you like horror, emotional stories. I give it four heebie jeebies out of five.

Big Daddy

I’ve been listening to my new MP3 player that I got for $5 today (freaking awesome deal) and I got to a song that started making me think about being a father.  The song is called Heroes Will Be Heroes by Cool Hand Luke.  It’s got a great beat and a feels powerful, but not overwhelming.

It makes me think of my son.  He’s turning two soon, but I feel like I should be doing something great, as a father, for him to look up to.  This is swaying a little bit from my thoughts on the song, but it’ll coincide.  Right now I’m working as a Finance Manager at an auto dealer.  Wooo…..  How… cool.  I’m almost hoping he doesn’t grow up enough to understand what I do.  Not that the job doesn’t come with status, wealth, or knowledge, but it’s not something I care to brag about to my kid.

I feel I should be a firefighter or something.  I don’t know.  Well, here’s the lyrics to the song:

Well, look at yourself now
Swinging that sword around
You think there’s something there
But you’re just fighting air
You can’t do this alone

Hush, little boy, don’t say a word
Don’t you know Daddy’s got this one?
Hey, little boy, bury your sword
Jesus already won this war

Heroes will be heroes
The first to volunteer
But no one here is asking
And all the lines are clear
All who are weak, at ease

You push yourself too hard
And your feet get so tired
Can’t look back just yet
Or you might lose this fight
This is not your fight

Hush, little boy, don’t say a word
Don’t you know Daddy’s got this one?
Hey, little boy, bury your sword
Jesus already won this war

As a male, this song appeals to me.  It’s about a father and son (just that this Father is God).  I like it.  It gives me a sense of role reversal – God is my father and He’s got the freakin awesome job; telling me to calm down and let Me take care of it.

I just thought it was neat.  If you can hear the song, it’s quite a bit more meaningful the way it’s sung.  I’m going to go look for a more meaningful life.

1 month!

Geeez!!  Am I a slacker or what?

Thank goodness no one reads this…

3 Billion is okay with me.

There’s over 6 billion people alive right now and I see a little over a billion on my way to work*.  I drive 30 minutes to work each way which isn’t even a ridiculous time – I’m sure there’s plenty of folks out there that drive way more.  Most of my driving is on the highway.  I like that much more because there are so few traffic lights, but I find that the amount of ‘open highway’ available is directly proportional to how much construction will be done on said highway.  60 mile an hour sections come to a brisk 20mph nonscenic, ride of death.

Then, when you do get off the highway and onto the traffic light roads – oooohh boy.  Get out your firearms and combat helmets.  It’s automotive battle royale.  Something along the same line of Mad Max style driving.  Every square foot of road becomes prime real estate.  Each yellow light is a signal to open up the 130 horses in that 97 Escort.

This weekend, though, traffic stresses followed me to my mini vacation.  I packed up the kid, the wife, and my swimmies for a Friday night to Sunday night stay at my in-laws river house in Wiki-Wachi, FL.  We even met up with my best friend and his girl on the way.  The travel up there wasn’t so bad because my wife is 200th generation Floridian* and knows the super-secret back roads – a bit longer of a ride, but my blood pressure stay below ‘heart attack’ level. 

This time, those ‘Sunday’ drivers took to the water.  “Hey, let’s take the canoe and kyaks up river for a nice, relaxing afternoon!“, I say.  “Yea!“, the others rejoice in approval.  So, we go through the motions – load up some towels, water, etc, etc.  There’s a small beach area about 20 minutes up the river – small area, like, maybe 15 across and a foot or two of sand.  But, it’s a shallow area and a good spot to park your craft and hang out.  Except for this weekend.

Ever seen photos of the naval fleet involved at the invasion of Normandy?  The river was like that and I renamed that small patch of sand Omaha Beach.  Never have I traveled down that river and seen so many johnboats, pontoon boats, jet skis, kiyaks, canoes, tubes, rednecks, and tourist.  Our small group (2 kiyaks, 1 canoe) found ourselves spending more time maneuvering around the 20ft motor boats (on a 20 foot wide river) than actually enjoying Florida’s Nature Coast.  The water – normally extremely clear (sometimes 10ft deep and visible to the bottom) – was murky and cloudy from the engines.  No chance to see manatee (which we normally do) – which there probably weren’t any hanging around that oily mess anyway.

Then we get to Omaha Beach and find that the invasion has already hit in full force.  We tried to wedge our vessels between the row of 10 kiyaks and handful of canoes.  My wife took a dip in the freakin cold water and we’d had enough.  The way back downstream, while less strenuous a workout paddling, was no less cluttered with weekend boaters.

The stories could drag on forever – lines at the grocery store, crowded gas stations, whatever.  But, it all leads to my next awesome happening.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if half the world’s population was swept away?  Not necessarily by disease or famine or anything like that.  Perhaps some sort of supernatural vanishing – I don’t care.  The point is, how much better would life be if you had have the cars on the road, half the boats in the see, and half the fat people in the Wendy’s drive-thru?

I imagine there would be some minor setbacks – global economic collapse, mass religious hysteria, civil war.  But, it’d only be with half the people, so… eh, no harm done.

*Statistic may be false

*Could be 7th generation

Book Review: Dawn of Destiny

Dawn of Destiny by Lee Stephen

Book review time! I don’t read too many books – I can make up a thousand excuses, but I’ll use time. I’ve got so little of it. I’m trying to get back to not being consumed by TV, computer, work, and technology by reading more. Here’s the first book I’ve picked up in too long: Dawn of Destiny by Lee Stephen.

First off, for you non-sci fi fans, don’t get scared off by the genre. It’s so much more than ‘a genre’. I was enveloped in the story from start to finish. I consider myself an average reader (as far as how fast I read) and I ate up that book in a few hours (which is pretty good for me). I read it every moment I had at work, at home, and in between. The story sucks you in from the first page. The characters are well developed and believable – I think that’s what attracted me most to them – they were people I could point out and say, “Hm, I know a guy like that” and mean it. There’s a great mix of action wonderfully spaced throughout the book with a few dramatic sequences, tense moments, and plenty of comedic relief.

You follow the lead character, Scott Remington, through his experience as a soldier in Earth’s global military. The story takes place in the future, with the dawn of world piece at hand. Contact is made with extraterrestrials and the unified Earth Defense Network (EDEN) is the first and only line of defense. This book is the first in a series of eight or nine to follow.

While the book has a clear begining, middle, and end, it leaves much to look forward to. If there is one concern I had, it was that there wasn’t an in depth look to how Earth became what it was – they adopted a new ‘era’ called, the “New Era”, so dates are described as 0002 NE. That’s awesome, but I’m super intrigued as to how Earth got to even that point, what made them decide to unify, and how does the world exist in that time – are there still countries, governments for each? How does society function? EDEN gives plenty of insite into how their military functions, but the book steers away from much more than that. I’m anxious to see what answers are given in the upcoming book, Outlaw Trigger, the next in the series. Some of my favorite points of the book:

• The introduction and staying power of the characters – different personalities, characteristics, and even nationalities make each person unique, identifiable, and unforgettable.
• The fact that everyone in the book is ‘real’. No one is indestructable. No superheroes. And no outrageous feats. But along with that, characters show they can be heros, be ‘invinsible’, and accomplish amazing feats. Just in the way that humans sometimes do.
• Intensity. There are a few battle sequences where I feel like I’m sitting across the street from the action watching every moment. Like I can almost feel the heat from the guns.
• Real fiction. What I mean by that, is Lee Stephen makes the story as close to believable as you can be with aliens involved. The way they act, move, react, and relate is something lots of other sci-fi book/movies, miss. They become too ‘fantasy’ or forced.
• It kept me entertained throughout the entire book. Not at any point did I say, well this chapter is moving kinda slow. I didn’t want to put down the book and I didn’t want to finish. I was actually upset that I finished the book.
• Undertones. While I believe they’re obvious throughtout the book, the undertones, messages, and morals flowed right with the story. Again, nothing was forced. Everything had it’s place and it’s place had everything. There is a strong Christian undertone throughout the book, some quite obvious (Scott Remington has a Bible that he keeps with him and often prays for guidence and strength) and others not so obvious until you’ve finished the scene, chapter, or even the book.

This is an excellent read for sci-fi and non sci-fi alike. Good for all ages, even young teens. I anticipate the next book more than any other right now. The book should be on shelves at a major bookstore in December of 2007 (just in time for Christmas!). I plan on reading Dawn of Destiny one more time before I dive into Outlaw Trigger to keep myself fresh with the characters, plot, etc.

If I had some sort of system of rating… like stars or thumbs or cookies, I’d give it 5 chipmunks out of 5. Visit the EpicUniverse website at www.epicuniverse.com. Browse the forums, find out more about the author, or order the book from there.

Custom Graphics

I’ve created a page on hither right side for custom graphix. Notice the ‘X‘ in graphix. That just means that it’s slightly more hardcore than regular graphics.

I like to dabble in some computer graphics and enjoy giving others a chance to sport some shiny new pixels. For those of you who either don’t know how to do your own custom graphics work, don’t care to do it, or would just like someone else’s style, you can simply give me a request to whip something up.

On the Custom Graphix page, you’ll find some of my custom work (both random and completed for others) and an easy request-type of layout where you can let me know if you’d like something for your blog (ex. my header is custom made by me!).

Head over and check it out. 6r4ph1x 15 t43 r0×0r!!1!!one!!

After Sex Quote of the Day

Mere seconds after sex…

From her: Is “The Godfather” based on a true story or is it just a made up movie?

Five Second Rule

Lifesavers. M&M. A cookie. They’re all encompassed in the Rule. I think everyone knows it. It’s a phenomenon of life that is excepted worldwide… I’m sure. You can drop a piece of food on the floor and, now this is important, you must, must say, “Five second rule.” upon which you can then pick up the piece of food and consume it (of course the food should be on the floor no longer than five seconds).

Now, there are few exceptions to the Rule. While some may argue, there are some foods that should not be eaten whence they’ve fallen to the floor – especially depending on the floor.

Enter, the Hong Kong New York Style Chinese Restaurant on Hwy 60 in Bartow, FL. It’s a hole-in-the-wall chinese take-out place just like the countless others around the world. Cheap food. Quick production (Fi- ten minute). Mediocre service. It’s a speedy option for the one-hour lunch folks, like myself. The phone number is nestled between Glenn and In-laws on the cell phone. Ordering from Hong Kong easily adds an extra 7 minutes to my nap time.

Back to the Rule. So, I place my order via cellular magic and head on my way to HK. I walk in to see the same lady that takes my money every time. She’s actually pregnant right now. Exciting. Well, as I wait for my monetary transaction to be complete and for her to gather Mr. Tso’s delicious chickens, my attention is focus on the two men in the kitchen playing with wok’s and cutting up meat. As I receive my change, my eyes still diverted to the small Chinamen butchering the meat, I see him take a hack at a clump of bovine. Then, almost in slow motion, his dull clever flies through the air towards the meat where it does it’s duty, but then, as he lifts the knife back into the air to come back with antoher pass, a small piece of meat, no bigger than golfball, is temporarily suctioned to the blade. But, it didn’t continue it’s journey on the cold steel, instead… instead, it lept forth into the air, twirling about. It floated in the air for a moment. Yes, it suspended for just a second before it plumeted on to the dirtiest floor this side of a hospital (very dirty).

The cook didn’t hesitate. He bent down and reached for the meat with his gloveless hand. His picked up the cube of beef and and promptly threw it into his pre-cut pile on the table. Yes. Right off the nasty-ass floor back into the meat someone later that day will consume. Then, he looks to the other cook and says, “Choi-su bok foy.” Which I presume to be “Five second rule” in Chinese. But no, my Chinese dwarf, no. You cannont call that rule on a raw piece of meat. No. Cooked meat, yea okay, we’ll let that go if it’s got lots of spices already on it, but raw meat, nah ah. No, sir. And to you I say, “Shei tsu fe nieshmoy” which means like, I like your food, but… don’t do that… or something, I don’t know, that’s not the point. Point is, there’s limits to the Five Second Rule and you can’t do that in front of a customer.

Also, that lady that normally helps me. Well, she’s prego and she doesn’t shave under her arms. Eewwwwww.