Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Still In Tact, The Evidence

Well, I'm still in one peace, and the healing process is coming along pretty nicely. At this point, it's really just down to some achiness at times, and the "steri-strips" (basically tape which takes the place of stitches on small incisions) are still hanging on, but all-in-all, things seem to have gone well.

I've mentioned it before, but I still contend that DVR is a larger contributor to my brain-rot than video games, regular TV, and the Internet all put together. You'd think that after we got the dual-tuner DVR box with more storage space, Amy & I would have trouble keeping up with everything being recorded.... but you'd be wrong. Instead, we keep adding new shows to the DVR schedule just so that we can keep it stocked with things to watch. I'm thinking we may need to join a 12-step program.

Anyway, the newest thing I threw on to check out was the pilot episode of ABC's The Evidence. I've been a fan of Orlando Jones since the "Make 7-Up Yours" commercials, and the premise sounded SOMEWHAT interesting... (that you see the evidence first and have to try and piece it all together, then see what it's actually from as the show rolls on). Anyway, I WANTED to like it - but I was VERY unimpressed. The acting felt REALLY stilted from both leads (Jones and Rob Estes) - there was a lot of "buddy movie" type lines but they felt SO forced, I don't know that the chemistry is really there between them. The show itself, aside from the attempt at the new spin with the evidence thing (which is VERY minor), is just another Law & Order / CSI rip-off crime drama, and didn't really present anything new. Because I really dig Orlando Jones, I may give one more episode a shot, but right now this one's a definite pass for me.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

So, I lived

Well, despite my absence here, I did make it through the surgery last week just fine. Since I hadn't really mentioned it here, if you hadn't heard about it, don't worry, it wasn't a big deal. I didn't really go out of my way to let folks know, but I wasn't dodging the topic either.

Anyway, recovery has gone pretty well. I was back at work on Friday. In pain, but back at work. Which is good because of the vacation the week before, and the coming baby-leave, I really want to miss as little work as possible. I'm still in a bit o' pain today, but hopefully everything's on the right track.

In the meantime, things keep rollin' on along, and I ought to get back to work...

Friday, March 10, 2006

Lists of Bests: Mindless Web Fun

So I'm newly re-addicted to Lists of Bests. It's been acquired by the Robot Co-Op and tied into 43places, 43things, and All Consuming, and revamped with all kinds of new goodness. The downside is that it didn't retain the things I'd already marked as "consumed" from the old Lists of Bests site... but the upside is that it's got a new fresh look and snazzy new features - the ability to create your own lists being among the best, definitely.

Recently at TechCrunch they posted a really awesome looking preview of Google's forthcoming online web calendar, CL2. I've checked out a number of the many new webcals so far, including 30Boxes, Spongecell, Eventful, Kiko, and Planzo... honestly they're all pretty much the same with maybe ONE distinguishing feature or focus for each. CL2's integration with Gmail alone should be enough to push it through to the next level -- basically it's moving towards more of an MS Exchange-level of integration. I'm really excited to try it out, so hopefully it makes it out of private status soon.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Ahh, Vacation

Earlier this week Amy & I took our last pre-parenthood vacation, heading down to Glenlaurel Inn in the Hocking Hills for a brief yet incredibly relaxing and much needed vacation. Our goal (sure to take many years' time) is to eventually stay at least once in each of their rooms. This time around we were in the MacKenzie Royal Suite. The story being that in the olden days, Scottish nobles would always keep one suite or room always ready in case the king or queen decided to stop by for the night. It was a really nice room, a little larger than the pictures make it out to be.

While we were there, Amy was a serious champ and we hiked Cedar Falls, Ash Cave. and Glenlaurel's own Camusfearna Gorge. Not too shabby! Pictures of the nature-type scenes, and a few of the room are here. There wasn't really any snow on the ground (it did snow briefly while we were there, but didn't stick), but there were lots of great icicles along the cliffs:


I think we even managed to capture a couple pretty decent pictures of me in the process as well. Can't beat that.

We came back Tuesday night and were still off on Wednesday for some relaxation around the house and to get a few errands done. Unfortunately Mr. Migraine paid me an unwelcome visit, so I had to turn in early on the errands, but I did manage to make it through a visit to baby Alison! She's an awesome girl, and even at less than two weeks old was a lot of fun - she makes some seriously funny faces. Can't believe it's just over a month now until Baby T comes along...

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

March Already

I can't believe it's already March. Seems like time alternates between flying by so quickly you can't catch a breath, and crawling so slowly it's worse than watching paint dry.

Anyway, here's a few links to keep the March boredom away:
  • MC Hammer has a blog!
  • Homeless blogging! (NOT by MC Hammer)
  • Hilarious Something Awful Photoshops: Choose Your Own Adventures!
  • Re-Imagineering: Disney and Pixar professionals talking about "imagineering missteps" (in park design and such) and musing on the future. Given that I'm an admitted hardcore Disney-phile, I agree with a LOT of what they have to say on changes to the parks which haven't worked, what could improve things, etc. I really hope that some of this stuff catches the right ears (er, eyes).