September 2007 Archive

September 27, 2007
For those of you buying Grindhouse in 2 DVDs...
Here are the trailers, since you won't be getting them on either DVD.

Werewolf Women of the SS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPW38lz6Sz0

Don't
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxAgXJbami8

Machete
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0BqmzYAwEU

Thanksgiving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFmEI6g2UrA
I'll be stubbornly waiting for a theatrical release before I buy the DVDs. Bishes.
Posted by Karabou at 9:28 PM EST
Top

September 24, 2007
Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz
Friday, Tanya and I went to Target and did a little shopping. I got some Indian food on the way home and watched Dr. Who, while yelping things like, "Oh no you di'nt!" I stayed up much too late.

Saturday, I decided to go to the grocery, so I could just relax on Sunday. Then I headed over to Amanda's to start clearing out her basement. I made a dent in it, taking almost all of mom's Xmas kid stuff. I think there's just a handful of boxes left of that stuff. The remaining planes are going to the IT guys Kev works with. I think I might get the van this week and just load everything up and put it in our garage, so I can start going through it box by box to put it away or get rid of it.

Then, I raced off to Sara's wedding. She had a gorgeous fall day for an outdoor service. I found it amusing that the guests were sitting underneath a walnut tree that was doing its best to pelt people with good-sized walnuts. Heh A couple of them thumped to the ground right next to the bride. And as the ceremony was nearing the end, I was attacked by a rappelling, albino spider…well, nearly. It dropped down about an inch behind my left shoulder and scared the shit out of me. Luckily, one of the photographers was standing behind me, grabbed the thread, and tossed him in the grass far, far away.

I gave my congrats, and when they went off to do their family pics, I decided to take my leave. I didn't know anyone else at the wedding, except for one of the photographers, and she was just a little busy documenting one of the happiest days of their lives. And I'm not going to hover around them, monopolizing their time, either. It was a pleasure to attend, and I wish them both the best. They're a perfect match, and I wish them all the happiness in the world.

Afterwards, I stopped by mom's to drop off the car load of Xmas kid stuff. I got home just in time for Torchwood, which I'd like to say was better than the first two episodes. Capt. Jack is such a slut.

Yesterday, we saw Resident Evil. It was fine, exactly what I expected. …pretty much the same as the other two but better than the 2nd one. And I sat around catching up on Tivo all afternoon. Yeeha.Posted by Karabou at 9:28 PM EST
Top

September 19, 2007
You pulled a Ranjit...
Last night, we took Ranjit to BW-3's. Kev's coworkers were in charge of planning the night, and they were under the assumption that B-dubs still had karaoke and Guitar Hero 2 on Tuesday nights. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), B-dubs no longer has either event going on. So instead, we ate, and Kev's co-worker Kim did Tequila shots with Ranjit (at Ranjit's urging), and then a group of them went off to drink and play pool after dinner.

We're old and feeble, so we passed on the pool…and the drinking. I'm still having a lot of trouble sleeping, and staying out late and getting drunk really isn't conducive. One surprising fact about alcohol--it INCREASES anxiety. You would think a depressant would do just the opposite. But trust me, it does, indeed, increase anxiety. /sigh That, and it makes my asthma turn to shit. So it has to be a damn good reason for me to drink anymore.

But Ranjit apparently doesn't have the same tolerance as Kim, since she was at work bright, early, and squirrelly, and he was laying in his hotel room, still hungover. He apparently hasn't learned the American method of calling in sick to work because he told the boss that he'd had too much to drink and wasn't coming in till around 1pm. *cough* The proper excuse he should have given is, "Your greasy American food must not have agreed with me, so I will be in a little later once I feel better." See? Perfect excuse. Instead, the boss was pissed, and Kim was concerned she'd be blamed for getting him drunk, even though it was Ranjit that was asking to do shots.

And although he's an arranged-married man, he was hitting on the bartender all night. Lol I'd have loved to have seen that.

But boring me, I went home and watched Hollyoaks and then dug up some clips of the Doctor Who Comedy Relief Sketches, which are h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s.

I was able to sleep a whole 20 minutes before my eyes clicked open, and I felt like someone injected me with liquid cocaine. Sweet progress. I'm getting there.

Zen had projectile vomited all over the bed when I got home Monday. And yes, I can tell which cat it was by the type of puke. Normally, there's just a few little piles around the food bowl, but I think his head spun around for maximum coverage this time. There was puke on every blanket from the foot of the bed almost all the way up to my pillow. So I decided to just shut the bedroom door in the mornings because this WILL be a regular occurrence if I don't. He learned at the apartment to stop doing it because I would chuck (no pun intended) him into the air across the room when I heard him heaving. But, we're in a new place, so the old rules no longer apply.

Kev said Zen sat outside my door and yowled the entire time he was getting ready for work. And when I got home last night and opened the bedroom door, he bolted in, stalked around indignantly, and then stalked out like he showed that room who was in charge. This morning, he decided it would be a good idea to run into my room and hide under the bed as I was getting dressed. So I shut the door anyway. (The only thing he hates more than being locked out is being locked in.) Ten minutes later, he was yowling to be let out, and when I opened the door, he hesitated because he knew it was going to shut behind him. Reluctantly, he slithered out but decided to sit and yell at the door afterwards. Nobody said he was smart.

Tonight, I'm going to try yoga again for the first time in about a year. I'll be trying the easy beginner's class and see how I do. I'm not going to push myself, and I've learned my limitations in the gym. It would go a long way to help me relax, though. So I'm willing to give it a shot.Posted by Karabou at 4:28 PM EST
Top

September 18, 2007
Things...
Hmmm.

Lots of things.

Friday was Sara's bachelorette party. I felt bad that Amanda and I were the only ones able to make it. But we made the best of it and had a good time at the Foundry. I'll get pics from Sara after the wedding; we decided to finish out the disposable cameras then. Thank you to Leah for making the night memorable with the Lollicock. Good times, there.

Saturday, I crawled out of bed around 11am (latest I've slept in ages), and we took Ranjit, Kev's work associate visiting from India, to a Mexican Restaurant and the Dayton Art Institute. The DAI is going to have an exhibition of Roman artifacts and art later this month that I'm salivating over. I can't wait to see it. Ranjit was friendly, and we briefly discussed yoga and some of the Hindu saints, but I felt totally out of my depth talking with someone who'd obviously grown up a Hindu. He'd probably feel the same way discussing Catholicism with me. But he was interesting.

We got home around 6:30pm and told the guys to come over. I watched the second episode of Torchwood, which I'm still hoping turns into a good show. So far, I just want to slap the main girl until she thinks with more than her brain stem. She must have been London's Worst. Cop. Ever. if you were to judge her by her idiotic actions thus far. Why do they have to make female characters stupid and weak? I do love that Capt. Jack will shag anything if it's beautiful. Heh I believe he was described as an omni-sexual in his first appearance on Dr. Who.

Sunday, I laid around, mowed the lawn, killed some weeds, and contemplated what colors I want to paint the bathroom. I'm still undecided, and I need to get a move on. I need to have the majority of the bathroom painted before we begin the renovation, so that I can just paint the areas that will have some dry wall work and behind the sink and toilet. Over the tub can wait till it's done.

Upstairs, will be an undertaking next year, I think. We can just throw plastic over the PCs when we're ready and paint it. It's a dungeon up there. Who thought it a good idea to paint a low-ceiling room in dark blue? No matter how much light you have up there, it's like a cave.

Monday, we had dinner with the Parkers at City BBQ. Then I came home and watched all my Hollyoaks episodes online. It kills me they stopped airing them on TV. /grumble. I also found out last night that our friend, Dr. Bob, is being shipped to Iraq. Keep him in your thoughts, prayers, circles, whatever, that he makes it back home. All of our enlisted docs at work have all done multiple tours. I'm amazed Bob wasn't called up before now. I was kind of in shock over it last night, and this morning I was a bit sniffy thinking about it. Dr. Bob is good people, and we already miss him being stationed halfway across the US, much less halfway across the world in hell. I'll have his military email if anyone wants to talk to him. My thoughts go out to his wife who will remain stationed in Colorado without him.

Ugh.
Posted by Karabou at 9:37 PM EST
Top

September 11, 2007
So today is 9/11...
Where was I? Toronto, packing my bags to take the bus to the airport to come home. I switched on the radio in Toronto Mike's living room while I got ready. Howard Stern was going on about planes hitting buildings, and we both said out loud, "That's so not funny." We looked at eat other and both ran to the TV and flipped on CNN. The buildings were smoking. It was chaos. I was stunned.

I called Kev and one of the wayward boys sleeping on the couch answered the phone. I told him to get Kevin up no matter what, he told me to calm down, and I screamed at him to get Kev on the phone NOW. I told them to turn on CNN. I sobbed. I wasn't coming home; I didn't know when I would be able to. What the hell was going on?

The Pentagon was in flames. The towers fell. More chaos. The borders were closed, indefinitely. Airports were completely shut down and flooded with people. I spoke to my dad, and he suggested maybe I should get to the airport and just wait around for them to reopen. I told him it was a bad idea. They were already talking about how there'd be a 3-day backlog of flyers and not enough room for people to even sit to sleep when night came. Why sit at the airport alone when I could at least be with friends?

The day is hazy. At some point, I called the border patrol and asked when the borders would reopen. They told me they already had, but everyone was being searched, so expect a wait between 5-10 hours. I decided to go to the Greyhound station and see if the busses were running again. My friend had left for work, but they sent everyone home, shutting down the entire downtown for fear attacks would be there next. I told him I'd meet him at the station, though I really had no idea where I was going or how the bus system worked.

The subway was dead silent. You could have heard a blade of grass hit the floor. An older woman looked at me from across the train and said in a thick British accent, "Are you an American?" I nodded. If I spoke, words weren't going to come out. She asked if I was going to the bus station. I nodded again. She moved over and sat next me; I was standing near the door with a large duffle bag squeezed between my feet and a heavy backpack slung over my shoulders. The train kept stopping and starting. She explained that they were sweeping for bombs. "It happened everyday in London during the height of the NRA terror campaign. You never knew if your train was going to blow up or not," she said calmly. She was unfazed. She and her husband moved to Toronto to escape all that. And now, here she was, on a train being swept for bombs.

Somehow, I wasn't afraid of blowing up in a train in Toronto. "WTF would terrorists want with Canadians?" I chuckled inwardly. The train finally rolled to a stop in the station, and the lady stood up and told me to follow her. She navigated through whatever mall the station emptied into (I swear there's like 50) and took me to a bus stop. She gave me bus fare and told me what stop to exit the bus and directions to the Greyhound station from there. When I got on the bus, she told the bus driver, "You have an American girl on board who's trying to get home. Tell her to get off at stop." I wish I had gotten her name. I just wish I could thank her in person, just once. She has no idea how much she meant to me that day.

He nodded, and I sat on the bus, red-eyed, exhausted, and unsure if this was even going to work. Downtown was a ghost town. A couple of people were on the bus, staring at me. One of them finally asked where I was from, and I told him briefly that I was just trying to get home. The bus driver told me it was my stop, and he told me how to get to the Greyhound station again. As I walked toward my destination, I saw Toronto Mike & Kyle walking in ahead of me. I picked up the pace and met them inside. Approaching the counter, I was told no busses were running to the States because the borders were closed. I told them I had just spoken to the border patrol and that the borders were, in fact, open. Could they please call them and get an update.

No luck. Rather than saying they were banned from transporting anyone across the border, they insisted the borders were closed. /sigh Dejected, Mike and Kyle walked me back to the apartment. I accepted that I may be trapped there for a few days. Unfortunately, my budget for the trip was exhausted, and I hadn't eaten all day. But the guys took care of me.

Around 9:45pm, Radek, one of the Toronto group, called and said to have me out front and ready to go in 15 minutes. He was driving me to Windsor, and from there, Mike had already arranged for me to stay at the house of a friend of his and her family. I was sick the entire 4-hour trip but, thankfully, slept most of it. The guys dropped me off, and I slept on a couch her parents had made up for me. I couldn't even think. I certainly didn't sleep.

The sun finally broke through the curtains, and I could hear stirring in the kitchen. Mel and her grandmother were making breakfast. I shuffled out into the living room and watched CNN like a zombie. Mel's grandmother scolded me and told me to turn it off and eat some breakfast. She didn't speak terribly fluent English, but I got the gist of what she was saying. Mel helped me load everything into the car; she said there was a 4-5 hour wait at the border, but she knew a shortcut. As we left her subdivision and crossed the highway that runs north out of Windsor, traffic was backed up for over 100 miles in a solid line heading south. I've never seen anything like it.

Mel punched the accelerator, and we started driving down back alleys and over a sidewalk or two to get around traffic. Her mad driving skillz got us right up to the tunnel entrance in about 15 minutes, and it took another 45 minutes to get through the tunnel. When we pulled up to the guard shack, they were searching every single car and person. I told the guy that if he wanted to throw my underwear in the air like confetti, I didn't mind. I just wanted to go home. He laughed; at 11am, it'd already been a long day for him.

Kev had gotten up at 4am and driven to Detroit to wait for me. He sat in the parking lot of a McDonald's with bullet proof glass and no inside dining. Peachy. Gotta love Detroit. I only had Mel's cell phone, and Kev's mom had given him hers. The only problem was Kev's mom's cell phone couldn't receive calls, only make them. So it became a tag team effort of relaying messages to Kev's mom, and she would wait for Kev to call in and get them. He finally found us, thanked Mel, and we left. Immediately.

In the middle of the outrage and misery of that day and those that followed, the kindness of strangers held everything together. There are good people in this world; it's just unfortunate they don't shine until something tragic happens. I know that none of them will read this, but thank you. Thank you for everything you did for me and everyone else when hell visited earth.
Posted by Karabou at 12:00 AM EST
Top

September 11, 2007
The Great Flood Theory and bad arguments in general
So the other night, I was watching Good Eats, and Alton Brown was driving through a salt mine, explaining how salt deposits were formed. A friend who happened to be visiting said, "Salt mines are proof against the worldwide great flood theory." I looked at him blankly for a second. He tried to explain further that "salt dissolves in water, so if the world flooded, all the salt would have dissolved, and there wouldn't be any salt deposits to mine."

Okay, there's only one giant hilarious problem with that. When salt dissolves in water, it doesn't cease to exist. Water is not salt's anti-matter. Matter doesn't cease to exist. Ever. It just changes form. I thought they taught this theory in grade school. At least, that's when I learned it.

When salt dissolves in water, it MIXES with the water. The salt in the ocean still exists. And when oceans evaporate salt deposits are left behind. The Dead Sea is so dense with salt, small pebbles will float on its surface. And where the water has evaporated there (global warming the presumed culprit) massive salt deposits have been left behind. The salt hasn't ceased to exist.

And if you want to argue the opposite, "well, there AREN'T salt deposits all over everything!" then maybe you should examine when in history this "worldwide" flood occurred. Just because it's considered "worldwide" doesn't mean the oceans covered the ENTIRE earth, every square inch. When the Mississippi floods, it doesn't flood with salt water in Iowa. The civilized world in ancient times was a very small place. If North America were to flood, it'd be almost all fresh water from within.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a proponent of the flood theory. But I'm also not going to sit here and say it didn't happen. I wasn't alive then, and I certainly didn't exist everywhere at every second. However, just because you call yourself a skeptic, doesn't mean you are one--or that you're more intelligent for considering yourself a skeptic. A true skeptic questions both sides, not just the side they don't want to believe. A true skeptic doesn't take sides. After all, unless you are omniscient, you will never, EVER know the truth of ANY matter. So how can you say one thing is right over another with true certainty?
Posted by Karabou at 12:00 AM EST
Top

September 10, 2007
3:10 to the Zodiac Pathfinder
Friday, I stayed and watched 3:10 to Yuma after doing trailer checks. I certainly wouldn't call it "movie of the year" as some critics have--I've seen better, but I've seen worse. However, there were some really cool parts to the movie, things that made me yelp and nearly yell, "HOLY SHIT!" Definitely worth a rent and probably worth seeing on the big screen if you like westerns. Christian Bale needs to eat a sandwich. Or three. And Russell Crowe…I just don't know how I feel about you anymore. I suspect you're just smirking your way through it all without any effort. Like Mel Gibson.

We watched Zodiac Thursday night. And while it was very long, it was also very entertaining. If I can feel the length of a movie, it's usually not a good thing. But the plot and storyline kept a steady pace. I'm also not a fan of bursts of suspense and resolution. Fincher did it right with Zodiac. Jake seems to play semi-retarded people very well. Hmmmm. And Mark Ruffalo…he just can't do "angry." Ever. Anthony, that was a mighty fine wig.

Last weekend, we watched Pathfinder. LOLZ It was First Blood with Vikings, who for some reason were wearing plate armor. ?? Very bad. We MST3K'd it.Posted by Karabou at 10:54 PM EST
Top

September 5, 2007
The long, hard sigh
DirecTV finally showed up last night. But when the guy got there, he had an order for an "upgrade" and not an installation for a change of address. /sigh

Thankfully, the type of dish we needed was already installed, though I can see that being a lie, since I didn't bother to double check it yet. But we'll see. I had to immediately get on the phone and wait for 10 minutes to talk to someone and explain that they screwed up yet again. Several of the service reps I had talked to Friday and Saturday had also said "upgrade," and I always corrected them. But for some reason, they didn't feel the need to enter that change in the system.

I even called the 800-Way-U-Move number when I scheduled the appointment. Just stupid. But the service tech said he could stick around for 20-25 minutes if I could get someone to get the order changed. He has to have the correct billing ID number to get reimbursed, and I completely understand that. It's the same with medical billing, so I have no gripes about his restrictions. I get it.

Once I got someone on the phone, he went ahead and started getting things ready, and then I had to be transferred to "the moving department" because apparently only they can generate this activity number he had to have changed. The service guy had the job done before I even had the number changed. I thanked him for hanging around and not making us reschedule AGAIN. He was a nice guy.

Man. DirecTV is awesome when it's hooked up and running properly. But god forbid you try to move your service or have it installed. Good luck with that.

We were pissed to find out that the sellers drilled a hole in the hard wood floor in the living room to run a coaxial cable. Idiot do-it-yourselfers. There's a difference between doing it yourself and doing it right. If you can't put in the extra effort to not hack up everything, don't bother. Doing something half-assed isn't worth doing at all.
Posted by Karabou at 6:53 PM EST
Top

September 4, 2007
Trucks and driving down back country roads
I've been waffling on the living room rug I wanted to buy. I think I'm going to go with this one instead:


I'm taking my chances and ordering another rug. At least this time, if it doesn't match the red door, I can just take it back to the store. Guess we'll see...
Posted by Karabou at 6:02 PM EST
Top

September 3, 2007
And I thought Vectren was bad...
Okay, I've got some MacGuyver thing going on just to have one working computer that I did this morning because I can't take not having the internets anymore. After Kev reassured me that there are phone jacks upstairs...there aren't any. And none of the ones in the basement work. They might be on another phone line and just need switched, but we'll see. So now I have to have the phone company come out AGAIN and one of us will have to take time off work AGAIN. /sigh

And don't even get me started on DirecTV. They never showed up. The piece of sh*t service technician didn't even have the decency to lie and say he showed up and we weren't here. He just didn't show up or bother with the appointment at all. After speaking to 8 different customer service reps between 6:30pm Friday (when I was assured they were still definitely coming) and 4pm Saturday (when the local office finally returned my 2 insanely bitchy messages, 37 calls, and one reprimanding message from the DirecTV main office that I listened to as the CSR left it), I was finally told that they would have to reschedule the appointment for Tuesday. I asked her if someone was going to bother showing up this time because I was really pissed I had to take off work AGAIN. She assured me that she had "emailed the supervisors" and that they would "follow this job" to ensure it gets done. We'll see. But apparently, the local office gets fined $100/day past the original appointment they screw up on. So I'm hoping some cockface is out $500 from his next paycheck.

"Pissed" doesn't encompass what I was experiencing Friday night. I wasted my entire Friday evening either on hold or sitting around waiting, as I was repeatedly assured they were going to show up. I am LIVID I missed the season finale of Jekyll Saturday, and someone's head is still going to roll for that one. The only upside is that I get at least one $100 credit for the jackass missing my appointment. I plan to call on Tuesday and demand at least one more because I was assured that if they didn't show up Friday, they would DEFINITELY show up Saturday. Right.

So we'll see if anyone shows up tomorrow. If you hear of a small atomic explosion in Kettering tomorrow, you'll know they didn't show up, and I imploded in a ball of rage.

But the house is coming along. We're almost done at least getting things to the proper rooms. I still haven't done my room because I don't think I want the furniture that's in there.

Anyone interested in an entertainment center? It's in good condition, kind of medium-light wood, and of good size. It's just too big for my bedroom.

I don't know how much more bad network TV I can take. I spent most of the weekend watching women's tennis and PBS. Why, oh why, is network TV so horrible? I have seen the stupidest ads for new shows this weekend. I think my favorite is "Cane." Because everyone I know is dying to know what the exciting life of a sugar cane plantation owner is like. That and the new vampire private detective show. Why can't they just bring back Nick Knight and get it over with.
Whew!
Just got back from Lowes a little bit ago. Mom came down, and we bought a sink, toilet, bathtub, bathtub wall kit, and mirror unit for the bathroom. The bad news, the tub we bought is too big. We'll have to special order one 6" smaller. /sigh And we still have to pick up the vinyl tile since the tile is the first thing you have to put down. But in a month or so, our bathroom should be totally re-done, except maybe for some paint. Woot.
Posted by Karabou at 9:54 PM EST
Top