Friday

The trip up to the Bay Area went just about as smoothly as I've ever seen it. I had ticketless travel and no bags to check, just two carry-on items, so getting into the airport was pretty fast. Once inside, the line for security was a mile long, but eventually they were able to sufficiently scrutinize my sneakers. Then I had to go up the escalator in my socks, since there weren't benches enough for everyone to put their footwear back on. Oh, and the men's room was closed for renovations. But there were two teeny-tiny substitute lavatories way back down under the stairs in a grim employees' area. Upon seeing them, I decided I'd rather go once I was on the plane, thank you.

Once I arrived in Oakland, I went to pick up the rental car and was nearly charged for four days of use instead of two. Fortunately, that was easily straightened out, and I was soon on my way to the East Bay. In early rush-hour traffic.

All right, so perhaps the getting there wasn't all that smooth after all. And no sooner did I check into the motel than was I bothered by work. Fortunately, it was something utterly trivial. No sooner was that concluded than did my uncle show up, so we went to a chain diner across the street and had burgers. And no sooner did we finish that than did my aunt show up and recruit the both of us into making party favors.

Saturday

I set out to buy some new dress shoes, since the ones I had were so beat up I that I didn't bother to bring them. So, after a bagel and an odd cherry-flavored coffee, I ended up going to Wal-Mart, since that was what was in the neighborhood, and I did find a pair of shoes that would do if nobody looked at them too closely. I also picked up a set of instant shoe-shine wipes and a pack of batteries, but those somehow didn't make it into my bag. I didn't notice this until well after I got back to my motel. Arrgh! I swore (profusely) never to return to that store again. But...

When I went to go pick up my brothers and my Dad from their hotel, it turned out that my youngest brother didn't even have a dress shirt. And since that particular Wal-Mart was the only store (that we knew of) in the area that sold clothing...

Anyway, we made it to my cousin's wedding just in time. I've only been to a handful of weddings, but this one had the most elaborate ceremony (I'm glad I thought to put on sunscreen), the most elegant venue, and the most guests I've ever seen. The food at the reception was pretty darn good, too. I even made an attempt at dancing.

Sunday

My family decided to meet for breakfast before we all went our separate ways again. When we discovered that a plate of eggs was $26 at the hotel restaurant, we decided to go to Denny's instead. After the meal I still had about an hour before I had to return to Oakland, so my brothers and I went to a nearby park for a bit before saying our goodbyes.

My trip back to San Diego went a bit less smoothly than the trip to Oakland. Not only were the terror screeners being particularly meticulous, I had the worst $10 turkey sandwich. First of all, it was actually tuna salad. Then, for some reason the sandwich maker put lettuce on both sides of the sandwich, which caused the filling to slither out from between the slices of bread like some sort of alien embryo.

On the way home from the airport, I stopped and saw the new Mummy movie. The theater was practically empty, a bad sign. I wouldn't say the movie was bad, but it certainly wasn't what I'd call great. Another bad sign was that people actually laughed at the "Please be quiet during the movie" announcement. It seemed like everybody in that theater was talking. I know, because I changed seats to get away from one group of blabbermouths, only to end up next to the bozo that answered his cell phone during the movie. I'm never going to the Mission Valley 20 theater again.

Monday

Monday was supposed to be the recovery from travel day, but interrupted by more utter trivia. *sigh* But something good did come out of Monday, and that was that the return shipping carton for my red-ringed 360 finally arrived. I packed up the 360 and took it to the UPS store. The clerk there seemed to know exactly what I was dropping off. "How many times have you sent it back?"

"This is the second time," I said.

"Okay. I know some people have sent theirs back three, sometimes even five times."

At least I still have the Wii, right?

They say that if you go to bars to meet people, you'll meet people that like to hang out in bars. If you want to meet people that enjoy, oh I don't know, square dancing, then you should go to a square dance. I don't particularly like hanging out in bars or square dancing, but I do enjoy a casual board game— I've got a closet full of them— so I went to The Center for their monthly game night. And, guess what? I had a fun time and met a bunch of nice people. I am so going again next month.

In the meantime, I'm packing my bags for a trip to the Bay Area this weekend. I'll be spectating at a wedding rather than taking a real vacation, which as I am sure you will agree, I am long overdue. But, my brother and his daughter will be there and it will be nice to spend some time with them. And then after that, it will be back to the daily grind. Whee!

I went out to run some errands this afternoon. My first stop was the post office, to mail off a book to a new reader. However, something wasn't quite right. The self-serve postal meter was stuck loading Windows XP.

 

The caution tape around the broken kiosk was a nice touch. As if to say "we don't know what this damn thing will do next." Anyway, I did what any sensible person would, I threw a tantrum and demanded to see the manager. Just kidding. I bought a big glob of stamps from the old-fashioned stamp vending machine, and went about my business. But then, when I went to the bookstore, I saw another malfunctioning kiosk, this one running Windows 98.

At this point, I was kicking myself for not bringing my real camera. However, it wasn't until I got home that the kicking began in earnest. Kicking, screaming, and a bit of thrashing about on the floor. You see, I thought a nice session of Rock Band would finish out the busy day nicely. But when I fired up the 360, I got some bad news.

Meaning: "I'm sorry, you'll have to get a new one."

"Whoooo's my little burnie-wurnie pooh-pooh? Yoooou are! Yes, yoooou are!"

You Are 81% Burned Out

You are extremely burned out. You work too hard, and you're not getting the results you deserve. It's time for a life change, as soon as you can manage it. You're giving away most of your energy to something you don't even enjoy.

("Something you don't even enjoy" is not the blog, if you were wondering.)

Well, it was fun while it lasted. In fact, it was like a month of holidays, almost. I think almost every weekend this month had some kind of festivities. So, were July a roller coaster, I'd be giggling and begging to go again.

After a nap, of course.

Today we gathered ourselves together once more and made our way to the Convention Center. We attended the second Cartoon Voices panel, and the actors (Billy West, Katie Leigh, Cheryl Chase, Dee Baker and Chris Edgerly) gave a good panel. Their reading of the script was a bit more restrained than that of the previous day's panel. I think this was partly because Sunday was more or less a kids' day, and it was partly because of both the energy created by Chuck McCann, and the chemistry of the previous panel. After the panel ended, we wandered the convention floor one last time. I bought a Red Robot shirt from Dumbrella so I wouldn't be leaving empty-handed. Then, we left.

For your viewing pleasure, the few pictures that weren't too dark or embarrassingly blurry are in this photo set.

My overall impressions? Well, I'll try not to be influenced by the slightly negative post that I read over at Blogography. However, I will cheerfully admit that he's completely right about all of it. For now, let's just set aside the issue of crowds and crowd management. The Comic-Con, this year, kind of reminds me of an MMORPG. In theory, you are having fun. However, much of your time is spent on the grind in order to get to the point in which you can do something interesting. Experienced players may know ways to bypass some of the grind, but as that knowledge spreads through the player base, everyone will have to start doing things that way or they won't get anywhere. Eventually, the game designers become aware of this and actually cater content toward this style of play.

Yesterday, for example, both the Joe Michael Straczynski and TV Guide Presents panels had a captive audience waiting to see the Mythbusters, and the day before that, the XBOX Live Original Content panel had a captive audience waiting to see the Venture Brothers panel. Now, don't get me wrong, the producers and writers on all of those panels were interesting people and had a lot of interesting material and ideas to share. However, one can't help but wonder how TV Guide and Microsoft both got the panels showcasing their upcoming programming to be scheduled just before two popular panels and not, say, at the same time as those panels. Hmm. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Anyway, back to the analogy. If there's one MMORPG that this year's Comic-Con reminds me of, it's City of Villains. As I've said in the past, aside from the new costume bits and the fact that you get to rob a bank once or twice, it's not that different from its predecessor.

Don't get me wrong. I had a really interesting weekend and I encourage anybody who is interested to attend at least once. I'll probably go again next year, too, but I think that perhaps I'll try and make things really interesting— by going in costume and attending the famous masquerade party.

This was my second full day at the San Diego Comic-Con. I joined up with my adventuring party just a wee bit late to even think of being on time to the Futurama panel, so instead we got pancakes at a nice little neighborhood restaurant I know. We then boarded the trolley, which was soon filled to capacity, and returned to the Convention Center.

As all of yesterday was spent attending panels, I planned to spend some time today on the convention floor. But first, I wanted to see the Cartoon Voices panel. I saw one year before last and it was almost worth the price of admission alone. This year, there was no almost. Gregg Berger, Alyson Packard, Phil Lamarr, Wally Wingert, Chuck McCann, and Keith Ferguson did a reading of an old Superman radio show with such fantastic delivery and brilliant ad-libs that had the audience literally in tears. There will be another Cartoon Voices panel tomorrow (although with six other actors) so I'll return for that if nothing else.

After that, I did go to the convention center floor, which seemed to be even more crowded than ever. I bought a couple of tee shirts and met an actor from Torchwood. But soon, it was about time to go back upstairs and camp out in Room 6B. Our patience was eventually rewarded when the Mythbusters panel began. Apparently, Adam Savage had been walking around the convention floor in a Hellboy costume for most of the day. This leads me to wonder how many of those stormtroopers wandering around might actually be incognito celebrities?

After that, it was pretty much time to go home.

Today was the first full day I spent at the San Diego Comic-Con, and as I predicted, I did spend most all of it listening to actors talk. And, as I predicted, I am still pleased with this outcome.

Although we got off to a late start, my adventuring party eventually made it out the door, to a 7-11 for last-minute snacks, and then to Qualcomm Stadium, where we boarded the trolley for the Convention Center. Once there, we went immediately to the Stargate Continuum panel, and arrived in time to hear Richard Dean Anderson explain what happens when one goes to the bathroom in subzero temperatures. Hint: things freeze. We then waited through the Stargate Worlds MMORPG presentation (note to self: sign up for the beta test) to see the Stargate Atlantis panel. The Atlantis panel members were asked how working on Atlantis compared to other sci-fi shows. Robert Picardo said that Star Trek took itself far more seriously and never allowed any "winking at the fourth wall." Jewel Staite said that unlike Firefly, "this one doesn't get canceled."

We then sat and waited for the Ghost Hunters panel, only to learn that the lead investigators wouldn't be able to attend. Rather than canceling the panel, the Sci-Fi network brought in investigators from the spin-off, Ghost Hunters International, so the time spent waiting wasn't totally wasted. We also saw previews of some short films that will be distributed via the XBOX Live Marketplace. The interesting thing is, the films are comedies made by well-known horror directors. But, are horror and comedy really that far separated? Most of the panelists thought not. I would agree, and point to works such as The Twilight Zone, many of whose stories are practically jokes.

The panel mayhem continued with Venture Brothers. The show's creator revealed that a fourth season of the series was already being planned. After that, I went to see Larry Marder talk about the revivification of his Beanworld stories. Tales from the Beanworld ran for about twenty issues and was last published in the early Nineties. The company publishing the books folded, and the Beanworld went on a long hiatus, leaving many, many questions unanswered. First among my questions is, what was the horrible event that left the Beanworld in the state in which we found it? We'll have to wait until early next year, when the first new Beanworld stories will be published.

By this point, my adventuring party was pooped and cranky, so we went home and watched Doctor Who.

I didn't get to go to the 'Con today, but this evening I did go to a special San Diego Symphony concert: Video Games Live. I've wanted to attend one of these shows ever since I found out about them. So when I found out there would be a show tonight, I knew I had to go.

The venue was quite pleasant, an outdoor stage in a park on the harbor. The symphony and choir, I thought, did well considering how unorthodox the show must have been compared to their usual performances. There was one young lady in the choir whose face appeared on the big screen during the performance of One Winged Angel. In contrast to the serious faces of the others, hers was smiling and enthusiastic, and I can only wonder whether she, too, is a fan.

The audience was treated to music from Final Fantasy, Civilization, Warcraft, Halo, Tron, Zelda and Mario. Speaking of which, the blindfolded Nintendo pianist was there, and he played a Final Fantasy medley as well as the Super Mario tunes that he became known for. The winner of a Guitar hero contest held just before the show, and the winner was invited onstage for another round, this time accompanied by the entire orchestra. He was awarded a shiny new laptop. Finally, a Castlevania tribute was played accompanied by fireworks launched from a nearby boat.

I'm happy that I went. There were a few times during the day that I almost changed my mind, and I'm glad I didn't do that.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Yes, it's the most wonderful time of the year...

You guessed it: the 'Con is in town.

Last night a friend was annoyed with my complaining kind enough to drive me to the all-night Walgreens for a bottle of Solarcaine. And to Denny's.

Today we saw the new Batman movie. It was refreshing to see another take on the Joker besides the giggling maniac we've all seen on TV. The effects used to create the appearance of Harvey Dent were pretty impressive, also. On the minus side, it almost seems like they forgot to put nose holes in Christian Bale's mask. He sounds a little congested or something in a few scenes. And if that's my only complaint (other than the typical dramatic license taken with the laws of physics, as is to be expected,) then this must have been a good movie.

I devoted the rest of the day to clutter reduction. All I really accomplished was to partially clear off my desktop. There's still clutter all around my desktop, all along the bar dividing the kitchen from the living room, throughout the living room itself, and with a foothold on the dining room table. Part of this is due to having an uninvited houseguest, but as for the majority of it, I've come to the conclusion that there's too much stuff that doesn't have a place to go other than where it already is, and of course that is in the way of something else, or maybe supporting a pile of something else, or both. I think it's time to just get rid of the stuff that has no purpose other than to get underfoot, and to get rid of the stuff that does nothing but occupy space in the closet (space that should be occupied by useful stuff), and to devise some sort of rational storage system for everything else.

Today, I consumed: one cup of coffee with sugar and milk and a pair of pop tarts; two fish tacos, chips and refried beans, and a Negra Modelo; a blended iced coffee from the indie coffee shop; a bowl of Tuna Helper; a pudding, and a fudgesickle. I think I could have done without the pop tarts, the beer, the blended coffee, the "helper" part of the Tuna Helper, the pudding, and the fudgesickle. Yeah, none of my pants are going to fit at this rate.

I was just looking over the schedule for the Comic-Con next weekend and there are a bazillion panels I'd love to go to. The Mythbusters are going to be there! The Ghost Hunters are going to be there! The Venture Brothers, Futurama, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate (Atlantis and SG1) will all be there. Even Torchwood will be there, but I probably won't be able to go that day. It's going to be great, even if all I do for three days is sit in different auditoriums and listen to actors talk.

Tomorrow should be fun also. Like every year, I'll go down to Balboa Park to watch the parade and take a few pictures, wander around the pride festival for a while, and then most likely I'll just go back home and take a nap or do something equally as boring. I suppose it would be different if I had friends who were interested in such things, but most of the people I know in person would a) feel too out of place, b) not see the point of the activity, c) prefer to play video games, or d) never be invited by myself in the first place. C'est la vie.

Today, though otherwise unremarkable, was the Hump of July. Were July a rollercoaster, the ratcheting would have just stopped and the passengers would just barely be beginning to draw in breath for that first scream of terror and delight. The coaster would then dive and zoom around a sharp turn this weekend, then coast up a small hill before going through a loop-de-loop next weekend. Then the coaster will pull into the station, and after disembarking, the passengers will either giggle with joy, or barf. Or both.

When nobody's around, your old hardware sings a sad song...

Big Ideas (don't get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.

Says the video's creator,

Radiohead held an online contest to remix "Nude" from their album - "In Rainbows" This was quite a difficult task for everybody that entered, as Nude is in 6/8 timing, and 63bpm. Most music that's played in clubs is around 120bpm and usually 4/4 timing. It's pretty difficult to seamlessly mix a waltz beat into a DJ set. ... Based on the lyric (and alternate title) "Big Ideas: Don't get any" I grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they're trying their best to do something that they're not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there.

Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 9:49 PM
Categories: misc, video
| | Permalink

Satuday's Random Thoughts

Today, I consumed: 1 cup of coffee, with sugar and milk; a pair of peanut butter wafer bars; one peach; a Fudgesickle; a plate of chow mein, black pepper chicken and "beijing beef"; two colas; two corn dogs; 1/4 of a "Freezee" with M&M's ; and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I eat pretty badly, don't I? Or don't I?

There's no easter egg at the end of Hellboy II, so you don't need to stay through the credits. Just go, so the theater staff can clean up all your litter and let in the next audience on time, rather than making the audience mill around in the lobby for twenty minutes. Better yet, take your greasy popcorn tub, your vat of melted ice, and your candy wrappers back out with you so the staff doesn't have to spend twenty minutes cleaning up.

I'll probably never get beyond the Easy setting on Rock Band's guitar mode. I can't seem to muster the dexterity in my little finger to hit the blue notes, let alone the brown notes. But, you may ask, you type, don't you? Isn't that basically the same motion? Well, yes and no. Despite my grandmother's wishes, I never really subscribed to the Right And Proper School Of Touch Typing. I'm also no one-fingered hunter-and-pecker. Instead, I practice what I call the Tyrannosaurus Style of typing. That is, I use primarily the thumb, index, and middle fingers, although the ring finger is used for keys around the periphery of the keyboard, such as a and z. I really only use the pinky in conjunction with the ring finger to hit keys like Shift, Ctrl, Enter, Backspace, etc. I may not reach professional typists' blazing speeds with this technique, but I type fast enough for coding, typesetting, etc. I've also been able to avoid any (noticeable) RSI, although I attrribute this more to the fact that I prefer a trackball to an ordinary mouse.

Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 11:59 PM
Edited on: Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:33 AM
Categories: food, misc
| | Permalink

Meanwhile...

Meanwhile, in Independence Day...

About the photo:

This is an unaltered image that I took with my phone. The vertical line is an artifact that often occurs when it is used to shoot bright lights, such as the setting sun here.

Posted on Friday, July 04, 2008 at 11:31 PM
Edited on: Friday, July 04, 2008 11:58 PM
Categories: misc
| | Permalink

Relaxation Complete

Were it not for labor laws, your humble host would quite likely still be slaving away over a hot computer, with only bread and water for sustenance, a keyboard for a pillow, and an anti-static mat for a bed. Thanks, Nineteenth Century! I owe you one.

Friday Night:

Get Smart

I enjoyed this film a little more than I expected to. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had as much fun at a movie. It could be because I don't find most of the comedies these days very appealing. It could be that most of them are about a) guys trying to get laid or b) ladies looking for love or c) parodies that might be funny if you've seen the exact movies parodied. I can think of only a few recent exceptions, such as Hot Fuzz. In fact, that probably was the last comedy I really enjoyed.

Saturday:

Star Trek Exhibit

On Saturday afternoon, I went to the San Diego Air and Space Museum, where a collection of costumes, set pieces, models and props from the various Star Trek series are being displayed. It was wonderful to get a chance to see these items close-up. I even sat on what I was told was the original captain's seat. The lighting in the museum in general was pretty weird, and the cases all reflected like the dickens, but I still managed to get a couple of photos. I have put them into a set which you can see by clicking below.

Dick's Last Resort

On Saturday night, I went to Dick's Last Resort to meet up with some friends that I used to work with, and to listen to some good music. I realized that as unfulfilling as the work was at my previous job, and as awful as the customers were, the people that I worked with were really special. (This conclusion might, of course, have been fueled by the large amount of beer consumed by myself.)

Sunday:

LEGO Indiana Jones

I spent most of the rest of the weekend in the one air-conditioned room of my humble domicile, playing the LEGO Indiana Jones adventures. This game is a lot like the LEGO Star Wars Trilogy, with the obvious absence of Force-using characters. Although these games can involve a lot of obsessive-compulsive loot collecting (in order to unlock extra characters and levels) they typically don't force the player to repeat one level over and over until the One True Sequence Of Button Presses can be divined.

In all, a pretty good weekend.

Posted on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 1:36 AM
Edited on: Monday, June 23, 2008 1:41 AM
Categories: misc
| | Permalink

Blah.

I'm exhausted. It sucked. And I'm never doing that again.

Not that I'm gloating or anything. Gloating is the surest way to bring about further disaster.

Posted on Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 10:25 PM
Categories: misc
| | Permalink

Thought for the Day

Sometimes it is better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.
—Terry Pratchett

Posted on Sunday, June 15, 2008 at 11:58 PM
Categories: misc
| | Permalink

Hmm.

Something's wrong if I'm ready for a vacation again already, wouldn't you say?

Posted on Monday, June 09, 2008 at 11:58 PM
Categories: misc
| | Permalink

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Name: Erik

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