For all of you out there who have not mastered the ability to find things on your own and keep coming here looking for it, I present Ginger Alexander's MySpace Page.
I don't mean to be a dick, but seriously, it took me like three minutes to find it by actually searching on MySpace. And even that is probably more time than it should have taken.
You're going to have to find her boobs on your own, though.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Long, Geeky Post Speculating About The Lovelives Of Fictional Charaters
I want to be clear that in my last post I wasn’t necessarily denigrating consumers or producers of Slash fiction. I mean, hey, it’s not my bag, but whatever.
Nor did I really intend to ridicule the person looking for some nerd on jock action – just thought the whole thing was kind of funny and deserved mentioning.
Again, if that’s your thing, who am I to judge?
Anyway, after posting, it occurred to me that earlier this morning Scott and I were engaging in a Slash-like activity.
No, not in an actual Jon/Scott way, because, first of all, serious eww, and second, we were communicating via IM, and I’ve never cybered with anyone, and if I were to start doing so it certainly wouldn’t be with Scott.
(Now Brian, on the other hand…but no, even if he is a big strapping firefighter)
No, the conversation was basically just a standard geeky one along the lines of the “who would win in a fight between x and y” conversation that is an old standby amongst comic geeks, though in this case it was about love, not war.
Specifically, we were trying to determine who would be a good romantic match for Power Girl.
It started out when Scott mentioned that Jamie had given him an Optimus Prime Mr. Potato Head to decorate his cubicle.
He made an offhand reference about what might happen between his new addition and Power Girl at night.
I suggested that if he got too grabby, PG would squeeze “Optimash” into vodka.
And that thought randomly made me start to wonder who would be a good match for PG, and we were off from there.
Among the suggestions were Guy Gardner – as a sort of “I want to degrade myself” fling – or some other Green Lantern, as having a ring that could protect you from harm would be a handy accessory when rolling in the hay with someone who can move mountains (and I’m not just talking about her “mountains”).
Kyle Rayner was dismissed immediately, because, as has been pointed out elsewhere, dating Kyle Rayner is 100% fatal, and we don’t want PG to die.
Hal Jordan’s misogyny – which is a little more subtle and paternalistic than Guy’s overt chauvinism – rules him out. PG wouldn’t put up with it for long.
Ultimately we decided that PG, while probably initially attracted to the macho (at least as macho as she is) types, but what she really needs is some sensitive soul to balance out her brash extroverted personality.
I thought Captain Marvel would be an interesting choice, and Scott pointed out that her reaction to seeing how young he is when not all Shazamed up would be priceless. I noted that he could use the “lightning attack” as foreplay. Sort of like hot candle wax for the invulnerable set.
( You can see the “lightning attack” in this video at about 2:42)
We could see her having a thing for older guys, but most of them aren’t available. Wildcat would make for a good fling, but not a relationship.
Hawkman would make for a good choice – and they apparently did have a fling recently – but his fate is too inextricably tied to that of Hawkgirl. No one can come between those two.
J’onn J’onnz is way too sensitive for her (or at least he was, pre-52), and as Scott suggested, their first major fight would send him off on an Oreo binge.
Nightwing was ruled out, as there’s too much bad blood between PG and Oracle already.
Besides, in previous versions of continuity, the adult Dick Grayson was hooked up with Huntress, who was PG’s best friend, and with the whole turning things backwards (but with a modern twist ™) approach DC is taking, that might once again be the status quo soon enough.
Running out of ideas, I suggested that if she wanted to play for the other team, Kendra Saunders, the current Hawkgirl, would be her ideal match. Their equally fiery personalities might clash, but when they make up…damn!
Of course, the problem there is, once again, the inextricable link between the Hawks.
Finally, I hit on what I think is the best choice: Cyborg.
Vic Stone is smart, macho, yet surprisingly sensitive, durable, and, if need be, repairable.
Plus, added bonus: special attachments.
Of course, the funniest moment came when the image of Lobo donkey punching PG popped unbidden into my head. That pretty much sums up how that pairing would go.
Anyway, that was the geeky way we spent a significant portion of our morning, and it’s been the way I’ve filed this long and geeky post.
(Oh, and here's a pic of PG and Optimash together, courtesy of Scott)
Nor did I really intend to ridicule the person looking for some nerd on jock action – just thought the whole thing was kind of funny and deserved mentioning.
Again, if that’s your thing, who am I to judge?
Anyway, after posting, it occurred to me that earlier this morning Scott and I were engaging in a Slash-like activity.
No, not in an actual Jon/Scott way, because, first of all, serious eww, and second, we were communicating via IM, and I’ve never cybered with anyone, and if I were to start doing so it certainly wouldn’t be with Scott.
(Now Brian, on the other hand…but no, even if he is a big strapping firefighter)
No, the conversation was basically just a standard geeky one along the lines of the “who would win in a fight between x and y” conversation that is an old standby amongst comic geeks, though in this case it was about love, not war.
Specifically, we were trying to determine who would be a good romantic match for Power Girl.
It started out when Scott mentioned that Jamie had given him an Optimus Prime Mr. Potato Head to decorate his cubicle.
He made an offhand reference about what might happen between his new addition and Power Girl at night.
I suggested that if he got too grabby, PG would squeeze “Optimash” into vodka.
And that thought randomly made me start to wonder who would be a good match for PG, and we were off from there.
Among the suggestions were Guy Gardner – as a sort of “I want to degrade myself” fling – or some other Green Lantern, as having a ring that could protect you from harm would be a handy accessory when rolling in the hay with someone who can move mountains (and I’m not just talking about her “mountains”).
Kyle Rayner was dismissed immediately, because, as has been pointed out elsewhere, dating Kyle Rayner is 100% fatal, and we don’t want PG to die.
Hal Jordan’s misogyny – which is a little more subtle and paternalistic than Guy’s overt chauvinism – rules him out. PG wouldn’t put up with it for long.
Ultimately we decided that PG, while probably initially attracted to the macho (at least as macho as she is) types, but what she really needs is some sensitive soul to balance out her brash extroverted personality.
I thought Captain Marvel would be an interesting choice, and Scott pointed out that her reaction to seeing how young he is when not all Shazamed up would be priceless. I noted that he could use the “lightning attack” as foreplay. Sort of like hot candle wax for the invulnerable set.
( You can see the “lightning attack” in this video at about 2:42)
We could see her having a thing for older guys, but most of them aren’t available. Wildcat would make for a good fling, but not a relationship.
Hawkman would make for a good choice – and they apparently did have a fling recently – but his fate is too inextricably tied to that of Hawkgirl. No one can come between those two.
J’onn J’onnz is way too sensitive for her (or at least he was, pre-52), and as Scott suggested, their first major fight would send him off on an Oreo binge.
Nightwing was ruled out, as there’s too much bad blood between PG and Oracle already.
Besides, in previous versions of continuity, the adult Dick Grayson was hooked up with Huntress, who was PG’s best friend, and with the whole turning things backwards (but with a modern twist ™) approach DC is taking, that might once again be the status quo soon enough.
Running out of ideas, I suggested that if she wanted to play for the other team, Kendra Saunders, the current Hawkgirl, would be her ideal match. Their equally fiery personalities might clash, but when they make up…damn!
Of course, the problem there is, once again, the inextricable link between the Hawks.
Finally, I hit on what I think is the best choice: Cyborg.
Vic Stone is smart, macho, yet surprisingly sensitive, durable, and, if need be, repairable.
Plus, added bonus: special attachments.
Of course, the funniest moment came when the image of Lobo donkey punching PG popped unbidden into my head. That pretty much sums up how that pairing would go.
Anyway, that was the geeky way we spent a significant portion of our morning, and it’s been the way I’ve filed this long and geeky post.
(Oh, and here's a pic of PG and Optimash together, courtesy of Scott)
So...Umm....Eww
Earlier today someone came here looking for some Dilton and Moose Slash, meaning they were looking for some kind of story or illustration in which the characters of Dilton and Big Moose from Archie Comics engage in sexual acts.
With each other.
Now, I guess I can understand the idea of wanting to see a representation of the dialectic of Jock and Nerd in a homoerotic setting, sort of, but even so, eww.
I'm sorry, I know that it takes different strokes, and to each his own, and I don't really mean to judge, but there's just a serious "eww" factor there.
Obviously I would lean more towards Betty/Veronica (or more likely Betty/Veronica/Midge/Sabrina/Josie/The Pussycats) if I were into Slash, but as far as male/male pairings go, I should think Archie/Jughead or especially Archie/Reggie would be more fruitful, but I'm not a consumer of Slash fiction, so I can't really comment on it too much beyond the eww.
Still, as something of a consolation prize, here is my favorite Big Moose moment of all time:
And here is a Moose in a more sexualized context:
(Credit to Scott for pointing this clip out)
Someone else was looking for some Bear Grylls Slash the other day, but no partner was specified. Given that he spends so much time in the wild, an actual moose might be the most likely candidate.
With each other.
Now, I guess I can understand the idea of wanting to see a representation of the dialectic of Jock and Nerd in a homoerotic setting, sort of, but even so, eww.
I'm sorry, I know that it takes different strokes, and to each his own, and I don't really mean to judge, but there's just a serious "eww" factor there.
Obviously I would lean more towards Betty/Veronica (or more likely Betty/Veronica/Midge/Sabrina/Josie/The Pussycats) if I were into Slash, but as far as male/male pairings go, I should think Archie/Jughead or especially Archie/Reggie would be more fruitful, but I'm not a consumer of Slash fiction, so I can't really comment on it too much beyond the eww.
Still, as something of a consolation prize, here is my favorite Big Moose moment of all time:
And here is a Moose in a more sexualized context:
(Credit to Scott for pointing this clip out)
Someone else was looking for some Bear Grylls Slash the other day, but no partner was specified. Given that he spends so much time in the wild, an actual moose might be the most likely candidate.
Why I Love Fables Reason Number 68
It can motivate fans to say things like this:
--Jinxo, AICN Comics Reviews!
(To read the full review of Fables #62 that this quote is from, go here)
The fact that I would ever in my life say something as crazy as, “Man, Little
Boy Blue is a badass,” and mean it ought to tell you something.
--Jinxo, AICN Comics Reviews!
(To read the full review of Fables #62 that this quote is from, go here)
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Can You Digg It? Why, Yes, You Can
You may have noticed the little "digg it" button at the bottom of posts.
After years of meaning to, I've finally gotten around to adding the capability to Digg my posts.
What does this mean? Well, it means that you can submit an entry to Digg.com, which is a site that features user-generated content, where users will read it, vote on it, and Digg it (which is to say, rate it highly and thereby move it up so that it attains a more visible position on the site, allowing millions of users the chance to see it) or, as is more likely in the case of anything of mine that might be submitted, bury it (read it and say "This sucks" and give it a lousy rating so that no one else has to see it).
You can read more about how Digg works here.
In any case, the point is that if I post something that you feel is especially cogent that needs to be shared with others, you can click on the conveniently-located button and submit it to Digg for all the world to see.
Or you can not click on the button and go to hell.
Either way.
After years of meaning to, I've finally gotten around to adding the capability to Digg my posts.
What does this mean? Well, it means that you can submit an entry to Digg.com, which is a site that features user-generated content, where users will read it, vote on it, and Digg it (which is to say, rate it highly and thereby move it up so that it attains a more visible position on the site, allowing millions of users the chance to see it) or, as is more likely in the case of anything of mine that might be submitted, bury it (read it and say "This sucks" and give it a lousy rating so that no one else has to see it).
You can read more about how Digg works here.
In any case, the point is that if I post something that you feel is especially cogent that needs to be shared with others, you can click on the conveniently-located button and submit it to Digg for all the world to see.
Or you can not click on the button and go to hell.
Either way.
Apparently It Did Work
So I discovered that, after installing the power management software and rebooting a few times, the new UPS did resolve my low battery error message.
Huzzah.
Huzzah.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
It Worked! Or Did It?
Now let's see how it handles line spacing.
Naturally it defaults to double-spaced lines. No way to add labels to posts, either, but I suppose I can log in and fix it (as I did in the case of this entry), though that kind of defeats the purpose.
Hmm...
Naturally it defaults to double-spaced lines. No way to add labels to posts, either, but I suppose I can log in and fix it (as I did in the case of this entry), though that kind of defeats the purpose.
Hmm...
Power Goes Out, Light Bulb Comes On
The other day, randomly, whenever I launched Media Center it would come up with a message shortly thereafter informing me that my battery is low and that I should plug my computer into an external power source or else any current work may be lost.
That would be interesting, and something to act on, if my computer were a laptop.
I’ve checked all of my settings to try to figure out why Media Center thinks my already-plugged-in desktop is an unplugged laptop with a totally drained battery, and there’s no obvious answer there.
And given that, when you most need it to not suck the Internet will suck, I haven’t found a solution there, either.
Then today there was a power surge, and rather than failing over to UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) power, like Munin did in the kitchen, Hugin simply shut down.Ironically, it was when the power went out that the light bulb came on and I thought, “Aha! Media Center means the battery in my UPS.”
The UPS was pretty old, and I did get a message over a year ago – I think it was when I was still in Ashburn – advising me that I might want to replace the battery in my UPS.
So after going to the comic shop, I stopped at Best Buy and picked up a new UPS. I thought about getting one of the big fancy (and pricey) ones, but opted for a solid mid-priced one that was comparable to my existing UPS.
So I came home, hooked it up, installed the new Vista-enabled power management software. All systems appeared to be go, so I launched Media Center and learned that my battery is low and that I should plug my computer into an external power source or else any current work may be lost.
So, $60 later, I still don’t know WTF it’s talking about.
Not too big of a deal, as it’s just a matter of clicking “OK,” and I really did need a new UPS anyway, but still annoying.
Last week the new season of Big Love started, and I’d watched the second episode of the season this morning before heading out into the world.
I think the show’s focus – polygamy – may have been coloring my view, as when I was at Best Buy I saw a group of women who were all roughly the same age getting into the same van together and I wondered if they were “sister-wives.”
At the comic shop I picked up Fables: Sons of Empire, the latest trade collection of the series, which actually brings me fully up-to-date on the series. I now have, in trade form, everything that came before the first regular issue of the series that I bought.
I’ve mentioned Fables often – and will do so again in the future – and I could easily write at length about why I love the book so much and why I think that people who don’t read it might just have something wrong with their so-called brains, but I’ve decided to keep it simple, and a little less insulting.
So, starting now, I will periodically post entries titled “Why I Love Fables,” designating each entry with a random reason number, that have some small bit of dialogue or an image from the series that in some way demonstrates why I love the book so much.
The numbering isn’t any sort of ranking, and won’t be done in order. Basically it will just be there for the sake of having a number there.
In celebration of my latest Fables purchase, here is the first in the “Why I Love Fables” series, an exchange between members of a hypothetical U.S. military force invading the Fables Homelands in theoretical retaliation to a proposed attack by the Empire, taken from one of the stories collected in the trade:
Why I Love Fables Reason Number 134:
“So who’s the enemy anyway?”
“Any stinking Meevil you find.”
“Meevil?”
“Short for Medieval People. I heard someone over at Division HQ call them that.”
“I heard the rules of engagement are wide open this time. Anyone not fully and convincingly prostrate in total surrender is a qualified target.”
“That’s true – even if they don’t seem to have weapons. Because some of them can do magic.”
“How can we fight magic guys, Sarge?”
“Simple. Drop them from 300 meters away with a five-point-six-two round traveling at 3282 feet per second. I ‘spect that’ll interrupt their mumbo jumbo just fine.”
“But nobody shoot the giant wolf. He’s with us. ‘sides, I heard all you’d do is just make him really mad.”
--From "Over There," Chapter Four of Sons of Empire
That would be interesting, and something to act on, if my computer were a laptop.
I’ve checked all of my settings to try to figure out why Media Center thinks my already-plugged-in desktop is an unplugged laptop with a totally drained battery, and there’s no obvious answer there.
And given that, when you most need it to not suck the Internet will suck, I haven’t found a solution there, either.
Then today there was a power surge, and rather than failing over to UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) power, like Munin did in the kitchen, Hugin simply shut down.Ironically, it was when the power went out that the light bulb came on and I thought, “Aha! Media Center means the battery in my UPS.”
The UPS was pretty old, and I did get a message over a year ago – I think it was when I was still in Ashburn – advising me that I might want to replace the battery in my UPS.
So after going to the comic shop, I stopped at Best Buy and picked up a new UPS. I thought about getting one of the big fancy (and pricey) ones, but opted for a solid mid-priced one that was comparable to my existing UPS.
So I came home, hooked it up, installed the new Vista-enabled power management software. All systems appeared to be go, so I launched Media Center and learned that my battery is low and that I should plug my computer into an external power source or else any current work may be lost.
So, $60 later, I still don’t know WTF it’s talking about.
Not too big of a deal, as it’s just a matter of clicking “OK,” and I really did need a new UPS anyway, but still annoying.
Last week the new season of Big Love started, and I’d watched the second episode of the season this morning before heading out into the world.
I think the show’s focus – polygamy – may have been coloring my view, as when I was at Best Buy I saw a group of women who were all roughly the same age getting into the same van together and I wondered if they were “sister-wives.”
At the comic shop I picked up Fables: Sons of Empire, the latest trade collection of the series, which actually brings me fully up-to-date on the series. I now have, in trade form, everything that came before the first regular issue of the series that I bought.
I’ve mentioned Fables often – and will do so again in the future – and I could easily write at length about why I love the book so much and why I think that people who don’t read it might just have something wrong with their so-called brains, but I’ve decided to keep it simple, and a little less insulting.
So, starting now, I will periodically post entries titled “Why I Love Fables,” designating each entry with a random reason number, that have some small bit of dialogue or an image from the series that in some way demonstrates why I love the book so much.
The numbering isn’t any sort of ranking, and won’t be done in order. Basically it will just be there for the sake of having a number there.
In celebration of my latest Fables purchase, here is the first in the “Why I Love Fables” series, an exchange between members of a hypothetical U.S. military force invading the Fables Homelands in theoretical retaliation to a proposed attack by the Empire, taken from one of the stories collected in the trade:
Why I Love Fables Reason Number 134:
“So who’s the enemy anyway?”
“Any stinking Meevil you find.”
“Meevil?”
“Short for Medieval People. I heard someone over at Division HQ call them that.”
“I heard the rules of engagement are wide open this time. Anyone not fully and convincingly prostrate in total surrender is a qualified target.”
“That’s true – even if they don’t seem to have weapons. Because some of them can do magic.”
“How can we fight magic guys, Sarge?”
“Simple. Drop them from 300 meters away with a five-point-six-two round traveling at 3282 feet per second. I ‘spect that’ll interrupt their mumbo jumbo just fine.”
“But nobody shoot the giant wolf. He’s with us. ‘sides, I heard all you’d do is just make him really mad.”
--From "Over There," Chapter Four of Sons of Empire
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
In My Career Management Workshop I Fought The Temptation To Shout "Manage THIS!"
On Friday night I was indirectly awoken by the sounds of drunk people in the parking lot. I say “indirectly” because what actually woke me up was the sound of the stupid dog upstairs barking at the drunk people.
However, once awoken by the dog I was kept awake by the drunk people, who were sitting on a balcony nearby. At first I thought it was the balcony upstairs, but I heard her moving around too much to be outside talking – loudly – with drunken friends.
I never figured out where the people were located, but given that it was a cool night, I closed the windows and figured that would drown them out.
No such luck, as these weren’t people who were just having fun and being thoughtlessly noisy, these were people who were deliberately being loud and making sure that everyone heard them.
Because sleep wasn’t going to happen, I got up and messed around on the computer for a bit, hoping that someone would call in a complaint, and coming close to being that someone.
However, by around 12:30 they had finally gone inside, or left, or whatever, at which point I got back into bed.
It was as I was tiredly drifting back to sleep that the “You’ve Got To Be Fucking Kidding Me” moment happened and the stupid dog upstairs started barking.
Apparently its owner was one of the noisy people and she had left with the others.
Luckily the dog seemed to be as tired as I was, and soon settled into a low whine that was easy enough to ignore and sleep through.
Even so, Saturday was not a happy morning, and I was definitely dragging ass all day.
I suppose I could/should complain, but what’s the point? I’ll be moving soon enough, and it’s not like complaining would do any good. I she going to get rid of her dog? No. Is she going to muzzle it? Wouldn’t do much to stop its more penetrative whines.
Ultimately, no matter how or how much you complain, people are going to be a pain in your ass, and will likely become a more pronounced and deliberate pain in your ass if you do complain.
So fuck it; I’ll just content myself with the knowledge that, despite how disappointing my first venture into house-hunting may have been yesterday, I will be out of here soon.
And then I’ll learn to deal with whatever kind of annoyances my new neighbors will present, because if there’s one thing that’s true about people everywhere, it’s this: they suck.
In any case, I did go to see the Fantastic Four sequel last night, though I was incorrect as to who was in attendance, as Stacy actually stayed home to watch the kids (hers and Scott’s and Jamie and Casey’s). I headed down a bit early, by invitation, and had dinner at Scott and Stacy’s house before heading to the movie.
As for the movie itself, I liked it. There were some definite flaws, but overall it was entertaining and considerably better than the first movie, though that might actually be damning it with faint praise, as it would be difficult to not be better than the first.
Even so, I was much more pleased with it. The plot was fine, the acting, with a few exceptions, was fine, and the action was very good.
I was not terribly thrilled with the presentation of Galactus, but considering how little focus Galactus got, that’s not too big of a deal. The Surfer was definitely cool, and fun to watch.
In terms of acting, Jessica Alba was definitely a liability, but her wooden performance was negated by the fact that she gives me wood.
*Sigh* I’m truly sorry for that, but it was unavoidable.
Seriously, the amount of eye candy that she provides makes her lack of acting ability sort of, well, invisible.
(As for the character of the Invisible Woman, I was glad to see them delve into her abilities a lot more, though there was some definite Psychic Nosebleed Zen for Dr. Scott over at Polite Dissent.)
Similarly, Kerry Washington’s hotness made up for her scenery chewing overacting. Seriously, she couldn’t have done more to emphasize the fact that her character is blind if she wore a sandwich board that read “I’m Blind!” in big letters and occasionally shouted that catchphrase into a bullhorn.
The only really irritatingly bad acting came, as it did in the first, in the form of Julian McMahon as Dr. Doom.
Basically, as perfect as Michael Chiklis is as Ben Grimm a role that, like J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson or Erica Durance as Lois Lane, he was clearly born to play, that’s how imperfect Julian McMahon is as Doom.
‘nuff said.
Of course, one of the things that made the movie entertaining were the little comments that Scott and I frequently made to each other.
My favorite was when Jessica Alba was wearing glasses, and I leaned over and said, “Wearing glasses makes me look brainy, like Alfred Einstein,” which, was, of course, pronounced, “Ine-steen.”
There were also lots of little fun bits in the movie itself, like the cameo by Stan Lee as himself, and various sight gags using the FF’s powers, particularly with the whole power-swapping sub-plot, which led to some really cool visuals.
One gag that I would like to have seen, though, should have come during a scene in which Sue (Alba) came walking in to visit Reed (Ionjsjdfjldj Grfrhlrdl, or whatever the hell that guy’s 99% consonants name is) wearing this dress that basically said, “Look! I have boobies! Kindly focus on them and ignore my ‘acting.’”
(FYI: My response? “Will do, Jessica Alba’s boobies!”)
In the scene, Reed is tense and Sue is trying to get him to relax. She does this by standing behind him and resting his head on her chest, which, seriously, would not put me into a “relaxed” state.
Anyway, I thought it would have been funny if when Reed got up the back of his head had reshaped into the negative image of Sue’s cleavage.
But that’s just me.
Today I went to a career management workshop. I went to where it was supposed to be, put my stuff down at a table, then ran to the bathroom. When I got back, there was a note saying that the class had been moved to another room. In another building.
So I made the trek over to the other building, where we waited for the others to arrive.
The facilitator decided that since it was a small class (only five of us) he would spend the morning quickly going over the course material, and then meet with each of us one-on-one in the afternoon.
He started the one-on-ones at 11:30. Mine wasn’t until 1:45.
I met up with Scott and Stacy (Update: It was, in fact, Jamie, not Stacy) to have lunch, and then walked back with Scott to check out his shiny new cubicle, which is pretty much empty. He doesn’t actually have a computer yet, so he’s using his personal laptop, and other than a picture of his daughters, the only adornment is the Power Girl bust.
After that I still had more than an hour to kill, so I walked over to the other side of the HQ campus where I’d parked to get my car. I was going to just move it over to the building my class was in, but I decided to make a quick jaunt to Wal-Mart where I picked up Reno 911!: Miami on DVD, and a 30-pack of blank DVDs.
From there it was back for my meeting – where I “learned” a bunch of stuff I already knew, and then it was off to home.
Honestly, it wasn’t that the information I got from the class and meeting were bad or inherently useless, it’s just that I can’t see myself really benefiting from it because, well, I’m me.
But we’ll see, I guess.
There were two chicks in the class. One was this Russian (I think; definitely Eastern European) chick, who wasn’t bad looking, but wasn’t really attractive either. She was pretty annoying, though, as she seemed to like the sound of her own voice and found her life story to be endlessly fascinating.
When she wasn’t talking there was this guy who was ready to pick up the slack, and what he wanted to talk about was how bitter he is about the “politics” at the company. We have a lot of chronic complainers like that at the company who like to take training classes like this one so that they have new congregations to preach their bitter gospel to.
I just don’t get it; they go on and on at these instructors – who are contracted third-party people who are not actually affiliated with the company and therefore have no influence on shaping policy – as though the poor instructors can actually do something about their complaints.
Yeah, that’s the way to solve problems. I’m sure that contracted instructor you bitched to at length will take your concerns and somehow bring about companywide changes that will prevent people who don’t deserve it from getting promoted. Way to go!
I was actually pretty vocal in the class, simply because when I was talking, they weren’t talking.
Rounding out the class were a sales guy from one of our offices in Atlanta who seemed nice enough, and this cute young intern who was wearing this low-cut, incredibly short dress that looked like the sort of dress a girl would wear to the beach over her bathing suit.
Admittedly, our company has a very relaxed dress code. It’s casual all the way, but there’s a difference between casual and having your boobs hanging out.
Not that I’m complaining, exactly, and more power to her, I guess. Still, given that, even though she’s a senior in college, she talks like a high-school cheerleader and that she puts on beachwear to head in to the office, I hope she doesn’t find it too terribly shocking when people don’t take her seriously.
But seriously, at one point she was thisclose to having her boob pop out of that dress because she totally wasn’t wearing a bra.
And that alone would have made the entire day worth it.
Ah well.
Anyway, this has been sort of a housekeeping entry, filling in some of the blanks since my last substantial post and bringing you up to date.
You’re welcome.
However, once awoken by the dog I was kept awake by the drunk people, who were sitting on a balcony nearby. At first I thought it was the balcony upstairs, but I heard her moving around too much to be outside talking – loudly – with drunken friends.
I never figured out where the people were located, but given that it was a cool night, I closed the windows and figured that would drown them out.
No such luck, as these weren’t people who were just having fun and being thoughtlessly noisy, these were people who were deliberately being loud and making sure that everyone heard them.
Because sleep wasn’t going to happen, I got up and messed around on the computer for a bit, hoping that someone would call in a complaint, and coming close to being that someone.
However, by around 12:30 they had finally gone inside, or left, or whatever, at which point I got back into bed.
It was as I was tiredly drifting back to sleep that the “You’ve Got To Be Fucking Kidding Me” moment happened and the stupid dog upstairs started barking.
Apparently its owner was one of the noisy people and she had left with the others.
Luckily the dog seemed to be as tired as I was, and soon settled into a low whine that was easy enough to ignore and sleep through.
Even so, Saturday was not a happy morning, and I was definitely dragging ass all day.
I suppose I could/should complain, but what’s the point? I’ll be moving soon enough, and it’s not like complaining would do any good. I she going to get rid of her dog? No. Is she going to muzzle it? Wouldn’t do much to stop its more penetrative whines.
Ultimately, no matter how or how much you complain, people are going to be a pain in your ass, and will likely become a more pronounced and deliberate pain in your ass if you do complain.
So fuck it; I’ll just content myself with the knowledge that, despite how disappointing my first venture into house-hunting may have been yesterday, I will be out of here soon.
And then I’ll learn to deal with whatever kind of annoyances my new neighbors will present, because if there’s one thing that’s true about people everywhere, it’s this: they suck.
In any case, I did go to see the Fantastic Four sequel last night, though I was incorrect as to who was in attendance, as Stacy actually stayed home to watch the kids (hers and Scott’s and Jamie and Casey’s). I headed down a bit early, by invitation, and had dinner at Scott and Stacy’s house before heading to the movie.
As for the movie itself, I liked it. There were some definite flaws, but overall it was entertaining and considerably better than the first movie, though that might actually be damning it with faint praise, as it would be difficult to not be better than the first.
Even so, I was much more pleased with it. The plot was fine, the acting, with a few exceptions, was fine, and the action was very good.
I was not terribly thrilled with the presentation of Galactus, but considering how little focus Galactus got, that’s not too big of a deal. The Surfer was definitely cool, and fun to watch.
In terms of acting, Jessica Alba was definitely a liability, but her wooden performance was negated by the fact that she gives me wood.
*Sigh* I’m truly sorry for that, but it was unavoidable.
Seriously, the amount of eye candy that she provides makes her lack of acting ability sort of, well, invisible.
(As for the character of the Invisible Woman, I was glad to see them delve into her abilities a lot more, though there was some definite Psychic Nosebleed Zen for Dr. Scott over at Polite Dissent.)
Similarly, Kerry Washington’s hotness made up for her scenery chewing overacting. Seriously, she couldn’t have done more to emphasize the fact that her character is blind if she wore a sandwich board that read “I’m Blind!” in big letters and occasionally shouted that catchphrase into a bullhorn.
The only really irritatingly bad acting came, as it did in the first, in the form of Julian McMahon as Dr. Doom.
Basically, as perfect as Michael Chiklis is as Ben Grimm a role that, like J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson or Erica Durance as Lois Lane, he was clearly born to play, that’s how imperfect Julian McMahon is as Doom.
‘nuff said.
Of course, one of the things that made the movie entertaining were the little comments that Scott and I frequently made to each other.
My favorite was when Jessica Alba was wearing glasses, and I leaned over and said, “Wearing glasses makes me look brainy, like Alfred Einstein,” which, was, of course, pronounced, “Ine-steen.”
There were also lots of little fun bits in the movie itself, like the cameo by Stan Lee as himself, and various sight gags using the FF’s powers, particularly with the whole power-swapping sub-plot, which led to some really cool visuals.
One gag that I would like to have seen, though, should have come during a scene in which Sue (Alba) came walking in to visit Reed (Ionjsjdfjldj Grfrhlrdl, or whatever the hell that guy’s 99% consonants name is) wearing this dress that basically said, “Look! I have boobies! Kindly focus on them and ignore my ‘acting.’”
(FYI: My response? “Will do, Jessica Alba’s boobies!”)
In the scene, Reed is tense and Sue is trying to get him to relax. She does this by standing behind him and resting his head on her chest, which, seriously, would not put me into a “relaxed” state.
Anyway, I thought it would have been funny if when Reed got up the back of his head had reshaped into the negative image of Sue’s cleavage.
But that’s just me.
Today I went to a career management workshop. I went to where it was supposed to be, put my stuff down at a table, then ran to the bathroom. When I got back, there was a note saying that the class had been moved to another room. In another building.
So I made the trek over to the other building, where we waited for the others to arrive.
The facilitator decided that since it was a small class (only five of us) he would spend the morning quickly going over the course material, and then meet with each of us one-on-one in the afternoon.
He started the one-on-ones at 11:30. Mine wasn’t until 1:45.
I met up with Scott and Stacy (Update: It was, in fact, Jamie, not Stacy) to have lunch, and then walked back with Scott to check out his shiny new cubicle, which is pretty much empty. He doesn’t actually have a computer yet, so he’s using his personal laptop, and other than a picture of his daughters, the only adornment is the Power Girl bust.
After that I still had more than an hour to kill, so I walked over to the other side of the HQ campus where I’d parked to get my car. I was going to just move it over to the building my class was in, but I decided to make a quick jaunt to Wal-Mart where I picked up Reno 911!: Miami on DVD, and a 30-pack of blank DVDs.
From there it was back for my meeting – where I “learned” a bunch of stuff I already knew, and then it was off to home.
Honestly, it wasn’t that the information I got from the class and meeting were bad or inherently useless, it’s just that I can’t see myself really benefiting from it because, well, I’m me.
But we’ll see, I guess.
There were two chicks in the class. One was this Russian (I think; definitely Eastern European) chick, who wasn’t bad looking, but wasn’t really attractive either. She was pretty annoying, though, as she seemed to like the sound of her own voice and found her life story to be endlessly fascinating.
When she wasn’t talking there was this guy who was ready to pick up the slack, and what he wanted to talk about was how bitter he is about the “politics” at the company. We have a lot of chronic complainers like that at the company who like to take training classes like this one so that they have new congregations to preach their bitter gospel to.
I just don’t get it; they go on and on at these instructors – who are contracted third-party people who are not actually affiliated with the company and therefore have no influence on shaping policy – as though the poor instructors can actually do something about their complaints.
Yeah, that’s the way to solve problems. I’m sure that contracted instructor you bitched to at length will take your concerns and somehow bring about companywide changes that will prevent people who don’t deserve it from getting promoted. Way to go!
I was actually pretty vocal in the class, simply because when I was talking, they weren’t talking.
Rounding out the class were a sales guy from one of our offices in Atlanta who seemed nice enough, and this cute young intern who was wearing this low-cut, incredibly short dress that looked like the sort of dress a girl would wear to the beach over her bathing suit.
Admittedly, our company has a very relaxed dress code. It’s casual all the way, but there’s a difference between casual and having your boobs hanging out.
Not that I’m complaining, exactly, and more power to her, I guess. Still, given that, even though she’s a senior in college, she talks like a high-school cheerleader and that she puts on beachwear to head in to the office, I hope she doesn’t find it too terribly shocking when people don’t take her seriously.
But seriously, at one point she was thisclose to having her boob pop out of that dress because she totally wasn’t wearing a bra.
And that alone would have made the entire day worth it.
Ah well.
Anyway, this has been sort of a housekeeping entry, filling in some of the blanks since my last substantial post and bringing you up to date.
You’re welcome.
Monday, June 18, 2007
A Busy Week
So today I went around town with my realtor checking out houses.
I have to say that I was underwhelmed.
Out of all of the places we looked at, only two were at all appealing, and even they have some problems.
The one I liked most – 4 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, with a HUGE yard – is way up at the extreme end of my price scale. It also suffers from some odd choices on the inside. For example, in the half bath, there’s a curtain that hides the full-size washer, which is sitting right next to the toilet. The dryer is located in a storage area outside. Also, what should be the dining room has been turned into a second living room/family room, forcing them to place the table in the kitchen, which would otherwise be a decent size, but ends up being cramped.
The other one I liked had no major issues, and was a decent price, but it wasn’t in a great neighborhood.
There was one other that was nice, a good price, and in a decent neighborhood, but ultimately was just too cramped.
As for the rest…yikes. Most of them fall under the category of “What were they thinking?” with crazy color and decoration choices. Sure, these things could be changed, and wouldn’t be so bad individually, but cumulatively they just add up to too much work and expense.
Others had good bones, but just weren’t maintained well enough, and certainly didn’t warrant the price tags.
In one home, David, my realtor, said, “I can’t let you live here. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”
So it’s pretty much back to the drawing board, I think, but at least now I have a better feel for what’s out there, and David has a better feel for what I’m looking for, and even though the buy-back will be settled soon, I still have some time.
Tonight I’m going to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with Scott and Stacy and possibly Jamie and Casey. It means going out later than I like, and having to travel to Manassas, but oh well. I had figured on Scott and I just catching it in Sterling right after he got off work. I hadn’t factored in Stacy and the others wanting to see it as well.
Oh well, though that does mean having to miss the premiere of The Closer tonight, though I have it set to record, and I’m sure they’ll rebroadcast it a dozen times between now and tomorrow anyway.
Tomorrow I’m taking this career management workshop thing that my company offers. It’s easy OT and the way things are going (what with being the only one out of the people I started out working with who hasn’t gone on to do something different), I figure it’s worth looking into. I already did some pre-work for it, which was kind of irritating. I mean, it was a bunch of questions that led to their system making some conclusions that I could have just told them without all the questions.
Oh well.
And on Wednesday evening someone from the condo developer (that “thick in a good way” chick, I think) will be here for some sort of final signing dealie.
So this is actually a pretty busy week for me.
I have to say that I was underwhelmed.
Out of all of the places we looked at, only two were at all appealing, and even they have some problems.
The one I liked most – 4 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, with a HUGE yard – is way up at the extreme end of my price scale. It also suffers from some odd choices on the inside. For example, in the half bath, there’s a curtain that hides the full-size washer, which is sitting right next to the toilet. The dryer is located in a storage area outside. Also, what should be the dining room has been turned into a second living room/family room, forcing them to place the table in the kitchen, which would otherwise be a decent size, but ends up being cramped.
The other one I liked had no major issues, and was a decent price, but it wasn’t in a great neighborhood.
There was one other that was nice, a good price, and in a decent neighborhood, but ultimately was just too cramped.
As for the rest…yikes. Most of them fall under the category of “What were they thinking?” with crazy color and decoration choices. Sure, these things could be changed, and wouldn’t be so bad individually, but cumulatively they just add up to too much work and expense.
Others had good bones, but just weren’t maintained well enough, and certainly didn’t warrant the price tags.
In one home, David, my realtor, said, “I can’t let you live here. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”
So it’s pretty much back to the drawing board, I think, but at least now I have a better feel for what’s out there, and David has a better feel for what I’m looking for, and even though the buy-back will be settled soon, I still have some time.
Tonight I’m going to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with Scott and Stacy and possibly Jamie and Casey. It means going out later than I like, and having to travel to Manassas, but oh well. I had figured on Scott and I just catching it in Sterling right after he got off work. I hadn’t factored in Stacy and the others wanting to see it as well.
Oh well, though that does mean having to miss the premiere of The Closer tonight, though I have it set to record, and I’m sure they’ll rebroadcast it a dozen times between now and tomorrow anyway.
Tomorrow I’m taking this career management workshop thing that my company offers. It’s easy OT and the way things are going (what with being the only one out of the people I started out working with who hasn’t gone on to do something different), I figure it’s worth looking into. I already did some pre-work for it, which was kind of irritating. I mean, it was a bunch of questions that led to their system making some conclusions that I could have just told them without all the questions.
Oh well.
And on Wednesday evening someone from the condo developer (that “thick in a good way” chick, I think) will be here for some sort of final signing dealie.
So this is actually a pretty busy week for me.
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