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Wednesday, July 28, 2004

here I am / perfect as I'm ever gonna be

We leave for Colorado tomorrow! Hooray! I packed last night, and will be re-packing a bit tonight because of course I packed too much. At the moment my pack is about 40 pounds (food and water included) and I'd like it to be around 35. I think I can get close. I know I packed a couple things that I don't truly need.

I really don't understand why photos of John Kerry in a bunny suit inside a space shuttle has become a news story. Republicans are trying to make him look silly? Democrats are trying to do damage control and complaining that the photos were leaked? I don't get it!! The facts are:

1. John Kerry visited Kennedy Space Center.
2. That is pretty cool, and even if it's a campaign tactic, I appreciate that he visited NASA, unlike, say, a certain President who never came to JSC until we had an accident.
3. While at KSC, Kerry and his companions, Sens. Bill Nelson and John Glenn (the latter who, of course, was the first American to orbit the earth), decided they wanted to see an orbiter up close and personal.
4. In order to go inside the orbiter, you have to wear a bunny suit to prevent dirt and hair and anything else from falling anywhere it shouldn't.
5. Voila, Kerry put on a bunny suit, and had his photo taken to commemorate him getting to do something really damn cool.

What is the big deal? He looks silly, yes, but so would anyone. Is he supposed to turn down going inside the space shuttle because he might look silly? That's dumb.

I was at work late enough last night that I missed the Astros game. Without me there, my boy, Adam Everett, hit two home runs. Maybe I should skip games more often! But that would be no fun. Anyway, I had to stay until I could get some stupid maps plotted. Do you know how frustrating it is to be able to plot points in minutes, but take hours to get Matlab to draw a freaking box around them?? With help from Gavin and Bini, I finally got it working and was able to leave at 7:00.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Becca went to the doctor

Becca went to the doctor yesterday and had about a million drugs prescribed to her for our upcoming Peru trip. It's totally making me paranoid. I had planned on just going to Peru with some Advil and Pepto, same as when I went to Mexico. But now I feel like I should go get Diamox, antibiotics, and other "fun" drugs.

Jason and I waterproofed the seams of our tents last night. We both have the same tent. Twins. Awww. We also hit Academy for a few last-minute items for this weekend's Colorado trip. Moleskin, biodegradable soap, bug spray, rope. While I am always thinking about how much different items weigh, Jason seems to not care. I predict that he will definitely be lugging the heaviest backpack on this trip!

Monday, July 26, 2004

Best quote from coke break:

Best quote from coke break:

"No, Jo, you cannot go tubing in the Princess Diana memorial fountain!!"

Monday, July 26, 2004

Lance Armstrong won his sixth

Lance Armstrong won his sixth Tour de France yesterday, and I'm already suffering from withdrawal. I have no idea what I'm going to watch on TV every morning and night now that the Tour is over. Maybe I'll have to -- gasp -- turn the TV off!

I'm pretty sure that the impending trip to Colorado will take my mind off cycling. We (Becca, Gavin, Jen, Jason, Rich, Emily, and Carter, oh, and me too) leave for Denver on Thursday and catch a baseball game that afternoon. We get to Rocky Mountain National Park on Friday and will spend four days wandering the trails, sucking in what little oxygen we can, and taking in the view of the mountains. Our attempt at Longs Peak may be thwarted by snow, but it should be an awesome trip no matter what.

I did zilch this weekend besides watch the Tour. Saturday night I did see Bourne Supremacy, and didn't really enjoy it very much. The shaky camera and frantic shot changes and editing made me dizzy. During the car chase, I actually had to close my eyes because I just couldn't keep up with the crazy camera movements. And the story itself just didn't keep me interested. It was a pretty forgettable movie.

Despite the huge thunderstorm that shook my apartment yesterday around 5:00, we did end up playing soccer. It hadn't rained at all at the fields, which are about 10 miles from my apartment. Even better, we actually won the game! The other team was three people short...but hey, we won. We never win, so we'll take what we can get. The only bad part of the game is that some large girl hurt my ankle. We were both going for the ball, and though I got it, she managed to step on my foot such that a cleat hit exactly between my shoes and the padding of my shinguards. Oddly, it's not bruised, but it hurts.

A month or so ago, we switched to a new payroll system at work. As a "cute" way to remind everyone of the website, they distributed little foam computers with the URL of the new timekeeping site on it. So far, we've used them for taking out our computer-related hostility. I like to put mine on the floor and stomp on it every time my sims don't work. Today, Matt decided to turn one into a prank computer (in the tradition of the Irwin-provided MS prankball):

It's the funniest thing I've seen all day.

Sunday, July 25, 2004

As I mentioned already, my

As I mentioned already, my sister is in France for the summer, and yesterday she and Joel went to see Stage 19 of the Tour.

Sunday, July 25, 2004

France being 7 hours ahead

France being 7 hours ahead of Houston time is bad for my sleep. They should really consider changing time zones.

In any case, I'm up early again this morning watching Lance ride into Paris. The Tour de France is so inspiring. It makes me want to go out and ride my bike forever.

Saturday, July 24, 2004

OLN is back, oh thank

OLN is back, oh thank God!

Saturday, July 24, 2004

I was up early this

I was up early this morning for a bike/run workout with Buzz and Laurie. The biking went well as it usually does, but I faded big time on the run. I just can't run in the heat, no matter what the time of day. It sucks.

I came home pumped up to watch Lance Armstrong in the 19th stage of the Tour de France, the second individual time trial. (My sister is there in person!) But my cable is out. AAGGHH! I can't remember another time that my cable has been out, so of course it would happen to me today of all days. To make things even more maddening, it's only a few channels that are out, and as luck would have it, one of them is OLN. I can watch all the baseball I want, as ESPN is still coming through. But on the day I want to watch cycling instead, that particular channel is out. AAAAAAAGH! I've tried calling the cable company but their phone line is incessantly busy. That's good in the sense that I suppose I can assume they're working on it, but bad in the sense that I can't get through to anybody to explain that I need my OLN, that I need to watch the Tour.

I did manage to find a live radio feed over the internet, so all is not lost. But the blue screen on the TV is driving me crazy.

Friday, July 23, 2004

From: Debbie To: Sarah I

From: Debbie
To: Sarah

I had a dream about you last night. You were training your dog to be a kid. It was a cute little thing like from a cartoon. You said it was some form of a dalmation. It was walking on 2 legs holding your hand. It looked both ways before it crossed the street and even wore glasses.

I guess that's what I get for eating wheat thins before bed.

Friday, July 23, 2004

wear yellow

So obviously I have a new layout, and in answer to the obvious question, no, I did not design it while in Photoshop class for the past four days. I may misuse government resources, but not that blatently. (And, for anyone reading who might not realize it, the previous sentence was said with sarcasm.)

The purple color was really supposed to be more of a blue, so I need to fix that. And I'm not totally satisfied with the header. But we'll see. So far I've gotten one "love it" vote, and three "liked the old one better" votes. I liked the old one a lot, but lately all the white was getting to me. Too much white.

Anyway. You can let me know what you think in the comments.

Softball got rained out again last night thanks to the freak afternoon 15-minute thunderstorm. Debbie and I had talked about going to the batting cages, but Jason (and his bat) weren't available. So then I thought about going to REI, but didn't. So finally I settled for a good bike ride.

When I dragged my bike out of the garage for the first time in a few weeks, I noticed that my front tire was flat. Upon closer inspection, the tube itself was messed up. When I popped the tire off in order to change the tube, I found a three-inch long gash in the tube. Huh?!? The tire itself was fine, so I am at a complete loss as to how my tube basically split in half. My only guess is that perhaps it got hot enough in my garage to cause the tire to burst (since when I put the bike away last time the tires were still fully inflated). Last night after I was done riding, I let air out of both tubes in an effort to prevent any future tire-splitting. In any case, it took me 15 minutes to change the stupid tube, so I had to cut my bike ride a bit short in order to make it home to watch Tour de France coverage. Summary: Lance Armstrong is awesome, and those guys ride really fast.

Last night on my ~9 mile bike ride on flat, flat ground, I averaged just over 16 mph. I think Lance averaged close to that speed going up l'Alpe d'Huez. Insane.

Thursday, July 22, 2004

and I will never see the sky the same way /
and I will learn to say goodbye to yesterday

I'm in the last day of my Photoshop class. It's been pretty cool, and I now know how to create all sorts of neat effects...and of course I can now put an alien's head on your body, or vice versa, and make it look real. National Enquirer, here I come!

I am all disgruntled with the state of the exercise room at my apartment complex. One of the two elliptical machines has been out of order for a couple weeks now, which is very annoying because it's hard to find a time when the other one isn't being used. Last night I dragged myself to work out despite being very tired, but when I got to the exercise room, the good elliptical was taken.

I was tired enough to decide that it was a sign, and went home to lay on the couch all night. Ha. Ha HA.

I need some ideas of some sort of photo manipulation to do today in class so I don't finish hours before the rest of the class. Send me photos or give me ideas, people!

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

TdF update: Lance Armstrong is

TdF update: Lance Armstrong is kicking ass! Yeah!

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

this land is your land / this land is my land / I'm a Texas tiger / you're a liberal weiner

Because I'm bored, and because I don't want to talk about how much the Astros are sucking it up, and how freaking depressing it is to go to the ballpark in Houston at the moment:

Last Cigarette: Hmm. Never actually smoked one. They're yucky.
Last Alcoholic Drink: Bailey's on the rocks.
Last Car Ride: I drove to work this morning.
Last Library Book: No idea.
Last Book Bought: Trying to remember...a Flash tutorial book, maybe?
Last Book Read: Bill Bryson, Travels in Small Town America
Last Movie Seen in Theatres: Spiderman 2
Last Movie Rented: Can't remember. I rarely rent movies.
Last Cuss Word Uttered: Long string of expletives aimed at the Astros dismal play last night.
Last Beverage Drank: Coffee being consumed as I type.
Last Food Consumed: Honey Nut Cheerios.
Last Crush: Adam Everett, Astros shortstop (actually, a current crush)
Last Phone Call: Monday evening, Fred asking if we were going climbing.
Last TV Show Watched: OLN Tour de France pre-race show this morning.
Last Time Showered: 11:00 last night.
Last Shoes Worn: Black work shoes from Payless.
Last CD Played: CDs are so 20th century. I use my iPod now.
Last Item Bought: Dinner at the ballgame last night.
Last Download: "This Land" cartoon (see previous post for the link). Awesome.
Last Annoyance: Astros sucking.
Last Disappointment: Astros really sucking.
Last Soda Drank: Diet Coke.
Last Thing Written: "Anatomy of a Debris Footprint" slide for a meeting this morning.
Last Key Used: A minor. Hahahahaha.
Last Words Spoken: "I want to go AWOL. You can put that on your timecard."
Last Sleep: Midnight last night till 6:45 this morning.
Last Ice Cream Eaten: Vanilla at the baseball game on Saturday.
Last Chair Sat In: Nasty blue desk chair.

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

let's get it started (ha) / let's get it started (in here)

Happy Man on the Moon Day! Thirty-five years ago, Neil Armstrong jumped down onto the surface of the moon. "We love da mooooooon...."

The guy who is teaching my Photoshop class is very amusing. This morning he came in singing the Black Eyed Peas song that was omnipresent on ESPN during the NBA playoffs, and is now acting out the difference between riding in a Mini Cooper and a Mercedes. "You buy the experience," he says. He is very funny.

Lance Armstrong is going to take the yellow jersey today (as I watch Stage 15 online). I am so obsessed with the Tour de France, and so jealous that my sister is going to see the second time trial in Besancon. Katie, get me a souvenir! Better yet, just take some good pictures and that will make me as happy as a souvenir. The Tour de France riders are just amazing. They average a speed that I can only maintain on flat ground for about 5 minutes.

Debbie, Becca, Fred and I went to the rock gym last night; it had been about a month since I'd climbed. In the past few months, the rock gym has been stressing me out, so last night I decided to just climb fun routes..."fun" meaning either challenging (in a good way) or easy (in an ego-boosting way). I swear my shoes have shrunk, or that my feet are getting fatter, because my shoes felt tighter last night than usual. My poor toe. But it was a good night. My arms aren't sore at the moment, but they probably will be soon.

AND the Braves are back in first place in the NL East. It's just my luck that as I'm finally adjusting to the Astros being "my team," the Braves (my "first team") start playing great baseball. But ah well. The Braves are where they belong. Happy day!

And this cartoon about Bush and Kerry (to the tune of "This Land is Your Land") is brought-tears-to-my-eyes hilarious. I love that they picked up on the fact that Bush can't pronounce nuclear correctly. That is one of my biggest pet peeves ever.

Monday, July 19, 2004

Here is the most awesome

Here is the most awesome "we never landed on the moon" article ever.

Monday, July 19, 2004

I'm in a training class

I'm in a training class today through Thursday. It's a class I've been wanting to take for a while and already had to back out of once, in June, when I was too busy. Three weeks ago when I found out I'd gotten into the class again, I thought I'd have plenty of time for it. But that was before I couldn't get the neural net code working correctly, and the Mars people wanted another point design, and the uncrewed orbiter people decided that they wanted to have the next sim on August 3.

I'm too busy to go to this class. And I'm feeling sort of guilty because it's not directly work-related (Intro to Photoshop). And yet I can't drop the class entirely or I'll be put down as a no-show, which would then make it harder for me to get into other training classes. So I'm going to be one of those "bad" employee-students, who goes to some parts of the class but not to all. C'est la vie.

Sunday, July 18, 2004

people watching I

(I don't know if it's common knowledge, but I really like to people watch. This journal has become pretty stale, so I figure I'll start to add some of my better people-watching experiences. Just interchanges I find interesting or funny. I don't know if they'll come across as well in writing, since often it's the tone of voice of the stranger that makes the watching fun. But we'll see.)

I want a frappachino and I need to grocery shop, so I head to the mini Starbucks at Kroger. Two men stand ahead of me in line. One of them is a short but round guy wearing a black t-shirt and khakis. His sunglasses are tinted orange, and he takes them off, then puts them back on. Off and on, repetitively, while he waits for his friend to get his coffee. His arms are covered in tattoos, and he has pulled up his sleeve to show them to the guy behind the counter.

"My brother does all mine."
"Single needle?"
"Yeah. He does 'em, so they have sentimental value. If I was in a car accident and lost my arms, I'd tell 'em, gimme my f--king arms!"

He can't stand still. He takes his sunglasses off, and puts them back on. He fidgets with the little toys Starbucks sells. His friend has a bag from the pharmacy.

"Gimme some drugs."

His friend mumbles something.

"If I had drugs, I'd give you some. Steroids, maybe. I'm gonna inject my dog with steroids. He'll be bigger than me."

He mimes the action of resting his arm on his dog as his friend takes his coffee and they walk away.

Saturday, July 17, 2004

So I'm sitting at home

So I'm sitting at home just now, minding my own business, when someone bangs on the door. It's only 1:30 and we're not meeting for the ballgame until 2, so I'm thinking Jason is just insanely early, and as I walk to the door I'm preparing some smartass comment to make to him about that. But when I open the door, it's not Jason. It's the mailwoman with a package that I have to sign for, because it's from Germany!

Favorite person of the day--hmm, no, favorite person of the week, at least: CARI. Cari, you rock! Thanks for the stuff! The chocolate is melted, but it's nothing my refrigerator won't fix. ;)

Friday, July 16, 2004

As the entire city holds

As the entire city holds their breath, waiting to see if the Astros can come out of the All-Star break differently than they went in--winning rather than losing--the Braves have quietly jumped into a tie for first place in the NL East.  Now, I know the East is a rather weak division this year, but it's nice to see the Braves still in it (and Marcus Giles back from his broken collarbone).

We finally had softball last night after five straight weeks of rainouts.  Unfortunately, the team was rusty and we were playing one of the better teams in the league, so we lost 9-2.  I played so-so in the field (caught one, misplayed one, and had another one bounce out of my glove, grr), but went 2-for-3 at the plate.  Hurrah!  One of my hits wasn't that great but I managed to beat the throw to first by half a step.  Made me feel speedy.  I'd like our team to have practice sometime soon though...I could really use the outfield practice.  I think the only thing that's going to improve my fielding is to just stand out there and have somebody hit fly balls at me.  I just don't get enough practice judging where they're going.  I don't really think softball is my sport, but I'll keep trying.

I worked all the way up until softball time last night, though I did have to go home to get my clothes.  Trying to make up hours for earlier in the week when I jetted early for the All-Star stuff.  I should end up getting 40 this week, as I will probably be here until 6 tonight.  On a Friday, I know!  But we have a presentation to give to a guy at NASA headquarters, and we're not starting until 3:15 and it's scheduled to go two hours...and of course we're trying to cram about a day's worth of material into two hours, which likely won't be possible.

This has been a link-happy week on my blog already, but I can't resist throwing up another one.  If you love Spiderman and Legos, you will love Spiderman 2: The Peril of Doc Ock, performed entirely by...Legos. It is so awesome.

Thursday, July 15, 2004

And finally today, in honor

And finally today, in honor of the 35th anniversary of the first moon landing (coming up on July 20), I give you this front page from the Onion. Don't read it if you're highly offended by profanity, but otherwise, it's pretty funny.

Thursday, July 15, 2004

Oh--I posted all my pictures

Oh--I posted all my pictures from the Futures Game & Celebrity Softball Game, Home Run Derby, and All-Star Game. Most of the pictures are bad, and though I know what/who it's a picture of, you won't be able to tell. But some of the ones I took during warmups are good, if you have time to sift through them.

Thursday, July 15, 2004

think I'm gonna stay home / have myself a home life /
sittin' in the slow mo / and listenin' to the daylight

Take the blog survey. It's fun and exciting! My favorite question was the one about how many other people you've influenced to start a blog. For me, it's pretty much everyone listed on the right side of this page. Boosts my ego. ;)

Jo and I went for much-needed pedicures last night. I am now the only one out of four of us that has not been encouraged to get my eyebrows waxed. I figure this either means that my eyebrows are so bad that they are beyond help, or that they are beautiful just the way they are. I'm going to stick with the latter explanation! In any case, I decided to go with pink polish last night instead of my usual red, so my toes look even more girly than usual. In case anyone was wondering.

If it's not obvious by this point that I don't have much to say today, you're not paying attention.

Other people have more exciting news though. Carter is buying a condo, and I might actually be more excited about it than he is...though it seems that his lack of outward excitement is mostly due to an aversion to having to move stuff (which I completely understand). If I were looking for a place in Atlanta, this one would be perfect. The layout is nice on the inside, and unique. It's in a nice quiet neighborhood next to the river, surrounded by Chattahoochee forest with great trails and stuff. Location, location, location. Plus the current owner is his uncle who is giving him a great deal.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

look at me / I can be / centerfield

Today feels like the day after Christmas. You still have all your new presents, but the fun and excitement of the holiday is already over. I still have my ticket stub and my t-shirt and as many pictures as I could fit on my camera, but the All-Star Game has come and gone.

Major sporting events never turn out quite the way you expect. Roger Clemens was set up to be the hero, starting the All-Star Game for the National League in his hometown in front of his home team fans. The stage was set for something incredible...and then the Rocket gave up 6 runs in the first inning. Kind of took the wind out of the sails of all the fans, as the noise in the stadium fell from roaring to a low-level buzz.

Last year Gagne blew a save in the All-Star Game, this year Clemens got rocked. I guess you never know what will happen when the best play the best.

Despite the less-than-ideal start, the All-Star Game was still great. To see so many great players all on one field was just awesome. I remembered to take my binoculars, and I must have spent half the night with them glued to my eyes, just tracking from first to second to short...to right field, staring at each player and thinking "wow, such-and-such is out there, on my baseball field!" (Yes, mine.) Clemens was followed by a trail of fantastic pitchers--Randy Johnson (freakishly tall), Tom Glavine, Ben Sheets, Eric Gagne... It was great.

Jason and Chris and I tracked strikeouts for the National League team, and though they ended up losing the game 9-4 (the AL was helped by home runs from Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, and Alfonso Soriano), they did rack up 8 strikeouts for us to post on the wall below our seats. Gagne was fun to watch in the final inning; I actually like him a lot more now that he blew a save and is human again. I know, weird.

Other notes:

• Fantasia from American Idol sang the national anthem and she totally sucked. I'm sorry, call me old-fashioned, but I think you should just sing the damn anthem and make it sound nice. Don't improvise a new tune, don't do all sorts of strange vocal wailings, and don't scream the notes. She was horrible!!
  
• Ruben Studdard (from the second American Idol) sang God Bless America in the 7th inning stretch, and he was great.
  
• The Fox-broadcasted All-Star Game had two singers from another Fox show. Coincidence? Of course not. Fox is annoying.
  
• Sitting in the handicapped row of a stadium is all well and good until you sit there during a major event where lots of standing room only tickets have been sold. Then you have people breathing down your neck the entire game, and the usher (who's not really doing his job) keeps running into you.
  
• Nick got another batting practice ball. He got one from Home Run Derby day and one from last night. Not really fair. ;)
  
• Minute Maid Park has added some sort of canon, or maybe the fireworks are just really loud. Really loud. As in, take-cover-we're-being-attacked loud. The booms make me jump out of my seat every time, even when I know they're coming. Freaking loud.
  
• More pictures will be online tomorrow. I took 256, and would have taken more if I had a bigger compact flash card.

Oh, and Jen O. retook the Earth quiz I posted yesterday from the point-of-view of living in the U.S. then Ireland then Africa. Apparently, you take up more planets simply by living in the U.S. We are such an evil country.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Sarah will be hitting up Blockbuster this weekend

IMDB's Top 100 Best Movies of All Time generate this HTML for your own page at ObeytheFist.com
Rank Movie Didn't See It/ Started It/ Finished It/ Hated It! 1 Godfather, The (1972) 2 Shawshank Redemption, The (1994) Finished It 3 Godfather: Part II, The (1974) 4 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003) Finished It 5 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002) Finished It 6 Casablanca (1942) 7 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) Finished It 8 Schindler's List (1993) 9 Shichinin no samurai (1954) 10 Star Wars (1977) Finished It 11 Citizen Kane (1941) 12 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 13 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Started It 14 Rear Window (1954) 15 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Finished It 16 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Finished It 17 Memento (2000) Finished It 18 Usual Suspects, The (1995) Finished It 19 Pulp Fiction (1994) Finished It 20 North by Northwest (1959) 21 12 Angry Men (1957) 22 Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) Finished It 23 Psycho (1960) 24 Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Finished It 25 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) 26 Silence of the Lambs, The (1991) Finished It 27 It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Finished It 28 Goodfellas (1990) Finished It 29 American Beauty (1999) Finished It 30 Vertigo (1958) Finished It 31 Sunset Blvd. (1950) 32 Matrix, The (1999) Finished It 33 Apocalypse Now (1979) Finished It 34 Pianist, The (2002) 35 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Finished It 36 C'era una volta il West (1968) 37 Some Like It Hot (1959) 38 Third Man, The (1949) 39 Taxi Driver (1976) 40 Paths of Glory (1957) 41 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) 42 Fight Club (1999) Finished It 43 Boot, Das (1981) 44 Double Indemnity (1944) 45 L.A. Confidential (1997) Finished It 46 Chinatown (1974) 47 Singin' in the Rain (1952) Finished It 48 Maltese Falcon, The (1941) 49 M (1931) 50 Requiem for a Dream (2000) 51 Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957) Finished It 52 All About Eve (1950) 53 Se7en (1995) Started It 54 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Finished It 55 Saving Private Ryan (1998) Finished It 56 Cidade de Deus (2002) 57 Raging Bull (1980) 58 Rashômon (1950) 59 Wizard of Oz, The (1939) Finished It 60 Sting, The (1973) 61 Alien (1979) Started It 62 American History X (1998) Started It 63 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Started It 64 Léon (1994) 65 Vita è bella, La (1997) Finished It 66 Touch of Evil (1958) 67 Manchurian Candidate, The (1962) 68 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Started It 69 Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948) 70 Great Escape, The (1963) Started It 71 Wo hu cang long (2000) 72 Reservoir Dogs (1992) 73 Clockwork Orange, A (1971) 74 Amadeus (1984) Finished It 75 Modern Times (1936) 76 Ran (1985) 77 Annie Hall (1977) 78 Jaws (1975) Started It 79 On the Waterfront (1954) 80 Braveheart (1995) Finished It 81 High Noon (1952) 82 Apartment, The (1960) 83 Fargo (1996) Started It 84 Sixth Sense, The (1999) Finished It 85 Aliens (1986) Started It 86 Shining, The (1980) Finished It 87 Strangers on a Train (1951) 88 Blade Runner (1982) Finished It 89 Metropolis (1927) 90 Duck Soup (1933) 91 Finding Nemo (2003) Finished It 92 Donnie Darko (2001) 93 General, The (1927) 94 City Lights (1931) 95 Princess Bride, The (1987) Finished It 96 Toy Story 2 (1999) Finished It 97 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) 98 Great Dictator, The (1940) 99 Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957) 100 Lola rennt (1998)
Which movies have you seen?

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Here's a funny camera phone

Here's a funny camera phone picture of me from the cert party last Friday night. I think I forgot to mention that party. It was a work party in honor of the many, many people that have certified in the past couple years. And my boss's boss's boss did a keg stand. Yes.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

today will soon be gone / like yesterday is gone /
like history is gone / the world keeps spinning on /
you're going, going gone

My sister posted this little quiz that will tell you, if everyone lived like you, how many Earths we would need to support the planet. I scored 4.9 Earths. Surprisingly, I don't think this was due to my low MPG car, because the bucket for that one was 15-25 miles per gallon. Instead, I think my high score was mostly related to the fact that Houston has zip, zero, nada in the way of public transportation, so I never go anywhere by anything other than car. Taking the quiz from the viewpoint of when I lived at home in high school lowered me to 3.8 Earths.

Anyway.

Last night was the Home Run Derby, and despite the fact that Lance Berkman couldn't pull through in the end to win it (that honor went to Miguel Tejada, who set a new record for number of homers in one round and in the whole derby), it was still awesome. We got to the ballpark right as doors were opening and got in good position to hopefully catch a few batting practice balls. I was ignored by Homer the Brave, got a high-five from the Pirate Parrot, and watched Curt Schilling get interviewed for the Best Damn Sports Show Period. Later, Jason and I moved from left field to right field, where we walked past the ESPN guys and then watched NL and AL batting practice.

I got a lot of pictures of the NL guys, since most of them were hanging out in right field (since they have the 1st base -- home -- dugout). Clemens, Gagne, Randy Johnson (freakishly tall), Jeff Kent and sons, Glavine, Berkman...everybody! I didn't get as many pictures of the AL guys because most of them were standing over in right field, but I did get a couple shots of Vladimir Guerrero, Francisco Rodriguez, Kenny Rogers, and Francisco Cordero. And kids. I'll post them later.

Batting practice was fun to watch. Jim Thome was really launching them in our direction, so it surprised us when he didn't make it out of the first round of the derby. Ichiro had surprising power during batting practice too. Sosa was firing them into right field, Giambi hit one that our friend Nick caught in the upper right field deck... Jason and I didn't catch anything (not that I would have stuck my hand out there without a glove anyway), but the guy in front of us got one, and a guy a little farther in front got three. Just not fair. :)

The Derby was really fun to watch. Before it started, they brought out all of the living 500+ home run hitters, and that was so cool. All these great baseball players were standing down on the field, and I was watching! Awesome. Bonds led off the Derby with 8 home runs, including a 483-footer. Wow. Blalock only hit three, but then Berkman and Tejada both hit 7! Thome, Ortiz, and Sosa all disappointed, but Palmeiro finished the first round with 9!

Bonds disappointed in the second round with only 3, but Berkman came back up and hit 10! The stadium roof had been opened, and it was awesome seeing all his balls fly over the train tracks into the night. Lance got the loudest cheers by far, being the hometown boy. I felt sort of bad for the other guys; they would have gotten a lot more cheers if they hadn't been going against an Astro! Tejada followed Berkman with an even more astounding 15 second round homers. The crowd wasn't cheering at first, but once he passed Lance and closed in on the single-round Derby record, the fans livened up. Tejada hit one 497 feet--four feet farther than Lance's longest. Incredible.

Palmeiro was up last in the second round, and the crowd was starting to clap for outs, wanting Berkman to make it to the finals. With one out left, the announcer asked "come on Houston, are you going to cheer for Palmeiro?" to which the entire stadium chorused "NOOOOOO!" It was funny. Palmeiro only hit 5, so it was Berkman and Tejada in the final. Woohoo!

Poor Berkman though, he must have worn himself out in the second round, and only hit 4 in the finals. However, three of them came with only one out left, quite an awesome display of clutch homering. The crowd was going crazy! Tejada came up, and poor guy, everyone wanted him to lose. But he quickly tied Berkman's four, and hit the fifth with five outs still to go.

So the two last-minute derby subs were in the finals, and little Miguel Tejada won the entire thing. It was really fun to be there...and I can't wait for tonight!!

Monday, July 12, 2004

(she is the one) but I have a purpose / (she is the one) but I have to fight this

My mouse just took on a life of its own. All of a sudden the arrow scrolled across the screen to the right while my hand stayed in the same place on the desk. It's possessed!

And now on to other stuff that...doesn't matter either. Hmm. Oh well.

Not that I get more than a hundred hits a day, but even I have suffered Blogger Burnout before...just because it's hard to find something truly interesting to say every day. Take today's post for instance, because it's going to suck.

The weekend was full of baseball. Saturday afternoon, Chris and Jason and I went to FanFest, where we fought the crowds and waited in long lines to get baseball cards made (as seen below). We also raced from third base to home plate, and Jason (4.79) beat me (5.13) by less than half a second. Ha! He blamed the slim margin of victory on his shoes, but I prefer to think that I'm just faster than he expected. ;)

Saturday night we saw The Terminal. Not great, but not bad. Catherine Zeta-Jones didn't add anything to the story, but the supporting cast was excellent. And Diego Luna is cute (though the mustache has got to go). Ta daa, that about sums up my movie review. And you wonder why I hardly ever wrote the stories when I edited the Entertainment section...

Yesterday I spent all day at the ballpark for the Futures Game and Legends & Celebrity Softball Game. Both were entertaining enough, but I'm glad that Monday has arrived and the really good stuff begins. We're taking off work early to be downtown when the gates open at 3 for tonight's Home Run Derby.

After the stuff yesterday, we headed to the Becca/Nick/Tiffany abode for burgers and entertainment provided by Nick's $200 bird, Sara's cute purse, and Curt's dislike of that purse.

Saturday, July 10, 2004

Look, we're famous baseball players!

Look, we're famous baseball players!

Friday, July 09, 2004

mary belongs to the words of a song / I try to be strong for her / try not to be wrong for her

The rain gods don't like our softball team. We'd been rained out for four weeks in a row, and were finally going to play last night, last game of the night at 9:00. At 8:30, as our luck would have it, the heavens opened up and it poured for about twenty minutes. Just enough to call off the softball game. Sigh.

I was a very bad employee and didn't get much done this morning, mainly because I was buying a plane ticket to Colorado and debating with Gavin, Jen and Becca about what vaccinations we need for Peru. At this point, I think we've all agreed that malaria medicine isn't necessary, and that Hepatitis A and typhoid vaccinations are. What we can't figure out is whether we need yellow fever or not. Different travel clinics and websites have told us different things. If the shot was cheap, I'd just go ahead and get it, but it's $140 and I don't want to get immunized against something if I don't really need to be.

Rich is tempting me with a three-day southern California baseball trip (San Diego, Anaheim, and LA!) the weekend before we go to Peru. I want to go. I don't have the vacation time. But I want to go. With my recent trip to Chicago and the upcoming trip to Denver, that would be 7 baseball stadiums this summer, and would bring my total to 17--more than half! But I don't have the vacation time...

This afternoon and evening is the division cert party, honoring all the people that have certified for any console position in the past couple years. There are a ton of people on that list, so the entire division will probably be there. The weather is looking ominous, so even though we'll be under the pavilion, I'm hoping the rain holds off.

This weekend, of course, is the beginning of four days of MLB All-Star madness! Woohoo! Tomorrow, Chris and Jason and I are going to Fan Fest. Sunday we'll be at the Futures Game and Legends & Celebrities Softball Game. Monday we'll be at the Home Run Derby, and Tuesday at the All-Star Game itself. I am so excited.

And finally, a Tour de France update courtesy of my mini-obsession: Lance Armstrong finished with the pack today despite a major pileup in the last kilometer, neither gaining nor losing time over his major opponents. Go Lance!

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Ok, Blogger is acting up

Ok, Blogger is acting up this morning. I lost my previous post.

Anyway. My work schedule has been very strange lately. It's of my own doing, but still strange.

I get twenty days of vacation each year. I know that's a lot, and it's certainly one of the benefits of working for the government. Because my work is rarely time-critical, and because I like to travel, I strongly believe in using every iota of vacation time I have...and sometimes more. This year I've already overcommitted myself by a couple days. As a result, I'm always trying to earn a credit hour here and a credit hour there so that I can minimize the amount of annual leave I have to take. When Mom was visiting, I worked some strange (re: early!) hours in order to be able to spend more time with her without taking vacation. And recently, I took off almost 16 hours to go to Atlanta, but thanks to my weird scheduling, I only had to use 5.5 annual leave hours.

And all that is a complicated way of explaining why I was here last night until 6:30.

I went home prepared to exercise. It was murderously humid outside, so despite thinking about taking a bike ride (inspired I'm sure by the Tour de France) I decided to elliptical. Alas, alack, one machine was taken and the other was out of order. So instead, I did Dance, Dance Revolution for 40 minutes. ;) I know, I know. It really was a good workout though.

Thursday, July 08, 2004

How to make a

How to make a sarah

Ingredients: 3 parts competetiveness 5 parts silliness 5 parts beauty

Method: Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of lustfulness

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

the city lights shine for her / above them I cry for her /
everything's small on the ground below / down below

Over the past few years I've developed a minor obsession with Lance Armstrong. I can't explain it, but I find him fascinating. This morning I've been watching Stage 4 of the Tour de France (team time trial) live online while working on my neural net. The official website appears to be breaking down under the load of people trying to watch, so I turned to trusty old ESPN. The USPS team won, so hooray! I love the internet.

All of Debbie's excitement about the new season got to me last night, and I ended up watching the premiere of The Amazing Race 5. Reality TV is so addicting. The show was an hour and a half, and I was captivated the entire time. You'd think people would have figured out by now that the flight that appears to be the best isn't always the best (i.e. check the arrival times you wackos). Or that sometimes it pays to help each other, but sometimes it's not a good idea to give your taxi to someone else. Or that there's always a clue box.

Also, the girl on one team has previously been on another CBS reality show. Are they really hurting for people so badly that they had to choose someone who'd already been on their station? Weird.

I came home from Atlanta in the mood to buy a condo. There are problems with that mood, of course. I don't really have the money at the moment to buy anything. Most of the condos in this area are undesirable to my eyes due to being run-down, in a bad location, or just plain ugly. And then there is the biggest problem of all -- I still can't say with certainty that I'll be here for the next 3+ years. I've been here for two years now and will be for at least one more, and if I'd known that at the time I might have bought something.

But unless it's school (or the 5-year reunion trip to Australia!), I just haven't been able to commit to being in any place more than about a year in advance. Funny, isn't it? I'm a commitment-phobe in a non-traditional sense; I can't commit to a location. Sometimes I think life would be easier if someone else made the decision for me, and simply told me what to do for the next couple years. I am never very good at making those decisions on my own, and will likely convince myself that what I have is good enough. And just stay.

Of course, what I have is pretty good. I know this.

I'm about to turn in my lease for another year anyway, so the condo conversation is moot.

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

This is a pretty good

This is a pretty good post. (No, I don't know the guy. Just one of the many blogs I surf.)

"Being in a relationship takes time, energy, patience and coordination. You don?t fall into it, you work your way into it. A relationship isn?t your most comfortable pair of flannel pajamas going in, it?s the tightest pair of jeans you?ve ever bought, but once you get into them you look damned good and want to keep them on forever. A relationship isn?t taking a deep, luxurious drink of your favorite beverage at the perfect temperature. A relationship is lifting a mug to your lips and swallowing a draught without knowing what?s in the mug in the first place."

"He asked me about love, then, naturally. It?s how these questions work. You trade your stories because you want them to understand you and you want to understand them, and you can never be inside them to understand it all, everything, so you grasp at the glimpses of their lives before you, and the tales they have, and the feelings buried deep."

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

when all that you wanted / when all that you had don?t seem so much / for you to hold onto

I was in Atlanta all weekend. The days passed slowly, as summer vacation days should. On Friday, Carter only worked a half day so that we could drive up to James and Chrissy's house in Athens. Chris followed a few hours later and we ate grilled burgers and played croquet on the front lawn. James, Carter and I even squeezed in a game of Settlers, so that was fun.

Saturday we were back in Atlanta in time to have lunch with Iffy, check out the condo Carter is considering buying, and then have dinner with Karen and Brian. It was different to see Karen in Atlanta for once, and not in some strange foreign city! Sunday morning we got up early to hop on MARTA and head to the start line of the Peachtree Road Race, otherwise known as the world's largest 10K race. I went back to time group 5 with Carter, and we had to wait about half an hour after the official start of the race before we crossed the start line, but that wasn't a big deal.

This is the second year I've done this race, and I love it. There are people lining the course the entire way (though some spots are more populated than others), and I just love the feeling of running down a street that I knew so well for five years of my life. I love mentally picking out the landmarks along the way. There's the Cheesecake Factory, site of a couple birthday dinners, on the right, followed by the Catholic church Kent always went to, Houston's and Mick's and Fratelli's. We passed the Shepherd Center where Christina got better, the statue of the men holding up the world, the High, and finally finished at Piedmont Park right about where I went rollerblading my freshman year.

There are so many random memories along that road, I can't help but love running into them.

Rachel came down from the Georgia mountains Sunday afternoon, with a special request to go to the Avondale fireworks, so off we went. The fireworks were nice, if a little choppy, and afterward we wandered the dark streets in search of Carter and Rachel's friends, who don't ever remember me but would probably be surprised to find out how many stories I know about them. We walked into Andrew's house and his mom promptly fed us cake, because it was her birthday.

It was yummy cake.

The early morning wake-up time for the race finally got to me, and I trudged back to the car in a sleepy haze while Carter and Rachel rode their Avondale high. Yesterday the three of us spent time in the sun at the pool before taking in an afternoon movie. Rachel headed back to the mountains, while Carter and I took off to find a geocache and buy a board game. Neither of those ended up happening, because in the process of geocaching we disturbed a swarm of angry yellow jackets. We spent the rest of the night buying bee sting stuff at Walmart and commiserating about the pain of the stings. Carter got the worse end of the hive and ended up with about 16 stings. I lucked out with only four.

I recommend staying away from yellow jackets.

The trip ended with today with a delayed MARTA train, hellish security lines at the airport that backed up almost to the MARTA station, and a lovely couple that let me jump in line ahead of them. I never would have made the plane without them, and it was also good that Carter suggested printing my boarding pass last night.

And now I'm home. Or, rather, at work.

Visiting Atlanta is always interesting, because the city and the people leave me feeling two things at once. When I first see the skyline I feel as if I am coming home after a long trip, and I smile. It is so nice to catch up with good friends, and see people that I don't talk to regularly. And for a moment, I want to move back to Atlanta. But after a few days I begin to feel like I have overstayed my welcome with Carter, who has to put me up on his couch for nights in a row, and with the city itself. It's as if the city doesn't want me there anymore. And it stops feeling like home.

On Saturday night after dinner, Karen and Brian and Carter and I walked around campus to see the new student center and peek through the windows of the new rec center. It's all very nice, and I wish some of the improvements had been made while I was still there. But it's not my campus anymore, and I don't feel like I own it the way I once did. The Nique looks different, and the people look younger. It's all so familiar, and yet strange, as if I've fallen into some sort of parallel universe. And I realize that I can't go back. I don't know if Atlanta or Tech wants me back. I don't know if there is anything there for me anymore.

I know that makes it sound like I didn't have a good trip, and that's not true. I had a nice time.

Thursday, July 01, 2004

and I am flawed / but I am cleaning up so well /
I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself

Last night was a great night in space. The Expedition 9 crew successfully completed the spacewalk that had been aborted last week, and Cassini successfully entered orbit around Saturn. Saturn! When the mission launched in 1997, I remember thinking "wow, 2004, that's a long time away." And here it is, 2004, and I don't just watch NASA on tv, I work for NASA. And Cassini is orbiting Saturn.

Every time a mission reaches a major milestone, I feel like a giddy kid all over again. I mean -- Saturn! With the rings and the gas and the moons and everything! That is so cool!! And December, when they release the Huygens probe that will enter the atmosphere of Titan, will be exciting as well. It's stuff like this that boggles my mind, and makes me wonder how anyone can argue that space exploration isn't a good thing.

So I ended up seeing Spiderman 2 last night. I'll likely see it again in Atlanta this weekend, but I won't mind because it was awesome! Better than the first. My only negative comment would be that neither movie has had a good ending; both have sort of faltered in the last five minutes. But the rest of Spiderman 2 was incredible. The action sequences have gotten better, the special effects more seamless, and you just can't help but love Tobey Maguire. I know he's Spiderman and all, but I just wanted to give him a hug. He needed a hug.

Also, as requested, here's a link for everyone to go vote for Chris's friend Cheri to win the ESPY for Best Athlete with a Disability. Very cool.