Dinner and a Movie

06.09.2004

Gina told me that we're overdue going out and seeing a movie, so I'm forcing her to take care of that tonight, going against her "on a weeknight?" policy of going out. Yes, a weeknight. I think I can get my homework done in time.

She doesn't know it yet, but we're going to go see Shrek 2. Since she mentioned it a lot on our little vaation a couple of weeks ago, I'm hoping that I've taken the proper hint.

While looking at yahoo to find what times the movie starts, I discovered something interesting. There aren't enough movies out. Case in point, at our local super movie cineplex that has 18 screens, there's only 9 movies currently showing. It looks like The Day After Tomorrow and the latest Harry Potter are being shown on half the screens. I think I know why we don't go see as many movies as we used to. There just aren't as many to go and see.

Or maybe I'm just old and would rather flop on the couch with my popcord once the movie comes out on DVD. I bet that's really it!

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Eats

06.08.2004

Looking at the clips of vacation pics in the window up by the logo, I'm reminded of how this past beach vacation was a little different. Usually I overdo the whole seafood thing. This time, we ate in for breakfastand (usually) lunch, and then would go out for dinner. This trip we tried places we hadn't been to before. My favorite discover was the Bonefish Grill. I think it's now become my favorite seafood place. The food is good, the staff was extremely helpful and courteous. As far as atmosphere, I would put it on par with J Alexanders, my favorite place to grab a steak in Nashville. It's casual, but it still has a classy feeling.

To make my new discovery even better, they are opening a Bonefish Grill in Nashville in September, probably next door to J Alexanders. Nyah, my luck couldn't be that good.

Great. Now I'm hungry.

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Painting 102

06.07.2004

This weekend continued the painting experience I've come to know as my house, where it seems every wall needs 3 coats of paint. This weekend saw the hallway and bathroom get painted. Mostly.

Trying to think ahead, we added M-1 Additive to the paint in the bathroom to help retard mold and mildew growth. Being the single, non-cleaning guy I am, I'm all about the mold and mildew. Reading the directions for the M-1, it's scary stuff. You almost need an NBC suit to handle this stuff. Long pants, long sleeved shirt, socks, shoes, eye protection. For a minute I thought I should go get a condom just to be sure. But it was added to the paint without incedent. Once the wall started to get painted, there was the incedent!

This stuff is 51% Tetrachloroisophthalonitrile. It doesn't like water, or moistess. I guess that's why it's an anti-mold and mildew chemical. It's to be applied to a dry surface, which we thought the wall was, but it appears the underlying sheet rock may have been moist from my using the shower in there for so long. So once the paint was applied to the wall, the paint started to bubble. Not like it was boiling, but more like there was an air bubble underneath that just wanted to get out!

So this leads to plan B. Since something's going on with the sheet rock, we're going to get a moisture-blocking primer with which to paint the wall, and the try again with the treated paint. Maybe then it won't bubble.

And there's still a great room to paint....

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Stupid Link Day

06.03.2004

It's been a while since I had an assortment of random links. The time is nigh for that to be fixed!

Seeing as how I have a shy bowel, I got a kick out of How To Poop At Work.

Curious as to how many calories it takes to keep your current weight? Find out what your Basal Metabolic Rate is.

I've been watching Babylon 5 on DVD (I'm about halfway through season 2 now). Michael O'Hare played Commander Sinclair in the first season, and you can keep up with him on his site. On a solemn note, Richard Biggs, who played the doctor on the show, died suddenly last month from an aortal tear. On a less solemn note, Jerry Doyle, who played Michael Garibaldi, has pulled out of the running for a Florida congressional seat. And just so I don't leave anybody out, Claudia Christian (Ivanova) even has her own site.

What happens when 2 ten year olds start driving bulldozers?

In my quest to make a more complete wrestling game, I've gone back in time and picked up a copy of Avalon Hill's Wrasslin' game. I'm hoping that I can borrow a couple of ideas from the game. That's borrow. Not steal. Ooh! How about liberate!

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Models

06.02.2004

Last week I managed to have a couple of discussions about making models, and how things have changed in the past 25 years. I remember going to the toy section of whatever store we were in (K-Mart, Woolco, etc), going to the aisle of models, and then looking intently, trying to pick out the perfect model to biuld. I was never much for cars, I always like planes, helicopters, and anything sci-fi.

There was always the learning curve for models. You start out with your snap together models. These were always no-brainers, and fun to play with until you ended up smashing whatever it was against the concrete. Then came the day you got your first model requiring glue. You would use a whole tube of glue, and the model would be hopelessly converted to a pile of plastic pieces stuck together. This would cause a regression to snapping things together again, until Dad decided it was time to help. My first model with Dad was a F-101 Starfighter. Dad glued it together, I added decals. Soon afterward, I got my first glue-together model that I made. Sort of. It was a glow in the dark, Interplantary UFO with scout ship! Dad made the UFO. I made the scout ship. 4 pieces. Top, bottom, 2 tail fins. I probably used a tube of glue, but it counted. I eventually managed to glue whole models together, the first one I remember doing all by myself was a B25 Mitchell bomber that I managed to keep breaking the landing gear off.

Stores don't seem to have the model aisle anymore. Those that do seem to have a quarter-aisle on one side relegated to various car models. I don't know what happened to that aisle. Did the scare fo kids sniffing glue kill model makeing? Has the attention span of today's youths grown too short to put together a model. When set next to a video game, is a model too boring?

There are at least 2 places to get models of more than cars. Hobby Town has more than a wall full of models. Granted, a lot are cars, but they've got the Tamiya tanks, jets, fighters, and more. They've got Warhammer models, fun to build even if you don't play the games. I recently found that Hobby Lobby also has a whole aisle devoted to models. On one side, you have cars. On the other, there are planes, helicopters, aircraft carriers, and even an occasional rocket.

After perusing the aisles of hobby this-n-that, I started to think about those old models I used to make. Thinking of the joy of the Interplantary UFO, I set out to search it down. Oddly enough, I couldn't find it on eBay. I did manage to find it listed on a site of rare models (for $200). But just to keep me from giving up all hope, I did find the scout ship. For $5.00.

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