Not The Olympics

02.20.2006

I've never been much for sports, everybody that knows me knows that much. I might watch part of the Super Bowl. I occasionally get sucked into a NASCAR race, but I think that's my subconscious digging into my redneck trailer park roots taking over. With the start of the winter olympics last week, most of my normal television viewing has either been put on hold (such as normal NBC shows) or relegated to reruns (and I don't see the suspense factor of a CSI that I've already seen).

Enter the Russellmania DVD Collection ™. I've been wondering what series I should delve into, and this has given me the perfect opportunity. I had been eyeing the 2 Star Trek series that I haven't watched, and the more I thought about it, the more I was tempted to watch Enterprise. So tempted, in fact, that while the olympic opening ceremonies where on tv, I was watching the Enterprise pilot.

Over the past week (9 days?), I've managed to watch 1½ seasons of Enterprise. I've been approaching the series with an open mind, and so far I have to admit it's a little better than I was expecting. I dare say I'm enjoying it. Luckily, there's no one character that I am driven to hate (a'la the "Wesley Crusher" syndrome). Being a prequel to every other Star Trek series, there are things that you know won't happen and some things you know will. It's staying within these rules that have led my to enjoy Smallville so much. So far, those rules have been doing the same for Enterprise. Maybe they can keep it up for another 2½ seasons - or that should be about 2 weeks for me....

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Lazy Weekend

02.13.2006

I wasted the majority of this past weekend. I didn't clean. I barely did laundry. I stayed at home. But in my never-give-up-my-childhood mind it wasn't a completely wasted weekend.

I managed to finish a video game.

Since Christmas I've been playing Need For Speed: Most Wanted on the XBox. It's a driving game. I like the driving games, much to Jer's chagrin. The career mode in the game has a nice blend of racing and evading the police, so it's enough of a mix up that the game doesn't become too repetitive. Plus, I was trying to only play on the weekends so it wouldn't be such a timesink all of the time.

The career mode has you battle 15 other drivers to the top, requiring you to win 5 to 9 races and accomplish 4 to 6 milestones (like avoiding police roadblocks) before challenging one of those 15 drivers for their spots. Like all driving games, it's got the differnet types of cars and vehicle upgrades that everyone has come to expect. The races and challenges are hard enough to not always be easy, yet enough of a challenge to have given me a sense of accomplishment once I started beating the AI drivers up in the top 5 spots.

The part of the game that I enjoyed the most was not so much the different types of races and cars in the game, although I did appreciate them, but that the developers gave you some latitude in how to make your way to the top of the rankings. I suck at drag races in this game. I just lack the right kind of timing or something. I managed to get through the whole game and only raced 2 drag races. On top of that, I used the same car in at least 2/3 of the game. I managed to keep my original car competitive just by adding upgrades. I remember many an old driving game where you would defeat an opponent, then have to use that car to defeat the next (and with my luck it would be a drag race or something along those lines).

Now that I've finished the career mode I can still play. There are the races I skipped over that can still be played. There are all those police roadblocks to try and avoid some more. There are special challenges that will unlock extra cars if you finish all of them. But now I think it's time to retire this game for a while. The question now is what should I waste my time on?

Permalink video games

How To Tell You're In The South

02.08.2006

People are always at odds about where the South is. I guess it's due to the visuals that the South is supposed to being to mind. Overalls, toothless smiles, jugs of moonshine, and yet there's always a blonde in cutoffs and a ponytail that nobody would pass buy.

After visiting Mom in TN this past weekend, I believe I found the measuring post by which you can tell if you're in the South. It's actually pretty simple. Go to Wal-Mart (they're everywhere in the South, so if there's no Wal-Mart within 20 minutes you're either in the North or the Deep South). At some point while in Wal-Mart you will hear an announcement over the P.A., and this is the key. Someone will eventually be called to the Toy Department. Usually it is something like "Barbera to Toys." If you're in the South, it will sound like they said "Bar Ber Ah Too Toe Wheeze."

In every Wal-Mart I can remember going to, I always hear "Toe Wheeze" in the announcement. Gotta love that accent (or "Ax Cent").

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Winter Storm 2006

02.06.2006

I awoke early this morning, due in part to a freaky dream involving newborns and a Rubbermaid container with 4 snakes in it, but the two had nothing to do with each other, and it's really a story best left for some other day. After an hour of not being able to go back to sleep, I finally turned on the tv to find that Morgan County was under a winter weather alert. I tuned in to our local "the sky is falling" weather experts, and saw that they were predicting a frosting of snow for the early daylight hours. I managed to fall back asleep soon thereafter and fitfully finished a couple hours of light dozing.

Upon awaking (for real) to the dulcet tones of the Tom Joyner Morning Show, I clicked on the tv to see what was going on outside. It sounds odd, but I keep my windows well covered so it's much easier to turn on the tv than to open a door or peek through a curtain. The local "sky is falling, etc." weather reporters had their "Winter Storm 2006" graphic up. And the top story: There was no snow.

I would bet that at least 350 days of the year, we get no snow. Today, it was the top story.

That had people out in the field in Decatur. There was a slight drizzle, but no snow. In fact, it was 40° in Decatur. But no snow. They went on for a good 4 or 5 minutes about how there was no snow.

I can see it now at the end of March when the temperature suddenly rockets up to 70°: Heatwave 2006.

Oh, the #2 story this morning: VP Dick Cheney was coming to Priceville for an invitation only fund raiser. A visit from Cheney beat out by "No Snow".

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One Of Those Days

02.02.2006

I left for work a little early this morning (well, early for me). I was going to work at the downtown office and was planning on parking at the city parking garage 2 blocks away instead of trying to remember to run out to the parking meter every 2 hours to shove a dollars worth of change in. After getting stuck behind some people way too serious about driving just under the speed limit on 2 lane roads, I made it to the parking garage where I found myself getting the first available spot... on the roof.

As I started to walk the 2 blocks to the office, the light sprinkle tried to turn into a heavy sprinkle, so I picked up my pace. I figured that walking at home along with karate were paying off, because my bag bag didn't feel as heavy and I wasn't breathing as hard. I make it inside the office, open my bag, and promptly find I left my computer on the kitchen table (no wonder the bag felt lighter). Since important work was on said computer, I needed to go back home to get it.

I left the office and walked the 2 blocks back to the parking garage in what had now been upgraded to a shower from the sprinkle earlier. I left the garage, paying my 25¢ parking fee, and began the 30 minute journey home. I made it home without incident, got the computer, and drove another 30 minutes back to work, this time deciding I would rather shove a dollar in the meter every 2 hours instead of walking 2 blocks and traversing 5 levels of parking garage.

Today is Dad's 60th birthday. Maybe 59, but I'm thinking 60. I sure hope his day is going better than mine.

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