Today's the day

During lunch today we were discussing the situations that could occur from being born on February 29th, like when would you celebrate your birthday? On March 1st, because you were born the day after February 28th? Or on February 28th because you were born the day before March 1st?

We also discussed people having twins, with one born on Feb. 29th, and one on March 1st. The consolation prize there is that the Feb. 29th twin gets to say he or she is the oldest (apparently that's important to twins).

What would really suck would be being born on the 29th, and your older twin being born on the 28th. Not only do you only get to celebrate your true birthday once every four years, but you're also the younger twin! I bet your older twin wouldn't let you forget that one.

What about twins being born on the cusp of a star sign. Imagine one twin being born on June 21st, and thus being a Gemini (rather appropriate for a twin), with their younger sibling being born a few minute later...on June 22nd, and being a Leo.

Or one twin being born on December 31st of one year, and the second twin born on January 1st of the next year.

The plus for these twins is at least they get their own birthday, right?

Or how about twins being born on each side of the cut-off date for school enrollment. So one twin starts school a year earlier. How fucked up would that be? You're twins, but you're in different grades at school. You're in grade 1 and your brother is in grade 2...but...but...but...you're twins?

What other bizarre situations could there be with twins being born on different days?

Sometimes I surprise (& scare) myself.

While driving home tonight (in separate cars), Liz and I entered the freeway and began merging with the traffic. There being a lot of traffic I figured I'd just get off at the next off-ramp so I pulled back out into what looked like the exit lane and drove down it for a bit. However the exit lane ended long before the off-ramp so I was forced to merged back into the lane I'd just left. I saw Liz's SUV a couple of cars in front of me, and right behind her was a Honda Accord, or some kind of low profile, Japanese wannabe-sports cars favored by street racing Ricers who think they know how to drive.

As I got set to once again merge with the traffic the guy in the Accord (or whatever it was) threw down the gauntlet, and in the way of arsehole drivers the world over (and I am definitely not excluding myself from this group) practically kissed my wife's rear bumper. I kid you not, the guy got his car so close to my wife's car that if they'd been parked, you'd have had a tough time walking between them. My wife would be the first person to tell you that normally I'm a fairly laid-back, easy going guy, and that too often I let people take advantage of me...but I also have a malicious streak and in the case of arsehole drivers, who are very much a weakness of mine, I sometime give in to my urges and just can't help pissing them off.

In the case of our Rice Burner friend I accepted his challenge, and I pulled up alongside his car in a manner that definitely said "Let me IN!!!" To his credit RB did not back down. Then again, why would he? I drive a Ford Focus, hardly an intimidating GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY!!! kind of vehicle, and RB obviously fancied himself as a Topgun driver or he wouldn't have been an arsehole about not wanting to let me in in the first place.

Now if he hadn't been a prick and tried to shut the gate on me in such a glaringly obvious way I might have just pulled in behind him...I might not, but I might have too. It's a moot point now, anyway :D

For several seconds the traffic edged forward and stopped, forward and stopped, forward and stopped, and RB and I sat side-by-side, neither of us refusing to back down. But what RB didn't know was that we were right behind my wife...and she's even more evil than I am >:)

My wife braked and came to a complete stop for a couple of seconds, then she quickly accelerated, opening up a large gap between her and RB. My reactions were a lot quicker and despite having a pitiful 4-cylinder engine (no, it's not the Z-Tec) my Focus leaped forward and into the gap and despite his best (worst?) intentions and aggressive driving, RB found himself behind me, and BOY! Was he mad! His highbeams went on and he started tooting his horn. Not beep-beep-beep, but one, looooong continuous
toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot.

Now I've put a t on both the start and the finish of that toot, and that's not correct because RB never let off his horn. All the way down the freeway to the next exit lane he sat behind me with his high beams on and his horn blaring. It didn't bother me. I just flipped that tab on my rearview mirror, the one that changes the angle of your mirror and negates drivers behind you with really bright lights, then I turned my radio up. And I tapped my brakes a bit, even when it wasn't necessary, and I used my handbrake to come to an almost complete stop, which is really nasty because your handbrake doesn't engage your brake lights. I deliberately made RB's life hell. When a car in the lane next to me put on his indicator, I slowed down and let that guy in. Why wouldn't I? The guy was polite and used his indicator, and it's not like I needed to be behind my wife. I just wanted to get in front of RB because he didn't want me there.

Don't go getting on my case. RB deliberately tried to shut me out, then had a temper tantrum when I still got in. I agree, I deliberately escalated a case of Road Rage. You've got a problem with that? This is my Blog and the Internet's a big place; go find someone who cares.

Finally we got to the exit lane and I pulled into it and RB pulled out behind me. He probably thought I was going to do the same thing again, and he either wanted to get in behind me and flash me and tooooooooooooooot me some more, or he wanted to try and cut me off. But I just exited the Freeway like I'd planned to do all along and RB merged back into the traffic. While in the exit lane he passed the car that I'd let in before, which meant he cut in right behind my wife who'd been watching the whole thing in her rearview mirror.

My wife told me that as soon as RB got in behind her she promptly hit her brakes and RB, who'd been driving far too fast and aggressively, apparently almost ran up her arse.

Sometimes I surprise myself. I know I've got a mean streak but I didn't realize I could be such a complete bastard.

I've been in the other lane before. I've had people determined to muscle their way in front of me. Some people I let in, because I know they're coming in and there's no way I can stop them short of running them off the road. Other people think they're coming in but they're not aggressive enough and they back off and go behind. Other times people are very polite about wanting to come in. They make eye contact and use their indicators and I'm more than willing to let them in front of me.

It's like being a pedestrian in China. You make eye contact with the driver of the car and even though it's the norm in China for most pedestrians to yield to vehicles, yes, even in the crosswalk, many drivers would make eye contact with the big Kwai Lo and stop for me. But sometimes I'd make eye contact and it was me who stopped and let the car go through, because I could tell that this driver was quite willing to run me down if I crossed in front of him.

RB was a complete bastard. He saw my car coming down the merge lane and deliberately tried to shut me out. What he didn't realize was that this was one of those rare times where the other guy was not going to back down. RB threw down the gauntlet and I accepted the challenge, then he lost at his own game and had a temper tantrum. A classic case of Road Rage, yes, and a classic example of a sore loser, too.

Premades vs PUGs in the BGs

If you looked at that title and said "What???" you probably want to stop reading now :P

My Rogue is currently grinding Honor for two Gladiator swords and after two nights it's very obvious that by the time I have enough Honor to buy the Swords, I'm going to have Marks coming out of my ears. It seems to me it's a flaw in the system when I have enough Marks to make a purchase, but I'm still lacking in Honor. Part of the reason is the way Honor is awarded on the BGs, but it also comes down to the price of items being too high...or perhaps more correctly, the number of Marks needed is too low.

The Honor price of an item should be in proportion to the number of Marks required to buy it, which should be directly related to the Honor earned by the average losing player in a BG. Now before you fire up those Flamers, I am not advocating ZOMG! Welfare Epics! I'm prepared to work for my epic Blades, I just don't think I should have stacks of Marks by the time I have the Honor to buy my Epics, and I certainly shouldn't have stacks of them left over after buying my Epics, either.

Blizzard need to calculate the average amount of Honor earned by a player on the losing side of each battle, and use that to determine the Honor & Marks needed to purchase an item. So just for the sake of argument, let's say a player earns 100 Honor for losing one EOTS match, that means he has 100 Honor and 1 EOTS Mark. If he wants to buy a Sword that requires him to spend 10,000 Honor he should also be spending the equivalent in Marks, being 100, but that's never the case. In fact you rarely need more than 40 Marks to buy one item, and most can be bought for 20 Marks or less. Both of my desired swords cost 20 Marks each, but one requires 9,000 Honor and the other 18,000 Honor. I have 10 Marks but barely 2,000 Honor, so I have half the Marks but not even 1/4 of the Honor for the cheaper blade. A lot of that Honor came from doing several AVs in my 50s, so it's not like there's a slight discrepancy between Honor earned and Marks received; it's a huge difference.

As it currently stands it will probably take me close to a month of several BGs per night before I can buy one of my Blades, unless I get lucky and win a few BGs (and it happens, my PUG beat their PUG last night), or I join a Premade and increase my chances of winning. Considering how often our PUG loses to a Premade, I'm actually thinking of joining a Premade next time I see one being advertized. Then again, considering how geared up my Rogue is not, I might join a Premade only to get kicked out when someone better equipped comes along.

What I'll probably end up doing is running EOTS for the Marks and unless I get into a Premade, I'll then grind AV for both Honor and AV Marks, as I can turn AV Marks in for the quest and bonus Honor. And this is definitely a flaw in the system, when I have all the Marks I need but am forced to grind an unrelated BG to earn more Honor.

Part of the problem, as I said, is the price discrepancy between Honor & Marks, but part of the problem (despite my willingness to become part of the problem) is the Premades. Currently you enter a BG with several other people from various other servers and you inevitably face a Premade. Of course you don't know it's a Premade, at first, initially it's one or two players from the Premade who stick their heads in to determine if they're facing a PUG or another Premade. It's when they report back to their buddies and your opponents' roster suddenly fills up with players from the same realm that you know for sure it's a Premade...and there goes the neighborhood.

The simple solution to this, one which would be easy to implement and which would cause a lot of concern among the Premades, would be to change the way Premades enter the BG. If it's the Leader that Joins everyone as a Group, then when it's time for the Premade to enter the BG only the Leader should get the Enter prompt. Not one member of the Premade enters the BG until the Leader goes in, and then everyone enters all at once; no testing the waters before committing to the battle. This would not make a lot of people happy, because now they can't pick & choose their battles, but why should they be able to? This is PvP. This is WAR! You'll fight when you're told to, Soldier, and you'll fight whoever I tell you to! Now get out there and FIGHT!

Another solution, one that's already been implemented in the Arenas, is preventing players from seeing who their opponents are prior to the fight. If you bring up the Battle Chart it should show your own team mates and that's it. You should have no idea who's waiting for you on the other side of the battlefield...and doesn't everyone love surprises? This is supposed to be PvP! Why you should be able to pick and choose your battles?

The final solution would be to remove the Join as a Group option, but I don't hold with that. If a Guild wants to get together and do BGs as a team, they should be able to do that. What they shouldn't be able to do is handpick their opponents and the current BG system allows them to do just that, and that's a big problem.

A lunch date

According to Xinh's Rules of Dating, it was just lunch, coz there was no activity before or after the the meal :)

Normally lunchtimes find me in the lunchroom with my coworkers, but today almost everyone was out of the office. I had a coffee bill to pay so I seized the opportunity to go to the bank on my lunch break. I was amazed to discover the bank was practically empty, especially as it was high noon, and within minutes of walking in the door I was heading back outside, wondering where to go for lunch. I decided seeing as I was free, I'd give Natey a call and when he answered it sounded like I'd woken him up but he said he was in downtown and he was available for lunch. He also works a few block from my office so I recommended a South American place (actually El Salvadorean) on Olympic & Hill where I'd eaten a few times before. Natey said he knew of it but had never eaten there, but he was willing to give it a try.

For about $10 we each got a HUGE plate of food and two papusas, although after finishing our plates we were only just able to get down one papusa each, which we used to wipe clean our plates. Oh, $10 included Iced Tea as well.

I don't know the name of the place, but if you're ever in downtown Los Angeles and are looking for a feed that won't break the bank, and you're rather partial to semi-authentic El Salvadorean food (or Central/South American in general), look for the restaurant on the south-west corner of Olympic & Hill.

Not counting your chickens...

From Wolfgang's Blog I got a couple of ideas on how it might be possible to improve the electoral system in the U.S. and make it more fair for every voter.

As it currently exists the Primary Elections are a war of attrition. Candidates can be eliminated and resign when they lose crucial states, or stay in the game by winning the same. People in several states have already had their say, and regardless of how you look at it, their vote is more important than yours because their vote has caused some candidates to concede. Too bad for you if you liked Hunter, Thompson, Richardson, or Kucinich. For the Republicans the race is down to McCain and Romney, while the Democrats have no real choice other than Clinton and Obama. I like Ron Paul but he's pretty much out of the running (although he hasn't resigned, yet), and Romney, my second choice, needs to win a few big states if he's to challenge McCain, who leaped to the front after winning Florida.

You can argue until you're blue in the face, but letting some people cast their votes early, counting those votes, and making the results known, does not make for a fair election. So the first change I'd recommend is every Primary Election in every State be held on the same day, no exceptions.

The second change I'd make is not allowing the results to be released early. Count the ballots and tally them up, sure, but having a running tally as the day goes on only hurts one person...you, the voter.

Why?

Let's use the Democrats as an example, and let them choose between Clinton and Obama.

When the polls open all of Clinton's followers turn out and vote. The News people conduct exit polls and see that for every one person who voted for Obama, ten people have cast their vote for Clinton. By mid-afternoon close to 90% of Clinton's supporters (being your stereotypical Peggy Bundy, Bon Bon eating, stay-at-home Moms. Yes, I'm being facetious here.) have cast their vote. Around this time most of Obama's voters (all blue collar laborers or businessmen, yes, another facetious, tongue-in-cheek generalization) are getting off work and planning to vote for their hero, but turning on the radio in their car what do they hear? Clinton is beating Obama by a landslide! That's it, they think, my man has lost. And so they don't go to the polls but go straight home and sure enough, Clinton wins by a landslide, because all of Obama's voters heard the news and instead of voting they all went straight home.

So not only should everyone be voting on the same day, but nobody should have access to the results prior to the close of Polls. And this brings us to one final change.

When the polls close at 8pm along the east coast and the ballots are tallied and the results are known by 9pm, those results should not be released to the public, for the exact same reason as above. 9pm in Florida is only 6pm in California, so people in California still have 2 hours to get to the Polls. Many people in California are just coming home from work at 6pm, but they plan to stop and vote on their way. When they turn on their radio and hear the results of the east coast elections, how a certain candidate is winning by a landslide, that can have a demoralizing effect, of course it can also work both ways. "Oh, my guy's already won; I don't need to vote." Then the next morning they get up and find their guy lost.

I mention Florida specifically not just because of the Miami-Dade debacle of a few years ago, but because Florida didn't have to be the tight race that it became. Florida actually spans two time zones, so when the polls closed in eastern Florida, they were still open for another hour in western Florida. Allegedly many voters in Florida don't come out until the last hour or so because it's cooler in the evening, but throughout the afternoon the western Florida voters had been hearing the results of the east Florida elections, and apparently turn outs in western Florida were extremely low, unusually low. The people in western Florida figured their candidate was winning (or had already lost) so they didn't bother coming out to vote, which skewed the results.

Elections are important. Every person is supposed to be able to have their say, and every vote is supposed to carry equal weight, but when the people who vote first are able to affect the decision of later voters, the system becomes biased towards those first voters. Unfortunately the Me Generation is also the Now Generation, and that has affected the entire population. Why should I have to wait for tomorrow? I want the results NOW!

Imagine an election for Class President where 8 people like Joe and 9 like Ted, and it just so happens that Joe's people all sit on one side of the classroom. The teacher running the poll doesn't ask for a show of hands, but instead asks the first student who he's voting for, then the second, then the third, and so on. By the time she gets to the eighth student it seems support for Joe is unanimous so Ted, knowing Joe needs just one more vote to win, concedes...and Joe is elected Class President, even though Ted would have won if every vote had been counted.

This is the situation we have today, and it's not fair in the classroom or the real world. The electoral college system could remain, nothing would need to be changed about that, the only change would be everyone votes on the same day, and the results are not released until all the results, nationwide, have been officially tallied.

R.I.P. Heath

Just who the f**k discovered Heath was dead? News reports say his housekeeper was present at the time, but that it was Heath's Massage Therapist who realized he was going to need more than just a rub down.

TMZ.com (a self-proclaimed "Celebrity Gossip" site that my wife gives credence to, but which I've never heard of until two days ago) states that Heath was found by his maid, Theresa Solomon, and his masseuse, 'Diane Lee'.

Yahoo! News rehashing an Associated Press story (and when it comes to the news AP is a name I'm more familiar with) also states that Heath was found by his Massage Therapist HOWEVER!!! the AP story identifies the Massage Therapist as one Diana Wolozin.

In a further twist, AP reports that when Diane/Diana discovered Heath was unresponsive, she grabbed his cell phone and called 911. Wait! No she didn't! AP says Diane/Diana first called Mary Kate Olsen, whose number is programmed into Heath's phone and whom Lee/Wolozin knew was a friend of Heath's, and she asked Olsen what to do.

Allegedly it was Mary Kate, who was in California at the time, who sent over her bodyguard. Apparently Diane/Diana checked Heath again, realized things were really serious, as in deadly serious, and now she called 911. No. Wait. My bad. She called Mary Kate again. It was only after she'd made that second call to Olsen that Lee/Wolozin finally called 911.

So who is Diane Lee and who is Diana Wolozin? And why are both women credited as being Heath's masseuse/massage therapist? And when finding an unconscious client allegedly surrounded by bottles of pills, why would someone use their client's cell phone to call another celebrity, twice, before calling 911?

I think Ms. Diane Diana Lee-Wolozin, or whatever her name is, has a lot of explaining to do.

Virtual friends

Wolfgang has a post up about playing WoW (insert MMO of choice here) and how the friends we make online can bring us back to a game, or breath new life into it.

When I first began playing WoW I played it as a single-player game in a world populated by characters controlled by real people. I rarely grouped, and often attempted to complete quests beyond my level, on my own, simply because I didn't know any better. Eventually I responded to a Guild Recruitment message just because I liked the Guild's name, joined, and found the Guild consisted pretty much of four real life friend, and a few other players. Eventually the four friends moved on and all but one of them stopped playing WoW, although he still quit our guild and joined another.

The guy who received leadership of the Guild from the original leader recruited a few of his RL friends and it was these players who formed the basis of a fairly successful casual Guild which completed content normally conquerable only by hardcore guilds. Most of those people are still in the Guild today, meaning I've known most of them now for almost two & a half years. In my downtime, when I'm not spending time with my RL family, I'm spending time with my virtual friends.

When we went back to Australia for mum's wedding last year I actually stopped playing a week or so before we left, and when I got back I found other things to do than log in. When I finally logged back in I just sat there staring at the character selection screen...wondering what I was going to do. Finally I selected my "main" character and entered the game, and as soon as the game loaded I saw Guild Chat light up with people virtually screaming my name.

It's hard to explain to people who don't play MMOs exactly what the attraction is. What makes you log into a game, only to sit on a dock somewhere and catch fish for several hours, just to level up your fishing skill. Why would you steer your avatar around an area, killing & skinning hundreds of Mobs over the space of several hours? Does all that gold really mean anything? Do you really need a faster Gryphon? Why would you spend several hours with four (or more) other people, in a coordinated assault on a dungeon, just for the chance (not a guarantee, mind you) to score some virtual loot that will make your avatar just a little bit stronger?

And why do you keep logging back in, time and time and time again, only to do the same old thing, time and time and time again?

It's the people. It's your virtual friends. In most cases, they make logging in all worth while. You may never meet them IRL. You may only ever communicate with them in-game, or via a headset, but over time you've gotten to know these people as intimately as any other close friend. You've journeyed with them, put your faith in them to heal you and keep you alive (in-game of course), or trusted them to hold the attention of a virtual dragon while you fired arrow after arrow into it.

MMOs are all about the people.

Lightning

In 1942, a Park Ranger in a fire lookout tower is struck in the leg by a lightning bolt. He loses a nail on his big toe.

In 1969, a man driving his truck along a mountain road is struck by lightning and knocked unconscious. The lightning burns off his eyebrows.

1970: A man in his front yard is struck by lightning and suffers burns to his left shoulder.

1972: A man in a Ranger Station is struck by lightning and is forced to douse his head after his hair catches on fire.

1973: A man struck by lightning is thrown from his car with his hair ablaze.

1974: A camper is struck by lightning, suffering injuries to his ankle.

1977: A fisherman is hospitalized with burns on his chest and stomach after being struck by lightning.

How are these incidents related?

And...Survey says?

Out of curiousity I ran a Facebook Groups search on the major candidates for the 2008 U.S. Primary Elections, and discovered the following...

The top four Groups for Hillary Clinton are actually anti-Hillary:
Stop Hillary Clinton: (One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary), with 681,000 members;
ANTI Hillary Clinton for president '08 with 64,600;
Hillary Clinton: Stop Running for President and Make Me a Sandwich with 28,600; and
Life's a bitch, why vote for one? Anti-Hillary '08 with 13,600.
The first pro-Hillary Clinton Group is the fifth most populated, being Hillary Clinton for President - One Million STRONG with 12,425 members.

By contrast, the most populated Facebook groups for the other candidates are all for those candidates, but don't let their numbers fool you. Many people opposed to a candidate will join that candidate's group in order to challenge, debate with, and just generally piss off that candidate's supporters.

Barack Obama's group Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack) is the clear front runner with 418,797 members.

Ron Paul's group Congressman Ron Paul for President 2008 at number two with 62,885 members still has a clear lead over the rest of the pack.

Mike Huckabee's group Mike Huckabee for President 2008! has 28,237 members.

Mitt Romney's group Mitt Romney (One Million Strong for Mitt) has 19,954 members.

Hillary's group would be here, with its 12,500 members.

Fred Thompson's group Fred Thompson '08 has 6,179 members.

Dennis Kucinich's group Dennis Kucinich for President in 2008 is close behind with 6,007 members.

John Edwards' group Edwards 2008 has 5,771 members

Mike Gravel 2008 has 3,578 members.

John McCain for President has 2,660 members.

Bill Richardson's group makes the hard-to-believe claim America for Bill Richardson, considering it has just 2,477 members.

Duncan Hunter for President in 2008 has 943 members.

Despite the real man's popularity Rudy Guiliani for President in 2008 has a pathetic Facebook representation with just 872 members.

And bringing up the rear (because someone has to) is Alan Keyes For President In 2008! with 311 members.

What does this tell us? Not a lot, really. It's not a real poll. People join Facebook groups for various reasons, not always because they believe in the group, but because, as I said, they want to troll the boards and piss off the real members. And although we're well and truly embracing the Internet age where someone like my Mum could marry a guy she met online, there's a large percentage of the population who are willing & able voters, but who will only show their support at the Polls, nowhere else. Not to a Telephone Pollster, or a Petitioner outside a market, and certainly not online.

Still, looking at Barack Obama's and Ron Paul's Facebook numbers, I would expect both of them to gather a lot of real support (not just online) as more people have their say in the coming months and upcoming Primaries.

What happens in Vegas...

is pretty darn good :)

Angela was asking how the shows were that we saw in Vegas, being Zumanity and La Reve, and they were pretty darn good. Liz ordered our tickets quite some time in advance, so we had pretty good seats, although the theaters are reasonably small so there's really no bad seats.

We entered the theatre for Zumanity about 20 minutes prior to the show starting, only to discover the pre-show well under way. Two rather large ladies in very very skimpy 'French Maid' outfits were serving strawberries to various members of the audience, and they always leaned over in such a way that one audience member or another had a face full of the ladies' more-than-ample bosom or maximized gluteus maximus. Meanwhile a casanova-type fellow & his girlfriend provided more comic relief by flirting with the audience. Singling one attractive young lady out, Casanova's GF asked her where she bought her tits, only to be told they were natural.

"You're a lucky mother fucker," Casanova's GF told her, only to have Casanova point to the girl's boyfriend and say "No, he's the lucky mother fucker."

As Casanova's GF walked away she said "I wish I had tits like that." Casanova sighed and responded, "I wish you did, too."

Very crass humor, but delivered with such aplomb that only the most prudish Utah-resident could hope to be offended.

Of the two shows, La Reve was the more confusing, but I preferred it over Zumanity which was more a series of raunchy skits interspersed with dance routines. Yes, there was a lot more naked female flesh on display in Zumanity (and by a lot I don't mean large amounts) than in La Reve but Zumanity lacked the story and sheer acrobatics of La Reve, which at times had you in awe of what you were witnessing. While Zumanity had a very witty host who styled herself...himself(?) after Rocky Horror's Dr. Frankenfurter, La Reve had its share of comedy relief in four angel-type characters, who at times behaved in very un-angel like fashion, flirting with female members of the cast, and so on.

See Zumanity if you're in the mood for some light-hearted, semi-nude debauchery with a bit of singing and dancing, and a lot of joking around. And go early. Take your seat at least half an hour before the show, and if you can try to get front row seats, not for the view, but for a chance to interact with the cast.

See La Reve if you want to leave the theatre going "Wow! That was amazing!" and be left discussing with your partner exactly what happened, or what you thought was happening. Was she dreaming? Did he die? Did she die? I know I enjoyed it, but exactly what was it? And yes, I'm aware that La Reve is French for The Dream, or something like that, but that still leaves a few questions unanswered :)

Also don't take your seat for La Reve until you have to, because the music they play at the start is very repetitive and quickly begins to bore a hole through your skull. There is no pre-show for La Reve, and our show did not start right on time due to last minute safety checks.

Despite that, both shows were very enjoyable, in very different ways.

All I want for Christmas...

It was obvious by our gifts that we're a 21st Century family.

Amber got the Happy Feet DVD (and some other gifts, including one pink and one purple "My Little Pwny".)
JE got Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Yoshi's Island for the DS, and Mario Party 8 for the Wii.
Liz got Puzzle Quest for the Wii, and My Sims for the DS (which I think she's forgotten about ;)
I got Ghost Squad for the Wii (I got it myself because I knew nobody else would, and no, I didn't buy everyone else's presents. I bought a few, but not all of them ;)

Liz and I also got each other some perfume/cologne.

I had to go in to work on Christmas Eve (the day, not the evening), I didn't have to go in (I could have used a Vacation Day), but I'd already said I'd be in and a few others had already requested the time off, so I went in knowing that I was missing the annual Christmas breakfast with Liz & the kids and the rest of her family. It used to be Christmas dinner (on Christmas Eve) but this year it was changed to breakfast. So I went in to work, thinking my wife and kids would be joining me for lunch. Instead, just before noon, Liz called to say the kids and their cousins were having a great time playing together, so they were staying at Uncle's for lunch as well.

One of my supervisors took off at noon. Before she left she told us our other supervisor was leaving at 2pm, so the three of us (in my section) would pretty much be on our own after that. Meanwhile our Bureau Chief was waiting for a call from the Commissioners' offices to see if we could go home early. I told our only Senior to call one of the girls in the Commissioners' offices (who used to work in our Bureau), rather than wait for 'them' to call us. So he called and discovered all of the Commissioners are on vacation this entire week. Hooray for them. Technically this meant our Chief could make his own decision as to whether or not to let us leave early, rather than wait for permission.

At 2pm my other supervisor left, telling us we could leave an hour early, "but do so quietly," she said, and so at 2:30 I was out the door and on my way to the bus stop to join my family, who were still playing happily at Uncle's house.

Back at work today I discovered our Chief pulled the same stunt as last year, going around at 3:30pm and telling everyone they could go home early. 3:30pm is the time I and a few others would normally leave anyway, so it's not exactly leaving early.

When they did this to us last year on Christmas Eve, a week later on New Year's Eve I deliberately kept asking our Program Manager if we were going to be let go an hour early. I even reminded her that I and several others come in at 6am and leave at 3:30, so it would be nice to know before that time if we could go home early. What happened? 3:30 arrived and our smiling Program Manager came around and told us we could all go home an hour early. Yeah, thanks for nothing. Then they go and do it again this year, and I expect they'll do the same again this New Year's Eve. Lovely. Just lovely. There are days where you don't feel appreciated and you wonder why you came in to work at all. Christmas Eve should not be one of those days.

Thank Orion for things like Ghost Squad where I can let off steam by blasting terrorists in the privacy of my own home :)

A weekend in Vegas

Friday, after watching (& video taping for the school) my son's Christmas program, Liz and I headed off to Vegas. This time the kids stayed behind so it was just the two of us in Sin City, and so this time around we were able to see a couple of shows: La Rêve, and Zumanity.

We also visited The Gun Store and fired an M-16 and an MP5, both full auto. I was seriously impressed at the almost complete lack of recoil on the MP5. No wonder SWAT and CTUs love them.

We also did a bit of gambling, but limited ourselves to the 1¢ machines. I ended up winning $30, but I think Liz spent that much herself, so we probably just about broke even :P

Hotelwise, the Monte Carlo is far superior to Circus Circus.

Do not go to The Wynn for their buffet dinner on a Saturday night. The food might be worth the $40 price tag, but it wasn't worth the 2-hour wait to get a table.

Not that far from the truth

Not going to be a good weekend

Liz's uncle passed away this morning. When I saw the text message from Liz my first reaction was to snap my phone closed. I don't know why. I'm not extremely close to her uncle, and the signs were very clear that he was fading and fast, but it was still shocking somehow. I snapped my phone closed as if that would delete the text message, but having already seen it deletion is irrelevant. Liz's uncle was in his 90s and until the last week or so was still living with his wife and their son in his son's condo. He was admitted to hospital, briefly moved into an assisted living center for a few days, and then was transferred back to the hospital where he spent his last few days.

By comparison my father spent a few days in hospital then was sent home where he died about five days later, in his own bed, with my mother and my sister by his side. I'd rather go out like that. I'd hate to be lying in a hospital bed, knowing I was dying, seeing my family for a few hours each day and when I said goodbye to them each night have no idea if that would be the last time we'd see each other.

Here, it was probably better for Uncle to pass away in the hospital. Likewise in Australia, except in Dad's case a palliative care nurse had just visited less than 30 minutes prior to him passing away, and because of that the police didn't need to be involved, there was no need for an autopsy, etc.

I suspect that sometime this weekend we'll be attending Uncle's funeral. It's sad because another aunty and a cousin are flying in from Chicago and New Jersey tonight. Like me with Dad, they also never got to say goodbye to Uncle.

The blessings we can count are that Uncle lasted this long, so even though his presence was missed at Thanksgiving dinner we were still able to celebrate. On a personal, somewhat selfish level, I'm glad that this year's family Christmas get-together (traditionally held on Christmas Eve) was changed from dinner to breakfast. With Christmas Eve being a Monday I have to work, so I won't be attending this year's get-together, meaning while the rest of the family has to contend with the hole left behind by Uncle, I can sit at my desk, bury myself in my work, and pretend that all is still right with the world. It's not that Uncle's death affects me so much, it's that I'd rather not have to witness the effect it's having on everyone else, especially Aunty. Ignorance is bliss, and this is one weekend I'll be glad to get behind me.

PSA: Facebook, Beacon, & Invasion of Privacy

If you and your loved one are on Facebook, and you shopped online for Christmas this year, chances are your loved one (& all of your Facebook Friends) may know what you bought for them, thanks to Facebook's Newsfeed & a tracking utility called Beacon.

But the good news is if you use Firefox, there's a workaround, as found at this site and reproduced here...

1. Download and Install the BlockSite plugin for Firefox (if you don't already have it).
3. Restart Firefox then select ‘Add-ons’ from the Tools menu.
4. Click the ‘Options’ button on the BlockSite extension
5. Click the ‘Add’ button
6. Enter http://*facebook.com/beacon/* into the input box
7. Click ‘OK’, then ‘OK’ again, and you're good to go.

If you already use Adblock or Adblock Plus you don't need to install the BlockSite plugin, just add the filter *.facebook.com/beacon/* to your block list.

Tap's Fish House & Brewery

Today Liz and I made our way to Brea for brunch at Tap's Fish House & Brewery. I was surprised when I got there to discover they offer not just the traditional Champagne Brunch, but a Beer Brunch as well. You all know what a Champagne Brunch is, well, a Beer Brunch is pretty much the same, just you get to sample two 16oz glasses of one (or two) of Tap's fine microbrews. Per our server's suggestion I ordered the Cream Ale, a light-bodied beer which was very easy on the palate, and disappeared very quickly when I made myself a cheese plate from the various cheeses available. The surprising taste was the bleu cheese which had a very strong, distinct flavor; it practically exploded in my mouth, and exploded out of Liz's when I gave her a small taste. No sir, she didn't like it. She also didn't like the Pumpkin Ale, my second beer of choice. I don't know how to describe the flavor of the Pumpkin Beer, which Tap's describes as "a medium-bodied ale made with 100 pounds of fresh pumpkins and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice." They don't get the 100 pounds of pumpkin into each glass, but each glass sure does pack a lot of flavor. I ended up stuffing myself so much (the beer didn't help) that I told Liz we weren't going to the Brea Mall straight away, so we took a stroll around the shopping center across from Tap's instead, and that helped settle everything :)

Then we went to the Brea Mall, and that's pretty much the last time I set foot in a mall until at least the second week in January. Having worked in two malls for two Christmases, they're the last place I want to be between Thanksgiving and New Years. Not enough parking spots, too many people, not enough tables in the food court...so I'm doing my part to reduce the crush by staying out of them. The problem is Liz saw a Toys-R-Us catalog with a "Buy 2, get 1 Free" special on Wii games, so I think we're heading to our local Toys-R-Us tomorrow night. Monday night at a very small open-air mall, it shouldn't be too bad.

The problem will be buying three Wii games and not letting JE play them until the weekend, or Thanksgiving at least. Actually the problem will be buying three Wii games, period. We already have Mario Galaxy, Zelda:Twilight Princess, and Guitar Hero3. There's not too much else out there (that I know of) that's worth spending $50 to $60 on.

*edit* except I just found out that Link's Crossbow Training AND Ghost Squad both come out tomorrow, and both games can be picked up for around $50+tax. Bargain! One more game and Link's Crossbow Training (cheapest game at $20) is free!

Would you watch this?

It seems to me that if shows like "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" can make it on the air, a show like I'm about to describe should also be hugely popular.

It's a variant of American Idol, but the contestants have to play Guitar Hero 3.

Wait! Wait! Don't change the channel just yet!

When you play GH3 the object of the game is to beat each song, but you don't have to play perfectly to beat a song. In the game when you beat a song you get a score based on how many notes you hit in a row, and when you used (if you used) your Star Power. You're also shown a percentage score, based on how many notes you hit. On "GH3: The Showdown" we'll multiply your score by your percentage to give you a Song Score. So the people who hit the most notes and use Star Power at the right time will get the highest Song Score.

Just like in American Idol there will also be Judges, who will be judging your stage presence. See it's not enough for you to hit every note and rack up a huge Song Score while standing there looking like a zombie; part of being a Guitar Hero is looking like a Guitar Hero. So the Judges will score you based on how well you can rock while playing, then your Song Score will be multiplied by your Judges' score to give you a total score.

The show will be filmed before a live audience who can dance and rock along to the music because there won't be any seats; yep, it's standing room only, folks. Because our Guitar Hero has to face the audience but also needs to see the notes he has to play, there will be a large screen TV at the front of the stage, facing him; but there will also be a projection screen on the back of the stage showing the audience what the Hero is seeing, thus they can see just how well the Hero is playing and egg him on when he's playing really well.

At the end of each night the two Heroes with the lowest score have to battle each other using Guitar Hero's very own in-game battle mode, with the loser being eliminated.

The final episode will have the last three Heroes battling it out for the title of Ultimate Guitar Hero. They'll each play a couple of songs with the lowest scoring Hero being automatically eliminated, then the remaining two Heroes will face off in a Best of Three Battle. The Ultimate Guitar Hero would get two customized GH3 guitars, their choice of a PS3, XBox360, or Wii console, plus a copy of GH3 for the same, along with a 60" Sony HD-TV and a home theater/surround sound system. The runner-up could get one customized GH3 guitar, choice of console w/ GH3, and a 46" Sony HD-TV. As far as final prizes go, it may not be a million dollars like you'd get for winning Survivor, but the people most likely to compete for the title of Ultimate Guitar Hero wouldn't be complaining, and the prizes could also be donated by your potential sponsors, being Sony, Microsoft and/or Nintendo, thus keeping your production costs down waaay low.

So if you're in The Industry or know somebody in The Industry and you like my idea, please feel free to steal it and plug it to somebody who can make it happen. I'd love to see a show like this, and if it knocked out A Shot at Love, that would just be gravy :)

How much is your time really worth?

I make approx. $32/hr at work. So for every two minutes that pass by while I'm sitting here, I earn $1. In a 40-hour week I earn approx. $1,280, but there are actually 168 hours in a week, so over the entire week of seven 24-hour days I earn $7.63 per hour or 13c every minute. Awake or asleep, working, working out, or just vegging out in front of the computer, I am accruing 13c for every minute that goes by.

Say it takes me one hour to perform a chore, like mowing my lawn; that's $7.63 of my time. If I pay someone to mow my lawn for me I will naturally compensate them more for their expertise, but if I can do the same job myself...for a lot cheaper, aren't I better off doing it myself? Hmmm, am I?

Let's say the Lawnmower Man charges me $15 to cut my lawn, which is a task I can do myself in one hour. In real terms I make $7.63 during that hour, so the $15 I pay the Lawnmower Man is offset by the $7.63 I make during that hour, meaning it really only costs me $7.37 to have the Lawnmower Man do the job, $7.37 is almost exactly one hour of my time anyway. So I can either spend a real hour cutting my lawn myself, or I can pay the Lawnmower Man to do it, and either way the real cost is the same (or close to). Interesting, no?

How much is your time worth?

Weather Watch Alert

This just in! And yes, it's a screengrab from an actual weather report which can be seen here until it gets taken down.


I guess 4 to 6-feet swells, with the occasional 8-footer, could be described as sweet in some circles. The minor coastal, low area flooding? Not so sweet.

Halloween 2007

As promised, here are a couple of pics from my office's Halloween party. Enjoy :)

The Mediterranean

After bumming around most of Saturday we decided to do dinner at the Mediterranean Garden Grill in Monrovia. I'd got take-out lunch from there before, and the food was pretty good, and somehow Liz and I were thinking of the same place so that was where we went. We really should have known better, at 7:30 on a Saturday night, but this is Monrovia we're talking about; the place is practically dead after 5pm on a Friday, except as we drove up Myrtle the old town still showed signs of life. The movie theater had people milling around outside, cafes and restaurants were jumping, and even some of Monrovia's small-town speciality stores had their doors open.When we turned on to Foothill and approached the Mediterranean we didn't realize it was the happening place to be in Monrovia on a Saturday night. We pulled into the parking lot, drove around the back of the building, and exited the other side. The lot was full (then again, it's a small lot) so we ended up parking on a side-street. Back to the restaurant we were told it would be about a 15 minute wait. Not too bad for a Saturday night, even in Monrovia.

The thing that got to us, and what really got to the couple ahead of us, was the apparently flagrant display of nepotism going on. A customer would walk up and the owner would greet him in a typical European fashion with kisses on the cheeks, followed by a very friendly conversation in Armenian or Greek or some language other than English. And shortly afterwards this guest and his party would be seated, while we waited outside. The couple in front of us eventually gave up and stormed off and I hardly blamed them, although it meant our wait was shortened so I was also happy to see them go ;)

It was close to a 45-minute wait before we were seated. Really, we should have known better. It's a Saturday night and we were there at 7:30 looking for table. Almost every restaurant worth eating at is going to have a long wait on a Saturday night. Next time we're either going at 6pm, or waiting until 8:30 or later. There also wasn't really any nepotism, just a lot of camaraderie among countrymen, and an owner wanting to try to get everyone seated. So he was seating parties of four ahead of couples, because he knew a slightly larger party that was occupying several tables pushed together would be done eating soon, so he could seat the party of four now, and in 10 minutes when the larger party leaves he can seat the three couples. It all makes perfect sense, except when you're waiting for a table :P

So our food finally arrived and we'd ordered the Dinner Combo for Two, which was the same dish the couple next to us had ordered, being two younger guys (in their 20s) with their toddler son (ok, he was one of their sons and probably the other's nephew...maybe, and even if it's something else there's nothing wrong with that ;). They ate their fill then called for boxes and ended up taking a lot of food home. Liz and I devoured pretty much everything between us, then finished up the evening with a serving of Ashta and a Baklava chased down with an Armenian Coffee, which comes served in a thimble not unlike an Espresso (which, contrary to popular belief, does not need to be drunk in one hit like a shot of liquor, although it must still be drunk within a couple of minutes of brewing or its individual components break down and it loses its flavor).

Just as we were leaving a couple of Hookahs were delivered to the party a couple of tables over from us. The interesting thing about the Mediterranean Garden Grill is its quasi-outdoor setting. Although you're surrounded by four walls and a ceiling, the windows are kept wide open and I think the owner has somehow got it classified as an outdoor restaurant. I'm assuming it's legal for diners to smoke cigarettes, cigars, or Hookahs, which can be rented from the restaurant for an after-dinner smoke, or it wouldn't be happening, right ;)

That night we finally got to enjoy an extra hour in bed as Daylight Saving Time officially ended, but we were still up somewhat early because we needed to go to LAX to pick up Liz's aunty, who was flying in from Chicago. We dropped her luggage at the in-laws' house then met up with the in-laws themselves (& our kids) at a local Shanghainese-style restaurant for lunch. I've been to this restaurant a couple of times now, and it drives me nuts, because their A/C fan is not balanced properly. It doesn't seem to affect anyone else but me, but the imbalance makes it oscillate at a particularly annoying rate which ends up giving me a headache. Last time we sat at the table in the center of the restaurant, and it was free when we walked in, and the waitress tried to show us to that table as well, instead I said I wanted to sit at the other empty table against the window. The vibrating fan was still audible, but not as intrusive as at the other table, so I was able to concentrate more on enjoying the delicious food, of which there was plenty. My dish of choice was Orange Beef, which came with several chili peppers that I managed to pick out. I thought I got them all but Liz's Aunty still found one. Lucky she had a glass of water, although milk or beer is better for putting out a chili fire. The in-laws had brought milk for the kids, but the kids had drunk it all :D

JE went home with Aunty and the in-laws, while we took Amber home for her nap. Liz decided she wanted a nap, too, and after a bit of fuss & bother and threatening to put her in her own bed, Amber finally fell asleep beside her Mommy. The house is so much more peaceful when they're all asleep :)

Waiting for Kimmel

The more correct title would be "Waiting for Rimes" as it was LeAnn Rimes holding up the show, but Waiting for Rimes doesn't have the same ring to it as Waiting for Kimmel.

Around 3:50 we headed over to the El Monte Bus Station where we caught a 484 bus to Union Station, followed by a ride on a Red Line Train out to Hollywood & Highland and the El Capitan Theatre. The eTicket told us the doors would open at 5:30, so we were in line and waiting around 5pm. Sometime between then and 5:30pm a staff member told us the egotistical diva known as LeAnn Rimes had arrived late (don't ask me how when she drives a Dodge Viper) and she wanted to practice her songs so we were forced to wait some more. It was almost 6:30pm when the doors finally opened and the line started to move, and it was 7pm by the time we'd been seated and Jimmy made his first appearance. I must admit, for a 1-hour show, I was seriously impressed that Jimmy managed to get the job done, interviews completed, etc, in about one hour. Nice work, Jimmy.

With the show over shortly after 8pm, and with the El Capitan being right across the road from the Hollywood & Highland station we managed to catch the 8:22 back into downtown, where we waited for our 484, and waited, and waited, in the cold, at the entrance to the Freeway, wearing not much more than jeans and light, short-sleeved shirts. For me, an ex-pat Aussie and former Victorian, it was nice, cool but nice. For Liz, a long time southern California resident, it was particularly chilly. We saved a few dollars on parking and wear & tear on our car by taking public transport, which cost us $6.25 total (for Liz, I already have my Metro pass for getting to work & back). Tickets for Jimmy's show were free, just in high demand, so we were lucky that Liz was able to get them.

We finished off the night with a late supper at the Red Ant, a local Chinese restaurant (somewhere on Valley Blvd. in Temple City) where you get a large portion of quite good food for a fairly decent price. For $20+change we were both fed to bursting, with food left over. All in all, it was a rather good evening.

Halloween 2007

Just like in years gone by our section once again led the way in dressing up (or down) for Halloween.

This time around we settled on a theme of Angels and Devils. I decided to dress in a manner similar to a devil/demon you might see on reruns of Angel, which meant wearing dark jeans with Doc Marten boots, my Punisher t-shirt, and my very macho leather jacket. When we bought a set of horns at the local Party/Costume store I realized my hair was currently too short (not to mention too sparse) to conceal the cord used to hold the horns on, so I didn't have a haircut for close to a month prior to Halloween. I also grew a goatee (again).

And here's a picture of me (in costume) with my kids.


One of the girls at work dressed up as a classic angel in white, another as a classic devil in red. My supervisor bought the same devil-in-disguise kit as I, so he had the exact same horns, but he wore a black outfit with a cape (I've never trusted capes since The Incredibles). One girl wore a half & half devil-angel outfit with a halo held up by horns, and red & white wings (one of each color), while another was a "fallen angel" dressed all in black, complete with a bandage on her knee where she fell :D Another supervisor was also dressed in a black angel outfit, but we decided she was a Dark Angel, rather than a fallen angel. Finally the last two supervisors coordinated with one wearing a New Jersey Devils' sweater, and the other wearing an Anaheim Angels' sweater. Brilliant!

I don't have a picture of all of us, yet, but when I do I'll put it up, too :)

Hmm, it would appear it wasn't me she was worried about.

Friday night, after the kids were at the in-laws, I again told Liz we really should set up the Wii, but she pretty much stuck to her guns and it didn't happen. Saturday we ran a few errands, exchanged JE's Tiger Cub belt for a Wolf Cub/Sub Scout belt, then ended up in Pasadena where we spent most of the afternoon. And when we got home Liz still wouldn't cave in and let me set up the Wii.

Sunday came around and our clocks which are supposed to set themselves by the Atomic Clock every morning around 2am decided Daylight Saving Time had ended and so set themselves back an hour, so my gut was right as I lay there in bed looking at the clock, thinking it felt later than 6am, but I didn't discover that until I got up at 6:45, which was really 7:45am.

Liz got up around 9am and I heard her pottering around downstairs, and shortly afterwards the aroma of something delicious was wafting throughout the house. It was the chocolate cake she was baking for the Halloween party, which she later decorated and it turned out very well. We dropped off the cake at the in-laws then joined Xinh, Drew & Amanda for lunch at Souplantation, where among other things, the conversation turned to the Wii, specifically because Guitar Hero III:Legends of Rock had been released that very day, and Amanda was keen to get her hands on a copy.

After lunch Liz and I stopped at Target where we found two copies of Guitar Hero III. Both GH3 boxes were slightly damaged, as if something heavy had been sat on them. They weren't crushed but the boxes were not in perfect condition, so we felt reasonably confident in buying the lesser damaged of the two though. This would be the deal breaker :)

At home Liz finally relented and let me set up the Wii and after a spot of bother synching the second controller (there's a synch button on both the controller and the Wii which both need to be pressed) everything was up and running and we were playing, I mean testing, testing the Wii. The Wii sports disc worked just fine, Liz and I played a few games of bowling just to make sure, then wii...I mean we played some Baseball. When Liz took a break I hooked up the nunchuk controller and fired up Wii Boxing. I knocked three opponents on their backs, the first two went down in the first round, the third guy lasted into the second round, and by that time the sweat was pouring off me. I know you really don't have to bounce around the room as you Wii box, I know you can just use little flicks of your wrist to fight your opponent, but it's so much fun (and a HUGE workout) to box in a more realistic manner.

I decided I'd better have a shower before breaking out the GH3 and unleashing my inner rock god, so it was a much refreshed (& cleaner) Capn John who took the stage, ripping through the first few songs in Career Mode, before his groupie, I mean Liz, sent me out to get her some dinner. Don't we have Roadies for stuff like that?

Liz told me to hurry because her parents were going to be bringing the kids home soon.

"Ok, shouldn't I pack up the Wii first then?" I asked. Yes, I was serious. I'd had my play and now knew the Wii worked ok, as opposed to setting it up on Christmas Eve for the kids to find Christmas morning, only to discover we'd got a DOA console. Unlikely, but sometimes I worry about these things.

"Just leave it out," Liz said, with a sheepish smile.

I see...it wasn't me Liz was concerned about at all. She knew that if we set up the Wii, that she would be the one who wouldn't want to put it away.

So I left Liz in charge of the Wii and Guitar Hero and headed out to Jack in the Box. I'd attempted to give her a crash course in how to use the guitar-shaped controller but she told me she'd work it out. And so it was that when I got back I found her trying to play the first song, and failing miserably, because she was hitting the Fret notes ok but she wasn't strumming at the same time, so she was missing the notes and failing the songs. It's like playing a one-string guitar. You can hold down the notes on the fret board, but unless you strum the string you won't get any sound. Liz's performance improved dramatically with that one little change to her playing style.

When she sat down to eat her sandwich I took over, which is when the in-laws arrived. I went downstairs to meet them and we chatted for a couple of minutes as the kids went upstairs, and I could hear JE start chanting happily "We got a Wii! We got a Wii!" I'm sure the in-laws could hear him but probably had no clue what he was saying :D

After the in-laws left I joined my family upstairs and finished my GH3 set then turned it off so JE could play. He didn't want to play Guitar, he wanted to play Wii Sports. Specifically, Wii Boxing!!! So I again hooked up the nunchuk controller to the Wiimote, fired up Boxing, and JE began flailing away. Dancing in towards the TV he began throwing wild punches causing Liz some concern that we were about to experience our first Wii-accident.

I watched in amazement. I was sweating and tired after beating three fighters (total of no more than four 1-minute rounds), JE was still going somewhat strong after defeating his fifth opponent, and he wasn't pulling any punches, either. He had an uncanny knack of finishing his opponent off with a big, looping, overhand right that would almost take their head clean off. The ragdoll physics in Wii Boxing are a sight to see and when a boxer goes down he doesn't always go straight down. Often they will flip and spin and more than one boxer was dumped on his head by JE's overhand right KO punch. And JE kept on boxing. So much so that Liz told him he can't play Wii Sports in the morning because she doesn't want him going to school all hot & sweaty. I wonder how this will work in the afternoon as an incentive for him to finish his homework on time. With a Wii waiting upstairs, he just might be encouraged to do his homework a little faster.

After JE had boxed a bit the bunny wanted to play, so I fixed her up with the second Wiimote and nunchuk and she began trading punches with JE. Big Brother took it easy on her, until she landed a couple of big hits and then it was on and the bunny's avatar quickly found herself lying on the mat. When her toon got up the fight continued and JE was amazed to see his guy get knocked on his arse. But the foregone conclusion was inevitable, given JE's enthusiasm and boundless energy the bunny's avatar eventually went down for the count. Now sated she handed the controllers to me and went back to playing with her blocks while JE knocked around some more cartoon opponents.

I'll say this for it. The Wii is an awesome invention for letting kids (boys in particular) enjoy one of their most favorite activities, while still ensuring they get a lot of exercise. I'm sure JE slept well last night.

Anyway, I'm gonna finish off here. My arms and hands are a little sore. I think I'm out of shape. I think I need to train a little more ;)

We wanna Wii

After playing Wii (again) on the weekend, Liz finally caved in and Sunday night found her searching online for Wii consoles and packages. She found one site which claimed to run searches and tell you which stores had the Wii in-stock. Except it listed places like Gamestop.com and when we went there they were taking Preorders for a shipment expected in on Oct. 30...with a disclaimer that they may not get enough items to fill every order. The eBay price of the Wii was bizarre. Some people were listing them at $500 and up and getting bids, on a $250 console. After getting beaten on one console which went for $285 + shipping (about $320 all up) Liz just told me to call in to my local Gamestop on the way home from work Monday and see if they had any in-stock.

So Monday after work I found myself lining up behind a young fellow trying to return a game he was claiming didn't work on his console. The clerk was being very patient with the lad and realizing that helping him would take a while, he paused and asked if he could help me. It might be considered rude to help the second customer but if I'd had a simple question, like, "Do you have Heavenly Sword?" he could have pointed me in the right direction and gone back to helping the kid.

Instead I replied, "Silly question. Do you have any Wii consoles in stock?"

He thought for a second and said, "We might have one left. I'll check in a minute."

So he helped out the kid then went out to the back room and came back carrying a Wii console.

Wow!

After hearing about so many people having so much trouble trying to get a Wii, or spending far too much money to get one, I walk into my local store and walk out with the only Wii they have in stock.

Now there's just one problem. Liz wants our son to concentrate on his schoolwork and not have any more disruptions for the rest of the year, so I have a Wii at home, with Wii Sports, Zelda:Twilight Princess, and Mario Party 8 (we bought the games the next day) and I'm not allowed to play it :( It's tucked away in its box so I can't even play it after the kids go to bed.

Maybe when the kids go visit their grandparents this weekend I can talk Liz into breaking it out and having a play. Just to check that it works. I mean I'd hate to set it up Christmas Eve so it's ready for the kids first thing Christmas morning, only to "test play" it and find it doesn't work. Testing purposes, that's all. I'd hate to disappoint the kids Christmas morning. It's all about the kids, right ;)

One tough kid

The bunny had her 3-year old checkup yesterday. From the other rooms we could hear kids screaming and crying as they got their vaccinations, one little fellow in particular wouldn't shut up and must have been crying for a good 30 minutes as we waited to be seen by the Doc.

Finally the visit was over, bar the Nurse giving the bunny her Hepatitis shot. She asked me to sit with her on my lap, so I did, but I didn't quite understand exactly how the Nurse wanted us positioned, until Liz took over, holding the bunny's arms and sandwiching her legs between her own. As the bunny and I looked on the Nurse stuck the needle into her thigh and hit the plunger. When I looked at her face the bunny was just staring down at her leg as the Nurse pulled the needle back out. I was waiting for the waterworks but they never came. Seriously. The Nurse stuck on a circular bandaid and the bunny just looked at her leg and said "I got a boo boo," and that was it. No crying, nothing.

This is the same girl who comes running to us, crying, when she bumps her arm or leg and demands a bandaid for some non-existent injury. But she gets stuck in the leg with a huge needle and it doesn't faze her. Amazing.

Shop 'til you drop.

After dropping JE at school on Friday I returned home, only to head out again a couple of hours later with Liz for Dim Sum. Although 888 in Temple City has become our favorite Dim Sum restaurant I was not overly impressed this time around. But as Liz said it's probably because I didn't finish the meal with my favorite pastry, because there were none. The dessert cart went around a few times but with a very limited selection, then got parked near the kitchen and the server disappeared. Finally a lady emerged from the kitchen with a tray of small, freshly baked tarts, but she proceeded to go the long way around the room and we watched as one table then another took a plate or two. Finally Liz snared a waiter and told him we wanted some of the egg tarts, so he practically dragged the server across to our table, but not before another table took the second last plate.

We decided we won't do Dim Sum on a weekday any more; weekends are a lot busier, but the food selection is far greater.

We dropped the bunny with the FIL for her nap, did a spot of shopping, then stopped for Boba Milk Tea, where the servers forgot to put the Boba in Liz's Milk Tea. Then we picked up the boy from school, got him a haircut and dropped him with the FIL as well. Then we went shopping, again, before winding up at Maki Sushi for dinner where we ate way too much food. I ordered a Fried Spicy Tuna Roll. This is twice I've ordered a fried "sushi" roll and to be honest, I'm not too impressed. It was tasty but the sushi becomes a lot "heavier" in being fried. I also ordered a dinner combo with a Philadelphia Roll and Teriyaki Chicken, while Liz ordered a plate of sashimi. With all of this following on the heels of two bowls of Miso soup and a salad that meant we were pretty well stuffed. Overstuffed, even. So we went to the local Trader Joe's to do yet more shopping, but for groceries this time. It really hit home now why they say never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. I've done that before and you want to buy everything. But the reverse works, too. With a full tummy I looked at all the food and I didn't want to buy anything. But just walking around instead of sitting down like sedentary lumps felt good, and after buying some milk and a couple of other things we wandered into the Marshall's next door...where Liz did not buy a thing! Yeah, I know. That surprised me, too.

Saturday we pretty much bummed around the house until it was time to head down to the O.C. to visit our friend Susan for dinner and a games night. We also met Susan's boyfriend Lazlo for the first time, and our (almost) first conversation went something like this:

Lazlo: What would you like?
Me: Whatever it is that smells good.
Lazlo: That would be me.
Me: I need to get a bit more drunk first.

And I did...














...but the drunken tryst never happened :D

We played a couple of rounds of Apples to Apples, then Natey set up his Wii and we played Mario Party. After that Drew and I played a game of Wii-Baseball that Drew won, 3 runs to zip (I hit a triple but couldn't get the runner home). Then we played a few games of Wii-Bowling, and after I bowled a 200+ game we decided to create a Wii-Me of me. We had two more games after that (with me using my Wii-me) and I still bowled pretty well but didn't break 200 again. I bowled 5 Strikes in a row to get that double century.

We made it home around 3:15 Sunday morning but before going to bed I logged on to SigAlert.com to check out why the I-10 ramp off the 605 was closed. Which is how I found out that just before 3am there'd been an accident on the 605 at the 90. It had to have happened within minutes of us driving through that interchange.

5 hours later I woke up, then nudged Liz awake and told her to call her parents and let them know we weren't picking up the kids that morning like we'd planned. Liz called and spoke to her parents for a few minutes, then hung up and told me we were still picking up the kids because JE had been sick the night before. We picked up both kids and JE ended up throwing up a little in the car on the way home. Lucky the in-laws had given him a "barf bag". Actually a plastic shopping bag, but it worked just the same...maybe even better :)

When the bunny went down for her nap that afternoon Liz went and lay down as well, so I told JE to go lie down, too. He lay on his bed playing his Gameboy but when I checked on him after a few minutes he'd fallen asleep. And the house was quiet :)

For a 3-day weekend it sure has gone by pretty quickly.

Racial profiling? You be the judge.

Coming home from work today I approached one of the busiest intersection I have to pass through. Like many other drivers I have to make a left turn here because of a railway underpass project & subsequent detour on the road I'd normally take. Because of the detour the traffic really backs up at this intersection. So many people want to make this left turn that the official left-turn lane fills up, and so people pull into the center lane behind the left-turn lane, and in doing so they free up the lanes going straight ahead. Makes perfect sense to me.

This afternoon I did what I've been doing almost every day for the last couple of years since the detour has been in place; I pulled into the center lane and drove down passed everyone to the end/start of the left-turn lane. Just as I got there I saw a bike cop ahead of me, also waiting to make a left turn. Unlike me he was still sitting in the left lane (but not the left-turning lane). Behind the cop was a car also waiting to make a left-turn, and also staying in the left lane. Being a courteous driver (most of the time) I stopped my car behind this other car, sort of, she was in the lane next to me, after all.

Just as I stopped my car the bike cop turned around and if he wasn't trying to look like the T-1000 then it was an amazing coincidence. He pointed at me and gave me a long hard look and I just stared right back at him and gave him a single nod, and he finally turned back around.

I was thinking, "This is it. My first ticket for a moving violation." I've been dodging them for almost 10 years now ;) but when we got our green left-turn arrow the cop made a left into the left lane and zoomed off, meanwhile I turned left into the right lane (of a three lane road).

So here's the deal. I live in a predominantly hispanic area, although lately the asians are moving in (driving up property prices) and forcing the hispanics out. But I'm neither hispanic nor asian, I'm just about as white as you can get, so when the cop turned around to eyeball me he found himself looking at a middle-aged white guy with an almost military short haircut (did I really just call myself middle-aged?).

Now either the cop was only interested in people running red lights or speeding (bike cops are notorious for giving out tickets), or it's not close to the end of the month and he's currently looking good to fill his quota...or he decided to "let me off" because he'd rather find a hispanic-american to give a ticket. Or some other reason, who knows. Maybe being 4:30pm he just couldn't be bothered writing out another ticket this close to the end of his day. All I care about is I dodged another ticket :) I know, I know, they'll get me eventually. It's bound to happen sooner or later, but it didn't happen today :P

Improving on WoW

There are two ways to potentially improve on the World of Warcraft.

One is to make WoW a far more dynamic place, instead of the static world it currently is. But apparently Blizzard stated that will never happen because they want someone just starting the game now to experience the "same game" as someone who began playing a year ago. But that's jut a copout, rebutted by keeping "classic" servers, while adding new, dynamic servers. I think the zones known as "contested zones" on PvP servers could become a little more contested, and it would make the game a lot more interesting to people who enjoy the PvP style of play.

I'd love to see the Horde or Alliance be able to sack a town belonging to the opposing faction. Currently a few high level, Epic-clad players will storm an outlying town populated mostly by lowbies, slaughter the guards, then pwn the living hell out of any lowbies who foolishly fight back. This persists until enough high level players on the opposing team fly in and do some pwning of their own. Slaughtering lowbies is fun to some people, but they don't enjoy a dose of their own medicine. So when a real challenge shows up most people hearth back home.

But what if a large Guild descended upon a town, such as Darkshire or the Crossroads, pwnd the NPC Guards, planted a Flag in the middle of town, then defeated any resistance, including high level opponents. Then pwnd the NPC Guards again when they respawned, then soundly defeated a lvl 70 NPC Boss and several escorts when they turned up, all while fighting off opposing players. What you'd have is a situation not unlike a skirmish for a Tower or Keep in the Alterac Valley Battleground, only taking place in the World of Warcraft itself. And after sacking the town and defeating all comers, and holding the territory for a period of time, such as 30 minutes, the victorious players have a choice. They can keep the town, in which case it becomes a town under their faction's rule and the former owners now have to gather an army of their own to take it back; or the invaders can sack the town, getting some gold and maybe a few rare treasures, but their faction will not gain control of the town. In fact choosing to Sack the town will spawn an army of Elite Soldiers in the nearby capital City, wand unless the invading force is very large in number and very well coordinated, this army of Elite Soldiers will retake the town and destroy the invaders, driving them out of the town and making it a somewhat safe place once again. But with this being the World of Warcraft there is no place that's ever 100% safe.

But what if the invaders take the town? What about any quests you had from the townsfolk there? What if you'd set your hearthstone in that town? Simple, your hearthstone will be reset to the nearest capital city's Inn. And you can still complete the quests, but the townsfolk will have also taken refuge in that capital city, so you can find them there to turn the quest in. And if you're lvl 60 or higher, these displaced townsfolk will have new quests, asking you to talk to the city's leader, King, etc, about retaking their town. When you talk to the local leader you can get a Raid quest to help retake the town. The reward being some XP, gold, and an increase in Rep, and perhaps a Royal Tabard, ring, or necklace to show you are a loyal & willing soldier.

So, one way to improve upon WoW would be to allow PvP conflicts on a large, world-changing scale.

The other way? Borrow from Blizzard's own Diablo II. Go Hardcore. True Hardcore. Your toon dies, and that's it. You want to play again? Reroll.

Ok, considering there are classes with spells that allow them to resurrect other players, you don't suffer Permadeath if you can get a player to Rez you in-game before a certain time limit (like 30 mins or so). So there'd be no staying online for hours, waiting for someone to Rez you. 30 minutes pass by and that's it. You're dead for good. Reroll.

Imagine how white knuckle a Raid would be with everyone knowing that if they Wipe, almost the entire Guild will have to reroll and start back at level 1. Now while death would be permanent, you could essentially start the same toon over at level 1, sans all skills, items, & gold of course. This way you'd retain your toon's name, Guild Membership and Friend list, and more importantly perhaps, your Ignore List ;) but everything else would be reset. It would be a complete new start. I know what you're thinking. Have a Bank Alt, right? Send all your Gold, mats, spare items, anything not soulbound to your toon goes to the Bank Alt before you go adventuring. Good thinking. That way if you do die, your Bank Alt can finance you to help rebuild your toon. So the only real penalties for death would be reversion to level 1, and loss of any Uber Items associated with and being carried by that particular incarnation.

The one bug in this ointment would be the griefers. They'd be the players that get a kick out of ruining other players' days. Like the high level fellow that Ambushed me while I was crossing the bridge into Lakeshire and pretty much one-shot killed me. Yep, there really are folks out there who get a kick out of thinking they've ruined your day. In that situation I was more surprised than pissed off. Here I am, crossing the bridge into town. La la-la la-la. What the fuck??? I'm dead??? How the hell did that happen???

Check the Combat Log and...Stabby's Ambush Crits you for 1,427. You die. Well, duh! I almost died three times over from that hit!

Swim down the river, Rez under the bridge and trot into town, reminding myself that I am playing on a PvP server, so I've pretty much agreed to be one-shotted by sneaky Rogues like Stabby.

So that would be one problem with a Permadeath Hardcore Server. Fellows like Stabby hiding out in an area frequented by lowbie Toons knowing that everyone he kills has to start all over if they can't get a Rez within 30 minutes. And chances are Stabby is going to whack the guy attempting the Rez as well.

You could always play on a Hardcore PvE server, where you're not as prone to being Ambushed by Stabby & Co., but even on a PvE server it's very easy to die if you're not being careful. Hell, I died the other day and it was practically an involuntary suicide. I'd dropped off the Scryer Elevator in Shattrath, a survivable drop if you're at full health, but I wasn't at full health. I still survived but was left with barely 100 hit points. Running into the center of Shattrath I took the portal to Stormwind, which takes you to the top floor of the Mage Tower. Running out the door I did what I normally do when I exit the SW Mage Tower; I ignored the spiral staircase and took the fast way down. Normally when I drop off the Mage Tower I have a lot more hit points, so normally I'll hit the ground and keep on running. This time when I hit the ground I didn't get back up. Oops. That would be an embarassing Permadeath.

"Rerolling, huh. How'd you die?"

"Splatted off the Mage Tower in SW. All the Rezzers just laughed at me :("

"LOL! You noob!"

So we have two ways to potentially improve upon WoW. And Blizzard wouldn't need to change the entire game. Keep the current servers exactly the way they are and set up brand new servers (so everyone starts at level 1) with dynamic zones, where towns can be sacked & pillaged, or even captured. And set up brand new Hardcore Permadeath Servers where dying means a lot more than just a corpse run back from the local Grave Yard.

A farm? In Los Angeles?

Ok, so it doesn't quite have the same ring to it as "A tiger? In Africa?"

Saturday afternoon I dropped the bunny with the Inlaws while picking up JE, then we were off to Wilderness Park where the Cub Scouts were having a BBQ dinner. We had a couple of hikes around the park, through the woods, and down by the river where we saw a toad. Apparently a couple of boys had seen a deer earlier, and we did see lot of tracks, but no more deer. There was a hole in the fence that's supposed to keep nasty animals out and it's not that I'm afraid of bears and mountain lions, ok, maybe I am, so after seeing the large hole in the fence I was glad we weren't camping there overnight.

As we walked back and got closer to the BBQ area we were met by the delicious aroma of barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, and boy, did they smell good and kick our taste buds into overdrive. I ended up having two cheeseburgers, plus two helpings of the peach cobbler cooked in the Dutch Oven over the coals. The hamburgers were delicious but the peach cobbler was just divine!

Afterwards we all headed down to the campfire and toasted Smores. JE had two, I had one, then JE wanted a third but took one bite out of it and learned about the Law of Diminishing Returns. So not wanting to waste food I was forced to eat it. I wasn't feeling too well afterwards :P

Now it's Sunday and we've just returned from a trip up to Forneris Farms in Mission Hills, where they have a 4-acre Corn Maze (no, it's corn, it's not a Maize Maze :P) and a large Pumpkin Patch. We were there again with a few of the Cub Scouts and as we pased through the maze we had to find the 10 tires. With 8 boys looking we found all 10 and were back out within 40 minutes.

On the way home Liz wanted to stop in Pasadena at the Container Store, then we ended up at the Cheesecake Factory for an early(ish) dinner. My attention was caught by a couple two tables over, in particular by the fellow who had all manner of gang-style tattoos over his body, coming up from the neck of his t-shirt, etc. I was amused by the tattoos he had across the knuckles of his hands. "YOUR" on one hand, and "NEXT" on the other. Oh, I so wanted to tempt fate and ask where the apostrophe and E were, but I figured those people who did ask that were probably "next".

After dinner we stopped at Pinkberry's and were not overly impressed with their Green Tea Yoghurt. I thought it was ok, not sweet, in fact a shade on the tart side, which I liked. It complimented the Chocolate Drops and Orio Cookie pieces JE had added to the order. Liz took one bite and refused to eat any more. JE ate a bite, shivered in mock cold (it was a very cool frozen Yoghurt, then concentrated on picking out the choc bits and cookie pieces. So I ended up eating the lot.

We never bought back a pumpkin from the Farm because they were rather expensive, although they were good sized pumpkins, but it's still too early to buy a Jack O' Lantern pumpkin. Maybe next weekend.

Only in Australia, or maybe Russia

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian doctors used an intravenous feed of vodka to keep an Italian tourist alive after he consumed large quantities of a poisonous substance.

The 24-year-old man, in an apparent bid at self-harm, had swallowed ethylene glycol, found in antifreeze, which can cause death. Doctors administered pure alcohol, the conventional antidote, but exhausted the hospital's supply.

Desperate to continue the treatment the doctors at Mackay Base Hospital in Queensland state hooked up an intravenous feed of vodka, hospital officials said.

"The patient was drip-fed about three standard drinks an hour for three days in the intensive care unit," Dr Todd Fraser said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Fortunately for him he was in a medically induced coma for a good portion of that. By the time he woke up I think his hangover would have well and truly gone," Fraser said.

"The hospital's administrators were also very understanding when we explained our reasons for buying a case of vodka."

The Italian man was treated in the hospital two months ago and has since made a successful recovery. News of his treatment was only released on Wednesday.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Time Warner =/= Customer Service

Last Friday evening our cable connection developed a persistent hiccup. We couldn't stay connected for more than a couple of minutes at a time, but our cable modem showed no signs of uninterrupted service; it never rebooted and we had solid green LEDs the whole time. (yes, they're supposed to be green and solid.)

I called Time-Warner and was on hold for perhaps 20 minutes. For some people, you might think that's an amazingly fast response time for a cable company, but I was rarely on hold with Adelphia's Customer Service for longer than 5 minutes. So I wasn't impressed.

We'd rebooted the Cable Modem a couple of times, and even did a full LAN reboot and powered down both PCs but the hiccup had persisted. (I call Tech Support as a last resort.) Of course when the Tech finally answered he still told me to reboot my cable modem, which I did to humor him. It didn't restore our service, but why would it? It hadn't worked for any of the earlier reboots (at least three of them). The tech claimed there was a problem at our end, that maybe it was with our Cable Modem. Yeah, right. You're only saying that because you know we're using our own Cable Modem and you want us to use, i.e., "rent" yours, for a monthly fee of course. Anyway, the Tech scheduled a service call, for almost a week later. Again, I'd called Adelphia before for service and frequently had a tech come out within the the next day or two.

Saturday afternoon Liz and I got home to find a message from Time Warner. "Hey, thanks for calling us. We found the problem with your service and we fixed it."

Uh, yeah. Didn't you say the problem was at our end? And wasn't that the problem which you couldn't send a tech to check out until next week? But now you've fixed it? Nice one.

Last night they called us back, but not recognizing the number (in fact it showed up as an "Unknown Name" 866 number on our Caller ID) we didn't pick up. The automated system then left us a pleasant message saying we should call to confirm, reschedule or cancel our appointment.

So I called back tonight, went through the automated process, pressed 3 to cancel our appointment, and was asked to wait while they processed my request. Then I was asked to enter a PIN number (a redundant word combination), which I didn't have. My non-existent PIN (N = Number) was not recognized so I was asked to enter it again, and again when I didn't enter it, it wasn't recognized, so I was told to call the 888-TW-CABLE number...being the one where I was on Hold for 20 minutes waiting to talk to someone on Friday night. No thanks.

I figured if they couldn't get their Automated System working properly to where a customer could cancel a service call, it would serve them right if they waste a Tech's time in coming out to fix a problem which they claim they fixed several days before. Of course the nice automated system chose that moment to call me back.

This time when I was asked to hold while they processed my request they actually transferred me to the automated man's wife. She asked me for my phone number then told me I was scheduled for a service call tomorrow.

Aah, no. I already told your husband I wanted to cancel it.

"If the current date & time are still suitable, please Press 1."

Didn't I do this before with your husband?

"If you need to change the date and/or time, please Press 2."

I know, I know. If I want to cancel, please Press 3.

I pressed 3.

"You said you want to cancel your service call. If this is correct, please Press 1."

I pressed 1.

"Thank you. Your service call has been canceled. Goodbye."

Hmmm...They always say that if you want something done right, ask a woman, and that appears to hold true for the virtual world, too.

Who do you know?

I have in my cellphone an entry for a man known as "Nick the Greek", and yes, that's his professional name. Nick is a very nice man and has helped me out more than a few times.

Our first meeting occurred when I had a very serious problem, and although I knew about Nick the Greek I'd never actually met him, but I knew he was just the man to help me out. I was at work when I'd noticed a seam in my trousers had come undone, creating a rather embarrassing hole in the crotch. Nick took care of the problem within seconds and didn't charge me a penny. From that day forth, whenever I've needed hems taken up or seams repaired, I've gone to see Nick. Nick the Greek. My Tailor.

Hello, Monday

I opened up an email from a coworker this morning who's notorious for sending out sometimes funny (sometimes sick) jokes and pictures. I thought the following tattoo was hilarious. Now I'm fairly accepting of tattoos as an expression of individuality, but as my coworker said, this one is definitely not something I'd want one of my kids to come home with. Still hilarious though :)

And before you scroll down any further, I strongly urge you to swallow any coffee, tea, milk or other substance you currently have in your mouth.

Happy Monday!