EUReKA

A town (in the Pacific Northwest?) supposedly established by President Truman at the behest of Albert Einstein. All of the world's top minds live and study there, and all of the world's greatest discoveries have actually come from there over the past few decades. Welcome to Eureka!

It is a new show from the Sci-Fi channel, and actually quite fun. The third episode airs tonight, and I'm not planning on missing it. :-)

~Matt

Heroics

If you haven't already, you should check out the Superheroes story that I'm involved in. You have to start reading it from the start, but I think it is a great read. I just finished conducting an interview with the project's creator, and I'll be posting part of it on the blog later today as part of a new feature. Here, if you're interested is a brief sneak peak.

Fibonacci: The trouble with this is that infinity is really big.
Black Wolff: Is this countable infinity or uncountable infinity we're talking about here?
Black Wolff: ;-)
Fibonacci: Countable. You'll notice the episodes are numbered.
Fibonacci: With integers.

No, it isn't all jokes and math (trust me!). If you've been following the story at all you'll gain some extra insight into the process behind the scenes. I'm really looking forward to the start of what might be considered a weekly column. :-) I do so enjoy writing, and this is better even than just this blog. Now I only need to figure out how to get our story more readers!

~Matt

Off to work

I leave for work in just a bit over an hour. I'm not looking forward to it. These late night shifts are starting to get old in my third out of four days in a row. At least I have Tuesday and Wednesday off--prime job hunting days. If everything goes according to plan I'll spend Monday morning planning out those two days and arranging what to do.

~Matt

Thought for the day

I am rereading The Hobbit, in a newly acquired edition. The book is hardcover with a recreation of Tolkien's original dust jacket (his illustration) and containing all the text of the revised edition. I'm going slowly, so as to enjoy the experience.

At the point where I am reading currently Bilbo and the dwarves have just arrived at Elrond's Last Homely House. I thought the following words especially profound and true in the context of most stories:

"Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may take a good tale, and take a good deal of telling anyway."

The only major exception I can think of off hand are the Redwall novels by Brian Jacques where he takes time to describe each and every feast and meal of which his characters partake. Otherwise, for the most part, good times are described briefly in many tales and books while times of danger, peril, and horror go one for pages and pages.

~Matt

Battle of New Orleans

I just finished the book pictured at the right. It was an excellent read, describing the Battle of New Orleans in great detail. (Incidentally the author is also the author of the book Forrest Gump on which the Tom Hanks movie of the same name was based.) The book is certainly non-fiction, but it reads very smoothly. I enjoy history books, but this book had the smoothness of an excellent narrative. I quite definately could not put this book down. I recieved the book on Thursday evening (after returning from work at 17:00) and it was finished by Friday night (in the midst of which I slept, worked on Museum issues, and worked an eight hour shift).

The book is not fully annotated, with only footnotes for explanation. The reason for this is explained by the author in his notes on sources. He writes that he has written non-annotated and annotated history books before, but this time the many sources are so many and so contradictory that he felt it would simply be confusing to quote all of the myriad opposing sources.

I discovered this volume when I started reading an article (condensed) from the book in the latest issue of Smithsonian magazine. I immediately stopped reading the article as I knew that I wanted to read the book. My only complaint is that I wish there had been more details about Jean Laffite. He has always fascinated me, ever since I first heard about him (in grade school?). However, to be fair to the author, he does give many details about Laffite, and there generally are not too many details to go on concerning this famous privateer (or was he a pirate?).

Furthermore I have been fascinated by the Battle for many years, something that was only encouraged by my like of Johnny Horton's singing. One of his most famous songs is The Battle of New Orleans (the lyrics were actually written by Jimmy Driftwood). While it does contain several historical inaccuracies (besides the obvious alligator fiction) it is fun to listen to. I played it a couple times while reading this book.

In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We looked down the river and we see'd the British come.
And there must have been a hundred of'em beatin' on the drum.
They stepped so high and they made the bugles ring.
We stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise
If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eye
We held our fire 'til we see'd their faces well.
Then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave 'em ... well

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down.
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We filled his head with cannon balls, and powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.

We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

I also found another version of the song here which has some more lyrics, including some mentioning Laffite and the British General. I wish that Horton had sang that version, it sounds even more fun! :-)
~Matt

Collage

I wish that Picasa were a bit more random when creating these collages, but I suppose I can't complain too aweful much as I'm just glad the feature exists. 'Tis fun to group similar pictures together--I simply wish that I could do more than put them in a certain order so a nondescript picture will be covered up (there is no variety, all five picture photo pile collages will have the pictures in these positions for some unknown reason).

Perhaps I'm just sick with myself over the fact that I've not blogged since Tuesday, so I'm hunting for things to blog and blog about.

But I would never do anything like that, would I? Nah, I didn't think so--it must be all in my imagination.

~Matt

Forest Gump

The only scene in this movie that I've seen is the one where the kid is running away from people and somebody yells "Run Forest Run." I think a teacher showed it in school, or somebody in Sunday School/Youth Group. I'm not quite sure where it was. But other than that I've not yet seen this movie. It was due today, but I wanted to see it--so I'll return it tomorrow (I'm off work and will be job hunting). The dollar late fee is acceptable as a rental fee, ;-). Normally I wouldn't be this bad, but I've not had much time for movies lately, especially when I don't remember them until it is too late and I'm working the next morning or I'm too tired.

Oh, I do remember something else. Paul Shanklin has a great parody of this movie with Forest Gore, the man with a room temperature IQ. At one point Forest says the following to President Clinton: "My mama says your foreign policy is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." :-)

~Matt

Buenos Dias

I'm not sure how good the morning is, but I suppose I should make an effort to make it so. Last night I finished Magic Street by Orson Scott Card. I read Ender's Game and its first sequels years ago, but recently I've started reading even more of Card's works. I haven't yet regretted picking up any of his books, they've all been wonderful. He can definately do an excellent job writing in different fields of fiction.

~Matt

Nice Weather

Being off in the summer I never had to experience the worst of summer weather in Santa Clarita. My sister just e-mailed to say that it was up to 117 degrees this weekend! By contrast we had low humidity and a high of around 80 today in northern Kentucky. :-) I can't really complain now.

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to get an eye exam, then I'm going next door to Lenscrafters with my prescription so that I can buy a new pair of glasses! These will be the first pair that I've ever had to buy myself (all others came while I was under my parent's insurance and they were paying for things). My current pair are my backup pair (Mark should remember the time he drove to my house so I could pick them up) after I lost my then current pair in the Pacific Ocean. I am long overdue to get a new pair, especially since the screw holes are stripped and only broken off paperclips twisted through are holding them together. I've simply been too lazy and cheap to do anything up until now. :-)

~Matt

Biblioholism

I shall try to make this short, because I dearly want to get back to the book in question. If you are addicted to reading (as I am) then you simply MUST read this wonderful volume. You will come to understand much more about yourself, and why you cannot resist buying books (*cough**cough*) or reading them. You will find links to Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble's site, and Powell's on the linked library entry! But, just so you can be sure that you can't miss it, here are some choice quotes from Chapter Eleven: Reading (which I am currently reading, ;-)).

Biblioholics must read wherever and whenever possible, and even when it doesn't seem possible. Why else do we drag a book along us wherever we go? [*raises hand* "Guilty."] There is absolutely no time or place unsuitable for cracking a volume and indulging our passion. In trains, planes, buses, cars, and all other transport; at meals, in bed, on the john, at work, in dentists' offices, in supermarket checkout lines--wherever--we hold true to our biblioholic alling: we read. If our car breaks down on the freeway, we merely reach across the seat and pull out a volume. When our barber finally tires of occupational small talk, we flip open the magazine on our laps. After we get comfy on the chair lift, we reach into our parka and pull out a book.

The rest of this chapter consists of "a guidebook to reading in a biblioholic's favorite haunts." Yes, there is much humour in this volume, but also much truth!
I started the book quite a while ago, but I keep forgetting about it. 'Tis sad, but also fun as I have come back to it several times with great enjoyment. If you are a reader then you truly owe it to yourself to find this book! It was a gift, but if I'd known what it was I should have bought it for myself years ago.

~Matt

I'm tired

I fell asleep downstairs while watching Stargate Atlantis. The show started airing at 22:00, ;-). I don't know exactly when I fell asleep, so I'll need to catch another airing, which shouldn't be too hard. I don't even remember being quite that sleepy during the show.

~Matt

Storage

Yesterday I tore into my storage unit again--but this time to put somethings substantial inside. I brought back a bunk bed from Tennessee (my brother built a new wood one for his older boys), got a table and two chairs from my sister, and an easy chair from the neighbor's son. I have a couple pictures, but they're not currently loaded on the computer. It took me several hours in the heat and quite a bit of sweat, but it was worth it. I now have a bit more furniture beyond bookcases! :-)

~Matt

Weekend

Residents near Bowling Green were back home by Friday morning and most of Interstate 65 is back open.

The area was shut down for several hours Thursday night after a tanker carrying a toxic chemical caught fire.
~WTVF - News Channel Five, Nashville, TN 07.14.2006

I was caught up in this when I went down to my brother's on Thursday evening. The drive should take about five hours with minimal stops, and I voluntarily only made two stops, one for dinner to go, and one to fill up my tank with gas. Because of the abovementioned accident however I had to detour around about twenty miles of I-65 right north of the Tennessee state line. It took me almost two hours to go those twenty some miles. I left the Cincinnati area around 17:30-:45 Eastern and I didn't arrive in Nashville until 01:00 Eastern!!

Once I got down to my brother's place things were much better. Friday he went to work, so I was able to relax and hang out with my nephews. We played some computer games, I worked on some Lego projects, and we went swimming. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the Legos, :(. Above you can see one of the pictures I snapped while waiting in traffic. Below is one of the pictures that I took Saturday morning.


My brother has several canoes, including one (or a couple?) that he has built. We took a couple canoes and a kayak out to a local lake for an hour or so of fun on the water. I've only been out on such small boats a couple times that I remember--once at a family reunion in Montana and a couple times on the huge Rivers of America canoes at Disneyland. It was great. Of course since I was in the front and one of my nephews in the back I was the power paddler, ;-). I definately exercised some muscles that I wasn't used to using.

We paddled out to one of the islands and pulled up to the beach. There I took several good pictures, and even more as we paddled back along the cliffs. I think that I took at least forty pictures on the lake! After we brought the canoes back in I took the kayak out. It was great! As fun as the canoes were the kayak was even better. You only have one paddle, but it has whatchamacallit paddle thingies on each end. I knew the general idea that you paddle on the left to go right and vice versa and you paddle backwards to slow down and sometimes to turn as well. In the kayak you have much more control over these features than you do as one person in a two man canoe. I could go as fast as I wanted and completely control the steering. Great fun!

After we returned from the lake we all went to see Pirates. It was great fun, even though it was my second viewing. My brother asked me to drive, which worked out great because then I was able to insist that we sit through the credits to see the short scene after. My brother owns the DVD of the first movie and didn't know about the scene after those credits! He normally just shuts movies off as soon as the credits roll--or leaves the theater then. I've begun to always stay through credits if I can--not only for scenes afterwards, but because I usually enjoy the music as well. If all these people put all their effort into the movie the least I can do is sit and watch their names while they play beautiful music, ;-).

Anyway, after a great beef brisket dinner we watched some TV via Tivo (i.e. several minutes late so we could fastforward through commercials) and then my brother helped me out with resume advice. It will be hard work to do everything that I need to, but I know that I need to if I'm actually going to get another job and leave my time at bigg's behind me.

Sunday wasn't quite as fun as I had to leave the house around 07:30 so that I could be sure of arriving back in time for work that evening. For some reason the store manager doesn't like giving days off three in a row--even though I was given four days off a couple weeks ago (unasked!) so I couldn't get Sunday off. :(

~Matt

PS Here are some of the detail/landscape pictures that I took. I'm currently using the last one as my background.

Still busy

Yeah, I've been busy. Right now I need to finish writing something. I'll update with pictures later (tonight or early AM I hope).

~Matt