#6280 TV, Comics, Movies, Music, Family

Having trouble toddling off to sleep tonight, so I'll just type-type until I feel the desire to kick back and relax or read in a horizontal position.. My workout has some stretches that feel great. My favorite is one when I lay on my stomach and use a belt or sheet to bend my leg out and back behind me... the stretch is easy to do, and I can feel a very palpable difference. The only hazard is that Newt likes to come visit and play while I'm doing it, so I'm easily distracted..I end up losing count or the beat, and having to restart again later. He's very fond of taking a swat at the ponytail or one of my mitts, and he's too cute to turn down.

Well, in other news, the mother takes off for her Thanksgiving week cruise on Monday.... they'll be out to sea until Saturday night. I'm glad that she and her husband get to travels so much, and see the world, even if they're not really retired. They do it so much, though, that I'm likely to call it "retired-ish".

Had a gab with the Bro for a bit yesterday, and I've got confirmation that he's talked to Mike and Andy a bit lately, which is disappointing, but not surprising. I have to call Danny up, and see if having the brother along is ok, or see if Bro and I will do something non-traditional for dinner, instead. I'd like to be there to help spare Danny the "deal with family alone" stress, too.

Went and looked up the word "top" (like a dreidel) just to find out what it's the top of...I was guessing it was a mutation of the word "tip" since it balances on a point. Nothing so unusual. Top comes from the old English toye, meaning plaything. Sometimes my quest for the rest of the story stops pretty quickly.

Cat in the Hat is getting EL STINKEROO reviews... Well, that's too bad. Looks like Elf is the runaway hit this go-round. There's always Master and Commander, too.

I'm surprised how good South park was last night. (All About Mormons?) They basically punched holes in the Mormon belief system and then turned it around at the end. Something that I've always liked about the show is that when it's good, nobody gets away without a mark. Nobody's perfect.... what's more, they don't have to be.

Last bit:

"Look, maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense, and maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up, but I have a great life. and a great family, and I have the Book of Mormon to thank for that. The truth is, I don't care if Joseph Smith made it all up, because what the church teaches now is loving your family, being nice and helping people. And even though people in this town might think that's stupid, I still choose to believe in it. All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls."

I'm not a Mormon...*very* far from it, in fact....but I can get behind that sentiment.

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Handy Dandy guide to DC "Earths" ( Read more... )

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Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday - Comic Book covers Some good, some not.

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Shrunken Head Gallery (I may've linked to this before)

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Design your own police car

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Mood CD's to make when I get the time/inclination (a la Octane) ( Read more... )

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Let's see what I was up to in history -

1 year ago - classic kids audio books, history, forms in LJ work, goodbye to work-Pam, Mojo has a hissy fit vs Bonbon/Kev

2 years ago - beatnik, thanksgiving, harry potter quiz, wandering

3 years ago - thanksgiving

Ok, time to hit the sack. Hopefully sleep will come quickly. Until later, dear journal!

#6281 Brother visit, New Name, C-Span2, linkies, Dice?

Brother came by, wanting to borrow "$35 to do laundry, and to get by until he's paid on Monday"... I told him that I couldn't help him with cash, but if he wanted soap, bleach and softener that I could hook him up. He then tried to bargain me down to $20, and then just $10 to do his wash. "Because he borrowed it from a guy" I told him to tell the guy that he gets paid on Monday, and will take care of him then... Like he said he'd take care of me. It hurt to have to say no, but the fact that he's communicating with his old cronies and showed up with a beer in his hand "that someone gave him" made it easier for me. He always smells of beer, when he comes by even though he claims that he's not a problem drinker. My reply to the was "If it's not a problem, I dare you to go until my birthday without having a drink... and if you do have a problem, you need to get it fixed". I think that he'll come back later for the TV of his that I'm storing here, in order to pawn it. I figure the whole reason he came down my way to "do laundry" was to try and hustle me for some funds. That's not going to happen any more. I'll give him supplies... laundry soap, detergent, etc, but I just can't validate giving him any money. I just won't support his habits or lack of forethought anymore. Dealing with Frankie recently has helped me to understand that I'm not doing my brother or myself any good by helping him to be an addict. I don't want to see him descend to Frankie's level as a result of my "assistance." So, that's got me a little cranky today. I love my brother, but I don't like what he's up to. I'm glad that I can rely on my sweetheart and Newt to bring good thoughts.

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There are some who call me Kareem Adel Jabbar (No relation to basketball players)

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Scotto's Dirty little secret of the day - I'm fascinated watching the U.S. Senate debate on legislation on C-Span 2 right now. A place where people can still use the term "boondoggle" multiple times in serious conversation. (I still think of that as a Boy Scout reference when I hear it.) Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) seems to be a voice of reason, questioning elements of Dick Durbin's (D-IL) statements about drug companies, Medicare, HMOs and seniors. (Medicare Prescription Drug plan).. Basically a Big sloppy Kiss to the Insurance industry, and harsh to folks on Medicare. It's nice to see folks arguing for a social motive, rather than a profit motive...at least on the face of things. I really like folks that can think on their feet, rather than just delivering a canned speech, too.

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It occurs to me that I have no idea where my blue dice bag & dice are. I've got some assorted 6-siders in boxed games, or with my minis, but the big blue bag has been packed away since I moved here. I could guess at the location, but don't know for sure.

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I had a crick in my right side, probably from over exerting myself on the stretching this morning, but I'm feeling better now.

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Geek moment: The person I was most sad to see go as a result of Crisis was Clayface (Matt Hagan) . (Even more than The Flash or Supergirl.) I was really happy to see him back on the Batman Cartoon.

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Wow... 40 years ago, JFK in Dallas. I was born after the fact, so it seems like it's ancient history, not so recent.

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Human Oddities

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Wonderful composite of Moon and Sun via apod

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( Biological Molecule Quiz )

#6282 Danny's group, The Medicare bit, WWN, good movie possibilities, brains, Hitler.

Talked to Danny earlier, and got to hear about his coming game with his students. It sounds like he's going to have a lot of fun... six players, one DM... First level party comprised primarily of Halflings and half-elves. Dan helped Julian with some plotting and mapping, so he knows a few "surprises that will be popping up in the course of the adventure...I think that helped his enthusiasm. He also assisted many of the players with character backstory and general fleshing out of the party. As it stands now, there's a rogue (Danny... going to multi-class with a ranger, I think), A pair of clerics (Each with bladed weapons.. is that allowed now?), a paladin, a fighter, and Ex-pirate Assassin-type turned good. They're going to go on an old-school cave/dungeon crawl Wednesday after school (Half-day for thanksgiving) until 5:30. I look forward to hearing how it goes... I'm Happy that he's found a little social gaming fun to squeeze into his burny-outie teaching schedule.

It looks like we'll not be going to his place for thanksgiving... instead, I think my brother and I will just spend some time together and get Chinese or Mexican, and give thanks that someone else is cooking, and maybe catch that seagoing flick. In other, related news, bro never returned for his TV today.

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MmMM... Chocolate Braaaiiiins.

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RE: What I've been watching on CSPAN2

Here's a way for seniors to express to Congress their displeasure with AARP for supporting this bill.

Also, if they are unsure, have them go here and click on their state. This is a report commissioned by the Institute For America's Future about how this bill would brutalize the Medicare system for each state.

Emergency Campaign to Save Medicare - Reports by State

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know enough about this bill, but I think that the first sign of a bad deal is the fact that it's getting rushed through without giving people any real time to go over all of it's details. And those that I HAVE seen I find disgusting.

The NYT's Paul Krugman on the bill, and AARP's stance ( Read more... )

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bandicoot really liked Master and Commander, which is a good sign, I'm likely to agree with his opinion on things of that nature.

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Daniel Meadows- The Bus, before and after images between 1973 and 2001... I really like seeing the effects of time on people.

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Oh, who can resist the Weekly World News? It never fails to make me grin. I'd get a subscription if the paper wasn't such an inky rag.