I've decided what livsmama needs for Christmas is some adventure. The problem is if you present an adventure someone doesn't want it's just added stress, but presenting someone with an adventure "of their choice" it's a cop out.

So! I'm asking people to suggest local adventures. I might present them as a tournament, or choose one if it's an obvious good match.

My son, who is four, has a favorite spatula. He gave his favorite spatula the nickname "doublr flipper", but that's not its real name. He says its real name is "Geoffrey"

Let's just be clear. The crisis affecting wall street is fundamentally the same as the crisis affecting main street.

stop! or I gotta pee!

has anyone heard about this event? I realize the website is a bit vague, but it could be interesting.

I kid, of course. No spoilers here. I will reveal that one of the trailers before the movie is for Watchmen, and boy does it look good. It's encouraging, because that's one challenging movie to make, and all the fans know the surprise ending already.

Batman, though... as I said to Julia as we were leaving the theater, that was a damn good trilogy.

oh, that's classic

Not content to air interesting reality shows while other networks have obstacle courses and popularity contests, PBS has decided to spank them again by putting on a physical challenge that shames the competition. In The Devil's Brigade, a group is challenged with recreating the accomplishments of The World War II unit that gives the show its name. Looks like fun!

There's a diminishing return to fuel efficiency; if your vehicle only uses a thimble of gas a day, the benefit of doubling fuel efficiency isn't worth much. Given that, and the cost (both financial and environmental - battery production is a mining-intensive operation) of improving fuel efficiency, it should be possible to figure out the "sweet spot" of mileage. There are other concerns, of course - a motorcycle is more fuel-efficient than a car, with the trade-off of keeping out of the elements.

instructor: Who is like an enzyme?

class: ...

instructor: What occupation is like an enzyme?

class: umm... construction worker? police officer?

instructor: lawyers!

I don't know where this House "it's not lupus" meme comes from, clearly it should be "it's not amyloidosis"

I'm not making progress on this paper, because watching House is more interesting, and I still have tomorrow to work on it, and it's a rough draft. That's not to say I'd be racing through it if it were a final draft. It's been fifteen years since I did any major writing, after all.

I'm writing an ad analysis essay for one of the classes I'm taking. My ad of choice was for Tanqueray Rangpur gin, which, in the course of research, sounded pretty good.

Well, livsmama picked up a bottle, and I've got to say it's pretty tasty. The cranberry-raspberry juice in the fridge is much too sweet a mix for it, but coconuthead's cranberry-infused vodka makes a fine accompaniment. I've got a tiny bottle of ginger-flavored vodka I need to try as a mix too, but I'm taking my time, as these are all 80-proof cocktails.

Neighbor kid who's been hanging around all day left Xavier's bike in our other neighbor's driveway, where they promptly backed over it with their car. The training wheels and fender can be bent back into shape, and the hole in the seat isn't a huge deal, but the gooseneck's broken. It's not like it's 7 am and you're late for work, you had to load the kid seat in the car!

Here's a et eeve:

(did I mention the "p" key on my comuter is sticking?

Here's a pet peeve: time travel stories that focus on not disturbing the future. If I travel back in time, I'm not going to avoid doing anything to change the future; it would be irresponsible not to lend assistance when you know you can avert tragedy, and really frustrating to make the same mistakes you did the first time through just because you did it that way last time. I'll create paradoxes just to see how they work themselves out. I'm not actually planning a trip back through time, though. If I were I'd be making a list of top-performing stocks for every year (or maybe I should say top investments, for travel to pre-stock market eras)

I never did post about Free Comic Book Day, but we went and picked up a stack of comics, and now that they've been read I'm offering them to anyone who missed out.

I hadn't posted that I went to Dr. Sketchy's Anti-art school last week. It was fun, and the Strib has a short video that gives the general feel of it.

Are you familiar with Johari? I was reminded of it recently, as well as the negative nohari that most people won't fill out anyway.

In other internet fun, Hulu has, among the TV shows and movies viewable online, Lone Wolf McQuade. It's fabulously awful! I might have to make a drinking game to go with it. Veoh has a pile of video as well, but primarily anime. I've been catching up on Stand Alone Complex.

I watched the movie Equilibrium tonight. What a great way to explore some abstract concepts in an entertaining fashion! What a piss-poor execution!

The plot was as surprising as an episode of Star Trek - one you've seen already. The biggest surprise was how disappointing the big showdown was (oh, I'm not going to worry about spoilers, as I can't really "ruin" this movie for anyone. Well, maybe if your only complaint about Ultraviolet was the lack of hot dudes.

The plot: in the wake of World War III, a desperate humanity suppresses all emotion in an attempt to prevent further war. The protagonist is an enforcement officer tasked with hunting down those who refuse to take their emotion-suppressing drugs, who begins to empathize with the resistance when he accidentally misses a dose. Sort of a THX-1138 meets Fahrenheit 451.

It was bad, must be parent now.

I submitted three more stories to Espresso Stories, which are currently ranked #1, 4, and 5. The rankings fall pretty steeply with time (my previous #1 story is now at about 1000) but it's momentarily flattering.

I think I might have a clue to our computer's continued poor performance, so I'm working on that right now. Enjoy the snow!