Why Do SciFi and The Discovery Channel Hate Me?

There is a very short list of shows I'll actually go out of my way to watch:

• Dirty Jobs
• Doctor Who
• Eureka
• Mythbusters
• Survivorman (new episodes coming!)

Of course, Dirty Jobs and Eureka are on at the same time. So are Doctor Who and the new episodes of Survivorman. Is this fate's way of telling me to watch less TV? Or does the universe want me to get a DVR? ;)

Q Are We Not Men?

A We Are Devo!

Whilst following up on a Dell ad I saw the other night which had an awfully Devo-sounding song (it's by Devo, that's why it sounded like Devo) I saw that they're touring again! And will be playing in Puyallup this September. Sounds like it's time for

NERD ROAD TRIP!!!

Happy old nerd. :D

Say It Isn't So!

The Weekly World News is shutting down! No more Bat Boy... no more predictions of the end of the world... no more strange stories from South America... and to whom will Thrash sell his stories now? (obligatory Chill reference...)

Sadness...

Weekend Media Consumption

I managed to hold off on purchasing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows until 9 am Saturday. :D We hit the local independent bookstore on the way out of town; I read aloud to Mr. E for most of the trip. We made it to Chapter 20 by the time we got back in town. Now E is in Potterus Interruptus, as he's going to wait to hear the rest of it until Kid A can read it to him on their camping trip, and that isn't until August. (On the other hand, I powered through it on Sunday so I could pass it along to my Mom. Still contemplating it; guess it made an impression.)

Where were we going? Portland, for a concert by Rush. They've still got it. Hope I'm that energetic at 50+... ;)

*bleep*

Just poured hot coffee (the extra-acidic stuff from the very bottom of the pot) over the tip of my left thumb. Why did I sell off that DEX for more INT-based skills? (And why weren't my INT-based skills sufficient to prevent me from pouring coffee at a funny angle in the first place?)
:D

Spotted on a church sign

"God doesn't believe in atheists, therefore atheists don't exist."

Ha, ha. (pokes self) Hmm, I still appear to be here... does that disprove their premise? Any logic-choppers out there?

Yay! Rain!

Thunderstorms rolled through last night, and it's raining this morning. Ahhhh. :D I needed the break, the grass certainly needed the break, and the air isn't quite so brown. Yay!

Monday positivity

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix didn't suck.

Mr. E. very kindly washed the wrist braces I use at night -- the smell was getting appalling.

Kid A. got her summer reading book (an abridged Bulfinch's Mythology) and is quite enjoying it.

(old fart) We've tickets to the Rush concert in Portland next weekend (/old fart).

More suburban wildlife

Sunday evening the family went for a walk at dusk; as we passed a neighbor's house, we spotted two raccoons. That could explain why the cat sometimes runs into the house all fluffed and big eyed. We told the raccoons about our other neighbor's sweet and juicy (not to mention early-rising) chickens, but I don't know if they listened.

This morning Spider-squirrel ran straight up the wall of the mini-mall and into a wall vent. Clever place to hide food. Maybe it is a mutant. (Yeah, I know, if it's a spider-squirrel it is the result of a scientific experiment gone awry, not mutation.)

Spidersquirrel...

On my morning walk to the bus stop I pass behind an office building (a six-storefront micro-mini-mall); the walls are rough concrete with the aggregate exposed. This morning I saw one of the local squirrels doing a Spiderman imitation. It was so quiet out I could hear the scritch of its claws on the rocks as it traversed the building. Cool. :D

---

that's it for today -- my fingers are starting to get sore in addition to my thumbs. dang entropy.

Pointing device number four...

In the ongoing (but not futile, dang it!) struggle to make my computer environment less painful, I've moved on to the fourth pointing device for calendar year 2007. Oy.

Started the year with a regular mouse; made my thumb hurt because I had to hold my thumb up.

Tried two versions of Evoluent's vertical mouse, with the hope that resting my thumb on top of the mouse would help. But that turned clicking into a pinching motion, because I had to stabilize the mouse with my thumb. Sigh.

Then I bought the low-end Logitech trackball, but I had to use my thumb to click the button... no good.

So last Friday I slapped the touchpad extension onto the ergo keyboard I'd brought from home. I'd left it off because it made it more difficult to fit the keyboard into the tray, but I've found using the touchpad on the new laptop to be less painful, so what the heck.

I think what I really need is biofeedback training to learn to relax my thumbs... ;D

edited to add: stopping now, thumbs hurts. :(

Writing. At least, thinking about writing.

Though I've resolved to start writing fiction again, I've not actually gotten around to it. Well, that's a bit of an overstatement. I am actively working on two projects -- I've a novel in world-building (which is the part I enjoy, so sometimes I find it hard to stop) and a short story in research. Both are activities which require more reading and cogitating than typing, which is my current nemesis. (Check the entries tagged "thumbs" for the gnarly details, hypothetical new readers.)

Deep down, though, I'm afraid to start the actual writing process. There are a couple of reasons for it; for one, I've got a real problem finishing projects. But I'm also facing a genuine physiological limitation, which makes my resolution to start writing again seem a bit ill-timed. ;) I can't handwrite, and I can't use the computer for more than 30 minutes. And I'm having a hard time adjusting to the voice dictation software. I can successfully use it for business communications, but I'm finding it difficult to speak prose.

I had an idea on the way to work this morning that I think is worth a try: I'll find some prose that I think is stylistically close to mine and "type" it out using the voice dictation software. It'll give me some training in using the software for prose, and give the software some training as well. :D

Transformers

Big, dumb, and loud, as I expected. Some nice laugh lines. The climactic battle gave me a headache. (I hate jerky-cam.) Overall, not entirely a waste of time.

"Live Free or Die Hard"

If I had thumbs, it would get two thumbs up. Plot and action were only mostly improbable, the laugh-lines were not forced in, and I actually didn't hate Justin Long's performance, much to my surprise.

(Hey, my standards are low, but they're mine.) :)

On the "looking forward to it" front from the previews: War -- Jet Li and Jason Statham? *squee*

Timing is everything

Why did I start counting calories right before my sister arrived in town for a 2-week visit? I know I won't be good... how many calories are there in a margarita, anyway? ;)

It is still, however, all good. :D