You Want A Shoggoth With That?

Antarctica Pictures Update

2011-05-06T10:35:00.001-07:00

I've added some more pictures from the Antarctica leg of our recent trip. A sample includes:

More pictures can be found in my Antarctica Flickr set which includes pictures I've uploaded previously.

New Pix From Antarctica

2011-03-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

(click to go to image)

I've added a few pictures to my Flickr Antarctica set. Check 'em out!

Leopard Seal At Paradise Harbor

2011-02-15T19:18:00.001-08:00

(click to see flickr version)

My first edited photo from Antarctica. A really special moment on a really special afternoon. Hope this looks as good on other people's screens as it does on the netbook. We only saw one leopard seal on the trip and this guy was nice enough to sit around and pose for us. I guess when you're an apex predator you can make time for a photo op.

On the Road

2011-01-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

Taking a trip for a few weeks down to South America and Antarctica. Currently chilling in Buenos Aires. More info can be found on our travel blog here.

Chomp 2: Expo Photos

2010-09-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

Noelle, Wendy, and I went to the SF Conservatory of Flowers on Saturday to see the carnivorous plants exposition, but found there was a lot more to see there as well.

Is This Thing On? What I've Been Up To

2010-07-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hi blog, long time no see. So, I did eventually get out of the hospital. I was well enough that I could lie in bed at home for free, although it took a while for my lipase counts to come down. Funnily enough, I had a trip to Montana planned for the first week of May, so I asked my doctor if it'd be all right if I went and had gall bladder removal surgery after that. She was ok with it, so I went to Montana. I have a few pictures here, but as usual I am behind in processing. Fantastic trip with great friends! Three days after I got back, I went in for surgery, which went splendidly. Recovery went pretty well also. I think all the love and support from my wife and friends helped smooth things along.

That would bring us to the beginning of summer. I took Noelle to Vegas for a quick trip to see the Criss Angel Cirque du Soleil show (yes, that's cognitive dissonance you're feeling, yes it's normal) as an anniversary present. Went to WWDC to hang out with the Apple kids. Mostly iPhone stuff, but that's cool. Flew down to the OC to see a composition lecture by the great Art Wolfe. At the end of June we flew up to PDX to see our friend Jesse get married. We also hung out with some other friends up there while we were in town. Some pix of that here, about half done with that weekend's photos. The next week both Noelle's and my company had a mandatory shutdown for July 4th week, so we flew to Maine for a few days so we could visit with family and chill. Perfect timing, too! They had a heat wave while were there and we got to enjoy upper 80s lower 90s with lots of humidity. Still, it was nice to get home. Went boating out on China Lake, visited with relatives I haven't seen in a while, and went up to Bar Harbor for a day. Last week was the annual pilgrimage to Comic-Con San Diego, which was great fun, but completely exhausting (zillions of pictures here). We got the best hotel ever for that con, the Hilton Gaslamp, right across the street from the convention center. I am a little sad, because I don't think I will ever get a hotel that good again for SDCC. Anyway, there were lots of cool panels and cosplay and other entertainments, including w00tstock 2.4. Good times, for nerds. That brings us up to the present. It's sort of tiring to look at what's been going on the past three months, but I guess it's been sort of tiring living it too. I need a break I think. :-) The good news is I don't think I'm traveling anywhere until September, so I get some down time now, right?

Anyway, that's kind of a capsule summary of what I've been up to these past few months. I'll try and be better about posting in the future.

New Zealand Sky

2010-06-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with Dan about night exposures which led me to process a couple of pictures I took of the night's sky in New Zealand last year. It was so peaceful there that night.

News of the Times

2010-04-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

Haven't blogged much lately on blogger. I've been caught up with the twitter experience (I'm TheChrisPaduan on Twitter). Have a bunch of things that have happened since the last post, but I'll cut to the most recent event. Last Thursday I was admitted to the ER with what turned out to be pancreatitus, which an inflammation of the pancreas caused by (in my case) gall stones or shards of gall stones obstructing the pancreas' entrance into the bile duct (shared by the liver, gall bladder, and pancreas, which empties into the intestine). My gall bladder is filled with gall stones and the best way to prevent a further outbreak of pancreatitus is to remove the gall bladder. All well and good, but they don't want to to do that until the pancreatitus setttles down. Unfortunately, the pancreatic lipase count (which correlates with the infection) has been going the wrong way. So, my surgery was scheduled for Monday, then Wednesday and has currently been pushed back to Thursday. If all goes well, I can leave Friday. I finally got to eat food today, which was nice. I've been on a IV since Thursday with no food during that time (I only got glucose added to the IV on Monday). Things move very slowly in the hospital and I can't wait to get out. My friends have been a great comfort, visiting me frequently. Noelle is holding together as well as can be expected. She wants me home badly as well. Anyway, slowly getting better, hope to be home RSN.

Death Valley Trip Highlights

2010-02-12T00:54:00.000-08:00

View Death Valley Trip in a larger map

Here's a little map I've cooked up of places that could be cool to see in Death Valley this weekend. Not Sure what exactly we'll be able to see as the park is currently listing a lot of the roads as closed. They got rain or something. I will be especially bummed if we can't get to the Racetrack with its moving rocks. Hope the trip is cool.
Some general locations and things to do in them, as noted by the National Park Service:

Panamint Springs Area
Furnace Creek Area (We're staying there)
Stovepipe Wells Area
Scotty's Castle Area

Current Road Conditions

Chillin' At Tahoe

2010-02-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

Using David and Nancy's place at Lake Tahoe this weekend. Everyone else went out skiing, but I decided I wanted to try snowshoeing, which I enjoyed a lot. Kinda tired right now, but I had a nice shower and am looking forward to some more chillaxin'.

2010 Travels

2010-01-31T19:05:00.000-08:00

So for a variety of reasons my 2010 travel plans have largely shaken out. Here's a map:

View 2010 Travels in a larger map

Going to:

Death Valley
Coachella
Yellowstone and environs
Comic-con San Diego
Hawaii
Atlanta

I'm Going To Hawaii!! YAYYYY!!!

2010-01-28T13:09:00.001-08:00

oblig: Yayyyyyyy! Hawaii! Yayyyyyy!!
</SpecialEd>

Honeymoon Photos Are Done

2010-01-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

(click to go to flickr site)

At long last I have finished editing all the pictures from our honeymoon. Feel free to check them out. If you've been watching them over time, the latest pictures are in the Athens and Istanbul sets.

Hitler Finds Out That the GOP Won the MA Senate Race

2010-01-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

You know, I don't completely agree with the sentiments in this video, but I kinda do.

Rush Plays Tom Sawyer On Rock Band

2010-01-21T23:57:00.000-08:00

... and fails.

Coachella 2010

2010-01-19T15:19:00.001-08:00

Whoa, the Coachella 2010 lineup was posted today and it looks good:

Thom Yorke (tentative)
Orbital
Porcupine Tree
Muse
Public Image Ltd
The Specials
Devo
many more...

Got a room already!

Fark Headlines of the Year 2009

2010-01-10T03:30:00.000-08:00

The best headlines of fark.com for 2009 are out.

Lots of comedy gold here. I'm especially fond of:

20: Small plane rapidly plunges into bottom end of Virgin Islands, to be renamed Technical Virgin Islands

13: Plane crashes in Florida panhandle, no pilot found. Well there's your problem

5: 80-ton wave generator works briefly as advertised when it falls into the ocean

and

4: Baghdad's National Museum reopens six years after looting. Featured displays include mostly a bunch of really heavy stuff

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

2010-01-10T03:12:00.000-08:00

A number of us went out to see the new Terry Gilliam movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I was a little concerned as the reviews I'd seen were generally of the flavor: "The movie is pretty, but the story doesn't make much sense." Well, except for a bit of confusion on my part towards the end, I found the story pretty straightforward. It revolves around the eponymous Dr. Parnassus who at one point was a holy man of an esoteric religion, but had been granted life eternal as the result of winning a bet with Mr. Nick (aka the devil, as well played by Tom Waites). However, as the result of losing another bet with Mr. Nick, Doctor Parnassus is on the verge of some, well, serious consequences. The doctor travels around London in a completely implausible vehicle with a small band of performers, trying to get the good audience to pass through a magic mirror that transports them to a personalized world created from their imaginations and desires. I was afraid this movie would frustrate me like Tidelands (and to a certain extent The Brothers Grimm) did, especially after reading some of the reviews. To my pleasant surprise I enjoyed this movie probably as much as some of Gilliam's best work, a la Time Bandits or Brazil. With computer animation technology, I think Gilliam finally has the tools to show the world the crazy ideas in his head in a surreal, yet realistic way. If you're a Terry Gilliam fan, you should definitely check this movie out and even if you are unfamiliar with his work I still think this is a great movie.

That's Going to Hurt Tomorrow

2010-01-10T02:57:00.000-08:00

Just got back from hanging out with the Rodenborns after ice skating after Noelle's Benihanna birthday dinner. My hamstrings are talking to me in a somewhat concerned fashion and I think the tenor will deteriorate sometime tomorrow. I need to get back into the gym. In happier news, I managed to only fall down once after not skating for three years and being in generally poor physical shape.

100% On Closer to the Heart On Rock Band 2 Bitches!

2010-01-03T23:04:00.000-08:00

(Yeah, it was on medium, but I still feel accomplished.)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

Recovering from too much fun last night. My head is actually ok, but my stomach has put me on report and I've been very tired all day. Had a bunch of people over and there was much merriment and good times. Looking forward to 2010: The Year We Make Contact

Lolrus Lives!

2009-12-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

Have you seen His bukket?

(seen at the almaden expressway Barnes and Noble, context unclear)

New Guitar Controller FTW!

2009-12-26T23:58:00.000-08:00

My rock band guitar controller has been getting progressively flakier as time has gone by so I've been thinking about getting a beatles wireless controller for a while, but balking at the price. Well, the in-laws were nice enough to give me a fair chunk of change in Best Buy gift certificates for Christmas, so today while at Best Buy getting batteries for the Wii, I pulled the trigger on the new Rickenbacker replica. Loving it! Even managed to talk Noelle into using the other controller for some Beatles Rock Band and she seems to be taking to this rock band thing. Yay!

Sherlock Holmes

2009-12-26T02:22:00.000-08:00

It was all right, more of a Sherlock Holmes themed movie than a Sherlock Holmes movie. Jeremy Brett for the win!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-25T02:18:00.000-08:00

No matter where you are, I am hoping you're having a joyful Christmas! We're chilling here in sunny SJ (currently watching TBS' 24 hour Christmas Story marathon) wishing you could be here with us. Best wishes everyone!

Weird Stuff I've Seen Lately

2009-12-25T02:08:00.000-08:00

The past 48 hours, swear to god.

1. Do Not Use - Someone at Best Buy neglected to print out the real tag:

2. Wine Glasses May Cause Battery Explosion - I'm not sure what the warning on Noelle's laptop box was supposed to infer, but it looks like:
Wine + LiIon Batteries = FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

3. Santa On A Pickup - A bunch of plastic, lit up raindeer pulling a lit up Santa and sleigh on top of a pickup truck. Merry Christmas in SJ!

Almost Christmas

2009-12-23T00:17:00.000-08:00

Gotta get some supplies for dinner tomorrow and do some last minute cleaning. Not too crazy, but we haven't ventured out to the stores yet. Hoping everyone is well and their Christmahanukwanzaa preparations are going well.

Off Work until 2010!

2009-12-23T00:16:00.000-08:00

Woot! Almost two weeks off! Gonna be great!

Avatar

2009-12-23T00:02:00.000-08:00

Went out with several friends to see James Cameron's newest adventure, Avatar. I was a little skeptical because the trailer didn't really do much for me, but on the other hand I don't think I've ever seen a James Cameron movie I've hated. Avatar was a pleasant surprise. The plot is solid if unremarkable, about earth interests who are trying to move an alien race off of their tribal lands to get the resources (Unobtainium, if you can believe it) that lay below. You can see the plot devices and developments coming from a mile away, but the ending is still emotionally satisfying, if predictable. The visuals, on the other hand, were amazing. The first half of the movie is just achingly beautiful. The character animation was also good, especially the facial expressions. The 3D where I was sitting (towards the front and to the side) was meh at times with out of focus objects becoming distractingly fuzzy. I will probably go again once more in the theaters to see this on the big screen before it leaves.

Rifftrax: Shorts-Stravaganza

2009-12-22T23:31:00.000-08:00

Noelle and I went to see this last week. I saw the Rifftrax in-theater performance featuring Plan 9 From Outer Space and couldn't stop laughing at one, so I was really looking forward to this show. It was really funny, although not up there with Plan 9. They had some of the weirdest ass shorts I've ever seen including a tree "of no account" (the part where it gets cut down is the best part) and a weird Santa inspired dream with claymation dolls that would give me nightmares if they hadn't riffed on it. Also a promotional movie for Santa's workshop that was funny when I could understand the audio or tell what I was looking at (worst. cinematography. evar.). Oh, and they ragged on Twilight, so that was fun. It was worth going to just to hear Sparkly Vampires. Good time. Would go again.

Happy Solstice!

2009-12-21T18:49:00.001-08:00

The days get longer now!!

Mission Completed

2009-12-14T10:13:00.000-08:00

Had our annual Christmas dinner Saturday. It was a lot less crazy than last year: only 14 guests instead of 25 or whatever it was. I actually found the seating to be fairly reasonable. I was in the kitchen a lot cooking for the first part of the evening, but it was a tenderloin roast, so it wasn't too awfully demanding. The roast actually got done roughly around the time the last guests showed up, so it came out of the oven just about perfectly done. It must have been good because most of it got eaten. A nine pound roast is a lot bigger than one might think it would be. Also prepared a couple of pies and some cookies which were also popular. There was much merrymaking and a good time was had by all. Sunday was a _much_ more laid back day than Saturday, after all the excitement that had been building up. Derek stayed over because he is currently sans car, so we took him home Sunday afternoon. We went out last night and saw the animated Christmas Carol in 3D which was quite good despite Jim Carey starring. He was a lot more restrained than he could have been, considering his resume. Now back to work, which hopefully is going to be nice and quite for the next couple of weeks.

Digg Shenanigans

2009-12-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

This picture went from about 25-35 page views three days ago to 5189 (and counting) now. Evidently someone linked to it in a comment on a popular article on digg which generated this ridiculous (for me) amount of traffic

Must Be Christmas Time

2009-12-02T13:55:00.001-08:00

SomaFM's XMas in Frisco is asking the eternal question: What would you get a wookie for Christmas if he already owns a comb?

Ninja Assassin!

2009-11-30T01:31:00.000-08:00

This movie is a 100 lb box of awesome! There are a few minutes of unnecessary talkiness, there's more CG blood than I care for, and I think that ninjas are not really hiding properly when they engage in street battles in the middle of traffic, but other than that I think this movie delivers about everything one might reasonably expect in a movie about ninjas: frenetic combat, over the top violence, and stealthy assassins who blend into the shadows of the night. The plot is spare, but straightforward, because you really aren't coming to see this movie because of the plot. The characters, other than the central character are not developed to speak of, but you aren't coming to see this movie because of the character development. You're coming to see a lot of badass ninja action, and Ninja Assassin delivers in spades for almost all of its 99 minute runtime.

Wolfmother

2009-11-24T01:15:00.000-08:00

I love Wolfmother. They are a proto-metal band that escaped from the 1970s into the 21st century to bring us an amalgamation of Led Zepellin and Black Sabbath, with a tiny bit of Deep Purple. Truly the essence of metal resides in these scions of Ozzy, Jimmy Page, etc. Tonight I got to rock out with them at the Fox Theater in Oaktown and it was glorious. I forgot to bring my camera (which AFAIK is still permitted at the Fox when not explicitly forbidden), but it was ok because I was happier to just rock and not worry about composing shots, etc.

2012

2009-11-24T01:00:00.000-08:00

The earth's core is being boiled by mutating neutrinos. You can drive from LA to Yellowstone in a day. Oliver Platt makes a convincing bad guy. Roland Emmerich can blow me. Do not see this abysmal piece of shit. It is easily the worst movie I've seen in 2009. I tried to avoid it, but I was talked into wasting two hours and thirty-eight minutes of my life that I will never get back again.

Here, watch this trailer instead. Had that movie been made instead, I would feel a lot better about having seen it.

Rock N Roll Advice

2009-11-12T22:57:00.001-08:00

If the lead singer of the band you came to see tells you and the whole audience that you "are a fucking asshole," maybe You're Doing It Wrong.

What A Week

2009-11-12T00:24:00.000-08:00

This past week has been something else:

The rather expensive sewer upgrade took almost a week to finish (as compared to the estimated 2 days) and left a lot of detritus (I resisted referring to it as crap, as that might give the wrong impression.) in the front yard.

Apparently getting an instrument cluster for 1997 Jetta is a nearly impossible. I ended up getting a used one, which they can't change the odometer on and for some reason insists there's a problem with the airbag (unlikely).

Had to say goodbye to several friends at work who got let go as part of a large scale layoff at my company.

These times be shite. Hope things pick up from here.

Where Christmas Is Going

2009-11-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

Into a hole in the ground. Frickin' pipes have backed up on me for the last time. I saw the roots invading our sewer line on a camera screen. About half the pipe is blocked. The camera actually cleared out the backup, but when I asked the guy if it was ok to use the bathroom, he said yeah, but I might not want to use too much toilet paper. So hopefully in a couple of days I will have a cleanout port in the front yard and the roots under the sidewalk will become the city's problem.

Halloween Weekend

2009-11-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

Friday: Went to the city to see Kevin Smith talk. He's a funny, if somewhat random guy. I was impressed to see him spend an hour going afield on a question, only to round back and actually answer said question eventually.

Saturday: Sleeping in, errand running, then hung out with Doug and Catherine for a while at their place. Noelle dressed up as Sexy Maid and I pulled out my Space Ghost costume. Then headed up to Redwood estates, where Bev and Spence and Esther and Kevin live. Hung out at their community's Halloween party for a while. Bev and Spence won best couples costume award for their Where the Wild Things Are costumes (Doug was also dressed as Max at their thing, popular costume this year). Noelle has pictures. Then we headed up to Bev and Spence's place, where I had never been before and socialized some more. Split around 2 or 3. I forget which. Daylight savings time ended. Watched Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Slept.

Sunday: Lazy day with limited objectives. Spent a fair amount of time driving around looking for Halloween paraphernalia that was discounted. Had a delicious dinner at Morton's (too much food!) and then went to see Where the Wild Things Are, which I would probably not recommend for children. Kinda sad. Then went home and watched Halloween movies (Donnie Darko and The Nightmare Before Christmas) before turning in.

This morning: Trying to figure out why Safari has developed Alzheimer's. Eventually ended up upgrading to 3.2.3 from 3.2.1 and the lockups so far <knock on wood> seem to have passed.

Saw VI???

2009-10-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Saw VI? Are you kidding me? Do they make these movies every three months?

Fun Fact

2009-10-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

Evidently on Windows, the C fopen function will read a file with the hidden attribute, but not write to it. Yay symmetry!

Bloody Hell

2009-10-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

Nothing I like more than getting off of plane after having been traveling for 18 hours than to get a phone call telling me that some douchebag is using my name to post hateful idiocy on some blog I've never been to. Now if you google my name a bunch of stupid shit comes up near the top. Thank you very much cowardly dipshit! The sad thing is that I think I know this guy and he seemed all right when I knew him. I guess someone could have scraped his info off the web like they did mine, but if so, they've been posing as him for a while now.

LAX

2009-10-19T08:58:00.001-07:00

Back in the states again. Very tired and kind of grumpy. Especially in light of having to go through security <i>again</i> at LAX and because this stupid terminal seems to only sell water at the kiosks, not coke. Looking forward to being home soon in just a few hours.

Goodbye Queenstown

2009-10-17T14:21:00.001-07:00

Finishing up breakfast at our B&B here in Queenstown before we head off to Auckland for our last night in NZ. Feeling a little sad to say goodbye, but it's been a good run.

Yesterday we took a bus tour to Fiordlands National Park at o-dark-early. This was followed by a cruise through the fjord of Milford Sound. Fjords are really cool, as it turns out. The whole area was cut from really hard rock by glaciers, so the resultant walls are tall and steep. On our way back we were supposed to fly a prop plane back, but the clouds prevented that, so we took a helicopter ride instead. That was fabulous fun! I've never ridden a helicopter before, so it was extra cool, especially when the earth just sank away from us. We even got to land on the snow covered peak of a mountain, which was wet, but super fun. Sadly it was extremely crowded, so I don't know if any of my pictures are any good.

The day before yesterday we had a very long drive from Paramata to Queenstown. We saw two glaciers and saw some amazing countryside. Our GPS also guided us through the steepest pass in NZ as a shortcut, so that was exciting. It was raining most of the day which was nice except for the hiking to the glaciers bit, but even then it was refreshing.

Now to finish packing, have a shower, then it's off to Auckland. I must get some sheep pictures before I go. I've seen a thousand fields with cute grazing sheep and not photographed one if them.

Greetings From the 42nd Parallel

2009-10-15T04:39:00.001-07:00

So the crossing from Wellington to the South Island went well. After a few hours of driving through hilly, temperate rain forests we finally arrived at the Monaco Resort (which is in Stoke, not Nelson, as we had been led to believe) on the northern coast of the South Island. The resort consists of a number of Olde English buildings containing a bunch of rooms. Ours was a studio. We dined at their French restaurant, the Orangerie, where I got one of the best filets I've had in my life. The food there was seriously good. Sadly I awoke in the middle of the night with horrible stomach pains, so I was unable to enjoy breakfast there.

Today we started with a trip to the wearable art museum which incongruously also holds a car museum. The wearable art part of the museum is cool because it holds the trippiest costumes you've ever seen. Evidently the area has been having a high fashion show for twenty years now. Who knew?

We then drove west to the West Coast region which is wild, empty and beautiful. We went to a park on the coast which has "pancake rocks" which are sedimentary rock formations that are layered like pancake stacks. Whilst in the park we happened upon a family of Keas (or possibly Wekas) on the path in the underbrush, which was very cool. We finally got here at our B&B, where I'm currently chilling. Tomorrow is a trip through the mountains and glaciers of the south. In really stoked because I'm expecting something out of Lord of the Rings. Time for bed now!

So Happy

2009-10-15T03:38:00.001-07:00

So happy to be here at the Paramata Lodge just outside of Ross, NZ.

So happy to hear the roar of the ocean through the window.

So happy to see (and photograph) stars I've never seen before.

So happy to hear strange bird cries in the darkness while standing beside my camera and tripod on cold, wet grass.

So happy because I've a nice comfortable bed awaiting me after a long day's drive seeing new and beautiful vistas.

So sad because the time here will not be long enough.

Wellington

2009-10-13T16:42:00.001-07:00

Sitting in the nicest Holiday Inn ever in Wellington, about to head out to the ferry to the South Island. Didn't get to see much of Wellington, sadly. Yesterday was mostly driving, viewing the beautifully green countryside of the North. We went to the Kiwi House and saw some kiwis fooled into thinking it's daytime, some Keas, some Kakas, and a bunch of other birds.

Time to go, more soon.

Greetings from The Future

2009-10-12T01:28:00.001-07:00

The flight from LAX was not so bad, much better than I had expected really. After a brief perusal of our beef jerky, an examination of my boots and some questions about our plans, we were off and running.

Auckland was pretty cool. We went on the Sky Tower which afforded a fantastic view of the Auckland area.

Today we drove into the countryside to Waitomo Caves, where we went on a couple incredible tours where we saw cool underground features and the beautiful Glow Worms which look like little blue stars in the darkness. After that we had a delicious dinner and a walk through the verdant countryside. Everything is so green here! And there are so many foreign (to me) birdsongs. Tomorrow perhaps some kiwi viewing and then on to Wellington and the South.

Note To Self: Tacos

2009-10-09T15:48:00.001-07:00

Note to self: do not have a big taco dinner the night before a long flight. Ok, heading out the door momentarily to The Future!

The Deep Breath Before the Plunge

2009-10-07T23:38:00.000-07:00

I sit here resting (and by resting I mean vibrating slowly) less than 48 hours before I get on a plane for another hemisphere on a Trip to the Future. I feel strangely calm, considering how nervous I've been of late. Work has been like deep sea diving in the La Brea tar pits lately. No matter how hard I struggle progress has been very slow. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel, though. Just in time, too. On top of work I have been wrapping up the trip planning, which I have procrastinating on far too long. Gotta get started with packing and preparing. Anyway, in a few days my cares will be behind me.

Zombieland

2009-10-07T23:36:00.000-07:00

Best. Zombie. Movie. Evar.

The role Woody Harrelson was born to play.

Odd Birthday Weekend

2009-09-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

Had kind of an odd weekend. Noelle and I flew up to Washington Friday night for Zak and Angie's wedding. Drove an hour late at night to beautiful Poulsbo, WA (which is charming Norwegian fishing village moved to Puget Sound). Got up too early Saturday morning to take a quick cruise around the area in a beautiful yacht that Zak's friend Frank rented for the weekend. Then lunch in Poulsbo (Noelle got a leather aviator hat after lunch she squeed about), then back to the hotel for a power nap, followed by the wedding at the Kiana Lodge which is far, far prettier than the pictures on their website would have you believe. It's surrounded by towering cedars and the lodge itself is right on the water with weeping willows, ferns, and all sorts of plant life around you. They have an explosion of flowers there there too. Words don't really do it justice. After a lovely ceremony, a wonderful dinner in the lodge (where we somehow managed to be seated at the head table), and great reception, Noelle and I headed back to get some rest at our hotel in Poulsbo. The next morning we checked out and paid the newlyweds and their families a brief visit before heading back to SeaTac with Zak's cousin (who had a flight right around the same time as ours). Getting back was a little rushed as we had to stop a few times (did you know that Washington state roads frequently have exits where you can't immediately get back on the highway again and if you do you might be heading in the wrong direction? I did not, but do now.), but we finally got to the airport. Where I discovered I had lost my driver's license. After a moment of panic, we talked to the gate agent and I found out you can board a plane (at least domestic flights on some airlines) without photo ID. Once we got on the plane, I finally relaxed a little bit. We got home in the afternoon and I got to rest a bit before going off to Kyoto Palace where Noelle had arranged for a bunch of friends to meet us for dinner for my birthday. Big fun! Wasn't able to catch the fried rice bits, though. Maybe another time. Anyway, it was kind of a weird weekend with lots of ups and downs, but overall positive.

Holy Surfin' Safari, Batman!

2009-09-16T23:27:00.000-07:00

Shot with Canon 5D MkII. Tasty video. Crazy shots of surfing in Norway. That's right. Norway.

Oh Rock Band

2009-09-11T03:03:00.001-07:00

I love how I learn the words to Pearl Jam songs by singing them in Rock Band.

OhBoyOhBoyOhBoy

2009-09-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

Fringe starts next week!

Beatles Rock Band!

2009-09-07T17:10:00.001-07:00

Played this last Friday night (a friend had a pre-release copy) and boy is this game fun! The visuals once you get to the Sgt. Pepper era are distractingly trippy, but super cool! You can also sing in harmony, up to three parts which is also a lot of fun, as it turns out. Finally my obsessive listening to the Beatles in my teens has paid off!

D'oh

2009-09-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

Went to Mendocino County for a friend's bachelor party. Took camera with dead battery. D'oh.

Santorini Pictures Posted

2009-08-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

(click to view)

Whew, I finally got through the pictures I took on Santorini, if anyone is interested. The above is a church in Oia taken at night with a long exposure.

Now on to Athens!

That's Not Ok 104.9

2009-08-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

I was driving to work the other day and turned to 104.9, which is supposed to be an alternative station which occasionally plays 80s songs and I hear Phil Collins and Philip Bailey singing "She's An Easy Lover." Dude, WTF? That's not all right.

District 9

2009-08-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

A bunch of us went to see District 9 at the theater the other night. I liked it with some reservations. There were a lot more bodily fluids than I was expecting, and this is compared to Drag Me to Hell. I appreciated the irony of aliens coming to South Africa and being treated as an unwanted people who are treated as subhuman by the locals who herd them into slums where they live separately from the humans. The story centers around a bureaucrat who starts out as the worst kind of bigot who gradually becomes more sympathetic throughout the course of the movie. The start of the movie is a lot more tense than I had expected, almost painfully so. Then it sort of morphs into an action movie, which helped to relieve the tension. Overall, good flick but perhaps too intense for some.

What A Bear Might Look Like

2009-08-15T13:37:00.001-07:00

TV station does reenactment of bear visit to a woman's back yard. That's some quality journalism, Lou.

RIP Les Paul

2009-08-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Les Paul, creator of one of the first solid body guitars, a musical innovator who developed multitrack recording and audio effects like reverb, passed away at 94 yesterday. While the signature Gibson guitar named after him has changed the way music sounds, I think his contributions to recording are even more meaningful. I hope he's rocking out, wherever he is.

I've Been Published!

2009-08-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

Well, after a fashion, anyway. A guy who writes for an ESL website asked permission to use one of my pictures from the bazaar in Istanbul for an article he was working on. So now it's been published here.

Last of the Comic-Con 2009 Pix Up

2009-07-29T01:49:00.000-07:00

(click to see set)

Pushed the last of pictures from Con up tonight. Seems to be a lot of nerd interest out there, as I have never seen so many page views on my flickr stream.

Shatner Reads Palin

2009-07-28T22:47:00.001-07:00

Connnnnnnnnnn!

2009-07-24T05:13:00.000-07:00

So, back at Comic-Con again. I got really excited when we got here yesterday. The weather has been nice and cool here in San Diego. Lots of cool costumes. Richard Hatch from BSG was in line in front of me at Starbucks this morning. Later I waited in line for about two hours (thanks Twilight fans) to get into Hall H, the largest room at con. Saw Terry Gilliam for the panel for his upcoming film The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus which looks lovely and strange, as a Terry Gilliam movie should. That panel was followed by a brief panel for Pandorum, which looks like Resident Evil In Space, which is probably sufficient to get my ass in a theater. Finally, we saw the panel for Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust)'s new film. That movie looks incredibly cool. It's a really messed up movie about kids who decide for various reasons to become crime fighting superheroes. It features, among other things, McLovin and Nicolas Cage's character shooting his 9 year old daughter in the chest repeatedly to teach her how to take a shot.

After the main con today, Noelle and I walked along with the living dead in a zombie walk through San Diego's beautiful gaslamp district.

For pictures from con, check out my ongoing flickr set:

(click to see pix)

Le Wrath di Khan

2009-07-20T09:33:00.001-07:00

I ♥ This Video So Much

2009-07-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

Taking It Easy (Sort of)

2009-06-28T01:04:00.000-07:00

So, after slogging through the past couple of weeks, my team at work has finished its latest milestone. I got a cold last weekend and worked through most of the last week with a lousy fever. Now that things have settled down a bit, Noelle and I are enjoying the company shutdown by traveling through the Pacific Northwest, which is a trip I've always wanted to do. Tonight we're staying at a B&B in Eureka, CA, just down the road from where I proposed 15 months ago. Tomorrow we'll head to Crater Lake in Oregon. The next night is in Portland, followed by a stay in Seattle. Then a couple nights in Vancouver, BC. Heading back home we'll visit some friends in the Seattle area after making a return trip though Vancouver Island. Then another night in Portland and a long, long drive home to the Bay Area.

So, it doesn't sound terribly restful, but hopefully lots of fun! It'll be nice to get out of the Bay Area which appears to be trying to melt at present.

Uh, Wut?

2009-06-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

Why is it that when I go to see the lyrics for the song Bliss by Muse, there's an informative ad on the page from Gillette on how to "make the tree taller by shaving the bush?" Is it because the name is Bliss? Am I missing something? (Oh, there's an ad for Ecstasy, a product from Trojan, there as well.)

And do people really do that? (That's a rhetorical question, kids, in case you're wondering.)

Istanbul Honeymoon Photos Posted

2009-06-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

(click to go to set)

After much travail, I have finally pushed through the first set of pictures from our honeymoon. These are taken mostly in Istanbul. About half are annotated at present, so more annotations will be forthcoming shortly. Now just ten days of photos in Greece. <sigh>

Guitar Hero Aerosmith

2009-06-05T01:01:00.000-07:00

So, I like GHA so far, but it has this thing where when you're playing Aerosmith songs, it puts this pattern down on the fret board and I frequently have a hard time seeing the yellow notes on top of the yellow background. Who thought that was a great idea?

Brutal Legend

2009-06-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure if this game was going to see the light of day, but EA is saying October. We'll see.

iTunes Time Travel

2009-06-04T00:26:00.000-07:00

Whoa, my iTunes just went on a trip back to 2003. First I get the live version of "The Great Below" by NIN (wish I could have heard that live one more time), followed up by Darts from System of A Down. Weird.

Arise, as did the gods Ninti
Arise, as did the gods Ninti
Arise, as did the gods Ninti,
And Ishkur, Ishkur, motherfucker!

Ok, back to 2009...

Air France Crash

2009-06-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

When I heard that an Air France plane had disappeared in the southern atlantic, I thought maybe The Island was in the Atlantic, not the Pacific.

Up

2009-06-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

When not helping Esther move into her new house (which is beautiful and up in the hills, btw) I managed to get out to see a couple new movies, one of which was Up, the latest Pixar venture. The story of an elderly man who in his waning days decides to go on the adventure he'd always planned as a younger man, but never did. In a most unorthodox way. Ad Asner is the grumpy old man (real stretch there) and Christopher Plummer also appears as the Bad Guy. As one might expect from a Pixar movie, it looked great and was well written. While not my favorite Pixar movie, it's up there. So to speak.

Drag Me to Hell

2009-06-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

Drag Me to Hell = Evil Dead - Ash + Mira Sorvino clone + gypsy curse + lots of bodily fluids + Mac + Modern special effects.
I saw the trailer and thought this movie looked unbelievably cheesy, then found out it was a Sam Raimi film. I was entertained. If you're expecting something serious, go elsewhere. Not Army of Darkness or even Evil Dead 2, but still fun.

Back From Utah

2009-06-03T00:09:00.000-07:00

(more pictures to follow RSN)

Well, Noelle and I survived our trip to Bryce Canyon. We drove out and back in five days, which was a little extreme, but manageable. We stopped over at the Ritz in Las Vegas on the way out which meant we were fairly rested, which helped out immensely. The weather was funny there: clear as a bell at sunrise, followed by rain and occasionally thunder in the afternoon. Kinda put a damper on sunset pictures, but oh well. Besides wandering the length of the canyon, we visited Kodachrome Basin State Park, Escalante Grand Staircase, and on our way out we drove through the bottom of Zion National Park. Zion is beautiful, I look forward to returning. The road we took through the Burr trail in Escalante was also beautiful, very much like I remember Arches a few years ago. We also saw rainbows on the alien terrain of scenic Hwy 12 (it really is!). It was nice to get back though.

Busy, Busy

2009-05-22T01:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Blade Runner/Zardoz double feature, Bioshock, BBQ, rock band. This week one MILLION meetings. Tomorrow: NIN/JA. The next five days, drive to Utah, see the sights. It tires me just to read that list. Sigh, back to packing.

Terminator: Salvation

2009-05-22T01:03:00.000-07:00

Meh. Thought the movie was pretty good, albeit with some plot holes through most of it. Then it completely falls apart at the end. Like, head slapping bad.

Utah Bound

2009-05-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like our road trip to Utah is a go. I took a couple extra days off at Memorial Day and booked a room in Bryce, UT. Looking forward to seeing the hoodoos and maybe some slot canyons at nearby Escalante, if I can fit my chubby body through them.

Star Trek (XI?)

2009-05-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

A bunch of us went out to see the JJ Abrams version of Trek. I liked it a lot. Some of the people they got for the classic characters were spot on (Karl Urban as Bones was particularly great). The cinematography was sweet, the effects were cool and the pacing relentless (I remember when that was said about Terminator 2 and shudder to think what it'll be like in 20 years). The story about Kirk and company's start in Starfleet on the one hand was not quite like the original movies but decidedly less preachy than Next Gen. It will be interesting to see how it holds up on future viewings. I think it will.

Oakland Fox Theater

2009-04-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

(click to see more)

Noelle and I went to the Fox Theater in Oakland for the first time a few months back right after it had opened after being vacant for many years. I was really impressed with how beautiful it was on the inside. I was even more impressed that they apparently let people take pictures in there if the artists don't explicitly forbid it. So on the next trip there, to see Video Games Live, I took my 40D and a few lenses. Hopefully I captured the feeling.

ZOMG Art Wolfe Class in Antarctica

2009-04-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

Evidently Art Wolfe is offering a class in Antarctica. This is unusual as a.) Art doesn't seem to personally teach much AFAICT and b.) IT'S IN FUCKING ANTARCTICA! Now, if only I had ten grand handy + probably another 2-3 for airfare, which I am sure is not included. Make that twenty, I'm sure I could not go to Antarctica and not take Noelle. I guess I can't complain too much as I have visited two other continents already this year and will have visited a third by the end of the year. Still, Antarctica.

RIP Bea Arthur

2009-04-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Bea Arthur has died. Whether you loved her in Golden Girls or my personal favorite, The Star Wars Holiday Special, she will be missed. Gotta fire up TSWHS now and drink a 40.

Spinal Tap

2009-04-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

Noelle and I saw Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean doing songs from the Tap and from A Mighty Wind tonight at the beautiful Paramont Theater in Oakland. It was an interesting, mostly acoustic show. I think my favorite part where was when they got up and read the list of required edits from the NBC standards and practices man for This Is Spinal Tap's late night 1984 showing. I think I would have enjoyed the show more if I weren't so tired. I need to get a proper nap in at some point.

Yawn - Back to Work

2009-04-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

Well, the honeymoon is done (note I did not say over) and our wedding party has wound up. It was a real joy to see so many friends and relatives Saturday. We booked the room at the St. Claire the night before in the ginormous Palm Suite. I've never before stayed at a place that had a powder room before the bathroom. But, since we had ladies getting hair and makeup done starting at 8:15 (!) Saturday morning, it was probably for the best. Around 2:30 or so, the main photographer started taking pictures in earnest. Then we schlepped around downtown SJ taking pictures until 6 or so, then everyone else went to cocktail hour while we went off for more pictures (snif) near the SJ City Hall dome. Mark, our main photographer, noted that our energy seemed a little low towards the end, which seemed about right given Noelle was wearing a 60lb dress and I had a monkey suit on in the 80 degree weather. After that I was ready for a drink or three. We got back to the hotel, got into the entrance line and made our entrance. Then speeches and dinner! The food was really awesome (that's what using Il Fornaio as your caterer gets you) and Noelle secretly arranged to have a string quartet play for dinner, which was fantastic, as I love chamber music at weddings. Our steampunk planetary constellation of wedding cakes turned out really well (unfortunately I have no pictures at present) and really surprised a lot of people, including the people working at the wedding, so I guess it was pretty unusual. People kept asking how it came to be, to which I responded: well, first Noelle found the robot cake toppers and the internet and we thought, "Hmm, we could build a cake around this..." I thought the DJ was just about right: generally unobtrusive, cooperative with our requests for songs, and generally unobnoxious. People kept coming up to us and gushing about what a great party it was, which was tremendously gratifying, since we (and by we I mean primarily Noelle) had put so much work into it the past however many months it's been. I know I was the host, but I thought it was one of the best weddings I've been to. My only regret was that as groom, I spent a lot of time meeting with guests and seeing how they were doing and all that and I didn't get as much time as I would have liked to enjoy the rest of the party, but I guess that's what happens with all brides and grooms. I still managed to have a fantastic time and we had people dancing until midnight, so I would rate that a success. Some of us were actually hanging around the ballroom until 1:30 or so when the workers kicked us out so they could finish cleaning. I was so sore that night that I had a really hard time getting sleep. Poor Noelle got blisters on her feet despite wearing Birkenstocks during most of the shooting. Anyway, it was a really fantastic time, albeit draining. And yesterday we had to haul a bunch of stuff back from the hotel to home, so I didn't really get much rest until late at night. I feel a little sad that it's over, but also kind of relieved. Anyway, it's done and the main wedding photographer posted some pictures on his blog at this site which look pretty good to me. I understand there are a few more coming later. ;-)

Home again, home again!

2009-04-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Jiggity jig. Tired. Long flight. Flowers and stuff in bedroom. Must sleep soon.

Istanbul Once More (With Feeling)

2009-04-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

So Noelle and I have returned to Istanbul for the last night before heading home and we're staying at the fabulous Istanbul W. And I do mean fabulous! This place is like what they imagined the 21st century would be like back in the 70s (not the Soylent Green imagining). Seriously, this place has mood lighting like a club and chillout music playing everywhere, like a club. Unlike a club, the music doesn't threaten to damage my permanent hearing. This place is far and away the most fun of any of the places that we've stayed at so far. If Virgin America were a hotel, it'd be a W. And frankly, that's just what we need before our 16 hour flight back tomorrow. The cabbie from the airport even failed to play the "you gave me insufficient money" game that most of the Turkish cabbies have tried to run on us. I was honestly dreading having to deal with that shenannigans. In 24 hours we'll be in the air heading back to the Bay area, which I miss, especially my non-swank house and my super swank kitties. Looking forward to seeing our friends and having a cool wedding reception.

Oh, did I mention the free wifi in the lobby? I really like this place.

Hello, Goodbye Greece

2009-04-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, we're almost done with Greece and the whole honeymoon thing. Our departure from Santorini was largely uneventful, other than Noelle almost losing her wallet in the cab. Athens has proven cooler than expected. The Grande Bretagne is a swank hotel (it was good enough for Ze Germans to use as headquarters in WWII, so it can't be too too bad, right?). We've been to the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora ( where ya know, they invented the Democracy, ya know?), Hadrian's Gate, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the mountain where the Muses lived (forgot the name), and the archeological museum. Noelle's tired of looking at "old stuff." Frankly, it's gotten to be a bit of a blur to me as well. It was super cool to see Agamemon's death mask and walk around ruins that are 2500 years old. Down sides: there is graffiti everywhere and today some asshole lifted Noelle's wallet. I have not wanted to cock punch someone so badly in a really long time. Oh well, shit happens when you travel, I guess. I am really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and playing with the kitties, so I guess it's a good thing we're leaving in under 36 hours.

Chillin' In Santorini

2009-04-06T03:13:00.000-07:00

We spent the past couple of days cruising around the island and taking in the sights, which are gorgeous. We spent an afternoon in the beautiful town of Oia. Oia has the picturesque white buildings that you see in the travel photos. It also has marble streets which I thought were quite nice. We didn't get much of a sunset, as it has been somewhat overcast the past few days. We've also drove around most of the island which was a lot if fun. The hills rise rapidly from the sea. Last night it rained and there was thunder and lightning off in the distance. It started off rainy this morning, but it seems sunnier now. Enjoying our leisurely vacation here. I've taken over 1200 photos so far. I feel a little behind. :-D Just kidding.

Made It to Santorini

2009-04-04T00:19:00.000-07:00

Finally, we have made it to Greece. Our flight from Athens was about an hour late, but we finally got here yesterday afternoon. There was some more confusion on arrival, as evidently all of the numbers I've gotten to contact this place were wrong _and_ The Blue Angel Villa is basically just a house that we've rented for the week, so the cabbie had no idea where it was. Fortunately, a tourist agency got us a number, so we finally got in. The place is incredible! Two bedrooms and a loft bed, a giant sunken hot tub and another sunken bath, and amazing views of the caldera. The skies are a but hazy, but the town us beautiful. Really looking forward to the next few days.

Puttin' On the Ritz (again)

2009-04-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

So, while enjoying a fine breakfast this morning before our day trip up the Bosporus, I check one of my e-mail accounts only to find that Yahoo Travel has chosen today (I guess the previous day relative to the CA time zone) that the airline which was supposed to have taken us to Santorini tomorrow has changed our flight status to "unconfirmed." and that I have 48 hours to clear things up with them. Good thing I have Internet access here! So, long story short(er), Olympic had cancelled our flight for tomorrow and if I want to roll the dice and cancel all our flights in Greece for the rest of the trip and gamble that the walkup price is less (fat chance) I can do that, otherwise I have take the next flight they can offer me and suck up the extra night in Istanbul.

Edit: iPhone ran out of juice. Rebooked the flight for Friday and we got another night at the Ritz. I got an answering machine at the next hotel, so hopefully they understand the situation. All things being equal, the Ritz is a fine place to hole up. Costs notwithstanding, the service is superior to anything I've ever had. Going to check out Topkapi Palace momentarily.

Istanbul, Not Constantinople

2009-03-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

Resting in the lounge at the Ritz after a long day doing the tourist thing in the city. We visited both the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia, both of which have beautiful internal structures as well impressive facades. Bought a very small rug. Went through the Grand Bazaar as well as the smaller Spice Bazaar. Took a lot of pictures. Tired. The city is mentally challenging as a large number of people are crammed into a small space and they all appear to be trying to sell us something. I'm looking forward to our boat ride on the Bosporus tomorrow. And maybe a shower would be nice.

Good Morning From Istanbul!

2009-03-30T22:20:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in the Ritz Carlton hotel having coffee looking out over the Bosporus. How often does one get to say that? Anyway, after an extremely long day flying, we made it to Turkey at last, safe and sound. We're getting used to the time change and it looks like an exciting day!

News of the Times

2009-03-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

Police are remaining patient in a standoff with an armed SJ man who threatened to kill himself. This is more crazy shit going on in my neighborhood (just down the street). The standoff held up some people trying to show up for our wedding today (in the back yard), as the cops had (still have, AFAIK) closed off the main street that runs near our house. I got some of our neighbors to knock off the noise for a bit while we did the do.

In other news, SWAT team neighbor has left because the house she was renting finally sold and new owners moved in today. The head of the household appears to be a family man (wife, three daughters) who teaches at a nearby school. Score! Oh, and he was there doing yard work, which made it all the sweeter.

In other news, I'm officially hitched (I keep hitting my wedding ring on stuff). Some friends took us out afterwards to Kyoto Palace where there was much sake consumption on my part (c'mon, man the bottles are small, how bad could it get?). This came back to haunt me later in the afternoon when I awoke from my nap slightly hung over and definitely sluggish. Packing is mostly done now and we're about ready to head off to Istanbul tomorrow morning.

Oh, we saw Monsters vs Aliens last night. It was all that I hoped for in a Monsters vs Aliens cartoon.

Holy Cow!

2009-03-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

I'm getting married tomorrow morning!

SciFi Channel WTF?

2009-03-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

The SciFi channel has decided that it needs a better name (i.e. one it can trademark) and so, will become the Syfy channel. Dude, wtf? The channel that brought us ghost hunters, the douchebag psychic, scare tactics, and pro wrestling (wrestling? SciFi? Wrestling???) thinks it needs an image makeover? Hey, how's about stop making crap like Mansquito? Or Prehistoric CGI Animals Attack Isolated Town Without Warning Or <Insert Implausible Natural Disaster Here>? Oy vey. Here's their announcement and here's their response to the inevitable shitstorm of critcism from their fans.