Catching Ducks

I think tonight's episode of Glee was my favorite (so far). Mostly, I will admit, because I got to hear Kristen Chenoweth sing.

And not just Broadway songs! (Though she did that, too: "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret.) She also sang country (Carrie Underwood's "Last Name") and rock (Heart's "Alone").

It was awesome! I love that show.

Labels: Glee

Ahhh..... there's nothing like a good, old-fashioned power outage to make me appreciate my computer problems. At least if I'm having computer problems, that means I have ELECTRICITY!

'Twas a weird outage, though. I lost power for a couple of seconds, then it came back.

Everything was fine for a couple of minutes, then it went out for a couple of seconds, then it came back.

Then it flickered a bit, and went out for good. (Well, for an hour and a half, anyway.)

It was back on by 10, and the local news said that people in my area were without power (apparently I was lucky to have it back already?) and the the cause of the power outage was.... a utility pole fire. Yes, that's right, a UTILITY POLE CAUGHT ON FIRE. That just does not sound good.

Of course, I'm assuming that that's what caused my outage. The news report described an area that does not include my house. And yet, my outage started at the exact same time. Hmmm.... methinks their info was a bit off.

Oh well. At least this outage had the decency to be 1) in a colder season (power outages in the summer are WEIRD) and 2) to be a full power outage (half a power outage is WEIRD, too!).

Labels: random weirdness

In honor of my computer problems, here's a bit from Cracked.com on "The Most Ridiculously Awful Computers Ever Made".



The Apple III, while aesthetically as retarded as any computer from the 80s, had the problem of trying to cram a whole lot of computer into a relatively small space. Which is totally in the spirit of cutting-edge Apple, only this is 1980 we're talking about here. As we mentioned, this was a time when any computer powerful enough to display a photograph required a crew of 30 men to stand in a circle and blow on it.

Nowadays, computers have internal cooling fans and heat sinks all over them to take care of this. Back in the 80s the Apple crew figured that shit was for pussies, so the aluminum case was meant to act as a heat sink; devoid of a fan or even vents. If you've ever tried to escape the summer heat by climbing into an unventilated aluminum box you'll understand why this was a shittastic idea.

The result was that chips would actually pop free from their sockets as the metal heated and expanded. Machine owners experiencing problems were given the most awesome set of troubleshooting instructions in the history of computing: Lift the dead machine a few inches of the ground and drop it. Turn it on and see if it works.

The hope was that the impact would seat the chips again. That's right. When Apple Computer, Inc., designer of some of the most elegant machines in the history of anything, got calls from thousands of customers that their new computer had died, their first question was, "Have you tried dropping it?"

Labels: computers

I only weigh myself every couple of months, and for the last couple of years, I've consistently lost a pound a month. Until this weigh-in....

My weight this time was exactly the same as it was three months ago.

I thought I might freak out, but I didn't. I'm disappointed, but not upset. I think it's because I haven't broken any of the promises I made to myself: I'm keeping up with my daily exercise and I've stuck to my dessert "budget". If I had skipped workouts, or if I had eaten more than my "budget" allowed, I would be very upset with myself.

But since I've kept up with things, this just feels like a bump in the road. I didn't gain any weight, I just maintained. All I need to do is adjust things a little: Reduce the size of my dessert portions, increase the intensity of my work-outs... little things like that.

Labels: health

A while back I discovered that the iTunes store has a free "single of the week". Some aren't my taste, but I have found a few interesting songs.

This week, however, the free single-of-the-week was a song I was planning on buying for myself. Awesome!

Labels: music

Tonight I was driving north on I-5 when I saw a sign warning "4 LEFT LANES CLOSED AHEAD".

On that section of I-5, there are only three lanes...

Labels: driving

Apparently this is the weekend for unexpected wins. The Storm pulled out an AMAZING win last night and the Huskies beat USC today!

Let's just hope the trend continues tomorrow, when the Storm play their third game against L.A.!


On a related subject.... I haven't watched much football in the last few years, and lately I've been obsessed with (women's) basketball. Tonight, though, when I checked the tape of the UW/USC game I taped for my parents, I was reminded how much I enjoy football. In other words: Don't worry football, I still love you!

Labels: Seattle Storm, sports

After two days of my computer working fine, it started acting up again this morning.

Boo, hiss!

Labels: computers

COOKIES!!!


[The Reds think Caboose is holding Donut hostage.]

Grif: Psst, hey, Sarge, maybe there's a ransom.
Sarge: [to Grif] Good thinking. [to Caboose] What is it you want, Blue?
Caboose: What do I want? [pause] Do you have any cookies?
Sarge: What are your demands? You have to give us your demands.
Caboose: I DEMAND COOKIES!

Labels: Red vs. Blue

In the last week, I've had some computer problems. Programs would unexpectedly crash, I couldn't open Firefox, my menus would be blank, etc.

Yesterday I tried using the disk utility to repair permissions. When I restarted, things seemed to be working better. I put my computer to sleep, relieved that things were better. Unfortunately, when I woke up my computer it freaked out again.

This morning I tried something different. I set the energy saver to "never put hard disk to sleep" and restarted the computer.

I haven't had any problems since then, so I'm hopeful.

Labels: computers

I got another email notice from the Storm, suggesting I buy playoff tickets. I am SO TEMPTED. I could probably make the Friday night game if I left work a little early. And the cheapest ticket is less than $20 (including taxes and "convenience charge"). But....

It would be weird to go without Mom.

Next year we'll go to the playoffs together, right Mom?

Labels: Seattle Storm

The Seattle Storm's first playoff game is on right now. They're in L.A., and from what I can see, there are fewer people in the audience for a playoff game in L.A. than there are for a regular game in Seattle. That seems really strange to me, especially since L.A. is a bigger city and has two big name stars (Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie).

It might just be the difference between seeing it on TV vs. being in the arena, or a difference in the shape of the arena, but still: It is definitely not a sold-out crowd, and that surprises me.


ETA: The crowd looks a lot fuller now. I read online that there was worse-than-usual traffic in L.A. tonight.

Labels: Seattle Storm

Supernatural started its fifth season last Thursday with an AWESOME episode.

At the end of the fourth season, Lucifer rose from hell. He spent the season premiere trying to convince a man named Nick to let him possess him. (That is, let him [Lucifer] possess him [Nick].)

This is how Lucifer introduced himself to Nick:

[Nick is dreaming, and sees his dead wife.]
Sarah/Lucifer: I'm not your wife, Nick. I'm an angel.
Nick: An angel?
Sarah/Lucifer: My name is Lucifer.
Nick: Sure. Naturally. Umm... could you do me a favor there, Satan, and remind me to quit drinking before I go to bed?

Labels: Supernatural

It's been a good news/bad news kind of day.

Good news: Today was the last (regular season) home game for the Seattle Storm, and I had tickets.

Bad news: All three of their all-stars, plus one of their best back-up players, couldn't play.

Good news: The secondary team held their own against the #1 ranked team in the league, tying the game up, and sending it into overtime.

Bad news: They lost.


Good news: I found an awesome new winter coat at Ross.

Bad news: It's still too warm to wear it.


Good news: Tonight was the season premiere of Supernatural.

Bad news: .....

Actually, there isn't any more bad news. The season premiere was AWESOME!!!

Labels: clothes, Seattle Storm, Supernatural

When TheTorchOnline.com first started up, I thought, "How neat! A website devoted to all things fantasy!" While I've enjoyed reading interviews with people like Lucy "Xena" Lawless, and I found their lists of upcoming fantasy shows and fantasy books to be useful, I have discovered that I almost completely disagree with their reviews.

Here are the most extreme examples:

This summer NBC aired a show called Merlin. They raved about most of the episodes, and grumbled about the occasional clunker. I, on the other hand, couldn't tell the difference between the "good" and "bad" episodes.

On the other side of the fence, I love Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. I thought the first few episodes were fine, and all the episodes starting from episode 6 on were AMAZING. They, on the other hand, couldn't tell the difference between the early (bad) and late (good) episodes.

Labels: Dollhouse, scifi/fantasy

Cracked.com is an insanely addictive website. I love browsing through the science and history article archives.

This quote is from this list of "The 5 Scientific Experiments Most Likely to End the World". (It's in #3: Strange Matter.)


"That's right, our friends at the LHC [Large Hadron Collider] project expect a lot of weird things to pop up when they start smashing atoms together, and strange matter is one such possibility. That's why scientist have written papers with such boring titles as Will Relativistic Heavy-Ion Colliders Destroy Our Planet?, the rebuttals to which were basically, "Let's turn them on and find out!"

Labels: random silliness

I drove by one of the Kent high schools tonight. The big electronic sign showed these messages, in this order, on its screen:


Teachers' work stoppage continues.

School canceled until further notice.

New to the area? Enroll now!

Labels: random silliness

Good idea: An hour-long retrospective of the top 15 dances from all five seasons of So You Think You Can Dance.

Bad idea: Nigel Lythgoe hosting the show instead of Cat Deeley.

Labels: So You Think You Can Dance

I'm about halfway done with the first season of Dollhouse. It's been fun to watch the early episodes, knowing what I know now about some of the characters.

Here's a quote from the episode "Echoes", in which the staff of the dollhouse are accidentally drugged:

Adelle: Are you making any progress [on finding an antidote for the drug]?
Topher: I'm working! What are you doing, besides ... being ...
Adelle: Being what?
Topher: Wait a minute.
Adelle: Sarcastic? Unfeeling? British?
Topher: It's an animal.
Adelle: [alarmed] Where?
Topher: No! The word!
Adelle: Still, you have to admit that I am very British. I don't say hard "R's".
Topher: You know what I like? Brown sauce. What's it made of? Science doesn't know!
Adelle: It's made of brown.
Topher: Brown ... mined from the earth by the hard scrabble brown miners of North Brownderton!
Adelle: Oh my god, I find lentils completely incomprehensible.

Labels: Dollhouse