Month: November 2006

Thanksgiving is over…

We had quite a spread here last night, which is a first… Thanksgiving is normally a day like any other, though admittedly one without having to go to work.

A friend of ZeZe’s, Flyn, was also without family this holiday so we invited them over and collectively we went and saw “The Fountain” before dinner.

“The Fountain” is another French ‘anime’ or ‘art’ movie where by the time it’s over, you’re unsure what just happened… Kind of early-Kubrick in that it was beautiful, but was certainly more for your visual enjoyment more than anything else.

My interest was piqued the most by the interesting interplay of christian, hindu, and mayan religious imagery.

We returned from the movie and I slaved in a hot kitchen for nearly a half an hour getting dinner done. (chuckle)

There was a HoneyBaked turkey breast, mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, corn on the cob, a fancy German green bean casserole which I’m always looking for an excuse to make, garlic bread, macaroni and cheese, and peanut butter cookies for desert. There was eggnog for ZeZe and Flyn, while I had a glass of 16-year Lagavulin.

The only casualty was my microwave, which had its duty cycle exceeded by quite a bit.

Once everyone was stuffed (literally) cleanup took about ten minutes… Hooray for aluminum foil, which lined everything the came out of the oven and made cleaning baking pans and cookie sheets as easy as removing the foil and tossing the cooking implement into the dishwasher.

Zeze and I will be eating turkey, exclusively, for a week at least.

Today I have to go to work for a few hours, which is a bummer as most of the company gets today off as well. I was kind of looking forward to a 4-day weekend, but you know how it goes.

Other than all of that, ZeZe and I are inventorying everything here in the house, disposing of anything that isn’t of immediate use, and packing the rest for our move across town. The new townhouse should be done this coming week and as I’ll be paying rent here through December, we’ll have a nice, relaxed, 30 days to move.

And, with that, I should get moving to get to work. Have a great day everyone!

Just got back from seeing “Happy Feet” and it was a really fun movie: Great art, great music, and great CG actors too.

But, it’s also one of the growing crop of “activist” movies.

Ultimately though it was a good movie and one I can recommend folks go see, but its message is kinda wonky.

Just got back from Avon… Went to Paddy O’Days (the best burgers in Colorado) with Zeze, Jalen, and Flyn. The weather on the way up was a bit wintry, but it was fine on the way back down.

I discovered this week that my family moved from Colorado to Ohio back in July. I’ve been contemplating sending my mother a letter and discovering if Chris (my adopted father) has become any better to deal with in the last ten years. I’d like to open a dialog with her again, if only to find out how my sister is doing (haven’t spoke to her since ’86). There are a few photos on Chris’ web site that lead me to believe that my sister has two children and no mention of a father, which is a real shocker when the only memory I have of her was when she was nine. Chris has always been a stickler for ‘family line’ and as I’ve not produced grandchildren, I’m sure my sister has born the brunt of his desires as my ex and I did.

See, I joined the Navy when I was sixteen and my sister is seven years my younger – and I’ve not seen her since… It’s a long story, but my family and I don’t agree on much and Chris was always an example of everything I didn’t want to grow up to be; self-centered, childish, selfish… The last time I visited my mother he had a post it on the stereo which said “we do not touch things that are not ours” because I guess mom might touch it or something. Then, because I was there and taking the spotlight off of him, he took off in a huff and called my mother from a local bar stating for her to call him when I was gone…

Yeah, great guy.

I told my mother right there that she’d probably never hear from me again as I didn’t want to cause any issues – she said he’d get over it, but I don’t think he ever will.

Over the years I’ve surmised that there was a bit of a complication between my mother, the fellow she was married to when I was born, and Chris. I bear a remarkable resemblance to Chris and look nothing like the fellow who was on my birth cirtificate… Which kinda explains the divorce, remarry, and adoption.

But I’ve not really put any effort into ferreting this out.

Anywho, that’s the update for today. Have a good weekend and I’ll talk to you all next time…

I have been actively working on the beta for “The Burning Crusade”, the expansion for World of Warcraft due out in January. So far it is most excellent and will be worth every penny of the $30 it will cost when it comes out.

I have also been playing “Eve Online”, which is hard to explain to folks: It is an economy simulator teamed up with an asset management system, wrapped in a space combat simulator, and coated in a rich, creamy persistent MMO universe.

Basically it is a game designed to allow someone like Raeshlavik to be a sleazy weapons mogul who secretly funds a pirate/mercenary organization who instigates the battles people buy the weapons for (this is actually what I am doing in the game, and have become stupidly wealthy doing it). The trick, of course, is not letting either side know you are involved, so there are several layers of corporation in the works to cover my tracks with and two dissimilar organizations that I run – one for the acquisition, research, and development of ships and weapons, and the other which controls a rather blood-thirsty gang of hardened criminal space-pirates.

Ahh, the intriguing world of hostile takeovers, gun running, smuggling, and putting on that three-piece and making nice with the dignitaries of two quadrants of space. 😉

All in all, a really well made game. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a ‘thinking’ MMO with more than monster bashing.

And with that I will head off into the electronic sunset. Till next time, take care out there.