The Myth & The Majesty

First storm of the season! That's right, the thunder's a-comin' and we're under a tornado watch. [Oh, and it's snowing in western South Dakota, or at least it was a couple hours ago.] The Mol (because I really don’t have a better pseudonym for him, he gets his superhero name) just dashed out because he rode his bike here this morning. Moonie and I basically looked at him and said, "You know, if you leave now, you might get partway home before it starts raining." Likewise, Moonie hit the road, although in his case it's because he has a couple hours' drive ahead of him and this storm is ... large. Leaving little old me here to finish up my work and listen to the thunder rumble. In a short while, I get to dash out myself. After a weirdly long week, I'm really looking forward to that moment. Have a good weekend, all.

[I get the feeling I'm going to be sorry I posted this, but I'm feeling a mix of shame and pride over why this is going up in the first place...] I am, by and large, a visual learner. If I see something done it sticks far better than if I hear it; likewise, if I see something in print it sticks better than if I'm told. Generally I refer to my memory as "names-faces-phone-numbers" friendly. (I also call it a great stalker memory.) This is part of the reason I'm terrible with band names and songs (unless I can associate them with an album cover, I'm doomed). However, I'm pretty darn good with movie titles and actors' names, as long as I've seen the movie or at least a preview of it. Now, a few years back two great guys out at Storm introduced me to the movie game. It's easy enough -- you go actor-movie-actor-movie for as long as possible without repeating. (If it's a drinking game, whoever gets stuck ends up having to drink, which is

In the last 36 hours, I have: 1. Spent about fourteen hours working. 2. Finished and submitted a document a week and a half early so that we could get it into the new accounting system. 3. Been vindicated in a round of "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" with a customer. 4. Found out that my first system started up without major issues. 5. Spent an hour at Zumba. 6. Gone for a long walk. 7. Talked to a bunch of junior high kids about immigration. 8. Watched two movies. 9. Gotten a kayak. In summary, I've been ridiculously productive most of the time (well, okay, maybe #8 doesn't qualify as productive) but haven't gotten a proper night's sleep yet this week. Given all the good news yesterday, I'm a little worried about how the rest of today will go. The best part is that kayak. A coworker/friend was selling his and quite literally gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse (it would have been the height of idiocy) and now I have a

I'm turning 26 in a couple weeks. It doesn't exactly qualify as a big birthday. Last year's was certainly more of a milestone -- I got to use the term "quarter century" more freely and my car insurance rate dropped rather significantly. The day itself kind of came and went without any real notice. I think I brought cinnamon rolls to work. I went out to eat to mark the end of a class at WAC and it happened to coincide with a couple of birthdays. If I remember correctly, I was just happy to not be in New Jersey at the time. This year ... Well, this year feels off. I'm in kind of the same boat -- I'm just happy to not be in China. But my car insurance won't change drastically (hopefully ... If it does that would mean I'm going to get into an accident in the next two weeks), I'm already happy to get carded when I buy a drink, and there are no other milestones to mark. Why does it feel different? As far as I can tell there's nothi

There's a reason I'm not into Blu-ray. (This comic is found here... )

Okay, kids. I have a bit of a dilemma and I could use some insight. You see, I'm coming up on the end of a 2-year contract on my cell phone so I can get a new one without a penalty. I have no idea what to get, though. Before anyone makes a suggestion, let me give you my cell phone history. (It's a little ridiculous.) I got Phone #1 in late 2001. It was a then-standard brick phone -- you know, before flip phones came out, back when there were only black-and-white screens and antennas that had to be pulled out. If you were lucky, you had a full menu and a tip calculator. (I was lucky!) That phone (it was a Kyocera) lasted for three years and was still in moderately decent condition when I traded it in. The buttons were wearing out and I had broken the end off the extendable antenna. [On a related note, my dad had an identical phone. While at work one day, he managed to drop it on the road and it was actually paved over. He dug it out of the still-hot tar and it continued

After a weekend of weather that was practically perfect in every way (okay, so it was a little windy on Saturday), it's really hard to be sitting at a cubicle today. Really, really hard. But here I am, smelling of vanilla (have you ever scraped out a vanilla bean before? It's kind of a weird experience) and vaguely threatened by the prospect of ending up in China by early next week. I think that summarizes the oddity of my week. Now, if only I could test that kayak I'm thinking of buying ... Maybe if the China threat goes down and I'm here next weekend ... Okay. Monday. Time to work. Wish me luck.

From the Ming Tombs ...   These posts are each a solid single piece. On the Wall. Tee hee! ("Toilet: Not on the Wall itself. Gotcha.") From a tower. A couple of miles of Wall. Um ... What? The view from my hotel room. (I took waaaay too many pictures of that line of buildings...) That park in the picture above? That's where this temple-like thing was hidden. Just a cool little aside in a city park.

I lack focus. Nothing new there. When I'm buying household items, I have to make the conscious decision to get a different color if one of the options is red. (About half the time I make no such effort.) I hit 50,000 miles on my car on my drive back to Wausau after Easter. Is it strange that I’m rather proud of Sophie for that one? One of the biggest things I missed while in China was good coffee. One of the things I really didn't miss while there was American television (or more accurately, hearing about shows I hadn't seen). Joss Whedon is in talks to direct the new "Avengers" film that's being put together and I'm almost alarmingly psyched by the idea. If you haven't heard about the film itself or don't know who Joss Whedon is ... Well, I'm not sure what to do with you. Have we actually met? My new mp3 player isn't functioning correctly and that's really bothersome. Are you all done with your taxes? Tomorrow's

(Well, part of it, anyway)

Bright sunshine with freshly falling snow. It's a bit mysterious.

While my body's not quite in the right time zone yet (I think I'm in roughly Reykjavik after bouncing over to California briefly), life has more or less returned to normal. Hectic, a little crazed, and perhaps with less sleep than I would like -- but mostly normal. Whatever that means. Today, I find myself thinking about global business as it applies to middle schoolers, pistachios, and relief valves. Oh, and weekend plans, China, what constitutes a good night's sleep, painting, several undone projects at home, my reading list, and my empty refrigerator. It's not what would be called a focused day.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb... (Luke 24:1)

48 hours from now, I should be in Sioux Falls. After what has been a truly mind-boggling experience at times (from opened reactors to the Great Wall to mystery meat), I'm more than ready to be on the road. And what a trip it will be. Half an hour to the airport, a thirteen hour flight (seriously, it lands three minutes after it takes off), a five hour layover, another hour and a half-ish flight, a few hours to sleep at home, and then a seven hour drive. Because no, I can't do things the easy way. Plus, well, if I sleep till noon it'll just take three days longer to adjust to the time zone again. My body can handle it -- hopefully I'm not a royal pain to be around. I make no promises, though. As always, Easter is an adventure. This year is no exception. As soon as I'm back in Wausau, I'll have to be off and running again. Never before have I so looked forward to May. Have a good weekend, all.