Coffee, Again

Had a craving for coffee this morning. Although, I'm not sure who it's for, since nobody's talking yet.

Stay tuned...

New Semester

The semester just started and I'm already tired. We're having lots of computer / website issues that are making me quite dizzy as I go 'round and 'round in little circles chasing solutions that just laugh at me as they dance out of the way.

It's a good thing I decided to not take any classes this semester.

I would be even more frustrated than I am, but for two things:

1. The library's {wonderful} Systems guy is just as stymied as I am, so I don't feel like a complete dolt.

2. I re-instated my Netflix account and have been enjoying my evenings and weekends with the fun that is NCIS. I'm part-way thru Season One and glad that there are several more seasons waiting...

Packed?

Well, no, not completely. Yes, I've started. And yes, I have furry helpers.

I leave tomorrow for the East Coast. I start out in warm Orlando for 5 days of fun and then head up north to see how long it takes me to turn into an Amy-sicle. The snow can stop anytime between now and then. Please.

Keeping in Touch

If your cell phone went kablooey, how many people would you be able to contact? What about your email service?

Thanksgiving Already?

I'm thankful for all the same stuff from    the     past     four    years.

This year in particular, I'm thankful that my Dad and his wife invited me to share their Christmas vacation - we're going to Disney World!! And then I'm going to get to relax and visit with them and other friends and family up North - I'm trying to avoid thinking about how cold it's going to be.

I'm thankful that my Mom's dream has finally become a reality and that it has worked out the way she wanted (mostly). She's incredibly happy, for which I am incredibly thankful.

I'm thankful that I do not live in a country where:

"women are subject to numerous restrictions, including a strict dress code, a prohibition against driving and a requirement that they get a man's permission to travel or have surgery. Women are also not allowed to testify in court unless it is about a private matter that was not observed by a man, and they are not allowed to vote." CNN.com

I hope you have good things in your life to be thankful for and that you will have a great holiday weekend.

Nifty

These creative staircases are amazing...

Captain Malcolm Reynolds

Nice to hear Mal's voice again...

Funnies from Others

Two of my favorite bloggers had posts recently (okay, last month - time is relative) that made me squirt soda out my nose (note to self: stop drinking when reading Bloglines).

You've been warned - hilarity follows:

Wil Wheaton's ill communication

Cherie Priest's Muzzle the Dogs of War

And although he hasn't made me squirt soda lately, I also highly recommend John Scalzi's Whatever and By the Way.

Dresden Files

Once again*, I get hooked on a TV show and it gets canceled after a short run. And people wonder why I don't have cable...

Anyway, I really enjoyed the 12 episodes of The Dresden Files and if enough people buy the DVD {hint, hint} maybe we can initiate a reincarnation -- hey, it worked for Firefly.

Although not true to some of the details of the book series by Jim Butcher (which I am absolutely hooked on), I think the TV series captured the spirit of the world Butcher created.

And Paul Blackthorne is the ideal Harry Dresden. Mahalo, Paul, for bringing Harry to life so perfectly.


* Other short-lived shows that I liked: Brimstone, Mann and Machine, Now and Again (no, not the Sela Ward show - that was Once and Again).

There you have it, more evidence of what a strange, strange person I am...

Text Talk

No profanity in this post, but I can't vouch for the comments.

While working at Astronomy, I had Yahoo! Radio playing on the computer. One of the commercials was sponsored by Chevy and was a "translation" guide for text messages. The first example was LOL; the second and third were gobbledy-gook that "translated" into features about some truck. The last one was WTF which they said stood for "Wow! That's fantastic!"

That's certainly not what I thought WTF stood for. How about you?

Feeling Old

The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2011 lists some interesting facts about most of the students entering college this fall.

Stardust... and Bourne

The Bourne Ultimatum was a great movie: an edge-of-your-seat, almost non-stop action wild ride. If you liked the first two, you won't be disappointed.

I can't say enough good things about Stardust. It's wonderful, fantastic, amazing, insert other !!! adjectives here. It's a fantasy story about a young man who offers to retrieve a fallen star for his lady-love in exchange for her hand in marriage; he has one week or she will marry his rival. Of course, finding the star turns out to be the easy part...

Really, you need to stop reading this and whatever else you're doing and go see this movie.

Guaranteed Smile

...probably also at least giggles, if not downright laughter. If not, seek professional help. How can you not feel better after seeing these four kittens attacking a box...and each other, of course.

Hawai'i Weather

It's actually been a really good week: the earthquake was scary, but not as bad as last October; Hurricane Flossie petered out (we had no winds and not much rain); and the tsunami from the earthquake in Peru never materialized. Due to "projected weather-related hazards" schools were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, and wow! did I get a lot done at home.

And, of course, Friday is a state holiday -- hooray for the two-day workweek!

Bye-Bye Bookshelf

I have officially canceled the amysbookshelf.com domain. I wasn't doing anything with it and my life is only going to get busier.

I will keep this blog and my flickr account (which only has three pix at the moment, but behind the scenes, I'm organizing my digital photos, so soon eventually it will have more) and maybe some other communication tools in the future (Twitter intrigues me a bit, although right now mostly just to read what others are writing).

But for now, good-bye amysbookshelf.com -- I'm sorry I didn't make better use of you. My intentions were good.

NASA TV

I don't know how anyone could watch the coverage of the shuttle launch and not be awed and impressed and proud of what has been accomplished. I'm sitting here watching the shuttle go into orbit courtesy of a camera on the main fuel tank. I just saw the shuttle detach and (seemingly) drift away from "my" position.

Sometimes technology is amazing.

Thanks to NASA for the goosebumps!

Shuttle Launches

Godspeed, Endeavour!

btw, the NASA TV Public Channel is fantastic!! I watched the launch via my computer and saw all kinds of nifty closeups and heard lots of chatter.

Harry Potter: The End

Spoiler-free post, but I can't vouch for the comments.

I finished the seventh Harry Potter book, an as I previously noted, it's difficult to put down once you pick it up. This was even truer with the second half.

In the interest of not saying too much, I'll settle for observing that I think it was a worthy end to the series.

And now, back to Book One...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Spoiler-free post, but I can't vouch for the comments.

My pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter 7 finally appeared in my mailbox yesterday, a mere 12 days after the release date. I'm gonna go easy on Amazon 'cause every other order I've ever placed has arrived much more quickly than expected and I can't be sure it's Amazon's fault (USPS, I'm thinkin' of you).

Anyway, I'm barely able to keep my eyes open after being at the theatre until midnight on Tuesday and reading until almost 3 a.m. last night. I'm just past halfway and while I would like to finish it tonight, I think a good night's sleep is probably the wiser choice.

I don't want to give anything away, but I really hadn't planned on reading that long last night. I was just going to start it, read a little, read a little more tonight, and then finish it in a Friday-night marathon. The spell JKR weaves still has lots of power left.

Movie Reviews

I recently saw both Ratatouille and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Ratatouille is the usual Pixar perfection: everything is very detailed and very lifelike -- the views of Paris will take your breath away and if you don't like rats, you will be creeped out. Despite this, it's probably last on my list of Pixar flix -- hey, somebody has to be at the bottom!

HP5 was good -- it's been some time since I read the story, so I can't speak to how closely the movie sticks to the book, but as a movie, it rocked.

I read somewhere that this might be the last HP movie they do because someone thinks the actors are getting too old to play teenagers. I don't agree; I had no trouble believing that Daniel, Emma, Rupert and the others were 15. I would very much like to see them film the last two books (but that could just be my completion fixation).