1.30.2007

Feeling a Little Flat

Air for rear driver's-side tire: $1.50

Gas spent driving from gas station to Discount Tire: $.75

New-to-me tire: $40

Dismount fee: $5

Disposal fee: $10

Mount fee: $5

Waiting-in-a-chair fee: $3

Other Assorted Nameless Fees: $12.01

Three hours spent trying to get a flat fixed: priceless.


Okay, okay. The upside was that I just happened to have vol. 3 of Fables (Storybook Love) with me, and finished that while I waited.

But still.

The Female Passion (Shoes)

Last night, we watched the British comedy Kinky Boots. Not only was it funny, Alex and I drooled over the amount of camera time given to the fabrication of all the shoes on 19th-century machines. It was incredible. I had this intense urge to buy a pair of handcrafted, non-rubber/plastic-blend-from-a-discount-store shoes… which at first I felt silly about, but then Alex started saying exactly what I was thinking. Marriage is great that way.

I’ve also got two pairs of Skechers shoes on their way to me (hopefully come in two days!). I got the Patroller in toffee, and the Metropolis in black (may ask for them in brown as well for my birthday, they’re so tempting). My pal Leslie had the Patrollers on at our last party, and not only did I notice how rockin’ cool they were, but she mentioned how they were great work shoes—comfortable, yet snazzier than wearing normal sneakers. They should enhance my current “geek chic” look for work.

An Addendum

I forgot to mention that Mom and Dad bought Alex a much-longed-for gift: a set of Canasta cards. Yes, of course you can play Canasta with any regular card decks, but they’re not all marked conveniently for scoring purposes—these decks make it much easier to introduce the game to newbies. Alex and Dad scored yet another victory over us gals, but I tell you, this time it was hard-fought.

Also, see an addendum to the "Nerd Alert" post.

1.29.2007

The Wii-kend

Saturday was Alex's birthday, which we celebrated in grand style... by staying home and enjoying movies, our Wii, and the warmth of various blankets. I attempted to cook my mom's famous Mexican rice on Friday night as a special dinner, but it was remarkably lackluster. Saturday morning, I gifted Alex with several small things, and then surprised him with Wario Ware: Smooth Moves for the Wii. We proceeded to enjoy the game, which is a compilation of 200 breakneck speed microgames (most are 5 seconds long), which were hilarious and psychotic to the extent that it made Rayman: Raving Rabbids look like a very normal game. A big bonus with Wario Ware is that there are four multiplayer modes, but it only uses one Wii remote, so you don't have to spend a lot of money to get a killer party game (plus I think it supports up to 12 players).

Saturday night, we went out to dinner at Ghengis Grill (yummy!) with Alex's parents and--as a surprise--my parents, who stayed the night and left Sunday afternoon. Afterward, they all came to our place--Alex's parents hadn't seen the Mii versions of themselves yet, and Alex's mom had a lot of fun trying out baseball on Wii Sports. Dad stayed up late with us trying various Rayman minigames (he got a kick out of "Bunnies Don't Know What to do With Cows").

Let's see... here are a bunch of other updates from last week in general:
  • The film Brick was really, really great--but if you rent it, be aware that you're going to make good use of the subtitle feature. Lightning-fast, unusual, and mumbled dialogue abounds throughout.
  • I fiiiinally got volumes 3 and 4 of Bill Willingham's Fables. Now I can read through my collection (got through volume 8 and the short-story collection, and am eagerly awaiting the Jack of Fables vol. 1 next month).
  • I got to the second boss in Link to the Past, but my battery ran down after I was killed once, so I need to find my recharge plug.
  • Auntie K's out of state today on an interview, and I send my prayers for her safety and confidence.
  • I've been reading my bibliography textbook for my Rare Books course, and so far it's all about movable type and the printing process, which I find fascinating. It's talking about the birth of document formatting, such as justification--which is yet another tidbit through which I reveal my intense nerdiness.

1.25.2007

Nerd Alert!

Timothy Zahn will be at the Plano Borders location on February 7th, 7pm.


And Borders is requesting costumed geeks in attendance, so... you know who you are.

1/30 Update: Btw, for those of you who hadn't already heard about Stacey's cameo in the book, Mr. Trey was kind enough to include a funfun link discussing it.

1.23.2007

Proof That Geeky Shirts Don't Necessarily Make You Appear More Intelligent


Why no, no I have no shame.

...Why do you ask?

(Thanks to Bekah for the photo, Bryce for his hat-lending, and my parents for instilling me with a strong ability to publicly humiliate myself at parties.)

Onna Otaku

(Yes, I even own the ridiculously geeky shirt that is linked in the title.)

I just found out that "Heroes" has been renewed for a second season--hooray! As usual, Hiro ruled last night's episode--I must say, I was badly disappointed that the sword wasn't real, although obviously it's now part of a much more interesting plot twist. Alex & I cracked up laughing at this part:

Hiro: "You flying man! WHOOOOOOSH!" [Does flying gesture.]
Nathan: "Would you keep it down?!"
Hiro: [Whispers, does flying gesture low down.] "Whoosh."

DVR is great: you can watch those hilarious bits over and over.

I finally read all the online comics related to the show, and they're much more interesting than I had anticipated (plus, cool easter eggs!). I particularly like Hana's character; hope she shows up on the show soon.

Unrelated Banter
  • Want a 30%-off coupon to Borders? Click here.
  • The Oscars... Not as in "The Grouch," but as in that overly-long, overly-political, scandalously-opulent, ridiculously fun awards show. And we rented "Little Miss Sunshine" just in time for its Best Picture Oscar nomination... too bad I work late tonight. Hopefully we can watch it tomorrow.
  • Are you watching President Bush's State of the Union address? The glory of modern technology: I have the live webcast in a small window on my desktop while I work.

1.22.2007

24-Hour Bug (Exterminated)

Ah, the joy of sleeping nearly 20 hours in a 24-hour period. It's something of which even my delightfully-goof-off-happy self is not capable, under normal circumstances--but Friday was anything but normal. After coming home early, I went to bed Thursday with Sinus Ick of an unusually high degree that made me suspect that my normal one-hour commute would not be possible on Friday morning. I awoke not only to find this theory confirmed, but that it had been supplemented by a large dose of Intestinal Ick, which inspired me to spend an hour and a half in bed reading all four volumes of the Star Wars: A New Hope manga that I got last week, and most of the rest of the day unconscious.

Alex and his sister's birthdays were celebrated by the families on Saturday evening, by which time I felt 80% better. I got to show my brother- and sister-in-law that I was not only playing the "Link to the Past" GBA game they bought me for Christmas, but that I carry it in my purse everywhere, play it regularly during my lunch hour at work, and continually die in the room directly before the one that contains the second boss.

We received happy news yesterday from the same bro-in-law that he got a Wii, after many weeks of frenzied looking (boy, did we feel his pain!!). Now I can't wait for him to hook it up, call us with his number, and we can send him the Miis of ourselves and Alex's parents. And on the Wii-related front, if you appreciate ridiculously childish humor as we do, you're morally obligated to go out and buy yourself Rayman Raving Rabbids for the Wii. It features plunger guns, mini-games with hilariously long titles like "Bunnies Have a Soft Spot for Plungers," rabid bunnies that make the cutest giggle/fart noises you've ever heard, and what Alex has dubbed "BBR." No, it's not DDR (Dance Dance Revolution)--it's Bunny Bunny Revolution, in which you have to dance with the Wii controls as bunnies spin/dance down the monitor in time with some really great music (Misirlou, anyone?).

So today's been a usual Monday-like Monday, which means that I'm once again surprised by the amount of work that I continually lack the time to complete, while new messages/projects/life-threateningly-urgent-tasks arrive in my inbox with hurtling speed. Sigh...

1.18.2007

Small Pleasures

Does it get better in the morning than creamy, hot coffee and a homemade snickerdoodle?

My thanks to Auntie K for sponsoring this morning’s slightly nutritional breakfast.

1.17.2007

Snow Day!

Actually, this is the second bad-weather, stay-home-from-work day we’ve had this week! (Hence, yet again, my blogging has suffered.) Today we actually had quasi-snow on the ground and a whole lot of ice. Alex had to work from home today, unfortunately, just like he did Monday—but while I spent Monday classifying our DVD collection on DVD Profiler (which, although I’m nerdy enough to enjoy that task, still felt more like work than like goofing off), today I finished “Daisy Kutter: The Last Train” while cooking lunch, which was fabulous both art and story-wise. Yowza.

I also got all four volumes of the Star Wars: A New Hope manga in the mail from BookMooch (which I think brings my total books mooched up to 19!), and Alex and I had a mini-date night consisting of dinner at Chili’s (love that quesadilla explosion salad!) and watching The Illusionist at home (is Paul Giamatti the best or what?). With a break of an hour between those activities during which we picked up Alex’s dad (he had two flat tires) and picked up Alex’s sister from work (she’d taken DART-rail to avoid the ice).

It’s nice to have two days off in one week, but it’s nicer when they’re consecutive days. And for some reason, it makes the next two days at work seem longer than usual. Ah, well!

1.12.2007

Congrats, Kudos, Hooray!

A BIG congrats to my Dad, who last night won Best Artist of the Year at the New Braunfels Art League!!

PS. Next week, we begin regular hours again at the library, and I can catch up on the past three weeks’ worth of posting. I haven’t had time to post anything after work hours, because of early closing—and I just don’t get online at home much. Ciao, my beauties!

1.05.2007

We Interrupt This Blog...

...for a two-week vacation.

It's almost up, folks. Then I'll give my usual newsy updates on holidays, family, friends, parties, games (Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!), movies, and the occasional library anecdote. I have photos as proof--and yes, of course I have still more incriminatingly silly photos of myself. Just you wait.