Thursday, May 27, 2010

bp new logo

I thought this was pretty funny.. 

The good news is that the top kill seems to be working.  If you're curious about how the top kill works, you can find that out here.  

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

don't judge a book by its cover

Social stigmas are a funny thing. If I saw this guy on the street, I would have probably assumed he was a douche or something. I definitely wouldn't have guessed that he would stop and be friendly to a little kid interesting in his jacket. Society, thankfully, has proved me wrong again.

Monday, May 24, 2010

my thoughts on the lost finale

As you probably know, I am obsessed with Lost. It finally came to an end last night, and overall I'd have to say I'm pleased - with both the finale and the entire story.

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***


First off, I watched the finale at the drafthouse which was pretty fun. When the show ended, and the "LOST" came up on the screen, I think that was the quietest the crowd had been the entire night. I imagine it was a combination of people being confused, absorbing what they just watched, and I'm sure some people were also disappointed.

I thought the finale was pretty damn good, but the reason I thought that was because eventually I let go of my expectations (I'm sure all the "let go" references in the show were also veiled comments to the audience, too) and just accepted the story they were telling us. At that point I stopped being so critical and I just enjoyed the story unfold.

I know there are some people who are hugely disappointed with the show, and I think those are the people who were more invested in the mythology and mysteries, and weren't really in it for the characters. Unfortunately, the producers have always said the characters come first. The show, in my opinion, was not about people being lost on an island. It was about people being lost in their lives. The story was about them "finding themselves" and seeking redemption from their flaws, with the help of each other.

Yes we all could have used more answers, but there is another problem in that - the show was part sci-fi. Any possible answer they could have given us for things that are fiction would have been disappointing. I read on a critic's review where they compared it to the meaning of life. If we were told what the meaning of life was, chances are we would be disappointed in the answer. The mystery and fun come in the unknown. Let's take the "whispers" and their explanation, for example. It is a perfectly feasible explanation, and yet it was kind of underwhelming. It wasn't so much the fault of the writers. Rather simply, there is no explanation to that kind of huge mystery that would have all of us saying, "how awesome!"

I'm kind of perplexed by how many people are confused about who was dead and when. It seems like they practically spelled it out on the show. If I understood right, everyone on the island either died on the island (Jack and everyone before), or died later (unseen on the show). The 'flash sideways' was an afterlife of sorts (open to interpretation), at a point after everyone died. And yet I see people theorizing that the island was purgatory, or that everyone was dead from the beginning. I don't see how that makes sense, what do you think? If they were all dead, then what? They had island "purgatory" and then also flash sideways "purgatory"? What would be the point of two "realms of existence" if they were dead in both? Also I think the last scene - where they panned across and showed Christian's shoe stuck up on the tree - practically proved that they weren't dead and the events on the island all actually happened. The shoe was completely worn and time had clearly passed.

Some people got confused by the wreckage they showed at the end of the episode - but that wasn't even part of the official episode. That was just footage ABC put up, in lieu of a promo for another show, I guess as an homage to the whole journey. But people started analyzing it and thought that maybe it was proof that no one survived or something. Who knows.

Overall, it's sad to see it come to an end - when will we have another show like this that both dares to be original and creative, and also draws such a huge community? Lost is untouched, in my opinion, in terms of the whole experience and journey. People who watch the show after it aired won't get the same experience of huddling with coworkers and friends, or on the internet, endlessly theorizing and over-analyzing pieces of the show. The writing hasn't always been great, there have been loopholes and missteps, and season 6 had its faults. In the end though, I'm grateful that I picked up the show and followed it religiously since season 1.

At least we have still Dexter (which I recommend if you don't watch it)!

Thank you, namaste, and good luck

Thursday, May 20, 2010

and now for something completely different

These guys are dicks


It was a tough game through the 6th inning.  We were down 3-1.  Then the bullshit happened.  The ref said "2 outs" before Kari came up to kick, and some of us were a bit confused.  She got out, and that was 3 outs.  People came off the field, then we went to the ref.  We showed him our lineup, showed that it was impossible for us to have 3 outs and we only had 2.  He eventually acknowledged that he made a mistake, but there was nothing he could do about it now.  Oh really?  Apparently once everyone comes off the field, the inning is over and it is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO GO BACK TO THE BASES.  Okay, he messed up, it sucks but it happens.  I was still cool until the other team opened their god damn mouths.

While we were pleading our case with the refs, a couple members of the other team were standing right there listening.  I guess I was overly optimistic, because I figured they would hear that a mistake was made, and offer to right the game by replaying the last out.  Nope.  Instead, they turned to us and said "you guys should have said something when he said two outs" (it's hard to convey in this post, but he had attitude in his voice).  You know what, fuck off.  The ref already admitted he made a mistake and you guys are up 3-1, so why are you going to come and blame us for a ref mistake?  Oh I get it, because you don't give two shits about whether you guys win fair or not, and you only care about the win.  Thanks for the awesome sportsmanship.  The 7th inning went by quickly, no one scored.  However the same guy who opened his big fucking mouth earlier had the audacity to shout and mock us some more.  Something happened on the field, I forget what, but they yelled at the ref to clarify/correct.  Then he yelled out so everyone could hear, in a really sarcastic voice, "we just wanted to correct something when the mistake was made," clearly taking a jab at us not correcting the extra out earlier.  Fuck you again.

On top of that, they had this dude who was, I swear to god, like a professional kickball pitcher.  He was pitching that ball at like 90mph or something ridiculous.  He's not in the team picture above.  Is he even on the roster?  I'm betting not, because their team was 2-2-1 before playing us.  There is no way, with that pitcher, they are only 2-2-1.  I think that they got him to play for our game, without officially being on their team.

I was perfectly OK with losing to them up until the 6th inning. It was a tough game, and we both got to 3-1 fairly (except for the fact that the pitcher was ridiculous).  Then a mistake was made, and instead of being good sports and either a) allowing us to go back and replay the last out for a fair game, or b) just shutting their damn mouths instead of rubbing salt in the wound, they went with c) be obnoxious and add insult to our injury.

Note: The dick is the guy in the front row, middle of the picture taking a knee.  He just looks like a dick, doesn't he?

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

state of affairs

Well, well, well - what's new the past few days? Turns out I'm a pretty big man. No, not really, but I'll get to that.

We had a three day weekend this past weekend, and it was needed. I can't remember anything amazing happening Thursday, we likely just hung around. Friday was a rather lazy day for me, as well. Friday night rolls around and we went to see Conan at Austin Music Hall. Our seats were both expectedly and unexpectedly crappy. I expected them to be bad, but I didn't expect to not really be able to see the stage. The opening act was pretty hilarious, I thought - Reggie Watts. He was basically a comedy musician, but also had some little monologues in between songs where he just ranted about some really inane stuff that was funny. It was a great kick-start to the show. Conan was funny as always; he seems like a really genuine person. I don't know how that relates to comedy, but I still feel bad about him losing his show. It's okay, I suppose, because he walked away with over $30 million. He had Andy Richter with him as well as the "Legally Prohibited" band. We had little prerecorded bits of Triumph that were funny, as well as a cameo of the Masturbating Bear Self-Pleasuring Panda. Other good stuff, too, but I'm tired of recapping..

Saturday, I downloaded Final Fantasy VII onto my PS3. Yes that's right, I'm replaying the world's greatest game from the 90's. Don't be a hater. Yes, I'm talking to you. Saturday night we went to Weirdo's and hung out there for a bit. It's a cool place, and better yet, it's really close. They have sand volleyball, washers, and they look like they have some more outdoor activities coming soon, like a skate park. We went back to the house and played poker. I did not do well.

Sunday was errand day. Taylor and I went to Lowe's to get her some flowers for her balcony, and we put those up. I think there's some trick to getting those little flowers out of those plastic pots they come in, because the way we were doing it was probably wrong. We had to get scissors and cut the crap out of it, then carefully pry the flowers out. There has to be an easier way, right? Next we went to the car wash to wash our cars, shampoo the seats, vacuum, etc. FYI, the Palms car wash on Parmer has free vacuums! Throw Bark 'n' Purr and some other places in the mix, as well. Battlestar Galactica to wrap up the night.

Not much to say about most of Monday. Work was fine. We were planning on hitting up trivia night at Shangri-La, but that ended up falling through. We got there, but the trivia was outdoors and it was about to storm. On top of that, we had too many participants for a team, so Taylor and I just went back home. Right before we got onto Mopac from 183, her car started making some strange sound, like something got caught under her car. Well, turns out it was just a flat. Did I mention that it was pouring by this point? So we pulled over on the side of 183 and I proceeded to change her flat tire over the course of 20 mins, in the pouring rain. Honestly I didn't mind, and I was a bit proud of myself. It was a fun little adventure, and definitely something to spice up the day. Shame about the tire though; upon further inspection, the sidewall had burst open.

Tonight is the penultimate episode of Lost! Tomorrow is kickball. Thursday, Taylor may go to an adult spelling bee (don't worry, beer will be served!). Friday is unknown as of yet. Saturday is Travis's graduation and subsequent celebration. Sunday is Lost trivia and Lost finale @ the drafthouse!

Friday, May 14, 2010

mavdog and his scratching

As of two weeks ago, Maverick has been scratching a ton. I checked his skin and didn't find any fleas, but I did find a couple sores. Rather than those being the cause, I'm pretty sure that he's just scratched himself so much the past couple days that he actually scratched himself raw in a couple areas.

I took him to the vet today, and they didn't find anything apparently wrong, so we assume it's some allergy from something. It sucks that we don't really know if it's allergies, or even what it's an allergy to, but he's on antihistamines for the weekend to see if that helps.

Best of luck, Mavdog.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Recent pictures of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/disaster_unfolds_slowly_in_the.html

It's not looking good, is it? Hope they figure something out, and soon:
While tracking the volume of the continued flow of oil is difficult, an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil (possibly much more) continues to pour into the gulf every day. 

Feel good story of the day

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/10/assignment_america/main6471254.shtml

A skydiving instructor and his tandem skydiving partner had their parachutes fail. What does he do? He positions  himself UNDER the woman, and breaks her fall. She is fine, and he is paralyzed. Talk about heroic.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

recap!

Wow, it's been 10 days since my last update. That's my bad.

So what's happened since then? Probably not all that much. We lost our first kickball game last Wednesday, which was definitely a tough loss. Without getting into too much detail, because it will piss me off, let's just say that it was a combination of us not playing well and some occasional crappy reffing. We're still playoff bound at this rate though, so we just gotta keep truckin' through these games.

Travis also finished law school last week. That really has nothing to do with me, but it's quite an accomplishment. He studied more during his law school years that I have in my entire life. He graduates Saturday, May 22nd.

Not only did I get tickets to the Lost series finale at the Drafthouse, but I also made me and Taylor some super swanky Lost shirts. Now we can show off our Longhorn pride and our Lost love, simultaneously. Okay I'm probably way more obsessed than she is, but she agreed to wear the shirt, too! For those of you who don't get it (go watch Lost you losers), it is a Dharma Initiative logo.

The weekend was good, no complaints. I went out to Marisa's friend's birthday party on Friday, and force-socialized since I knew 1% of the attendees. Marisa got excessively drunk, surprise. Saturday and Sunday was mostly relaxing. I was planning on going to my mom's for Mother's Day, but she wasn't well so I spent the day taking care of errands and cleaning up.

I made some hamburgers yesterday, which I was excited about because I was planning on making them delicious. My plan failed however, and they were overcooked and dry. That's okay, next time they will be much better since I know how long to cook them for now. I watched some Dark Knight with Taylor, and then went to bed.

Today is Taylor's 23rd birthday, so make sure you wish her a happy birthday! I gotta get through work, and then afterwards we're going to Salt Lick for some delicious barbecue to celebrate. And you better believe that regardless of what time we get back, I will be watching tonight's Lost!