the advanced stages of geekdom
my third trip to the star wars exhibit at omsi was hands down the most magical. peter and i were able to: wait in line for 30 minutes, get freaked out by a "live" stormtrooper, have photo ops with darth vader, yoda, and RD-D2 and C3PO, resist the allure of $30 action figures in the gift shop, leave omsi for breakfast and return 2 hours later, peek into the millenium falcon ride that was once again sold out, and ride a shuttle to omsi from 12 blocks away, all in the course of a morning that spilled into an afternoon.
truly, this was a beautiful day.
little phatty!
i guess Santa comes to my house a little early. not only did he forgo the formalities of flying a sled and wearing a red hat and suit, he also arrived driving a FedEx Ground truck. I'll take Santa any way he comes as long as he comes bearing a little phatty.
if you've read the last few posts, you know that i've been geeking out (literally and figuratively) for this thing to arrive. even Hank could tell that something special had arrived. as i unpacked the box, he jumped up onto one of the dining room chairs to get a better view of the thing that will be pulling most of my free time attention away from him.
i'm letting the LP acclimate to my house (the manual addendum recommends allowing the board to warm up before firing things up) as i type, so i am jonesing to turn things on and watch the blue lights dance. so if i fail to answer my cell phone or come out of the house the rest of the week, i hope you can understand.
daily routine
last summer when boy eats drum machine got off tour, i managed to drive reese crazy with my cabin fever. it seems that when given extended periods of time off of work, i manage to get nothing done (aside from making incredible progress on my Netflix queue) other than driving my working friends crazy with persistent gmail chats, phone calls, and other annoyances.
so for the next two-and-a-half weeks, i find myself off of work again. unlike the summer though, this time i have a plan. it's a four-step thing of beauty.
Step 1) jury summons. no kidding, i was summoned for October (when I changed my political party affiliation--sorry Pacific Greens!), but being the advance planner that I pretend to be, I saw an opportunity to counteract the housebound crazies. I deferred my term, but no felons are cooperating as I have yet to get the call up to jury duty.
Step 2) procrastinate all Christmas shopping/letter writing. "there will be plenty of time to shop when I'm off work," I heard myself saying. Too bad that all it took was a few hours yesterday, because I'm already done.
Step 3) create an impossible "To Do" list of household chores and projects. in theory, this is the one item on the list that should keep me busy. it is also the one thing on my list that i have devoted no time to completing.
Step 4) help record the new boy eats drum machine disc. what better way to knock out 10 hours each day than recording. this is the one item on the list that i'm actually excited to do. once again, i'm foiled in that peter is still laying down drums and i'm a little further down on the docket.
so in the absence of completing any of the steps in my four-part plan, here has been my daily itinerary:
06:00-07:00 wake up and drive Reese to the MAX
07:00-10:00 browse Internet/watch TiVo archives
10:00-12:00 nervously pace around house hoping for the arrival of the little phatty
12:00-05:25 watch EVERY movie that came in the mail from Netflix
05:25-05:30 drive Netflix movies down to the mailbox to make the 5:30 pickup
05:30-06:30 watch more TiVo and take an hour nap
06:30-07:00 pick up Reese from the MAX
07:00-10:00 practice upright bass/eat dinner/sulk because the little phatty didn't come/play music with Reese in basement/watch more TiVo
And repeat!
genital compensation?
of course it wasn't until after i began bragging to all of my friends that i realized that announcing that i owned a
little phatty could prove embarrassing. as it turns out in australian, bragging about one's newly-acquired
little phatty is akin to driving around in one of those election-equipped bullhorn cars proclaiming that they have a small (albeit functional) penis.
so in order to take my hubris to an all new high, here i am ready to blog about my
lil' buddy for the enlightenment of the whole Internet community (or at least for my three friends who will read this blog). so there you have it, small penis or no, at least i can remove my little phatty and
carry it in the backpack that arrives on Wednesday.
David Stern is a jackhole!
Okay, so last year I flipped out and said that
David Stern was a genius when he finally listened to
PETA's request that the NBA Switch to a synthetic ball. Evidently Stern's commitment to animal compassion only lasted a quarter of the season.
I had heard that several veteran players (you suck
Steve Nash) were complaining about the new balls... not the young players though. In a recent interview, Brandon Roy said that all of the young guys liked the new ball, since they are used to it in the NCAA.
So disregard that the new ball looks cool, Starting Jan. 1st, the NBA will ditch the
cruelty-free ball and switch back to using leather. Thanks Steve Nash and David Stern for giving me one more reason to loathe both Canada and the NBA respectively (and I was just starting to get back into the Blazers).
unlikely pair
gotta thank p for the opportunity to dress up as a repressed unappreciated german. i also wore a Team Zissou "Klaus" costume! some people dread costume parties, but when you find a red beanie in the $1 bin at salvation army, and throw on your blue coveralls, you've got it made. that and knowing that your costume came ready-made from your and your wife's closets means that the ensuing roleplay will be a guaranteed success.
