Another week begins

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Been a busy morning so far, but I figured I’d grab a couple minutes to babble away for a bit. I ended up having a pretty nice weekend — a good balance of getting out and doing stuff, and kicking back and killing time at home.

Friday evening I headed out with Chad and Kelly, since Kelly is in town for a little bit on her way out to a job in Colorado, and we all went to see From Hell, the new Johnny Depp film about Jack the Ripper. I’d give it a very solid ‘good’ overall — not bad, but not great. Worth a matinee showing, at least. However, the closer it got to the end, the more I liked it — and while the end didn’t come as a total surprise to me, I really liked the choices that were made in presenting the final events of the film, and even what those events were. Of course, I don’t want to give away a whole lot here…suffice it to say I was somewhat pleasantly surprised with the closing moments of the film.

Saturday I went out with Chad, Don, and Kelly for a bit. We started with brunch at El Greco, a nice little spot up Broadway a bit, then we all headed down to the Pike Place Market to do some birthday shopping for Dez. Of course, as we were wandering around in a cooking store finding her present, who should we run in to but…Dez! Just the way these things work, I guess. In any case, everyone got things hidden in time, and we chatted with her and her sister Morgan for a bit before they took off again, and we got the gifts and skedaddled. I wandered home to rest and watch a movie, then that evening walked up to Chad and Don’s house and we all cabbed over to Casey and Dez’s place for Dez’s birthday party. Was a lot of fun…just a few friends kicking back and talking. Round about midnight I was getting tired, so I packed up one of the computers I’ve had over at Casey’s and hauled it home with me on the bus.

Sunday was spent mostly cleaning up at home — since I got the TV I’d been just enjoying being able to watch movies again, so had let the house go a bit, and I finally got sick of it. Popped in The Emperor’s New Groove to listen to as I cleaned, and got just about everything put away. I’ve even got my computers set up on my table, all plugged in and ready to go as soon as Rick gets here with my monitors (not that I’m anxious or anything….). Much nicer living in a place that’s actually all clean and presentable.

That evening I went out with Heather, a girl I’ve met here at work. She works for one of the other businesses in the building, and after getting to talking after running into each other a few times, we figured we’d get together sometime. So, we ended up heading out to the Satellite Lounge, just a few blocks up Pike, and sat and talked there for a few hours. Was a very pleasant evening — and I figure any girl that I mention Closet Land to and have her know exactly what movie I’m talking about (it’s not the most well-known flick out there) has got to be pretty cool. Anyway, it made for a very nice evening…we’ll see what happens from here, I suppose.

And that about catches us up to the here and now, as I continue muddling my way through another week punching the green button. Fun fun fun….

Not exactly unexpected

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You know, it’s kind of bizarre to see a prediction come true. About the time I was leaving TimeFrame, Rick and Tim and I all were pretty sure that the way the business was heading, it would be closing down in about six months. Well, out of the blue, I found this e-mail in my mailbox on Friday:

A note to all TimeFrame Customers:

At this time all digital intake services have been shut down. If you currently have a print job in progress it will be completed on or before Oct. 31, 2001.

As of November 1st, TimeFrame will no longer be offering volume copying and duplicating services in black and white and color. That means that the services that would normally be produced on the Xerox DocuTech or the DocuColor will no longer be available at TimeFrame.

Large format printing, laminating, and mounting services will continue to be offered under the business name “Big Time Graphics”.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

We expect erratic scheduling, at best, as we near the final days of these services.

Please address all inquires regarding archived data to Robert Thomas at (907) 562-3822.

While we were all pretty sure it was coming, it’s still a bit shocking to get the news that it’s actually happening. It definitely looks like I got out at the right time, though.

Enterprise: Unexpected

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Benefits to actually having a TV — while the reception is pretty cruddy, it does allow me to watch the single TV show I’ve got any real interest in, Enterprise. Last night’s episode was “Unexpected”:

When Tucker is dispatched to assist an alien ship with its power source problems, he is delighted to have a friendly encounter with one of the ship’s female engineers. But after discovering that their special moment has resulted in his becoming pregnant, he realizes he’s had an unwitting experience with alien sex. Now it’s up to the Archer and the crew to return the rapidly growing alien baby to its mother.

Definite mixed feelings about this episode, for me. It was enjoyable enough, and certainly fun to watch, but it definitely had a few moments that concern me a bit.

Things I liked: Trip’s attitude throughout the show — I really liked the understated, very dry approach he took. Archer’s reactions were hilarious, the number of times he had to work to stifle a smirk were hilarious. I do have to admit, too, to a thrill when the Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser appeared on the Enterprise’s viewscreen. I’ve always liked that ship (and Klingon design in general — though they were finally upstaged by the Next Generation-era Romulan Warbird…but I digress), and seeing it in action again was quite nice. On the other hand…

Things I didn’t like: We’re four episodes in, and they’ve already succumbed to the temptation to get some sort of Holodeck on the show. Okay, so the Enterprise didn’t end up with it, but still — is it that difficult to come up with original ideas? And would the Klingons really be appeased/tempted by the possibility of being given holographic technology? Seems to me that they’d be more interested in the cloaking technology that the alien ship was using. Besides, they seemed far to easily dissuaded — it’s hard for me to believe that given the level of tension between the Federation and the Klingon Empire during Kirk’s time, that any Klingon 100 years earlier, with far less contact with Humans to draw from, would put up with Archer’s down-home “Aw, shucks, Paw,” attitude for any longer than the time it would take to send a torpedo up the Enterprise’s tailpipe.

Anyway, taken as a whole, it was an okay episode, with some fairly amusing moments — but for someone who’s been watching Star Trek practically since birth, I really wonder how this show’s going to integrate its story arc with the known back story of the Trek universe. So far, they seem to be doing a fairly shaky job of that, which worries me. Ah, well — we’re also only four episodes in, and none of the Trek series have really hit their stride until somewhere between their second and fourth year, so I supposed it’s a little early to write “Enterprise” off just yet.

Still….

If I ever go postal…

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I swear, if I ever completely lose it, flip out, and go postal, I’m going to end up doing it with a staple gun, because of the sheer number of jobs I’ve run for lawyers, accountants, government employees, and various other people who seem to compensate for whatever percieved deficiencies may exist in their life with a pathological drive to staple everything as many times as possible, whether or not it’s actually necessary.

Grrrrrrrr.

And ack pffft, too.

Thirteen Days

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I rented Thirteen Days (about the Cuban Missile Crisis) the other night, as I hadn’t seen it, and I was curious both about the film itself and about New Line‘s Infinifilm brand.

The movie was certainly quite decent (though Kevin Costner seemed to do his usual trick of being an inattentive babysitter for his accent, rather than actually adopting it), but what really struck me about it was the similarities to the current air of tension, fear, and paranoia sweeping the nation. While the setups for the two conflicts are different, the attitudes and feelings of many of the characters in the film were very familiar. In one of the (fascinating) historical background pieces, there were some ‘man on the street’ interviews with people at the time this all was going on — and just about anything that they said could easily have been said at any point within the past month. Average people worrying about their safety, whether or not it’s right to go to war, whether a conflict is justified — very eerie to hear sentiments I’ve heard, read, and spoken since September 11th coming from the mouths of people forty years back.

It also made me very curious about just what’s going on in the conference rooms of the White House these days. Considering the wide range of emotions and suggested courses of action during the Cuban Missile Crisis that only recently came to light (such as Kennedy’s secret tapes of the meetings, as discussed in the extra materials on the disc), it really makes me wonder how much is being debated — and how much is known — behind the scenes, that we’re not likely to find out for years, and possibly decades. I’m not one to try to raise paranoia or fears…the film just made me think a lot more than it probably would have had the events of September 11th not taken place. Until now (I’m 28, by the way, born in ’73), I hadn’t really had anything that could make me sympathise with the events portrayed — I could empathise to a certain extent, but I hadn’t had any experiences that really came that close to what was happening in 1962. Desert Shield/Storm affected me to a certain extent, but not like this — it was too distant…a war on TV. Now, for better or for worse, it’s all too easy for me to understand just what was going through peoples minds then — because it’s going through mine, now.

Neat, neat stuff. Not necessarily comfortable. But very worthwhile.

I’m still alive

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…just posting a quick note in the few minutes I have before I’m off work today.

I’m still around — this has been an extremely busy week, and I wasn’t able to find time to update the site. Funny thing about running the copyroom at a financial firm — October 15th is the deadline for the six-month extention from April 15th. Made things pretty crazy around here — but on the upside, I got a hefty paycheck! Working a 50.25 hour week will do that, I guess.

Other interesting events: got my PFD, and spent some of it on a TV and DVD player, so I can now watch movies again. Picked up a couple DVD’s, but not too many — while I fully intend to keep working on my collection, I won’t be adding to it at quite the rate I was for a while. Renting will become the byword for a while, more than buying.

That’s the basics — I’ll try and babble a bit more in-depth sometime soon.

Ch ch ch ch ch changes

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First off, a quick recap since the last time I posted. Not too long after I got home from Aurafice, where I made my last post, I got a call from Nate inviting me out that evening. So, after killing time around the house for the rest of the afternoon, I got ready to head out, and met up with Nate at the Vogue. We hung out there with Graves (one of the regulars at both the Vogue and the Mercury that Nate and I have met) and Francesca (a quite nice — and quite attractive — Japanese/French girl that we met through Graves). The four of us talked and danced until around 11:30 or so, when Francesca left, and Nate, Graves and I headed over to the Mercury. A good hour or so there, and then I decided it was time for me to head home and crash. Nate had a party to head off to, so he walked me back to my apartment (such a nice boy…) then headed off, and I crashed out.

Sunday I spent entirely at home, either reading or mixing. Ever since I’ve come down here, when I’ve been mixing I’ve had a fairly annoying background hum, and wasn’t able to figure out where it was coming from or how to get rid of it. Sunday I went over my setup and finally figured out how to take the hum out, and spent much of the day re-recording some of the mixes I’ve made since I’ve been down here, since the original versions all had that background noise. Two of the mixes — Difficult Listening Hour 4 and Where Time Becomes A Loop — ended up slightly different than the first time I recorded them, but that’s normal.

Now, for the changes I’d hinted about a couple days ago. First off, the more minor of the two is that after considering it for a few days, I finally figured I’d give it a shot this morning, and for the first time in about 8 years or so, I’m clean shaven. I’m not at all sure how long this is going to last — I’ve already been told that I look about 18 — but I’d gotten curious enough to try.

The more major of the two — I’m working on quitting smoking. I started last week, and made it through the majority of the week with just a couple cigarettes. I did kind of lose the battle this weekend (it’s quite easy to slip up when out at a bar with friends), but now it’s a new week, and I’m giving it another shot. I haven’t quit smoking — as evidenced by this weekend — and I don’t like saying that I’m trying to quit smoking, as the word trying carries an implicit implication of failure — but I am working on quitting. It’s at least worth a shot. Wish me luck!

A sunny Saturday afternoon

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Just thought I’d drop in and toss a bit up here. I’m sitting at Aurafice, a coffee/internet joint just 2 blocks away from my apartment — nice little place, and while I’m not sure what the music that’s playing right now is, it works quite nicely for me.

Yesterday after work I swung by home just long enough to check (snail) mail and change clothes, then headed back downtown. The movie 2001 has been cleaned up, restored, and is hitting theaters again, and yesterday was the opening night of its run here in Seattle — at the Cinerama, no less. There was no way I was going to miss out on seeing this, and being able to see it in a theater like that on opening night — no ifs, ands, or buts, I was there. Took a bus downtown and made it there 40 minutes before the show started just to make sure I could get in and get a good seat.

What a show it was, too. I’d not yet been to the Cinerama here — though I’d heard it was a theater more than worth going to, I’d not yet seen something playing there that was going to drag me down. I’m very glad I did this time, though. The auditorium is incredible — 800-some seats, and a 30 foot by 90 foot curved screen! Just a huge picture (though, in all honesty, I believe the number one auditorium at Fireweed Theaters is larger), a new near-pristine 70mm print of 2001…very, very, very cool. Definitely the way to see it.

After I walked home from that, I found a call on my voicemail from Alex — apparently his plans changed, and he is in town for one last weekend before heading back up to Alaska. I met up with him, Casey, and Chad at the Bad JuJu Lounge (right next door to The Vogue), and hung out with them for a bit. Went home fairly early, though — this whole 6am wakeup time during the week kinda puts a damper on too much late-night revelry on Friday nights.

Not much has happened so far today, though who knows what the evening might bring. I did put together another new mix…hopefully it won’t be too much longer before I’ll be able to post the .mp3 files. Until then, though….

Catching up with the weekend

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Here we are, back to Monday morning again. Woohoo…or something like that. Hrm.

The weekend was okay. Friday night I met up with Alex and Nate again, as this was Alex’s last weekend here in the Seattle area before he gets out of the Navy and heads back to Alaska to go to UAA. We hit the Vogue and the Mercury, then Nate went home, and Alex and I crashed out at the Shoebox.

Most of Saturday was just Alex and I bumming around Capitol Hill — neither of us really had any plans, so it was pretty laid back. Towards the evening we met up with Casey at the Bauhaus coffeeshop/bookstore and sat and talked for a while. Casey and Alex went off to meet up with Dez down at the Alibi room, but I was feeling pretty beat, so I just wandered home and went to bed.

Sunday I spent mostly in bed — apparently I’ve picked up a minor bug of some sort. Not enough to make me feel really bad, but I certainly don’t feel really good, either. Had another conversation with Loren in the evening, and eventually crashed out again.

Not all that amazingly entertaining of a weekend, I guess…I’d been planning on getting out and doing a bit more, but just ended up not quite feeling up to it. I’m still feeling a little under the weather now, but am hoping it blows over fairly soon. On the bright side, I did get word from Loren that my bribe…er…tax refund showed up at the Pit, and he’ll be mailing it down to me, so I should have that sometime this week. Pretty cool, I guess. Anyway, that’s enough freeform babble for now….