SCI FI Announces Caprica
SCI FI Channel announced the development of Caprica, a spinoff prequel of its hit Battlestar Galactica, in presentations to advertisers in New York on April 26. Caprica would come from Galactica executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, writer Remi Aubuchon (24) and NBC Universal Television Studio.
This could be very cool.
Stupid Cafeteria
It's nice and all that we have a cafeteria in our office building. But they're really not all that good. I bring my lunch every day, and only occasionally grab something to eat up there. What really sucks is when I really have a hankering for some chili or soup, and they have chicken chili. Or worse, turkey white bean chili. And no palatable soup to speak of. All I'm asking is for a standard chili at least once a week, is that too much to ask?
Dang I'm hungry.
The Calm Before the Storm
Last night's birthday dinner at Cafe Oggi was pretty good. We were definitely the early birds, arriving at 6:30pm, there were only two other people in the restaurant, both solo seniors. It was a little too queit at first, because we could hear the loud TV over the bar playing the Formula One car race constantly. Around 7:30pm, the place had filled up nicely. The food was decent, I had the fried calamari, which was good and non-rubbery, and the veal with artichokes and white wine sauce. It tasted kind of like a classy version of Weiner Schnitzel. Nothing spectacular though. The service left something to be desired, I felt. In spite of only having two people int he restaurant, the waiter took a long time to get to us, we didn't get any bread while we were waiting, and only after we ordered did he mention that they had a Filet Mignon special (in fact, every time I overheard someone ordering, the waiters had to be prompted to give the specials, very amateurish).
Regardless, we had a nice quiet evening out away from Ellie. It was good to have that, if nothing else, because after tonight, the KC tornado rolls into town. My mom and brother and the rest of the KC gaggle arrive tomorrow, so we're in for a busy weekend. We've got some last minute cleaning up to do before they get here, and then our little house will suddenly feel a lot smaller. Hopefully the weather will be nice this weekend so that we're not all cooped up in the house all day long. Wish us luck!
Awaiting Karma
It's been an interesting and successful week. I got the new microwave installed, and Lisa was very impressed and happy with it. My buddy John sent me a new housing for my cell phone, and I managed to get it working without screwing anything up. I had pager duty all week and didn't get paged a single time. It's all been going so well, I now have an irrational fear that something is going to get screwed up soon. Karma always seems to work that way.
We've got a busy week ahead. Lisa's mom is staying until Wednesday morning so that we can go out for Lisa's birthday dinner tonight. Then my brother and his kids, as well as my mom, arrive on Thursday for my cousin's wedding which is Saturday. Of course, there's also the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. It's going to be a crazy week. Good thing I have beer in the fridge.
Curling Season Comes to an End
We had one last game of curling, after a two week layoff, for third place in our Sunday league. We just missed out on playing in the championship game because of tiebreakers. Bummer.
We started this game off with a quick two points, but then immediately gave up three because I missed a shot pretty badly. But in the next end, we put up a huge 5 points on the board and cruised home from there. We had an 8 point lead going into the sixth end, and even though we gave up five points (again, thanks to some bad shots by me), that was all we had time for, and we took third place. The one disappointing thing about yesterday was that it was the last day of curling, which traditionally means "drink all the beer we have left." But the only beer they had left was Budweiser. Ugh, I just couldn't do it. I did get to talk to a guy who goes to Ireland every year and brings back something new for his bar. He's sending me pictures so that I can get more inspiration for my own bar!
I had a lot of fun playing with my team, who played great even though we were missing our fourth player the whole time. I'm definitely looking forward to next year already.
Surprise!
By now, my wife should be on the road back from Michigan, where she and Ellie (and Max) spent the weekend having fun with trains. Ellie's cousin Colin's birthday was all about Thomas the Train, and they had a train ride around the neighborhood, plus Thomas was visiting Greenfield Village. Ellie had a blast, so I'm told.
At any rate, since they are on the road and can't read this, I can reveal what I did this weekend. I installed an over-the-range microwave! And I managed to survive without electrocuting myself (though I did have a moment where I came close). After Lisa and Ellie left Friday morning, I decided to take down the existing range hood to see what was in store for me. I was lazy and decided to try to take it down without turning off the power, which ended up being a mistake. Range hoods are made out of metal, just in case you weren't clear on that. After giving myself a little shock, I pulled the fuse on that circuit and finished the job. It wasn't pretty back there, but I wasn't concerned with beauty at this point.
Later that night, I sat through a two hour rain delay to watch the Nationals take on the Braves. The hardy souls who stuck it out through all the rain were treated to an absolute gem by my man John Patterson, who pitched seven great innings before yielding to the bullpen with one out in the eighth, only to have Mike Stanton blow the game. Stanton actually got the win in one of those "only in baseball" moments, since he recorded the final out in the eighth, and the Nationals took the lead in the bottom of the inning on Alfonso Soriano's third home run of the game. All three were right in front of my seats in left field. Oh, and even with a two hour rain delay that pushed the start back to 9:30pm, beer sales were cut off at 10pm. Just FYI, if you're ever in that situation, stock up on beer before 10.
On Saturday morning, I set out in search of the microwave. HomeDepot.com said they had the one I was looking for, but since their website sucks balls, they don't link it to local store inventory. I check two Home Depots nearby, and neither had the one I wanted. As I was about to leave the second one, I saw a microwave sitting on a counter in a corner. Turned out, it was the last one of the model I was looking for, and it was marked down $100! Sweet! So I got the microwave I wanted for 33% off. Not bad. I returned home and started work.
One requirement of over-the-range microwaves is that the cabinet above it has to be at least 30 inches above the countertop below. Our cabinet was 29.5 inches. So, down came the cabinet, and I trimmed about 2 inches off the top, to give ourselves a little extra room. These are crappy white laminate cabinets, so I didn't care too much how they looked. After putting the cabinet back together and mounting it back up on the wall (as well as putting in a new outlet, with the power turned off this time), it was already about 4pm, and time to get that microwave up. The directions said to make sure at least one lag screw went through a stud, but the holes lined up well enough that I actually got three of four through studs. That thing ain't falling over. The only catch I had was when I had to bolt the microwave to the upper cabinet, and the holes I had drilled didn't line up. Grr. The microwave is NOT light, so I was ticked that I had to lift it again. Second time was a charm though, and I got it up just after 7pm. I rewarded myself with dinner and watching Alias.
On Sunday morning, I found out that our baseball game had been rained out (it ended up being another beautiful day, but the field had to have been soaked from the rain all day Saturday), so I went outside to cut the vent hole for the microwave. There was a hole already there for the range hood, but since everything else moved up 2 inches, so too the vent hole had to move. I ran into a snag here too, as in addition to the metal siding, plywood and insulation, there was a layer of some bizarre tile that was impervious to any blade I took to it. I ended up chiseling it away enough to cut the rest of the hole. Then, naturally, there was a bit of wood just barely out of reach of my jigsaw, and in the way of the vent. I borrowed my neighbor's Sawzall, and that was taken care of as well. The vent isn't the prettiest thing, but it does vent.
It really is amazing what a difference the new microwave makes. We didn't lose any space in the cabinet, and we freed up an entire counter where the old microwave had been. It almost makes the kitchen useable. Hopefully Lisa likes it. We'll see in a few hours.
Make Me Drink again
It's baaack. Next Saturday is my cousin's wedding. I'm expecting there to be an open bar, but since the reception is at a VFW hall (I think), I'm not anticipating a huge selection again. As you will recall, I asked for drink suggestions for a company party a while back, and I ended up drinking a Madras, Alabama Slammer, and White Russian in addition to my usual 7&7. In Vegas, I got plastered, then sick, off Adios, but it was yummy on the way down.
So, who's got other suggestions? You've got a week to think about it, so make it good. Assume there will NOT be any Red Bull in the house.
I'm also considering doing Dial-a-Shot, as inspired by various poker blogger degenerates. Shoot me an email, I'll send you back my cell phone number and the time of the reception. You call at any point during the festivities, and I drink the requested shot. Don't worry, with 3 adults staying at our house for the wedding, plus Lisa, I won't be driving.
Why I Am Not a Christian review
Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects by Bertrand Russell
My review
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
"Why I Am Not a Christian" is a series of essays and speeches by Bertrand Russell, a famous philosopher. Russell's views were controversial in his time (he was famously denied a teaching position at the City College of New York after being railroaded by religious types), and are still controversial. I didn't read all of the pieces in the book, as my attention span just hasn't been in the right spot lately, but I was impressed by some of them, and disappointed in others.
Some of his arguments are outdated, as most of the pieces were written in the first half of the 20th century. But largely, they make sense still today. Religion, in general, has appealed to people for as long as it has because it mainly relies on fear as a motivator, he argues. Fear of death, fear of reprisal for sinning, etc. He makes an interesting case, and it would have been fascinating to hear him debate. The thing that most impressed me though was that he had no belief in any sort of afterlife (logically, he saw no evidence that there was any such thing, based on his knowledge of physiology, and it's hard to disagree), and that he was not scared of it either. That is something that stuck in my head and that I'll be thinking about long after I return the book to the library.
Next up is a lighter non-fiction book that I got for my birthday (from my incredibly thoughtful and wonderful brother whose gift was only a little late): Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton.
How Do I Miss This Stuff?
Sometimes I wonder if I'm paying attention. How did I miss out on the Numa Numa guy? Check out the original video, and all the ones inpired by it. Hilarious stuff.
There Goes My Summer
ABC is working on a project to keep us Lost geeks busy during the summer: The Lost Experience Alternate Reality Game. I heard the producers hinting at it during their last podcast, and this latest info confirms that it is going to suck up a lot of my time this summer. Goodbye sunlight!
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