I must say, I'm pretty disappointed, and maybe even a little disgusted.

I asked TiVo to record a program for me this evening. A documentary on the History Channel about, I thought, Japanese POW camps in WWII. This is a topic that interests me, as my grandfather was held for several years in Changi and narrowly missed the Bataan Death March. I've heard him tell many stories over the years, but as that side of my my family is wont to do, we take pretty much every traumatic event in our lives and mock it. I was interested to see a more factual side to what he went through.

Unfortunately, I was unaware that this was part of the History Channel's Reign of Terror week. To me, it looks more like a "Rain of Propaganda".

My suspicions were automatically raised when the host announced that he was coming to us from Saddam Hussein's palace. I'd say that he was only on the screen for maybe 5 of the program's 60 minutes, however he made sure to link the words "Saddam", "Hussein", "evil" and, of course, the perennial favourite "Hitler" at least 10 times. I noted that in both the opening and the closing of the program, the host felt the need to state with utmost confidence that taking down Hussein was something that we "had" to do. Then there's the logo for this extravaganza:


Hussein's eyes, Bin Laden's beard, Stalin's hat, Hitler's moustache ... Why bother pretending to be subtle? Just stick a pair of devil horns a picture of Hussein and be done with it.

That wasn't the worse of it, though. As I was watching the documentary (which was moderately interesting, if not exactly about what I was expecting), I began to notice something. The commentary, despite being about World War II prisoners-of-war, seemed to have a bias. That bias being towards -- you guessed it -- Americans. It was Americans who were beaten, it was Americans who were tortured, it was Americans who were starved. As an afterthought, the program saw fit to occasionally mention that the British, Australian and Canadian soldiers also had a rather unpleasant time. But lo, THE AMERICANS!!!

I fast-forwarded through the last 10 minutes or so, only coming back to listen to the host's closing statements, where he further scratched away at the thin, greasy veneer covering the television event and revealed it for what it truly was: a shallow attempt to rationalize the actions of today with the events of yesterday. It sort of capped the whole thing for me, though, and I began to feel quite disgusted. Here I am, watching the History Channel -- the History Channel -- and I'm feeling bombarded with so much "hail the conquering heroes, God Bless America" sentiment that I thought I was watching the "news" again.

Two things about this piss me off. (I tell a lie, many things about this piss me off, but two are specific to the History Channel's crime here.) Firstly, I'm appalled that they thought it was okay to exploit the true horror that these soldiers went through to further justify this country's egomaniacal ends. That it was done with such a narrow view (they weren't really Allies, they were Americans and Everybody Else) adds to my disgust, but that's the fault of the film makers and not necessarily the History Channel.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, when I turn on the History Channel I expect a certain something. It's along the same lines of what I expect to see when I turn on, say, Comedy Central, Animal Planet or Cartoon Network. That is to say that I expect to see that which the channel has chosen as its focus. I don't consider an hour's worth of current pro-American propaganda loosely wrapped in a fifty-year old war to be history. Even those of you who believe with all your heart that war was just and necessary must surely agree that its true repercussions will not be felt and cannot be predicted for several, if not dozens of years. As a result, the current events in Iraq are just that -- current events. They have no place being linked to, let alone compared to, true history. "See how evil German and Japan were back then? By making this loose connection between all easily identifiable badness then and the hazy, obscured, questionable stuff now, we're training you in an almost Pavlovian way to believe that America was right. America is good. America is goooood. Now when we ring this bell, let's see you drool."

Frankly, the realization that even history isn't safe from this disease of blind patriotism disturbs the hell out of me. As the old saying goes, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." If we're casting shadows on the past, we cannot see it clearly, and we're destined to not learn a damned thing.

Listening To:Thunder. Yup, a thunder storm here. Very rare.

Looking Forward To:X-Men: Evolution. At least I know I'll get what I'm expecting when I watch that.

Something else I forgot. In PCC Rock Creek's domestic equivalent of a Quad there's a fountain. It's decent sized, maybe the size of two queen-sized beds, and has a complex waterfall thing in the middle of it. I pass it every day on my way to Math, but never really paid much attention to it before other than a cursory glance. Yesterday however, I noticed that a groundsperson was rather gently fishing around in there with a net. I moved a bit closer, curious, and noticed a metal plaque afixed to the wall. I've seen it several times also, but figured it was a dedication or something so I was never interested enough to read it. I was quite surprised to discover that instead of saying "To the memory of someone you've never heard of before" it read "Please do not feed the fish." along with a note about their sensitive dietary needs.

My ears perked up. Fish? What kind of fish? I peered into the fountain and spied .. Koi! I'm guessing maybe 10 of them, swimming around lazily. There were a couple of large, exotic goldfish as well, but I they're overshadowed by the Koi. I was delighted, I love Koi.

Now I have something to occupy my time before class.

Listening To:Precious Things - Tori Amos

Looking Forward To:Finishing this UNIX homework.

After puzzling over a UNIX problem for the past, oh, two hours or so, I just figured out the answer. I am officially congratulating myself.

In other good news, Mum just today made plans to come up for my birthday. Yay!

Other good stuff over the past few days:

• I watched Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and enjoyed it greatly.
  
• I finished Valkyrie Profile and got the "good" ending. Which was indeed better than the "normal" ending, if a little corny.
  
• I took my first Math test yesterday and think I did really well.
  
• I was able to figure out the algorithms for some semi-complex (to me, anyway) computer science problems and felt like quite a smart cookie.
  
• After a trip to Barnes & Noble I walked away with some books on Roman history and a new version of Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
  
• X-Men 2 is coming! X-Men 2 is coming!

All told, it's been a pretty good week. And it's only Tuesday.

Listening To:Lady Marmalade - Patti Labelle

Looking Forward To:Still gotta go with the new X-Men movie.

Brutus and Persephone were back today. No sign of the ducklings, but I'm hopeful that they're at the pond. Maybe tomorrow we'll head over and see if we can find them. With a loaf of bread in tow, of course.

In other, unrelated news, I think I'm almost done with Valkyrie Profile. Mike currently has me going through Jotundheim Palace for the "normal" ending, and then I'll reload and go for the "good" ending. My jury is out on just how good "good" is, but I will hopefully find out tonight.

Listening To:Jett gnaw on a bone.

Looking Forward To:Finishing the game.

It was confirmed for me yesterday that what I felt on Thursday actually WAS an earthquake. That was a new experience. For better or worse, I spent a large portion of my life growing up in the south. No such thing as an earthquake there. That may have something to do with most of the land being under sea level and the entire region exisiting on stubborn defiance alone. So hurricanes and tornados I'm used to. Earthquakes are a whole new expression of Mother Nature's fury.

Not that it was bad. I think the news said it was something like 3.2, but it was big enough for me to feel it. I was sitting on the couch watching something when the house started to shake a bit. I didn't pay much attention at first, thinking it was just a large truck zooming by outside or something, but the shaking continued long after it should have, and became a bit more intense than just a truck. Not to mention that the entire house felt like it was moving. I stopped and wonderd for a second, and then it occurred to me: I'm on the west coast now. And what are those famous for?

It only lasted a minute, maybe two tops, but was quite interesting indeed.

Last night Mike, Jason and I met up and went to dinner. Pepitas again, as Jason is addicted to their margaritas. After dinner we met back at our place and watched Spartacus. Not a bad movie, I'll have to go into more detail later. However we just couldn't help but constantly make fun of Kurt Douglas's chin cleft. It was like a beast unto itself.

One thing it did do for me is fuel a desire I've had for a while to know more about Roman history. I have a decent foundation, but it's probably one of my favourite periods in history and more knowledge is good. I did a brief search on Amazon, and think I found a few books that I'll pick up. Once I'm doing rereading Harry Potter of course.

Listening To:Konya wa Hurricane - Bubblegum Crisis

Looking Forward To:A good weekend.

I finished watching Tomb Raider earlier today. Whoo, that's one stinker of a movie. Even the (surprising) presense of one Rimmer, Arnold J., couldn't save it. Not that his role was one that the entire movie balanced on. Actually, it was more embarassing that he was associated with it. But anyway, it's watched, so there we are. Now I just have to get the DVD back to the person I borrowed it from. I'm not entirely certain how I'll do that, since I kinda quit that job and all.

I started playing Final Fantasy 8 earlier today. I'm not sure why, but it's Yet Another Unfinished Game on my rather long list. When Mike found out that I'd restarted it, he was a little put out that I've never finished other games that I'm much closer to actually completeing. Not coincidentally, these are also games that are favourites of his. As a result, I've returned to Valkyrie Profile. Amazingly, I actually kinda-sorta remember what I was doing, so I can resume at Chapter 6, rather that begin all over again for the fifth time. Maybe I'll actually complete it this time! Then I'll have to start another game and never finish it, just to maintain my reputation.

Listening To:Illusion - El-Hazard

Looking Forward To:Hopefully getting my 3rd Software Design lab grade tomorrow.

I just got back from exercising. (Exercise evil! Hissss!) So, of course, it makes sense that the first thing we do when we get back is order a pizza. My world is so beautifully twisted.

Listening To:Kiss Kiss - Dance Maniax

Looking Forward To:PIZZA.

I just had an interesting 40 minute AIM coversation (of sorts) with someone I've never heard of before. Throughout the course of this conversation I was apparently all of the following: funny, too much, mean, and Fredrick. Observe this snippit. Name changed to help deter future unsolicited contact.

StrangeGirl574: so what is your real name
Jet Wolf: And I should share that information why..?
StrangeGirl574: because i am your friend
Jet Wolf: If that were the case, then you'd already know the answer to your question, I'd think.
StrangeGirl574: well i don't know the answer
Jet Wolf: There we are then. :)
StrangeGirl574: why are you beening so mean
Jet Wolf: How was I mean?
StrangeGirl574: you keep playing games
Jet Wolf: How so?
StrangeGirl574: i dunno
Jet Wolf: I can't be that mean then. :)

Unfortunately this little interlude distracted me from a new X-Men: Evolution. Thankfully there is always TiVo.

....strike that, she just wrote me back and told me that it's past my bed time. Now she's starting to get irritating. I think I shall have some fun.

Just before leaving for class today, while I was taking Jett out, I discovered why one of the local mallard couples has been hiding out in the area right behind our apartment lately. It appears that Brutus and Persephone (as randomly named by me) have parented a rather adorable group of ducklings. I managed to count at least seven as they waddled away in terror from the evil, panting thing at the end of my leash.

We just bought a new loaf of bread. Maybe I can lure them back tomorrow.

Listening To:Ya Sashla Suma - TATU

Looking Forward To:Relaxing day tomorrow.

I woke up this morning at around 8am. In my head, stuck on endless loop, was the song that they play in the commercial for the GBA Hamtaro game. Have you seen this? If not then you probably can't quite understand, but if you have seen it, then you realize how this is emotionally disturbing.

I then woke up at 10am. IT WAS STILL PLAYING. Even now the song is running through my head. I'm to the point where I'm contemplating shoving a pencil in my ear to redirect the pain. I'm wondering what the hell this karmic backlash is for.

Listening To:AAAAAHHHH!!!!

Looking Forward To:Something else. ANYTHING but THIS!

Today's Easter. I forgot. Oops. Well, not really "oops". I don't celebrate it. It serves no practical purpose in my life, save a way to promote bunnies and eat chocolate. Still, it threw me for a loop that I completely, utterly and totally forgot about it. Not once, but three times throughout the course of the weekend.

I know what I need. More chocolate. That'll help. Chocolate helps everything.

Listening To:Girls - Beastie Boys

Looking Forward To:I'm not sure. Something, but I don't know what exactly.

Oo. I just had a screenplay idea. While folding laundry, no less. That's completely irrelevant to the idea, but still. Oo. <scribbling in notebook>

We did decide to go see Phone Booth after picking Mike up from work yesterday. Excellent movie, go see it. I shall do a review soon. They also had an extra-length preview for X-Men 2. By the gods, I'm looking forward to that movie. I think I'm going to try to make it on opening night. They're already selling tickets for it.

Today we were, as stated earlier, going to hit the comic store and all that good stuff, but didn't. Darn us all to heck for being so lazy. Instead we're alternating between DVDs (we're half-way through Richard Pryor Live at the moment) and bouts of Dynasty Warriors 4. I'm playing as Liu Bei at the moment. Much ass, I am kicking.

The CD that I got for Mike on eBay came in today. I picked him up a copy of Dance Maniax. Unfortunately it wasn't the Second Mix, which is the one that we play at Funland. Grr. That's what I get for trying to do something nice and spontaneous. At least I was able to find the right one for cheap. I love eBay. Addictive little sucker, but so very neat.

Listening To:Nothing much at the moment. Must return downstairs.

Looking Forward To:Getting my homework done tonight so I can squander tomorrow without guilt.

I've turned myself off on world events again. I haven't watched the news in weeks, and completely tune out whenever anybody starts talking about something. I haven't even been really watching The Daily Show lately either, since it just reminds me how very, very much I hate this world that we're all trapped in.

Instead, I've returned to an old safe haven: comic books. Since moving from Louisiana, I haven't really been into them. Not that I don't like them as much as I did, far from it. But I'm exceedingly lazy and an excellent procrastinator, so I just never got around to setting up and account. Plus the timing always sucked. Last time I was about to do it, I got laid off, so you can imagine that buying weekly books was the last thing on my mind. But finding X-Men: Evolution and actually watching Justice League (which comes on before XM:E) reminded me how much I love these things. Particularly in this day and age.

That's what I want to be when I grow up. A super-hero who, along with all my super-hero friends, have the power to fix this broken world.

So, this Saturday we are off to Things From Another World to finally turn in that list that we've had on-hand for over four months and start picking up my books regular-like. I wonder if I'm ever going to actually catch up on the Legion at this point? It's a pisser to finally untangle the mess that is that team's history (a task that took me a good year or two) only to completely lose track of it due to a new book being published while you're on hiatus.

I'm also considering going to the movies this weekend (matinee, of course) and catching Telephone Booth. The plot seems extremely interesting, plus Keifer Sutherland is in it. Well, his voice anyway. And what a voice that is. Mm. Keifer.

Listening To:Bring Me to Life - Evanescence

Looking Forward To:Reading beyond what I have of Ultimate X-Men. That's a damned good book.

My brain is being rewired, I think. 1+1 will never again equal 2. Oh no. 1+1=10. Always and forever.

Listening To:I Need a Hero - Bonnie Tyler

Looking Forward To:Getting this CS homework done.

Typically I avoid these things, but as Matt ordered me to take it, I find myself compelled to obey. I just got up, my mind is still asleep.


Fun at the Titty Twister.


Which B-Movie Badass Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
I have no idea what movie this is from, and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be happy about being George Clooney, but there we are. My quizzing duty is done. For now.

Listening To:Heartbreaker - Pat Benetar

Looking Forward To:Not sure. Not awake enough yet.

Looking around my desk area, it occurred to me that I'm becoming something of a paper horder. I've never been keen on throwing anything away, but it's getting to the point where I actually have important documents (warrenties, receipts, tax stuff) just lying around in a variety of nooks and crannies. I've been lucky thus far and have pretty much always been able to find what I'm looking for, although I do sometimes have to search for an hour to find it. But with school now in session and me obsessively keeping every single sheet that I receive, I think that it might behoove me to get a filing cabinet. I'm not entirely certain where we'll put it, but I think we need it regardless.

Anybody know where I can get one relatively cheap?

Listening To:Da Da Da - Trio

Looking Forward To:Kicking some Aztec-y ass. In Civ3, of course.

It's been a few days. I'm feeling better now.

After my last entry, Mike and I were commandeered back into socialness by Jason. The three of us went to Pepitas for dinner followed by hanging out at McMenamins. That didn't last too long, since Mike had to be home by 9pm for work the next morning, but it was ultimately good to break me out of the mood that day put me in.

Friday was relaxed. When Mike got home, we caught up on a bit of TiVo and watched Die Hard (which I enjoyed). Saturday morning/afternoon was largely spent with me deeply engrossed in another game of Civ3. That night Jason, Mike and I met up with Kristin for dinner at Pasta Veloche (mm, nummy pizza). We were hoping that Candace would be able to join us, but she had other plans for that night, so we only got to see her for about 20 minutes. After dinner, we went to Ringo's for drinks and pool, where Jeannine joined us. It was great seeing them all again -- I hadn't seen them since DTVBB kicked us out on our asses.

We spent the majority of the night playing darts. Since we all pretty much suck and were a little intoxicated, it was great fun. I was convinced to try a new drink, quite different from my usual rum and Diet Coke. It is called a "red haired slut". Nice name. It's mix of Jägermeister, peach schnapps and cranberry juice. It was surprisingly good.

I finally got to bed that night around 3am, and spent most of Sunday kicking back and enjoying the rest of the weekend with Mike. Although mixed in with that fun was a study break to review some Computer Science stuff that I didn't quite grasp. With Mike's help, I have obtained comprehension. Understanding is good.

X-Men: Evolution is on. Rogue features. I go now.

Listening To:Lain Theme - Duvet

Looking Forward To:More Netflix rentals.

Not having a good day. Not that anything major has happened, but it's been full of plenty of little irritations that have added up to unpleasantness.

I got tired last night and went to bed at about 1.30am. This is the earliest I've been in bed in about a week, so I was looking forward to some good rest. When I was woken up at about 5.30am by Mike going to work, I was in that "I'm only barely awake" state of mind, which means instant bad mood. I soon passed out again, next waking up around 9am. I had a pounding headache, and just couldn't seem to find the energy to get up, so I dozed fitfully for an hour and eventually decided that I just wasn't going to feel any better by lying there. I got up and discovered something which may have led to my headache -- they were laying down new carpet in the apartment next door. But it wasn't just putting the carpet on the floor. Oh no. It apparently required constant beating to get the carpet to lie there in submission. I'd guess that this had been going on for a couple of hours. I'm guessing that because it went on for at least another four when I got up.

Dazed and pained, I threw on my shoes and coat to take Jett out. I opened the door and she dashed out, only to be confronted with a small asian child sitting happily on a roll of carpet outside the door. Jett, being the people person she is, tore back inside, nearly taking my hand off in the process. I was unable to coax her to go outside, so I had the idea of a "present" being discovered inside to look forward to. (She was actually a good girl and held it until they had all gone, but I was sure this wouldn't be the case this morning.) To make it even better, she was terrified of the constant banging. Her incessant whining made for a wonderful companion to the pounding on the walls and in my head.

I settled down to do some of my classwork. After almost an hour of reading the same bit of text over and over without a drop of comprehension, I gave up in frustration and decided to get some lunch.

We're out of bread. So no sandwich. We have no frozen dinners that I can nuke. No soup. I could have a tin of green beans, but wasn't much in the mood for that scrumptious meal. Ahh, but I do have a store of mac and cheese. That would hit the spot nicely. 10 minutes later, I went to the refrigerator to get the milk for the mix ... To discover Mike had used the last of it this morning for his cereal. Many swear words later, I found a box of soy milk at the back of the fridge. (I don't think that stuff ever goes bad.)

I took two bites when the phone rang. This initially added to my anger, but it turns out that it was my mother, so I was actually pleased to take the call. (She hadn't called for 10 days or so, and I was getting concerned since she's still overseas.) Done with her, I finished my lunch while watching Law & Order.

Which brings us to now. I'm still highly irritated, and my head just won't stop hurting, although the carpet bangers have thankfully left. I have homework to do that I can't focus on and groceries to buy that I don't feel like getting.

Bleah.

Listening To:Kodoku no Angel - Bubblegum Crisis

Looking Forward To:Head stop hurting? Please?

I'm so glad that I found X-Men: Evolution on Cartoon Network. I started to watch the show during its first season while I was still in Louisiana, but never did see all of the episodes and when we moved, WB wasn't included in our channel line-up. As I was also reduced to dial-up instead of my precious broadband, I couldn't even download the episodes I was missing. I basically gave up on watching the show, and had to hope they would release the series on DVD someday.

But now it's on Cartoon Network, I'm able to watch it all, from the very beginning. Last night I even got to see Rogue's first episode, and as everyone knows (or should know) Rogue is the best gosh darned character in every incarnation. Evolution is no different. My girl just kicks ass.

I digress. Simply put, I am loving every single second of seeing Evolution again. Damn, but I love this show. It almost makes me want to go back to reading the comic book again ... Or at least getting my collection shipped up here so I can re-re-re-read the good stuff.

Listening To:Rain. Lots o' rain.

Looking Forward To:10.30pm. Bless you, Cartoon Network. Bless you.

Last night I was up until 6am(!!) playing Civ3. I don't think there's a more addictive game in this whole wide world. But after a particularly violent period of my clan's history (the first and only, actually), something struck me which I felt I must share.

I was playing as India. Not my first choice, typically, but when you click on "Quick Game" you take what you get. I was playing against China, Japan and Egypt. We all managed to get up to the 1970s without a single battle. Considering that we were all on the same land mass and Japan was being an arrogant ass early on, that's pretty impressive. My clan was busily building everything humanly possible. I've never won a cultural victory, so every time I play, that's what I try for. Plus, I love it when cities overthrow their own government and beg to join mine.

But then, it happened. I exhausted my only supply of oil. I usually maintain iron-fisted control over the strategic resources, and my empire was so large that I felt sure we'd find another supply. But alas, no. However there was one tempting deposit just over the border in Egypt. It was their only one, and I knew there was no way they would trade me for it. However Egypt was a pathetic little grouping of only five cities, and they were sandwiched uncomfortably between myself and Japan. So I tried to demand the city. Not surprisingly, Egypt told me to fuck off (in so many words), so I did the only thing left that I COULD do -- I attacked. My people screamed in protest and civil unrest ran rampant, but I ignored their pleas and pressed the attack until I had brutally wiped them off the face of the earth.

As I was quelling resistance and soothing my war-weary populace, an uncanny parallel occurred to me.

I, a country dependant upon but deficient in oil, focused on a fellow nation who was rich with it. Pre-assuming that diplomacy would be fruitless, I demanded that the nation's leadership leave the city immediately and relinquish it to my control. They refused, so I, who anticipated that they would do so and had already moved the bulk of my forces to their border, declared war and invaded their country. I suffered more losses than anticipated, as the Egyptians put up a bit of a fight, but the outcome was pretty much pre-determined and in the end I was wallowing happily in sweet, sweet oil.

Life immitates art? Never.

Listening To:A Sorta Fairytale - Tori Amos

Looking Forward To:Finding out what I got on my UNIX lab.

40/40 on my first Software Design lab. BOO-YA.

Time to reward myself with either some quality Civ3 or MUD time.

Listening To:Are We in Love Yet? - Shakespear's Sister

Looking Forward To:Finishing up Ran when Mike gets home tomorrow.

Okay, now I'm debt-free. I just wrote out the checks to pay off the government for the money that they claim I still owe them. Asses. I'm not sure if I've ranted about this or not, but if I have ... Well, you get to hear it again.

Mike and I made no small amount of money in 2002, I conceed that. But they were taking out over 25% in taxes every single check. Now that's a fairly substantial amount to lose. Between the two of us, half of what we made every week went to the government. It should be no surprise that when I discovered we still owed them a little over $2000, I about hit the roof.

I understand the purpose of taxes, and I even support the principle. However it seems utter ridiculous to take half of what the household brings in and then demand more, while simultaneously telling me that I don't qualify for financial aid, failing to provide me with health care, and managing to dick me out of the full unemployment benefits I was entitled to while I was collecting them. Essentially, my extra $2000 is going into the pockets of the obscenely wealthy by way of tax cuts for them, or possibly another bomb to drop on a pretend threat. Oh yeah. Feelin' real good about the government.

Listening To:Jett growling at the Lawnmower Man.

Looking Forward To:Getting ready for class in the 15 minutes I've left myself.

I told you guys something big was going on, and I've just now taken the final step into making it a reality. As of Wednesday, 9 April, I will be 100% debt-free. Thanks to the generous natures of my mother and grandfather, I am finally able not owe nothin' to nobody.

I haven't been debt-free since I was seventeen and got my first credit card. Then about three and a half years ago I entered into one of those debt consolidation programs. It's been working well, and certainly did an excellent job of breaking me out of the cycle of credit card usage, but I still had a ways to go. But no longer. I'm now free and clear. It's a wonderful feeling.

Listening To:It's the End Of The World As We Know It - R.E.M.

Looking Forward To:Going on a huge shopping spree and charging things I don't need and can't afford! Just kidding.

I'm about to make attempt #2 at finding a UPS drop-off location. I would really like to get this replacement video card returned to Voodoo before they decide to charge me another $400.

I also need to take care of something extremely exciting. Something of a turning point for me. More details once everything is set in motion.

Listening To:Us and Them - Pink Floyd

Looking Forward To:Saturday. Stuff's going on.

In somewhat sad news, particularly those of you reading this who are DTVBB veterans, Pending (the snail) was found dead last night. This was something of a sad event, as you might imagine -- the death of any pet often is, but it's even sadder when you think that you might have been the direct cause.

We went to PetSmart today to purchase another snail (creatively named "Pending" also -- gotta keep the trend going, there must always be a Denied and Pending), and in doing so we started talking with the aquatics expert. It came out that our water temperature is likely way, way too low. Especially for Pending, but also for Denied. I really should have done more research on that. But better late than never, I suppose.

So along with Pending II and new snail and fish food, we also picked up a thermometer and water heater. The water was at least 65°. Possibly colder, but the thermometer didn't go lower than that. The ideal temperature for these guys is between 75° and 80°. Yeah, so. Not good.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that both are now basking happily in 77° water. Much yayness. I sincerely hope that this pairing has a longer life span. It'll be a while before I completely forgive myself, but I hope to do right from here on out.

I'm currently attending my first online chat for a class. Since the conversation is moving as you might imagine for 13 students of varying backgrounds and one professor, I can multi-task with ease. I'm loving this, all classes should be done this way.

My final bit of news for the day, my first Netflix shipment arrived. The local distribution branch is just in Salem, so it looks like I can expect most things to arrive within about 24 hours. This is good, as I now have over 50 movies in my queue.

Listening To:The chat conversations. We'll pretend that's listening.

Looking Forward To:Getting my UNIX logon after this chat is over so I can finish all my homework for this class.

One last thing. Realizing just how bloody cold it felt in the computer room, I maximized Weatherbug. Remember how I was saying the other day that the high was 73°? Check this out:



And then I wonder why I get sick.

I just finished watching Breakfast at Tiffany's, which TiVo so thoughtfully recorded for me several weeks ago. The movie wasn't too bad, although it was quite evident that it was from the 60s in more than one spot. This was particularly evident in Mickey Rooney's painful and disturbing stereotypical portrayal of the easily-irritated Japanese neighbor. Complete with tanning makeup, terrible accent and obviously false buck teeth. Unless it was aiming to be as non-politically correct as possible, such a broad caricature would never make it into today's movies. Seeing it reminded me of two things: One: things were so much simpler and innocent back then, and two: simpler and innocent aren't always preferential things. This sentiment is also echoed in George Peppard's dramatic declaration of "I love you! You belong to me!" at the story's climax.

It was also quite entertaining to watch just how many times the movie's characters littered. Seriously, apart from Audrey Hepburn discarding an empty coffee cup into the trash during the opening sequence, absolutely every other bit of unwanted material was tossed to the ground without pause or hesitation.

The idiosyncracies actually added to my overall enjoyment of the movie, despite my wrestling with an innate desire to age George Peppard by about 25 years and call him Hannibal. I particularly enjoyed Audrey Hepburn, who I've never seen in anything before. As a result, I'm unsure if she's as good in other movies, but I thoroughly enjoyed her performance in this one so I may actually have to devote some Netflix time into trying out some of her other stuff.

Listening To:Nothing. It's 1am and I think the entire world (except for me) is asleep.

Looking Forward To:Bed.

One massive Software Design assignment down, Computer Science left to go. And the rest of my UNIX assignment, but I need a log in to the UNIX server first. I'm going to head to the computer resource center today and bother the staff. Should be a hoot.

Listening To:Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen.

Looking Forward To:Finishing all of my homework either tonight or tomorrow.

Today was a mixture of ups and downs.

• Down. I didn't sleep too well, what with the very loud, very chirpy bird right outside of my window. I got maybe four hours total.
  
  
• Up. When I finally gave up and decided to get up, I saw a woodpecker, right outside my window, actually pecking wood. Apart from Woody in the cartoons, I've never seen a woodpecker in action before.
  
  
• Up. I got a large chunk of my homework done today.
  
  
• Down. It took me longer than I thought it would, so I didn't get it all done.
  
  
• Up. I fixed the network.
  
  
• Down. The bloody thing just decided to reset a few settings at random. It took me a good 30 minutes to figure that out.
  
  
• Up. I signed up for Netflix after many months of considering it.
  
  
• Down. So ... Many ... Movies!!

This new Netflix venture has led to yet another thing I can throw on my sidebar, so that's what I'm going to do. It just wasn't busy enough. I'm considering doing reviews of some/most/all of the DVDs that I watch and linking to those reviews rather than the IMDB. It's cheaper than going to the theatre, and it seems like every time I go, there's nothing that I really want see.

DVDs are good.

Listening To:The voices in my head telling me to go to sleep and stop queuing up a gillion movies.

Looking Forward To:School tomorrow. Yes, still.

I just took my first quiz, online, for Introduction to UNIX. 15 out of 15. 100%, baby. Awww yeah, who's your daddy?

Listening To:My printer. I finally got a replacement ribbon. It only took me 18 months.

Looking Forward To:Sleep. It's 3:38 in the freaking morning, after all.