free time?
Nope.
Well, not totally true. I’ve been busy but also just been lazy. Getting out has been more of a priority when the days have sun. And also another obligation i’ve taken on recently.
The beer has turned out rather well. Gave it out to a few people to try and everyone has liked it so far, even a few asking for another bottle or two or two of it. Its got a smooth taste with a slight citrus and banana undertone. Turned out a bit darker then I had expected with the amber malt I mixed in with it. But its so nice.
Yesterday was Meg’s surprise Bday party. She was a little upset ( :p) with me because she doesn’t like surprises, and she had said ‘I’ve never been tricked before!’ Guess it was a success then.
Have really been to any movies or such lately since Meg and I are trying to save up for a house. And I am still working on finishing Borderlands.
Book:
This isn’t out just yet, but I have a copy of the first self-published version and I would recommend this book. Comes out June 22nd and will be coming to a city near you. He also has many other audiobooks you can download for free.
“The ancestors are out there … you have to believe me.”
Acclaimed author Scott Sigler, New York Times bestselling creator of INFECTED and CONTAGIOUS, offers a chilling tale of what can happen when hubris, greed, and madness drive scientific experimentation past the brink of reason.
Every five minutes, a transplant candidate dies while waiting for a compatible heart, a liver, a kidney. Imagine a technology that could provide those life-saving transplant organs for a nominal fee … and imagine what a company would do to monopolize that technology.
On a remote island in the Canadian Arctic, PJ Colding leads a group of geneticists who have discovered this holy grail of medicine. By reverse-engineering thousands of animal genomes, Colding’s team has dialed back the evolutionary clock and re-created the progenitor of all mammals. The method? Illegal. The result? A computer-engineered living creature, an animal whose organs can be implanted in any person, with no chance of transplant rejection.
There’s just one problem: these ancestors are not the docile herd animals that Colding’s team envisioned. Instead, Colding’s work has given birth to something big, something evil…something very, very hungry.
As creators become prey in an ultimate battle for survival, Colding and the woman he loves must fight to survive — even as government agents close in to shut the project down, and the deep-pocketed company backing this research reveals its own cold-blooded agenda.
yikes!
This update brought to you by Folgers. The Best Part of Wakin’ up.
Not really, but that’s what i’m drinking in any case.
So things seemed to have been picking up lately at work, which is a good thing. It means people are finally starting to spend money again. Which of course will die a bit again when all these new taxes kick in from the regime in Olympia. And lets not even think about the impact this will have on small business. Three friends that have their own small business are now worried because of the hiked B&O tax.
But I digress.
Speaking of work, I’m glad I only have to do on-call 2-3 times a year. Being on-call tires you quite a bit. Not only working your normal hours, but then running trouble calls at night and not getting home until midnight, only to get back up at 5:30 wears on you pretty fast. Meg says I become an ass when i’m overly tired. But then again, she say’s i’m an ass all the time. *shrugs*
Anywho, we’ve gone to Muckleshoot a few times now to play Bingo! and have had fun. Tried my hand at two cards and it was rather difficult considering the caller for some reason felt he needed to speed the games along. Even the people that live in the bingo hall were having trouble keeping up with their normal 4 cards.
Updates:
Movies – None (didn’t have time with on-call and some other things going on lately)
Music – Ever had a song stuck in your head for a day? Try for 5 days straight! Jet City Woman – Queensryche But I’ve been digging on http://www.kingcitysf.com/flash_radio/index.html lately. Loved their music after seeing them in concert with Cake. Its just really fun music and you can tell they have fun playing it! Makes it all the more enjoyable.
Games – Still doing Borderlands
Books – 
Just finished up with with Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Great book and leaves you wanting more. Available in Paperback
an evening out
Meg and I went out with a group of her friends she’s known for a number of years this evening to a place called Teatro ZinZanni, across from Seattle Center. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect as I hadn’t really heard much of it nor been to to many dinner/shows like this.
When we arrived we met everyone and had a drink while waiting to be seated and then were escorted into a huge dining room made to look like a tent with a small center clearing. Sitting at the table, we had a small appetizer waiting and the menu of the dinner.
Its a five course meal with your choice of main dish, I chose the steak of course, Meg, the halibut. And then the fun started. There are acts during and between each course of the entire meal with audience participation. At times, I was laughing rather hard and by the end of the evening, my cheeks were sore from all the smiling and laughing that went on.
The mix of song, dance, comedy and cirque will more than entertain you over the three hour show. The combination of the show with a five course meal is more than worth the ticket price, which I starts at around $100 per person. This does not include drinks, pictures, and a $10 dining service charge. With twelve people, our bill came out to around $600 (and remember, the show had already been paid for).
But if you are looking for a night of fun, laughter, and lasting memories, I highly suggest this little place.
http://dreams.zinzanni.org/
this and that
My weekend, how I need it. Have had a flair up so haven’t been sleeping to well and trying to get through work each day. Hopefully the massage therapy I had today will help out.
Been watching the Olympics the past two weeks and even though they have been real good when you can watch them, I’m very dissapointed with NBC on their coverage. It was almost impossible to go on the net without having some site or other spoiling an outcome since the west coast gets the replay 6+ hours later. What happened to the days where they showed the Olympics all day long? Not this 3-5pm then 8-12. So many missed things I would’ve of liked to have watched.
Then we have the moronic wanna-be politicians in Olympia who basically said to all the residents of this state ‘You people are stupid. You have NO idea what you need, what you want, and what we do. The will of the people doesn’t exist here. So STFU.’ But I won’t get started on that.
Anywho, enough of my bitching.
Movie: Avatar
I had went and seen this Kenny and then again with Meg when I finally convinced her to go. Overall the movie was visually fantastic. There was much left to be desired with the storyline. To me, it seemed like Dancing With Wolves in space. But me, being who I am, will buy it when it comes out.
DVD: 
This is another amazing piece of work from the folks at Pixar. It’s interesting that we have come in our culture to a point when so many recently made animated films teach us more about life than many real-action movies designed for that very purpose do. “Up” is no exception. The jaded cynicism that so many filmmakers refuse to let go of has no place here. Instead we have yet another simple, positive tale that makes the most of “the little things” and by so doing achieves excellence.
I will not talk about what happens, but will tell you the first 10 minutes of the film unfolds with a beautiful story and ends with heartache. After this point, the rest of the movie is cleverly humorous, whimsical, and lots of fun to watch. If you have not seen it, I highly suggest it. And if you plan on getting it for your children, I would suggest watching it with them in case they have questions about certain subjects (nothing bad, just lessons of life).
Video Game: Mass Effect 2
In my opinion, this game was alot better then the original. And the original was damn good.
The combat system has been revamped. Graphics notched up a bit. And storyline a bit more intense.
There are some key places where ME2 trumps ME1, and where they do, they turned a great experience into an excellent experience. Don’t get me wrong, you do not want to miss out on the expierence ME1 provides. The whole Mass Effect experience will be compromised if you play these games out of order, as the ME1 decisions do have a substantial effect on your in game experience, if you do not import your saved character.
My only complaint that I can think about right now is the mining. It does get rather monotonous, having actually dozed off a few times during this. But over all, this game is a must buy!
When cometh the day we lowly ones, Through quiet reflection and great dedication, Master the art of karate, Lo! we shall rise up And then we’ll make the bugger’s eyes water.
Mmmmmm…..
Marshmellows…
Just finished up with a homemade batch and they taste sooooo good. I love cooking and didn’t ever think of making these myself. Thanks to Cali over at GeekBrief.tv for the recipe. If you are of the mind to make some, here is the link. Its a two parter, so make sure you watch both. And she has the recipe in the comments section as well.
Other then that, this week hasn’t been much of anything. Back’s been a little sore and missed my massage therapy appt over the weekend due to the insurance companies idiocy.
Saw Avatar with my buddy Kenny. Visual pr0n. Story was so-so.
And went to The Airlock again Sunday and Weds night. I knew I missed playing Battletech, but never realized how much. And I CAN’T wait until Red Planet shows up again, need some Martian Football!!!
If you love the Mechwarrior series and/or played tabletop Battletech, GO CHECK IT OUT! They have most all the basic mechs and even 400+ variants. This is what you have:
I will be there again this Saturday night with some the Enforcers from PAX. So say hi. And if you go another night, tell UglyMan (the owner) you heard about it from me. I don’t get any kickbacks or such, but its nice to let him know where he’s getting customers from.
“Kerensky’s people have returned. They are the Clans.”
it’s elementary….
Decided to do a few quick reviews of a few things here. I’ve been going over it in my mind for the past week trying to figure out how to do it a bit differently then everyone else out there that does the same thing. So if you have ANY suggestions, please, send them my way.
Movie: Sherlock Holmes
Meg and I went to go see this with her mom and step-dad over the weekend. Having read many of the books when I was younger, I had expected to see a bit more of the investigational side then there was, and therefore have mixed feelings.
The chemistry between Downey and Jude Law was fantastic and Guy Ritchie did a great job as director. The green screen sets were very well done. And as an action lover, this movie, in my opinion, did go over the top with a bit few to many action sequences. The ‘Matrix’y feel to them made them feel a bit cheesy at times. Some of it could of been replaced with the true investigational expertise of Holmes. Hopefully the sequel will have more of that.
Most memorable moment is Holmes sitting on a bed naked with pillow over his crotch, hands cuffed, maid standing there in shock. “Madame, I need you to remain calm and trust me, I’m a professional. Beneath this pillow lies the key to my release.” And the maid runs away screaming.
Overall, the movie is good and fun to watch and is one that I will buy on Blu-Ray when its released.
DVD: District 9 (Blu-Ray)
LOVE Sci-Fi! I watch all I can. Bringing many elements from various movies and combining them into one made this movie an absolute treat to watch. Filmed in a raw documentary style, Neill Blomkamp has delivered what is to become a cult classic. Even though it is truely science fiction, the topics of the movie will make you think beyond the normal alien interaction with racism, greed, oppression and propaganda being abound in this tale and will nag at you.
This is a must have for any sci-fi lover. Available on Blu-Ray and DVD 1 Disc .
Podcast:
I have two which have previously been mentioned, so I will try and keep it brief.
Jake Bible’s Dead Mech. I talked about him in my post on the second and have come to look forward to each upcoming episodes. Jake has announced that he will be releasing an episode every two weeks. So plenty of time to catch up. He also would love comments on what you think of the novel as well, contact info can be found at his site: http://jakebible.com/
This novel is still in the works and started off with just random feed inserts back in 2008 designed to pique your interest. Well it did. And as is all of Scott’s books (in my opinion), is another direct feed into the I.V. line in your arm. Scott has several published books: Infected: A NovelThe Crypt is the nickname for the top-secret Planetary Union warship dubbed the P.U.V. James Keeling. Named after the man who discovered it, The Crypt harbors a crew of 350 inside her strange, alien hull, a crew composed primarily of criminals, screw-ups and the unfortunate victims of those in powerful positions of authority. It is the ship’s 80% mortality rate during a standard two-year stint that earned her the unfortunate nickname of “The Crypt”. A scary story often told to frighten new recruits waiting for their first assignment, many things have been claimed about the legendary nightmare ship. One common belief has survived all of these tales: Once you’re in, the only way out… is to die
, Contagious: A Novel
, and THE ROOKIE (Galactic Football League, Volume 1)
(Buy The Rookie from Dark Overlord Media, Scott’s company).
No game review for now.
