Wednesday, May 30, 2007

My Lonely Summer Begins

The school year is over, and the "space camp season" has officially begun. The Cosmosphere held a cook out to kick it off, and now no one will be hanging out with me until like September. So if you feel the need to chat, call, or visit me at any time, sometime in the next three months would be optimal. There will be a new couch on the 5th with lots of room on it. My TV is reasonably big, and I have lots of movies. Please let me know if you're interested.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Indianapolis 500

For the first time in a long time, I'm living somewhere that I can actually watch the Indy 500 live. I flipped on the TV a couple weeks ago and happened to stumble upon the first day of qualifying, and it was really strange to realize we were in the middle of May and pretty much no one was even talking about the race. Even though I know the race isn't as big a deal as it used to be when I was little and there was only one IndyCar league, there's still at least talk in Indianapolis about it. There's still the 500 Festival. There's still the Mini-Marathon. It's not surprising that none of that gets national press or anything, but it's just odd to not hear anything about any of it for the first time ever.

Regardless, being a lifetime hoosier, I still have a little soft spot for the 500, and it's been kinda fun to watch it. Now they're in the middle of a rain delay, but it looks like they might get to run a few more laps before calling it a day.

It's really too bad that the race isn't that big a deal anymore. It's kinda sad to watch how much they talk about history and tradition; they need something to make it big again. Maybe if Danica Patrick were to win, that would do it. But I doubt it, NASCAR has just taken over racing in the US. The speedway is lucky they got on that bandwagon while they could. Anyway, I'll keep watching it to see what happens.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

You'll Never Believe What Scott Said!

The subject line was just for Jeff...sorry. There was no drama in the couch shopping. In fact it went remarkably well. I believe we have settled on one. We just need to measure to make sure the new couch will fit but I think we'll be purchasing this weekend (mostly because it is on sale).

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Contractor Needed

Currently seeking skilled carpenter with experience in boat making. Large project, requring boat big enough for two of every animal...

A sign of the apocolypse has arrived...Hutchinson is flooding. I know have a lot of respect for a car that (only just two days ago) I was calling a 'little girl car'...my Pontiac Sunfire. Through wind, rain, rain, rain, rain my little car actually got me home. It downpoured today making it close to impossible to get home. I arrived, after only a few detours, just shortly after Scott who I am sure will chronicle his own adventure. I drove through water I should not have, and Mom you had every right to lecture me. I was not getting stuck at work! If it keeps raining, as expected, the next few days should be interesting.

Jared, you and Ryan should consider yourself lucky. You two are among the few guests who will get to see portions of the museum for awhile, at least until the carpet cleaners get in there. Apparently, the area under the Titan rocket (outdoors) flooded and sent water into portions of the Mercury/Gemini gallery. To all you artifiact watchdogs, do not fret, it is just carpet damage.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

400m Games

I've started a new project. It may take me forever to build, but I'm going to start working on a new site with some games on it. I mostly want to keep up with Flash, because I'm not doing as much Flash work in the office as I used to. I think it'll be a good chance to combine a lot of stuff I've learned and put together some cool stuff for people to play with. Once things get moving, I'll start posting some stuff about it so you can check it out. It should - if nothing else - make for some good competition among those of you who participate.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Cubs - White Sox

The White Sox are on the north side this weekend for the first Cubs-Sox series of the season, which always means bad news for the Cubs. However, the Cubs won yesterday 6-3 in a pretty good game, and they are now winning 11-6 in the 8th inning right now. Derrek Lee just hit a pinch-hit grand slam, and I don't have anyone to celebrate with. So I'm celebrating by typing it out. (And messaging any White Sox fans I know about how great their bullpen is.) Go Cubs!

TNT HD

I got up this morning to head over to the bank and run some errands. Katie is back in Iowa for some family graduation stuff, so I'm on my own for today. My friend Jared is going to be in town for a couple of days starting tomorrow, because he's working in Wichita and is going to come up here after that. Anyway, I get home and flip on the TV to make sure I set the DVR to remind me the Cubs are on at 3, and lo and behold, we now have TNT HD. Not having that channel was pretty much the worst thing about being here. I had it in Muncie, and it was probably the channel I watched the most. When nothing else was on, you could count on TNT to be running a Law and Order or Without A Trace, both of which are pretty much universally watchable. Anyway, it's a great moment for me, and I wanted to share.

Also, I do not endorse Katie's potty mouth and I refute any accusations about my language in the comments section. ;)

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Lost

Scott and I are about to watch this week's episode of Lost and as we were watching the 'previously on lost' I was reminded that Jack has turned in to a total douche. I just want the record to reflect that.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Couch Shopping May = Drama

Scott and I have decided on the adventure of couch shopping. I am looking forward to seeing how our tastes match up. I like couches you can sink in to but that will also have at least a slight modern look to it. I also like neutral colors. Hopefully it will go smoothly and I'm sure it will. Scott and I seem to agree on a lot but I know some of you (ahem Jeff) look forward to our little family dramas. So, enjoy the fireworks that may ensue...

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Television

I'd just like to comment on some television, since that's what I've been doing a lot of.

First off, Lost is awesome. It seems like it gets better every week. It's nice to know that it has an end point now, but I can't wait to see the season finale. I can't believe that Ben shot Locke right when I was starting to like him again.

Second, I don't know if any of you watch it or not... but The Unit is a pretty solid show too. It's a good week to week show, but the season finale was last week, and they had a heck of a cliffhanger. It's going to be a long summer waiting to see what comes out of it.

As far as 24 goes, I bailed on it. It was ok, but I totally don't miss it. So I guess that was a good decision. I heard from someone yesterday where the story went, and it sounds a little outrageous anyway.

Also, even though it's been over for a while, Prison Break ended pretty wild. I can't wait to see how all the alliances change and they get these guys out of the Panamanian Prison. Man that place looked scary!

Another wildcard in the whole picture... Planet Earth on Discovery HD Theater. If you don't have HD, Discovery HD Theater is a good enough reason to get it, and Planet Earth is the best use of HD footage in HD history. The BBC took cameras all over the Earth for five years and then spun it into about 11 episodes of nothing but money shots and footage of things "never filmed before." Check it out sometime.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Storm Sirens

We're reporting live from our half-bathroom during a siren filled evening in Hutchinson. The storm is barrelling through central Kansas and heading northeast. The wind is picking up and the rain is coming down.

Actually... the storm is already past. The power never went out. The whole thing was pretty lame. Apparently there was a touchdown somewhere around town, or they wouldn't have set off the sirens. We didn't see much of anything besides a dark cloud or two. So we sat in the bathroom for about 7 minutes getting bored and then came back out and turned everything back on. Good times.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Racing Tomorrow

Tomorrow will be the first race I've run since the Chicago Marathon in October of 2004. Granted, it's only a 4 mile race, and it's only in Hutchinson, but I'm feeling pretty good about it. The bad news is, like all races, I have to get up at like 6:30 tomorrow morning, and it is threatening to rain, but that's the way it goes. I'm still looking forward to getting back on that horse. It's been 80+ lately, so it's probably better to do it in the morning anyway.

I will also be using the Nike+ setup to chart my run. You should all buy in so you can participate in all my challenges and general activity. We are also planning on hitting up a JuCo track meet here in town later in the day. I look forward to reliving all my better days in my head while watching the real kids who can still do it.