Morte de Mortimer

My pet has met its timely end. Checked the trap this morning and was greeted to one demised mouse.

Here is an establishing shot to give you an idea of the area we're talking about. Look closely in the circle and you can see a little tail and leg.

On closer inspection, the trap was flipped over and you could only see part of poor Mortimer hanging out.

I didn't want to disappoint my viewing public, so I did flip the trap over so you could see those innocent little, dead eyes.

Okay, I should warn you that the two hypertext links take you to images of a dead mouse. Consider yourself warned if such a thing makes you sick or something.

The Uzzman returneth

Uzz, who I mentioned in an earlier post was down, is back up again at a new URL.

Go and check him out at: http://uzzman.typepad.com/

He is also updated on my blogroll.

I have a pet

So, I'm typing here not more than 15 minutes ago -- tyyping a response to WunderKraut, in fact -- when I hear an odd noise. A sound not unlike the noise your monitor makes when you turn it on, a slight rustling noise. I'm thinking, "Oh crap. Here goes my monitor."

A couple of more minutes of typing and out of the corner of my eye, I think I see something dart by my keyboard. I back my chair away slowly and get down to look under my monitor. Low and behold, there's a cute little mouse underneath the warm monitor, with the ravages of Halloween candy strewn about.

Next to my desk, on a supply table, we had a small candy bin with leftover Halloween candy it in. Well, young mouse purloined several pieces and decided that underneath my monitor was a great spot to eat them.



Here you can see his leavings. Although I have nothing personal against Mortimer, I had to clean up the mess and call the base exterminator. We'll see tomorrow which is smarter, mouse or trap.

Oh, to add more humor to this, the damn mouse was under my monitor for quite some time as I sat here and typed -- after I discovered it. It didn't run away until I took the picture and the flash fired.

UPDATE: The A/O has been cleaned and a trap is now back behind my monitor. Mortimer has made a couple of more appearances -- poking his head out and dashing across my desk to find his stash gone. I'm sure it was heartbreaking for the little guy.

Mopey Monday

Man, I hate going back to work after a holiday weekend. I especially hate it when said weekend wasn't all that relaxing.

We had family staying with us for Thanksgiving. My brother-in-law, his wife and three kids. I don't want to give the wrong impression here, so I'll start by saying that I love my brother-in-law and his family. I think they're great and loving people. However, cramming my family plus theirs into my apartment is in no way a good thing.

A day, maybe two, is bearable. Three-plus was difficult. I don't handle lots of people in enlosed spaces very well, so it's trying. I also realize that being around me during these times can be difficult. I let my discomfort be known -- to other people's discomfort.

But, hey, it's over. We had some good times going out and doing some things I wouldn't have normally done -- homebody that I am.

One big holiday down, one big holiday to go.

Uzz is on the fritz

One of my daily stops: View to an Uzz is currently down (clicking on the link will show you an error message). I've contacted Uzz and have been informed that he has somehow exceeded his traffic for the month.

All is well, and I'll keep you informed if any new developments arise.

Thursday Wednesday Travelogue: The Trip I Never Took

I have no doubt that I'll be out of the net all day tomorrow, so I'm running my Travelogue a day early.

So tell me if any of you have ever wondered this: At what point did I finally start understanding the world around me? By that question, I mean, at what point did I stop getting silly notions in my mind that were inescapably true to me and start realizing cold reality?

This event from my past has me thinking about it.

I grew up an Air Force brat, moving all around States. The one thing I never got to do, as an Air Force dependent, was travel anywhere overseas. I had friends who did. I knew a wealth of people who Germany, England, and one person who'd been to the elusive station -- in Australia!

I met this person when we were stationed in Colorado Springs at Peterson AFB. I was in sixth grade and we were getting close to the time that we moved again. To me, the idea of moving had always been a good thing. New places, new people, new things to do -- I always enjoyed going to new places. Somehow Australia, the idea having been planted in my mind by that one person, seemed more exotic than any other place we could go. More unknown or strange or something. This was before Crocodile Dundee, so it wasn't that. I'm not sure why I latched on to the idea, but it became a passion, an obsession.

I went as far as asking my dad if it was possible for us to get stationed there. He made the mistake of telling me yes. From that point it was solved in my mind -- we were going to Australia. No ifs, ands or buts. I had deemed it so!

Here's the part that makes me wonder -- why didn't I have any nagging doubts about the possibility of going elsewhere? Why didn't I understand that we were, in all likelyhood going somewhere else? I think I wanted to believe it so much that I simply shut out any other possibilities. I'm serious about this -- going to Australia was like a mantra to me. I would talk about it all the time. Our classroom had a huge world map on it and I would spend unhealthy amounts of time looking at that damn island continent.

So, in the end, we moved to Mississippi. Biloxi. It didn't sound as exotic as Australia. It wasn't foreign. But I got over it. However, Australia, the idea of it has always held some fascination to me and I would love to go sometime. Hopefully, someday, I'll be able to take the family. And I'm sure I'll complain about it the entire time.

What I'm wondering, is when did I lose this ... innocence, I guess it is? Was the transition subtle or sudden? I don't remember. I can look back and clearly see this young kid blindly enamored with ideas, and I can look not quite so far back and see a cynical pre-teen.

I miss being so enamored with ideas, but I don't miss being that blind to the world around me.

A Tuesday Funny

Top 11 worst sci-fi jobs. I've done #11 on a voluntary basis.

11. Vogon Poetry Focus Group Member
10. Borg Rebel
9. Alien Invasion Cleanup Crew
8. Klingon Personal Injury Lawyer
7. Alien Surrogate/Host Parent
6. Telephone Sanitizer
5. Thunderdome "Foam Finger" Vendor
4. Terminator Test Target
3. Matter Transporter Guinea Pig
2. Blue Pill Tester
1. Jar-Jar's Speech Therapist

Visit the Top 11 index for more funny lists.

Everything old is new again

Bob Hope speaks the truth.

w/t to Ken.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: A quick review

Just got back from the cinema seeing the new Harry Potter. Must say that I was quite impressed. AND, most shockingly, I didn't know that David Tenant was in it. Great surprise that.

Overall, my feelings are that this was the best Potter adaptation to date. Not the closest to the book, mind you. In fact, there were some wild adaptations and some things that were left out -- including a major character! But the movie succeeded in ways that Prisoner of Azkaban did not.

While PoA cut things and changed things for pace, the whole movie seemed ... rushed. It just felt like it was going along at lightening speed and never gave you a moment to chill into the flick. It was good, but just not up to par with the other films. This movie, however, while cutting out quite a bit of stuff, still has a huge amount of ground to cover and does it without feeling rushed. The pace of the movie is good and although it is a two-and-a-half-hour movie, it's a solid two-and-a-half hours. There are some artisitic cutaways, maybe not integral to the plot, but needed. There are some fantastic segues.

All in all, highly recommended.

Because I'm All About the Guitar Pt. 7: John Petrucci

I simply cannot say enough about John Petrucci. He is one of my favorite (if not THE favorite) guitarists. His compositions are complex, his knowledge is immense, his technique is amazingly clean and he is a chameleon of style. You name it, he can play it -- sometimes within the same song.

Dream Theater is packed with amazing musicians who are all at the top of their field, but JP really signifies to me someone who is a consumate professional. I simply cannot plug his stuff enough. If you have never heard Dream Theater, you should first slap yourself. Then you should take the most expedient course possible to acquire some of their stuff. Even if it's not your bag, you cannot deny the amazing levels of virtuosity in their music.

Also available is the G3 Live in Tokyo performance that Petrucci did with Satriani and Vai earlier this year. I have not heard it yet, but I shall soon. Visit his website for more info.

Superhero or Super Cleaner?

This is a cool little quiz.

My results:
You scored 16 out of 20.
Excellent job. I dub thee Captain Cleanser.

I am a super geek.

The message bears repeating

Got this link from the good folks at Coalition of the Swilling.

A Patton-esque message to those who are balking on the War on Terror.

WARNING: There are some pretty intense images (Al-Qaeda video of atrocities) in this Flash video.

Actor of the day: Dean Cameron

Thanks to the wonderful retroCRUSH, I have been reintroduced to the wonderful Dean Cameron. A man who proves that there's a great degree of right place/right time to Hollywood. This guy's so funny and all of his "B" movies are wonderful. Check out Summer School (which they are remaking, proving, in Dean's words that "Hollywood has no ideas left") or Ski School. He's always funny and is the kind of actor that should have been cast in lots of things.

I can think of a few actors who owe him a thing or two. The Wilson brothers (Owen and Luke, that is) seem to borrow a lot of style from him. Jason Swartzman too. He just has such a cool presence.

He's also responsible for this site's new title quote. Check out his interview at retroCRUSH or his homepage. Well worth your time.

I wish I was a better friend

I'm supposed to be writing a travel piece for Thursday, but I don't have anything prepared. With the holidays and holiday things upon us, I'm probably not going to have a lot of time to prepare too much. I might have a travel piece up next week or the week after. But I can't say that with any confidence. Time sucks. Oh, I also didn't really want to write one today, I have other things on my mind.

Last night was hectic. We're having a potluck luncheon thingy in my building at work today. So I was busy getting dinner ready and making a broccoli cashew salad for the event today. An aside: It's a great recipe but the cost and the preparation time is prohibitive. I shan't be taking this dish to any more food events.

So, as I'm busily chopping broccoli, I get a phone call. I should preface this by saying that I'd gotten about 6 phone calls already within the span of an hour and a half or so. My wife does lots of church stuff and her sister calls often. I fielded each call in turn, progressively getting a tad more upset as every time I get ready to do something else the demon phone rings. I was just getting into chopping up some bacon and the phone rings again. DAMMIT!

Wiping off bacon-greased hands, I grab the phone expecting another "Hello is [my wife] there?" but instead get "Hello, Cullen?" Floored me. Unexpected. One of my oldest friends, currently living in the great state of Misery is on the line.

Of course we get the whole "catching up" taken care of, but more importantly I got to reconnect to a pal. At a time that I've been feeling the need to do so. See, I'm a cyclic contact person. My old friends and I go through periods of extreme contact where there will be tons of email and phone messages. We'll plan and plot and create and have fun. This lasts a year or so. And then nothing. Contact doesn't really taper off as much as just ends. Sometimes I initiate the re-connect. Sometimes he. It's odd. What's more odd is that I'm like this with all of my old friends that I am still in contact with.

But to continue ... I wish that I was better in staying in contact with my buds on a more constant basis. I do not phone. I refuse to own a cell phone for a variety of reasons, but that hampers modern-day contact. And at home (given the example stated above) you can tell I'm not a big phone person, regardless of how much I might actually enjoy the conversation (don't take that as a cue not to call me, people who call me. I do appreciate it, I just expect it to be one of the multitude calling for the missus).

What's really cool about it though is that it's nice to know there are people outside of your normal sphere on contact that think about you. There will be more on this in the future, I can assure you. We act as creative inspirations for one another and tend to produce some neat ideas. Hopefully we can actually get something tangible out some day. We'll see.

One man anti-terror task force

It took a genius liks Kim Jong Il's son Kim Jong Chol to make us realize the obvious: If you really want to get rid of terror, you should use the most terrifying force on the planet -- Jean Claude Van Damme!



According to Chol: "I'd not allow weapons or atom bombs any more. I'd destroy all terrorists with the Hollywood star Jean-Claude Van Damme."

And to think we were worried what about the stability of North Korea. How could our gov't have neglected the Van Damme factor? Dumb Asses!

EDIT: It was deemed TOO offensive. Darn it.

Another quiz

Busy-ness is running me down. So, I'm probably going to just be posting quizzes or other fun stuff for the next day or two.

Check out the Where Have I Seen That Guy quiz.

I scored 6, Minion of Media Mastery: Serious student of useless knowledge but there's room for improvement.

Because I'm All About the Guitar Pt. 6: Chingon

Yes, yes, it's late. It was supposed to be posted last Friday. Well, Vet's Day and other things crept all up on me and kind of sapped my blogging time from me. So, here's the delayed BIAAtG post; this week I focus on Hispanic-American director/musician Robert Rodriguez's band, Chingon.

Chingon was formed by Robert Rodriguez so he would have a ready resource for soundtrack work in his movies. He sold his band to Quentin Tarantino by offering to do the soundtrack to Kill Bill Vol. 2 for free. Those who have seen the movie can attest to the fact that the soundtrack both fits and helps set the mood for the movie.

I first became aware of the band because of the KBV2 DVD where, in the special features, Chingon performs a couple of tunes. I was so amazed at what was there that I immediately jumped on the Web to track 'em down and pre-ordered the CD. Now, that's been a while. Probably about a year, but I'm probably only now really beginning to appreciate them. Not that I didn't like them, but I guess I just never gave them the critical listen they deserved. My recent listening has involved a good bit of Reverend Horton Heat and I guess that has kind of primed me for Chingon.

Their music is definitely fueled by Latin influences, but there is a good bit of rockabilly overtones there. Admittedly, my favorite tracks are the faster-paced rockin' numbers where the musicians really get to showcase their talents (who knew Rodriguez could play this well?), but the slow numbers are good also (featuring a number with Salma Hayek on vox). If you visit their website, you can get a taste of their sound.

I am particularly fond of the Latin-style guitar runs; the scales sound excellent within a rockabilly foundation and the fretboard dexterity showcased by Rodriguez and the other guitarists is amazing. It's like listening to Santana in that it's Latin flavored and has a high-caliber of musicianship, but there are differences. Chief among them is that Chingon's music is fun. You can hear it in their licks and feel it in the upbeat. This band isn't any of these guy's main job and this is a way for them to have a good time, and you can tell. Give 'em a listen!

BTW, nothing to do with Chingon the band, but when I Googled to find some pix for this piece, this photo popped up. I thought it was too funny, so I needed to include it. Chingon means badass in Spanish, so I guess this makes sense.

Conservative humor

CosmicConservative has a very funny post up Lefty Moonbats and the Holy Grail.

I don't want to give too much away, but I love this bit:

MCCAIN: Tell me, what do you do with liars?
REID: Impeach!
CROWD: Impeach, Impeach them!
MCCAIN: And what do you impeach apart from liars?
RATHER: More liars!
MAUREEN DOWD: Men!

Busy weekend

So, if you're like me this weekend, you don't have a ton of time for blogging. So, post a quiz:

THE GEEK QUIZ

I scored: 32.74162% - Total Geek

Veteran's Day

Remembering those who have sacrificed all they had to secure our way of life.

Veterans' Day (formerly Armistice Day)
November 11, is the anniversary of the Armistice which was signed in the Forest of Compiegne by the Allies and the Germans in 1918, ending World War I, after four years of conflict.

At 5 A.M. on Monday, November 11, 1918 the Germans signed the Armistice, an order was issued for all firing to cease; so the hostilities of the First World War ended. This day began with the laying down of arms, blowing of whistles, impromptu parades, closing of places of business. All over the globe there were many demonstrations; no doubt the world has never before witnessed such rejoicing.

...

In Emporia, Kansas, on November 11, 1953, instead of an Armistice Day program, there was a Veterans' Day observance. Ed Rees, of Emporia, was so impressed that he introduced a bill into the House to change the name to Veterans' Day. After this passed, Mr. Rees wrote to all state governors and asked for their approval and cooperation in observing the changed holiday. The name was changed to Veterans' Day by Act of Congress on May 24, 1954. In October of that year, President Eisenhower called on all citizens to observe the day by remembering the sacrifices of all those who fought so gallantly, and through rededication to the task of promoting an enduring peace. The President referred to the change of name to Veterans' Day in honor of the servicemen of all America's wars.