Saturday, June 04, 2005

Well, I had no problems with the Race for the Cure at all. In fact, I completed it somewhere in the middle of the pack of 13,000 people. It was a lot of fun, walking down the Alaskan Way Viaduct and back. There was a bit of confusion at the beginning of the walk in finding my t-shirt and race bib, but once that was sorted out we didn't have any more problems... well... except part of my team didn't realize the race started at 9 and were up in the stands at the stadium when the race started. Ooops. Impressively, they managed to catch up to us with a half mile to go.

I didn't do so well on the 3-Day training walk after the Race. I managed the first hill with a little difficulty, but the remains of my cold hit my lungs shortly after that and I had to rest for a bit in the support truck. After a rest, I did another mile, but that was it for the day. I couldn't catch my breath to keep walking, especially on the exceptionally hilly route the training leader had chosen. Counting the five kilometers, I did about 8 and a half miles today. I tell myself it's not so bad, but the rest of the women on the training walk did 15 miles. I have some catching up to do.

by Tegan at 8:19 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Today is the birthday of my mother, Nancy. Best wishes to her today! (Looking at her, you'd never believe that she's only thirty-nine!)

by Eric at 6:30 AM Seattle time - Permalink   

Friday, June 03, 2005

After the last few weeks of constantly resetting the router, hubby-Eric finally got fed up and bought a new Apple AirPort. We attempted to install it yesterday and had absolutely no luck. The thing appeared to be set up correctly, but we just couldn't connect to the internet through it. I decided to sleep on it, and had a brilliant thought this morning.

It's called Oh-En-Oh-Eff-Eff... it refers to the On/Off switch. When in doubt, turn everything off and then back on again.

It worked. And I suspect I know where the problem was, now that I've done a little hunting around various tech support forums. Apple calls it "ISP Provisioning", and all it means is that the cable modem I hooked the router to was expecting to see a certain router connected to it, and when it didn't recognize the AirPort as that router, it wouldn't let it connect. Turning the modem off and back on again while it was connected to the AirPort fixed the problem.

Ta-Da.

Now it's time to seriously test this sucker. I have plans... bwah-ha-ha-ha! And if I can't kill the router with my tests, it's not going to die while we use it.

by Tegan at 11:04 AM Seattle time - Permalink   

Thursday, June 02, 2005

I only need $417 more (counting some mailed donations I know about) to do The Walk. And wish me luck in Race For The Cure... I'm doing that this Saturday.

Go get a Free Krispy Kreme Doughnut Tomorrow.

Neil Armstrong Threatens to sue his barber. That's right. Some guy who collects celebrity hair wanted some of Neil's, so Armstrong's barber sold him some clippings. For $3000. And Armstrong is NOT happy about it.

Meanwhile, Buzz Aldrin is writing children's books. I think I'd rather read about "Reaching for the Moon" than "The Barber Who Stole My Hair".

Amy's New York Notebook points us to The LA Fire Department Blog, which gives details and background information on big cases. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this from fire/police departments. It is certainly a way to connect with people.

Remember Princess Diana's death? Well, Lindsay Lohan nearly had a similar thing happen, as a paparazzi-idiot intentionally crashed into her car to keep her from getting away from him.

Mark Evanier cruelly points us to Crazy Frog, which turns out to be an ad for ringtones that viewers in Britain are really tired of seeing.

Carmen Sandiego is found by Google. Via MeFi.

The Daily Show tackles Deep Throat.

Westminster Abbey won't let The Da Vinci Code movie shoot on location, as the story is "theologically unsound". Um. Ok.

Chekov to star in Fan Trek show, written by DC Fontana. Whoa. Even Paramount is willing to let it happen, as long as distribution is free on the 'net. Cool.

Polite Scott starts a catalog of fictional medicine from comic books. I can't remember what the Atlantean serum was that turned them from air breathers to water breathers and back again, but I think it was something stupid like "Serum X".

Legomancer on new Doctor Who.

Tom Spurgeon reports on the reaction to David Horsey's Cartoon about Newsweek and Torture. There are people out there who seriously believe that Horsey committed treason by reporting the truth in a political cartoon.

But that's all ok, because according to The Register, we're all gonna die of bird flu anyway.

by Tegan at 8:57 AM Seattle time - Permalink   

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

JLA #114: "Enemies and Enemies and Enemies": Ooh, we get to see the Crime Syndicate Universe's version of Aquaman... Barracuda on the attack! Wahoo. My desires for that universe are now fulfilled. The rest of the story? Eh, fun. Not bad. I liked it. But hey, Barracuda, yeah!

Green Lantern #1: "Airborne": Not a perfect start to a new series, but far from the worst start. I like most of the art. I'm already bored with the story, and we haven't even met the villain yet (I don't think). Well, we'll see if this improves.

Flash #222: "Rogue War Chapter 3": I liked the last couple of issues, but now that the Flash is more involved, I'm finding it less impressive. I do want to know who the mother of the new Captain Boomerang is, but that's about the only mystery I'm intrigued by now.

Day of Vengeance #2: "Some Enchantress Evening": Wow. I really liked this issue. The magic gang figures out what is wrong and formulates a good solid plan to fix it, then as always the plan goes wrong before it can even start to be put in motion. I don't think we'll be seeing Tempest in this storyarc, but I'm really enjoying it anyway.

Barbarossa and the Lost Corsairs #2: A solid second issue, as our adventurers are sent to another world and must battle monsters. The artwork is decent, though I sometimes have a little difficulty telling some of the characters apart. The cast is a bit large as well, and that makes it difficult. But the story moves along nicely, and the mystery of just what is happening is dealt with immediately, although not completely solved. A fun little book.

The Golden Plates #2: "The Liahona and the Promised Land": When I read the Book of Mormon as a kid, I was never as interested in the sections that are covered in this volume of The Golden Plates (1 Nephi 15 through 2 Nephi 27). In particular, Second Nephi is not something that excites the imagination of a child. It also really doesn't lend itself to the comic book form. So the interesting bits of this one end, for me, less than halfway through. The rest is grindingly difficult reading that I just didn't want to go through, even with Allred's excellent artwork. I flipped through the final pages, but I didn't read most of it, which is probably not what Allred had in mind. I can't say I'd recommend this one to the casual reader.
A little more on this subject: I meant to do an in-depth review of the first issue, but I was waiting to see what my husband thought of it first. He still hasn't read it. I probably won't get around to writing the review, so please don't hold your breath waiting for it. Maybe when the series is finished I'll have something more to say about it as a whole, but I don't think I'll be saying much more than my capsule reviews for now.

by Tegan at 10:02 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy #1: "A Golden Age To Conquer": Was anyone else besides me mildly disturbed to see "Collector's Item" proudly proclaimed on the cover of this issue? Any time I see those words, I just assume the book is going to eventually be worthless. Admittedly, this issue has the first appearance of the new DC logo, nifty Phil Jimenez cover, and Garcia-Lopez being inked by George Perez interiors... but I still got a sinking feeling in my stomach when I was informed by the cover that this is a "Collector's Item". The story itself? I'm not overly impressed. More cosmic DC stuff. It's ok. Confusing. But ok. Maybe the next issue will make more sense.

The Grimoire #3: I want to like this book. I like the artwork, I like the initial concept, but I cannot connect with it. The characters are too vague, the situation is just rolling from one spot to another. I've ordered the next couple of issues, but I'm probably not going to bother ordering more unless the next issue really wows me.

Incredible Hulk #81: "Tempest Fugit Conclusion": Nope. Didn't "get" it. I just don't know enough about the Hulk, maybe, to understand this one.

Amazing Spider-Man #79/520: "Acts of Agression": Aunt May vs Wolverine, who wins? Oh c'mon, you have to ask? In any case, this is more like reading Avengers than Spidey, which isn't a good thing. I don't mean that it ruins the story, but it's not good. I'd rather read about the Avengers in the book titled "Avengers". This book should be all about Spidey. Still, it's not a bad story. I like the fact that Peter uses his connections to do some nice sleuthing. And I can't fault the art. And any time you get a battle between Aunt May and anyone, it's fun to read.

Outsiders #24: "The Insiders Part Two": Indigo goes bad. No big surprise there. I'm slightly annoyed that this is yet another Teen Titans/Outsiders crossover, but what can you do? It's not like DC listens to me when I say crossovers are a stupid thing. Anyway, this one is slightly weaker than average. Lots of fighting, almost no story.

Legion of Super-Heroes #6: Hrm. First issue I didn't really like. There were plenty of good bits, like Princess Projectra and Karate Kid's lesson, but as a whole this one didn't hang together as well. It felt disjointed and the Brainiac 5 flashback sequence felt like padding. I did, however, really like the letter column.

by Tegan at 8:40 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

No new comics today... maybe I can start to catch up on some of the last couple of weeks' worth of reviews...

JLA Classified #7: "Hell Freezes Over": Wow. I did not expect the ending of this one. With the light-heartedness of this run in general, it was a powerful shocker.

Lions Tigers & Bears #4: About what I expected. This will read better as a collection than a mini, but it was pretty good nonetheless.

Hero Camp #1: "Where To Begin?": A non-powered child of super-powered parents gets thrown in with a bunch of super-powered children because his parents are convinced he'll get powers eventually. Sound familiar? Yeah, well, PS238 does it a LOT better. This one is readable, but not spectacular.

Conan #16: "Horror on Uskuth Hill": We get a bit more of the framing sequence from the zero issue here, and it's nice to see. Wazir isn't an innocent in this one... The story itself is typically strong. Conan's hatred of civilization leads him into trouble with predictable results. I like the conclusion... when Conan decides on a course of action he tends to go after it full throttle. A nice solid read.

Samurai Executioner Vol 4: "Portrait of Death": Mochi! Food of warriors! This volume has four stories, all of which are brutal. But then, if you expect anything else from a book about an executioner then you are having delusions. The first story in this one is about a group of samurai who are bitter at no longer having positions, who take revenge on the merchants who are changing their way of life. The second story is about an artist who draws pictures of executions. The third story is a very short piece on giving comfort to a prisoner in her last moments. And the last story is a sharp contrast to that, showing what happens when the government suspends executions to save moneyand lets prisoners in the overcrowded prisons kill each other. As usual, Asa is a man who is surrounded by violence, who commits violence every day, but is at peace. He does the job he is expected to do. The educational elements of the stories, from the social upheaval caused by the rise of the middle class down to what new straw means, make this book one I just can't miss.

by Tegan at 7:09 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

I think I'm almost well again. It's actually impressive how fast this illness came and went. Usually I spend a couple of days in each phase... a couple of days with a sore throat, a couple of days with no voice, a week or so with the sneezing and congestion, a day of fever, then the slow climb to normal health. I think I had maybe two hours of fever... it's like the thing was on fast-forward.

Anyway. I got a little walking in today. As you all know and are no doubt sick of reading about, I'm doing the Seattle Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk as well as The Race For The Cure which is this Saturday. Time flies.

In any case, my total needed for the 3-Day is down to $457, which amazes me. I could almost swing that myself on the installment plan, if I had to. I still only have two entries for my Breast Cancer Benefit Drawing. Hey, some of the prizes are really neat. And everything will have a cover value of at least $15, as well. Consider donating.

From Elayne: What's the Time?

Neil Gaiman's Helpful Signing Rules. I try to follow similar rules when I go to cons... though I've been going more for sketches lately than for signings, which throws me off a bit.

Greg of Dorothy wants to know, should he censor his book to make it more general audience friendly? I've already given my answer.

Speaking of Dorothy, Garrett wants us to look inside a tornado. Requires Flash, but man, it's worth it. Stormchasers are nuts.

Science Fiction comes closer to reality with a cone of silence.

"It's not me!" says the leading suspect for the position of The Piano Man.

Deep Throat = Mark Felt, blah blah blah.

It's pathetic that Westminster Abbey feels the need to correct the factual mistakes in "The Da Vinci Code" in a handout. IT'S FICTION, people. Sheesh. It wasn't even remarkably good fiction. Just ok. Yes, the connections were clever... but they were also fudged to look even cleverer.

People have figured out how to put video game objects into regular photos and make them look frighteningly real.

Ask Yahoo tackles four leaf clovers. I used to be able to find them easily. And I discovered a neat fact... they almost always come in pairs.

Here's a horrible and true story about the dangers of canned air. I never would have believed it myself, but apparently kids really are that stupid. Hopefully this tragic story will get out enough to save other kids from the same death.

Apparently it's illegal to take a picture of a cop stuck in the mud. Or maybe not, since the cop is being sued.

Guess what person made this huge vocabulary blunder: "...people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble -- that means not tell the truth." No. It means to "take apart". The word this guy is looking for is "dissemble". Perhaps this guy should stick to small words if he can't figure out how to pronounce the big ones.

Speaking of Shrubya, he tries again to take away our rights.

Nader calls for impeachment. Yeah, right. Republicans only impeach people for lying about sex, not for lying to start a war.

by Tegan at 8:02 PM Seattle time - Permalink   

Monday, May 30, 2005

Greetings on Memorial Day.

My wish for this Memorial Day is that we never again have a president who takes us to war for a good cause, then before finishing that war turns around and lies to take us into another completely unjust, illegal, and immoral war. May we never again have a president who so casually wastes the lives of American soldiers, people who have volunteered to protect us. May we never again have a president who stretches our military to the breaking point by fighting two wars at once... and losing both of them through sheer incompetence and disgusting greed.

My God protect and guide our soldiers, on whatever battlefield they stand. May He protect them from harm, and prevent them from making mistakes. May He bring them back home safe to their families and friends. May He punish those who lied to send them to Iraq. May He destroy the enemies of America and Freedom, whether they be terrorists or presidents. God bless our soldiers, who have pledged their very lives to protect this nation. And please God, punish our enemies, who have lied us into war.

Amen.

Update: Filker Tom rounds up Memorial Day Links. Armando muses about today. TalkLeft remembers. Legomancer ponders the modern soldier. Attaturk chimes in. Elayne on the difficulties of supporting soldiers during an unjust war. Bob Greenberger watches a parade. Tom Spurgeon tackles comics and Memorial Day, including Doonesbury. Polite Scott pauses to remember. Peter David's Daughter marches in a parade. Filker Tom (again) points us to ways to support the troops that don't involve stupid magnetic ribbons or other false displays of patriotism.

by Tegan at 7:54 AM Seattle time - Permalink   

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Started with a very minor sore throat on Thursday night, enough that I noted it but didn't think about it. Friday morning I started to lose my voice, and when I got home I took a little nap. I felt miserable all night long, but woke up re-engergized on Saturday... which turned out to be an illusion possibly created by my good attitude. By noon I was miserable again, and as the day progressed I felt worse and worse. I got through a whole box of tissues and was sneezing quite a bit as well. This morning I woke up absolutely ill and decided to stay in bed. To heck with any plans we'd made. I've been mostly asleep since. And miserable. And now I'm starting to cough. Yuck. This is a nasty yucky cold.

by Tegan at 2:35 PM Seattle time - Permalink