It's time for Syllogo-maniacs

Syllogomania is the compulsive need to hoard everything, trash, papers, everything.

I saw this car the other day and HAD to take some pictures.

Obviously the driver has issues, but my biggest question is how do they shift?

You can't tell from above but there's a clutch, which means the driver has to reach through the trash to shift.

Ew...

They check in....

A few nights ago I saw 1408 with a couple of friends. If you don't know, it's about a writer that stays in an infamously haunted room (or "...just an evil f-ing room").

My wife is currently staying a 6 week stint in a hotel out by the airport, so every so often I come out to visit her for a night. I was surprised that last night I found myself having a little trouble sleeping.



The movie does a great job of being creepy, without gore and typical "Boo" moments. Apparently it creeped me out enough to keep me up. I can't really lay my finger on exactly what bothered me. Maybe it's that my wife's room is similar to room 1408 in that it has a living room that's separate from the bedroom (a layout similar to 1408's). At least it doesn't have the spooky paintings, although there is one of a boat on water, not disturbing by itself, but can be with a little imagination.
Maybe it was just that it simply was a good movie, some of the creepy things are just related to staying in a hotel room. John Cusack even states at one point that hotels are just naturally eerie.


Or maybe I'm just a wuss...

Scuba Diligence

For those not in the know, I work at a SCUBA diving shop. Every now and then we receive interesting notices from manufacturers and such. The most interesting to date has been a recent FBI notice.

We are to have a heightened "situational awareness to the scuba industry regarding behavior that may indicate an individual(s) is involved in nefarious activity."

Indicators that we're supposed to look for?

" Requests to dive in murky water or sewer pipes."

First of all, we live in Colorado, there's nothing but murky waters out here. Secondly, I think I'd hang up on someone that asked about diving in a sewer (lord knows I wouldn't want the rental gear back).

"Inquires about procedures such as diver towing."

This is a tricky one, our beginning class, teaches diver towing. Rescue Diver has a whole section on it.

"Requests to learn advanced skills associated with combat swimming, including:

> Use of re-breathers and diver propulsion vehicles (DPVs).
> Deep diving.
> Conducting kick counts.
> Receiving extra navigation training."

OK, the first one isn't too common, but we do get questions about both rebreather and DPVs (hell, we sell some).

The last three are all involved in the Advanced class, and we get questions about further training in Deep and Navigation diving (no one likes getting lost).

Bottom line? Apparently I should report about 80% of the customers that come into or call our shop.

The thing that makes me wonder the most is that we're getting this now, over five years after 9/11. Is there something they know that we're not being told?

Hm......

Never befriend an enabler.

For the last 6 months or so, I have been relatively free of obsessive video games. It's been kinda nice not having the need to play until 4 am.

Now, thanks to a friend who will remain nameless (but rhymes with "hair in"), I have a new obsession.

"I'll lend you a copy, just to try.", he said.
"You may not even like it." he claimed.

Riiiiight, the first one is always free. This is the same "friend" that got me hooked on Oblivion - a habit I managed to kick about 6 months ago (see a pattern yet?).

This "friend" got me hooked on Battlefield 2142, a squad based FPS. Now I can't let a night go by without trying for the next rank. I dreamt about it last night - which is a sure sign I'm playing too much.

So this is a public thanks to my "friend".

I hate you because....

Go Away Scary Iconic Carton Figure...

We were at Lucky Strike last night and they have this painting next to the server station:
Maybe it's just me, but this is just plain creepy. That's a rather psychotic smile he's sporting, looks a little like he may eat her liver with a nice chianti...

No TOUCHIE!!

I heard on the radio yesterday that a school in Virginia has implemented a "No touching policy". This doesn't just mean no inappropriate touching, it means no touching AT ALL.

Hand shaking? - OUT
High Fiving? - OUT
A pat on the back? - NOPE
Accidental contact while walking through the hall? - Get ready for a suspension.

Holy-Over-Reaction Batman. I understand trying to control unwanted groping and molesting, but this is ridiculous. Human beings are social creatures, and physical contact is natural and, arguably, necessary.

Besides, what's the best way to get a kid to do something? Forbid them to do it...

Pediophobia & siblings

One of my good friends has been having a little war with her sister. Her sister has been sending her cards and pictures of clowns (DrHeimlich has a great blog entry on it).

Anyway, she's been planning retribution by collecting dolls' heads (which terrify her sister).


Here's her collection so far:
Eww, the one's with evil eyes scare me too...

Feliz Martes!

This story is dedicated to Hotdrwife:

First a little background for those not in the know. She and I have an ongoing joke about me not being Hispanic (or being Hispanic, depending on whom you ask). It started with her sending me an Cinco de Mayo e-card. For some reason, lately more and more people have made comments about my alleged Mexican (even Guatemalan) background. Mind you, I'm half Japanese, so I really don't think that I look Hispanic, but so be it.

In any case, my coworker and I ordered food from the Mexican restaurant next door and I walked over to get it. While I was waiting at the counter for the food, two very Caucasian men got up from their table and headed towards me. One nodded a greeting to me as we made eye contact. When he got a little closer, he smiled and said,"That was a great meal, gracias!" (pronounced "grassy-ass").

Now, I was so taken aback that all I could manage was, "Glad you enjoyed it, have a good day." I couldn't quite tell if he was impressed with my mastery of the English language, but I'd like to think so.

Anyway, there you have it HDW.

VIVA LA ESTUPIDEZ

A reason to watch

I've never watched a full episode of Stargate: Atlantis, but now I may start. Jewel Staite (Kaylee from Firefly) is a new cast member! She'll be playing Dr. Jennifer Keller, a recurring character throughout the fourth season.

For the record, she's the Serenity cast member I have the biggest crush on, with Morena Baccarin (Inara) a very close second. In any case, this is reason enough to get me to watch a couple of episodes. Hell, it worked with Stargate: SG1 when Claudia Black joined the cast (and for very different reasons, Ben Browder).

Aparently it's not her first time on the show. She played a wraith girl in an episode in the second season. This was definitely a different look for her (here's a pic). This season she'll be her regular cute self and should be fun to see her in a different role.

Knowing next to nothing about the show, I can only hope it holds my attention more than SG:SG1 did. If not, it's good to see the some of the cast of Firefly in other series (still think Drive had a shot - stupid Fox Execs)..

God of Mario

I've recently been playing the PS2 game, God of War. All in all it's a great game that balances fighting with puzzle solving fairly well.

The fighting is mostly button mashing, but has some nice pay offs with certain combos and finishing moves. Here the game adds a twist. With certain foes a mini-game is required to get the big finish, which gains you more experience or magic. The puzzles are fairly easy, but still entertaining and give a nice alternative to the action.

My big complaint is that some of the areas require a ton of platform jumping. Let me state for the record, I hate, hate, HATE platform jumping. I hate it with the burning passion of a thousand dying stars. IMHO, making a player jump between moving platforms while dodging spinning blades is just game designer laziness. Stages that have ridiculously hard platform jumping is just a way to add challenge to a game without using any originality.

While the vast majority of the game rocks, there are definitely moments of controller-smashing frustration (a first time for me, as I have a trip to Wal-Mart in my near future). These moments don't ruin the overall experience though (as it has in other games - ), so it gets a high recommendation.
Maybe my hatred of platform jumping simply stems from my lack of 12 year old hand-eye coordination...

Suck it Sony

Ya gotta love it! Official reports claim that the Wii is outselling the PS3 five to one (thanks for the link Fark)

Huzzah to Nintendo for making a game system that's not just a rehash of current systems out there. Really, if I want great graphics, I'll play a PC game.

And just to emphasise the point, here's a picture from Woot.com;Click to enlarge, and note what's in the boxes....

Mmm.....Steamed Hoax with Melted Butter

This lobster was caught off Newport recently. It's half brown and half orange and literally a 1 in 50 million catch.

My problem with this is it's too perfect. The frelling thing is divided perfectly down the middle. It looks like someone spray painted the thing. Apparently the fisherman who caught it thought the same thing, but reports seem to be that it's legit.

Of course, the press doesn't tend to do silly little things like verify the facts. If one station put it on, so must every other one.

Personally, I'm sticking with my original thoughts - it's a fake. I just can't believe that it would be divided so cleanly, it looks like a ruler was used to divide the critter's coloring.

You read it here first: FAKE...

Use the Force My Young PadaWii

Fellow Jedi wannabes rejoice! There are rumors (mind you, rumors) of a Lightsaber game coming to the Wii.

According to gamestooge.com, LucasArts announced a lightsaber game on the Wii.

If done well (puhleez don't screw it up), it could easily be one of the best selling games on the console. Show me an original fan that hasn't played with a cardboard tube as a lightsaber? If a crappy piece of cardboard will entertain us, how much cooler would this be?


Of course I'm a little biased, I love anything Star Wars (alright anything pre-1999 Star Wars). Especially video games in the SW 'Verse.



Hell, my favorite Atari 2600 game was Jedi Arena...

Frak Back

The executive producers of Battlestar Galactica, Ronald Moore and David Eick, apparently liked what Blizzard did with their latest announcement (which is best explained here)

Last week, two of the actors stated that this upcoming season is the end of the series. A day later, the producers announced that that wasn't true, that there were no plans to end the show.

Today, the frakking producers released the following statement:

"This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and, finally, an end," Eick and Moore said in a statement on May 31. "Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end, and we've decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms. And while we know our fans will be saddened to know the end is coming, they should brace themselves for a wild ride getting there: We're going out with a bang."

I'll say it again, Damned Cylons and their infernal mindgames...