Once Again…
Sunday, April 2, 2006
Not that you guys would have any way of knowing this, but this is actually the third time I’m writing something up for this entry. The first attempt? Well, I was on one system and in the proverbial groove when I realized that I was editing an outdated version of the site. (as always, I didn’t listen to that little voice in my head that was SURE the last blog entry was a month old). Ok, so I get the latest version and get to updating once again – only to crash iWeb by renaming an embedded file manually outside of the program. Sorry, got a bit geek sidetracked there…suffice it to say I confused the computer much as I am now confusing you, my gentle reader.
Why then am I so compulsively updating the site at 1:30am (2:30am if you take Daylight Savings into account – did you change your clocks yet?). Well, after a couple of nights with Mabel feeling sick from what I suspect was a bottle of apple juice that had evaded the refrigerator police neither one of us had slept well. We finally zonked for a while earlier (nothing like MadTV repeats to cause instant sleep <zing.wav>!) and I couldn’t get back to bed.
Geez, this entry is even MORE sleep inducing. I better get to something interesting…
So – my last update on 3/18 neglected to mention the track school my buddy Barry and I did at Laguna Seca on 3/13. We were attending the Level 2 California Superbike School to learn more about riding skills and turning techniques. The day dawned cold and damp – not the conditions you want on a racetrack, but that’s part of the gag – you can’t always ride in perfect weather. Fortunately, the sun peeked out and despite a record-breaking rainy March in California, we had a nice sunny day. No pictures (still waiting for the photographer to get back to me) but memories aplenty. The best part was experiencing the “Corkscrew” turn in person – it’s scary and fun coming up a hill and turning left into what seems to be oblivion. A safe day, despite Barry falling in Turn 3 after lunch. Cold tires and perhaps a touch too much throttle…quite a shock seeing his bike sliding right in front of me while he looked heavenwards inquiring “WTF?” whilst sliding off the track.
I also hit the ice to play some hockey after a LONG break. If memory serves, I had not played since Mabel and I were dating – we’re taking 2003 at the latest. Wait. That can’t possible be true…man does time fly. Suffice it to say I was “rusty” and despite the early morning “pick up” title, there were at least 20 guys skating at a damn quick pace for yours truly. It was great to lace up the ol’ gear, but humbling to see how quickly you forget.
So there’s lots more rain coming in the next couple of weeks – updates should be forthcoming and there’s much news that I didn’t get to. Here’s the quick movie review:
• Lisa Lampanelli – The Queen of Mean:
Feh. Ok, she’s chubby. She dates black men. She’s uniformly offensive and bigoted. The shock effect at first is a riot – a middle aged lady with rougher material than classic Eddie Murphy and she’s doing most of it improv-style with the audience. But it gets stale quick and the production quality was extremely basic.
• Gilbert Gottfried – Dirty Jokes:
Take the production quality and staleness of Lisa Lampanelli and double them. Then make them a little worse than that and you’d be about halfway to the level of suck this DVD achieved. It’s literally 45 minutes of the stuff from the 1980’s “Truly Tasteless Jokes” book series in Gottfried’s nasal tone shot on an old camcorder in the back of a dingy club by (presumably) someone’s kid wearing broken glasses. Other than that it was pretty bad.
• Battlestar Galactica: Season 2.0:
The honeymoon is over. Why? Not the plot lines – those are as fresh as ever. Not the acting – the entire cast seems more at home in what are becoming more complex characters. Not the effects – by appearances the Sci-Fi folks have some deep pockets and are spending it well. It’s the simple fact that this release is limited to less than half of the actual season! Combined with the untimely death of our TiVo system (with the resultant loss of ALL stored programs) I’m now in BSG limbo. Argh.
• The Long Way Round:
This documentary piece on Ewan McGregor’s trip around the world on BMW GS motorcycles with his friend Charley is fantastic. Even though I’m utterly biased towards motorcycles in general, the wanderlust this movie inspires is profound. If you watch this and don’t develop and immediate desire to see the globe and take that “someday” trip then you’re missing something. Granted, few people have the time and money to fund such an excursion – but even a drive to somewhere new is sure to create memories for a lifetime.
Ok guys…I gotta sign off. Keep in touch!