It's Crazy Hot!

Well it's finally looking like summer outside. We've had a few record setting days here in Couv`tucky, temps have been around 100° F since Friday. I actually don't mind the hot weather. It's only here for a short period of time, so I try to get out and soak up as much of it as possible. However the rest of the pasty white NW folk have been freaking out. Running to the stores to buy fans, air conditioners, and distilled water by the pallet. The media is jumping on board too. By the way they talk you'd think the people of the NW had declared war on the Sun. Complete with horror stories from the trenches, and highly advised precautions for the home front. My solution to beat the heat was to retreat to Chevy's for some good tex-mex food, frosty margaritas, and cool cerveza. You really can't beat this food on a warm day. Especially a Consuela, which has become my new favorite drink, not available at Chevy's :( Since the heat has finally arrived it, I decided it was time to setup our pool. We recently received a hard walled above ground pool (similar to this) from Darci's sister. It's been sitting in our garage for a few weeks. Before I set it up, I had to do some algebra to calculate the circumference &l; volume of the pool. It's been so long, that I actually had to Google for the formulas. Circumference = diameter Π: 12' * 3.14 = 37.68' Volume = Π r² * height: 3.14 * 6'² * 3' = 339.12 cubic ft. Gallons = Volume * Modifier: 339.12 * 7.5 = 2543.4 gallons of water It was important to calculate these figures so I knew how many feet of overlap coping to buy, and how many gallons of water I had to chemically treat. It took almost a whole day to setup and fill the pool. The kids were excited to go swimming right away, however the cold tap water was too cold for them. We let it sit for a few days to warm up. By Monday the pool had warmed considerably, and was perfect for cooling off. Which I was greatly looking forward to after riding my motorcycle home from work, roasting in full leathers. Darci bought us a couple noodle chairs (these things are so simply, yet so genius). So we spent the evening soaking in the pool with cold drinks in hand. It might sound a bit childish or white trash of us, but hell that's okay with me. I don't mind looking foolish to have a good time. Now I just need to buy some more childish pool toys :P

The Hills are Alive

As I mentioned before one of my goals is to start hiking the PCT. This weekend Heath, Damon, and I will be hiking the Timberline to Cascade Locks stretch of the PCT. We will start close to dawn on Saturday and finish Monday afternoon/evening. We're hoping to hike an average of 16 miles per day. While this may not seem too ambitious to some hikers, this is very ambitious for our group. We aren't exactly triathlon competitors, unless it's a pinball-pool-darts competition. In fact I'm willing to take bets on how much weight I'll loose on this hike. A few years back during one of our Three Creek backpacking trips I lost 10lbs over the course of the weekend. I'm willing to bet this time it'll be more like 15lbs. Which will be a good kickoff to getting back into my workout routine. We're planning to document our adventure as thoroughly as possible. We'll have a plethora of digital photography equipment, a video camera, voice recorder, GPS unit, and good old fashion pencil & paper. So in a worst case scenario you'll have plenty of footage and journal entries to compile a Blair Witch style documentary of our travels. But let's all just think good thoughts and hope we complete the hike, safely, and on schedule. I'll post a write-up and gallery of pics on the site when we return. For anyone who's interested here are some links to maps of the trail we'll be hiking (The thick red line is the PCT). Sections: G1-G2, G2-G4, G4-G5, G5-G7.

Credit Card Fraud

So I got a letter from my bank yesterday, informing me that my account is overdrawn. This was strange because I rarely use this account. I primarily use cash for all my purchases, but occasionally use this account when I need to upload funds to paypal, write checks that I know won't be cashed immediately, etc. So I call up the bank to find out what the deal is and someone made a $10 purchase with my card to Digital Books. There was a phone number listed with it. I called the number and got an automated message saying I had reached the support line for Digital Books and to leave a message for a return call. There was also a URL listed in the message, leading me to digital-reading.com. I checked them out on the web to see if it's a place I've made purchases on before or ?? Turns out they aren't much of an online commerce place, they sell digital books how-to books: becoming a millionaire, buy a bike, have a successful yard-sale, etc. Books that no one in their right mind would buy, and the whole site/automated support line totally sounds like a front end for a scammer. So I followed up with my bank and filed a fraud alert on the purchase. I canceled the card, and put a lock on the account until the investigation is complete. The investigation is supposed to take up to 30-60 days to complete, at which point I'll be reimbursed for the money and fees. So fortunately I didn't keep a bunch of money in that account. It seems the $10 was a feeler purchase, so see if the card was valid and a transaction could be completed. In the end this will be a slight annoyance. But it's really hitting home the fact that EVERYONE is susceptible to this kind of fraud. I'll be keeping a closer eye on all my accounts in the future, not that I already don't. You should do the same!

Estacada Camping Trip

This last weekend we camped along the Clackamas river, approx 40 miles past Estacada. Justen left early in the day and scouted the many state/federal camp grounds as well as some free spots off hwy-224. We ended up with a really good spot. It was right off hwy-224, with the Clackamas river on one side and a small creek run off on the other. The creek made for a safe and fun play spot for the kids, easing my fears of them playing along the fast moving Clackamas. There was two established fire pits and many tent spots around the camp, and no one else for miles. The only down side was no toilet facilities, which was only really a minor complaint for the ladies and kids. While I don't prefer shitting in the woods, I'll gladly take that over the poorly maintained and highly used vault toilets. By the end of the trip all the kids conjured their fear of doing their business in the woods, and the complaints from the ladies became less frequent. This trip was the maiden voyage for our tent trailer which we recently acquired. We had to take it down empty as I haven't had the time to finish the interior paneling and new cabinets. I hadn't yet upgraded my s10 blazer's toy package from a class 2 receiver to a class 4, so I was a little worried about towing it. Especially since we did a rush packing job and the trailer weight was unbalanced. It took quite a bit of concentration to tow it out on the windy hwy-224 and I found myself going to hot into some of the suggested 25-35mph corners. But we made it safe and sound. On the return trip I took the time to equally distribute the trailer weight and it towed great. I was amazed at the difference. It was so nice to have the trailer on the trip, we slept in amazing comfort. One hurt irritation though occurred on the last day when we were packing up the trailer. One of the support rails that holds the slide out beds, pulled straight off the wall. I found that it was only hanging on by a few stables. How cheap is that? A structure that is made to support 300+ lbs is stabled to the wall? I'm constantly amazed at how cheap these campers are build, and they charge so much money for them. I'm actually glad this happened, since the camper is still bare I'm going to pull all the support rails off, reinforce the walls around them, and secure them properly with some lag bolts. This baby is going to be a tank when I'm done and will last for years to come. For this trip I also made a Ladder Golf setup. An amazingly simple horseshoe variant game, made out of $25 worth of hardware supplies & some old golf balls. I'd seen this game being played before at a couple different car camp grounds. I did a little research and decided to make myself a set. It was great success and a lot of fun to play, even though I think I only won one game the entire weekend. Thanks to Heath and Justen for your assistance and use of your shop tools! Overall it was a good trip. The weather report had stated mostly cloudy and chances of showers for the weekend. However it ended up dry, sunny, and hot all weekend. Although not hot enough to jump into the cold snow run-off river water. I only wish more of our friends were able to make it out to enjoy it all with us. Maybe next time, I know we are overdue for a large group trip to the Trask!

World of Warcraft = Geeky Fun

So I started playing World of Warcraft again last week, even though MMORGs are almost the nerdiest activity (The #1 spot being reserved for table top paper based RPGs like D&D, which I also secretly love). This was after Justen & Heath organized a group online gaming night and managed to hook a few more of our friends into playing. In all there will be about 10 of us playing together. I'm pretty excited about this as it'll give me some more time to interact with my friends, and a dedicated night for nothing but video games (which I haven't had much time for lately). WoW is a very well rounded MMORG. I love the quests which tell an interesting interwoven story, and often have interesting components to help distract from the XP grind. A couple things I've found annoying about the game are:

• lack on character image customization options. There are only about 5 different attributes (hair style, hair color, face style, fur/skin color, ??) of which there are only about 10 different options.
• lack of profession diversity. There only 9 different classes. I'd like to see more in the future.

I've played a few others over the years: Legend of the Red Dragon, Dragon Court, RuneScape, ProgressQuest, Toontown Online (this was for parental research only, I swear!), Star Wars: Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, ... All of which have their issues. I was extremely disappointed with SWG. The theme had so much potential, but in the end SOE had created a online Star Wars version of The SIMS. However the biggest complaint among MMORGs is the Endgame. I've only reached that point with a couple, but even at low-mid range levels you can foresee it in the future. I'm not so worried about this with WoW because I'll be playing for the group interaction with my friends. If we do hit up against Endgame frustrations, we'll jump shit to the next best game. If anyone else wants to join our gaming group, drop me a line and we can coordinate.

… and, We're Back!

Last week I started working on my website a bit more, and tried to install a CAPTCHA utility. The utility needed the image generator plug-in for PHP, and a plug-in called Flite to generate an audio version of the CAPTCHA for the visually impaired. The audio part really isn't that necessary, but I thought it would be a nice feature and I could undoubtedly find other uses on the site for it's synthesizer. Somewhere in the process of upgrading my version of PHP (along with a myriad other system tools/processes), and installing Flite, I hosed my system. After a few feeble attempts to get it back online, I brought in my tech support expert. Damon was able to get it all back online in just a few minutes. He said it had something to do with my boot image being trashed or something. I brought the box home and put it back online, however there were still a few bugs to work out. I had to run a patch for PHP, and reinstall phpmyadmin (My database GUI). There is bound to be more issues still unresolved, that will soon come to my attention. If you notice anything out of the ordinary occurring, please let me know. Now I can finally post up the blogs that have been waiting in the queue.

Who Killed the Theatre Experience?

I am a movie buff! I love movies and the experience they provide. For a couple hours you get to see life through another's eyes, understand different perspectives, see exotic places, go on an adventure, etc. It's an experience! Movie theatre management is ruining that for us all, and the MPAA thinks it's the p2p networks that are ruining box office revenues. The local average price of a ticket ranges from $6.50-$9.00 depending on the day/time that’s 2-3 times the price of a rental, the purchase price of a bargain DVD, or the cost of a one month - 1 DVD at a time Netflix membership. In the end it'll cost about $30 for the average couple to see a movie (2 Tickets + $10 for pop & popcorn). For that cost you get to pick the movie you would like to see, the rest of your theatre going experience is up to fate; an exciting game of Russian Roulette. Of course it's one that must be played. To get the full experience of any movie you must see it on the big screen, with the high quality sound system. For the last couple of years I've started to be highly selective about which movies I choose to see in the theatre. Most movies I simply wait for them to be released on DVD, because most of them are utter crap. There are some movies however that just HAVE to be seen in large format to appreciate. Mainly sci-fi, fantasy, action, horror, etc. Anything that has lots of action, special effects, or large scenery. It's hard to appreciate the massiveness of the Death Star on your 27" home TV. Now when you go see it on the large screen and the space station is towering over you at 10' across you start to respect it more. When I go to see these movies on the big screen, I want to see it on the biggest screen possible. I don't want to see it in the small 20' screen auditoriums, I want to see it in the 50'+ screen ones. This has been such a huge annoyance in my life lately. I expect that if I go see a movie on it's premiere weekend, and it's a high enough grossing film, it had damn well AA be in the theatre's largest auditoriums. Often though I buy my ticket and when getting to the auditorium I find that I've been sent off to the smallest auditorium in the building. I have to presume this is the overflow section, and it is in fact also playing on the larger screens. They desperately need to integrate a theater diagram into Fandango, and list which auditorium each show time is playing in. Of course they won't do this because they know no one will purposefully buy a ticket to the small screen showings. I think from now on if I get sent to a small screen auditorium I'm going to demand they exchange it for tickets to the large auditorium showings. Maybe if I'm annoying enough they'll start making some changes. I also have to have the perfect seat. I have to sit in the exact middle of the screen, center row, center seat, and if at all possible away from annoyances (talkers, miss-behaving children, crying babies, seat kickers, teen make out couples, scream prone girlies, popcorn spilling gluttonous fatty, etc.). And why the hell can't people respect others viewing experience and get a baby sitter for their children? I'm a parent and I know better then to bring my child to a prime time showing. If I decide it's a film he must see in the theatre we will go to a weekend matinée, and I will make sure that he's quiet and respectful of others. Often I'll go see a horror film, at primetime, on a premiere night and some dumbass will bring their baby along. Oh and guess what happens at the first loud jolt in the movie the baby starts screaming. And they don't leave the theatre. Dip shit! I think babies should be banned from the theatre all together. Fortunately here in Vancouver one local business owner and film fan opened Cinetopia. And they have 21+ age restricted auditoriums and show times. That should take care of 90% of the annoyances that ruin my experience. Plus they serve Beer and real dinner food before the show starts, that should help increase my enjoyment. I haven't yet been to a showing there. I think I'll go check out a viewing soon. Hopefully it'll be everything I've always dreamed about and I'll bring all my business to them.

Review: X-Men: The Last Stand

On Sat 6/10 I went to see X-Men 3. I've been anxiously awaiting this movie as I'm a big X-Men fan, especially of Wolverine, whom in part my son is named after. Since this was only the second weekend since the movie's premiere, I decided to get to the theatre early. I'm very picky about where I sit in a theatre, as I've mentioned before. I arrived at the theatre 30 mins early and to my surprise I'm the only one in the auditorium. So I take time to find the perfect seat. Moments later two 16 year old female theatre employees enter the auditorium, one with a neck strap concession tray (much like the old era cigarette girls). They asked if I wanted to buy any candy, popcorn, etc. I already had a pop (soda for you non-PNW folk), so I politely declined. I'm assuming this is a new sales method for the theatre chain. I'm mixed on how I feel about it. On one side it's a great service much like the vendors at a sports event, alternatively it's also one more chance for them to get you to buy their over priced consumables. Either way the girls were required to hang out in the auditorium until the film started. Standing around got pretty boring for them so they got pretty chatty with me, and then decided to entertain me with some cart wheels, flips, and slow split maneuvers. It was a hell of a lot more entertaining then the 20-spot that Regal was showing. I showed my appreciation by staring and clapping, like a retard watching a kitten. Eventually a few more folks showed up, in all about 15 arrived before the trailers started. An amazingly small number for a hit movie, at the main theatre in town, and on a Saturday afternoon. That suited me just fine. I watched the movie excitedly and felt pretty satisfied afterwards. My thoughts are below after the spoiler notice. One funny thing worth mentioning. I had previously read that there was an extra plot point scene played after the conclusion of the credits. As soon as the credits started rolling everyone left the auditorium. I sat patiently for the credits to roll. Soon the theatre cleaning crew came in, anxious to get the cleaning job done so they could go back to standing around doing nothing. Of course they couldn't start until the auditorium was completely empty. The whole time the cleaning crew was standing at the entrance with garbage can, mop, and brooms at the ready. I kept glancing over at them and they just looked more and more impatient. Like "Why the heck is this guy watching the credits, who the hell watches credits". I felt like I could feel their beady little eyes glaring at me through the dark. I started to get impatient, had it not been for Heath and Trieste confirming the extra scene's existence, I likely would have left early. After what felt like an eternity the credits finished and the extra scene played. I got up to leave and a sigh of relief was felt from the cleaning crew. One guy seemed to acknowledge my need to wait, and said "Thanks! Have a good day" in a sincere voice. "Thanks, I will!" I replied.

*** SPOILER WARNING ***

Pros:

• Kelsey Grammer did an excellent job of portraying Beast. I was very skeptical of how he would do in this role after I initially heard the news. I knew his sophisticated well spokeness would be a good match for Beast, but I didn't know how well he would be able to pull off the makeup and action scenes. I especially liked that they were able to show Beasts self-pity for his appearance. Shown best in the scene where Leech is able to repress his mutant appearance and show is true hand, after which Beast thanks him.
• They didn't bring back Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler. I don't know what it is about that guy, but he creeps me out. Plus Nightcrawler was never one of my favorites.
• I like the emotion they showed of the young Warren Worthington embarrassed of his freakiness, as he attempts to cut off his wings. Really shows the hardship that being a mutant causes some, especially at a young age and not understanding it.
• Even though I didn't like that they took Rogues powers away in this film (she did it voluntarily) it does bring a little closure to the struggle Rogue (in the comic book) has always had with not being able to touch another human.
• The special effects were excellent. Seeing Magneto re-route the golden gate bridge to Alcatraz was awesome, and a good show of his powers.

Cons:

• I think they took too much liberty in killing characters. Killing Cyclops, Prof X (sort of comes back), Phoenix, and taking away powers from Mystique, Magneto (sort of regains them), and Rogue. I understand that the film has tried to incorporate as many X-Men characters/villains as possible, and that it requires that they create exits for some characters so that others can shine. I just think they did a bad job of it, and took too many liberties in changing the characters storylines.
• I don’t think there was enough action. There was only about 3 or 4 action scenes, including the final large battle.
• I'm getting tired of seeing Warren Worthington Sr. portrayed as the main mutant hating bad guy. They should have killed him off in this movie, that would have fit in a bit better with the comic book background. But having Archangel save him makes a point that he loves his father even if his father hates his mutantness.
• Mutant Classification. In the comic books the mutant power classification was only ever used by the government hunting mutants, and Apocalypse. And then they used a different classification scale (Alpha, Beta, Epsilon-Delta, Omega, … ) In the movie the mutants are all using a new classification (Class 1, 2, 3, 4, … ) And they all seem to understand the different classifications like they all learned it at Mutant High, sort of makes it sound like they are all D&D characters. Did Prof. X make next level with all the XP he gained from battling Phoenix and transporting his consciousness to a new body?

Hopes for the Future:

• They will develop Beasts character further and show the love connection between him and Storm. However it might be hard to get Halle Berry to reprise her role now that she is a big Oscar winning star. Although one of her stipulations on returning for X3 was a promise of character development. So who knows?
• I would like to see a two part sequel that deals with the comic book story of Apocalypse.
• I'd like to see Archangel developed more, seems like his appearance in this sequel is a for shadowing for that.