Skrubby's Thanksgiving goodness....

I hope everyone ate well and laughed to tears visiting friends and family today. This was the first time I ever tried to "cook" a holiday meal by myself so I'm going to document how to cook skrubb-a-style Thanksgiving feast.

Items:
1 box Stove Top stuffing (pick your favorite flavor)
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix ( + some milk and an egg)
1 small package of frozen fresh vegitables (get your favorite)
1 small can cranberry sauce (real cranberries suck)
1 uncut hickory smoked turkey breast from the meat department
1 bottle Yellow Tail Merlot ;) (1/2 to be used during the cooking process, 1/2 for after dinner contemplation)
1 gallon unsweet tea (substitute sweet tea if you like)

Not much actual "cooking" required, but I have to admit, I am very proud of the results. I had enough food (and wine) easily for two people so now I have dinner and probably breakfast tomorrow too. It's definately a bachelor's feast, but it worked out great.

What didn't work out great is the TV. Jimminy jebus TV SUCKS!!!!!! Not a single thing on to entertain. Only good thing was Finding Nemo, which I missed the first half of.

Big'J and I took the day off tomorrow and J's wife and child will be out visiting. So we're probably going to do something nerdy and play WoW or some other game most of the day. Doug is coming up late to visit with Rob-Rob and Pat is also driving in Cheese Girl. Somehow I'm going to have to juggle all this at once. Should lead to some interesting jokes.

When exactly does Christmas start these days? Is it actually at midnight tonight? Most stores have been putting Christmas stuff out on the shelfs for a good week or two. People bitch about it all the time, yet it still happens. Guess that's why it's great to live in the U.S. of A.

Hugs to everyone! God bless America!

Playing ketchup......

Saw the new Harry Potter this weekend. I liked it. Dragons were cool. I had hoped for a little more screen time dealing with the World Cup, but the rest of the movie was great. Though I'm beginning to hate the 60's hair styles....everyone with long crap hair. Still like the original Dumbledore better. The current one is doing a great job, but he just doesn't seem to capture the grandfatherly aspect I have always seen in D's character. Lots of reviewers mentioned Emma Watson's performance as being less than expected. Honestly, I didn't notice until I read the reviews AFTER I saw the movie. I agree with them, but she's still in character and does a better job than a lot of adult actors/actresses (read yes Ben Stiller still SUCKS).

X3 is still the bomb, the more I play it though, the more apparent its current issues become (like every other game). It seems that X3 is very balanced with a dynamic economy and attentive AI in the beginning of the game. But after a few in-game days, all these things take a dive. The economy starts to slow down as Free Traders (read NPC goods transports) are killed off by pirates or being run over and for some reason they never seem to respawn or be replaced. So after awhile, the universe gets this real empty feeling and goods start to back up or not get made at all.

Found me a new money sinkhole. Not going to talk about it yet, as I don't want to ruin the surprise.

Received a wedding invitation from T-ed, was very happy of that. With the cold coming on rats are starting to nest in my attic, so I was in desperate need of something to scare the rats away with.

Everyone have a great thanksgiving, send me some leftovers please! Be safe as the stupid-crazy shopping season opens.

X3 Reunion

Big'J happned to look at Target and find X3 Reunion on the shelf. Needless to say, I'm being a total junkie and geeking out over the game. Therefore, do not expect me to post for a while, since I will be cracking out on the digital goodness that is the X Universe.

Memories of a past life part 2......

I just started reading Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card (OSC) and there was a small scene in the book that really gave me pause. The scene is as follows...

The main character, Bean, is a little boy (physically), very young (like 5-ish), yet is damn intelligent. He's in a shuttle (the flying kind) to go to a space station with a bunch of other boys (all smart but much older and bigger). As the flight begins in earnest an adult (an instructor) comes out and starts to mentally flail the boys (basically the don't think you're smarter than everyone else speech). Near the end of the speech he points out in no unclear terms that the little boy Bean is much smarter (and thereby better) than all the other boys and he does this by intentionally involving Bean to prove that Bean is "the man". Bean of course realized what's going on and has this thought:

"..He[Bean - ed.] could feel the hostility of the other children. There was nothing he could do about that right now, and he wasn't sure that it was a
disadvantage, anyhow. What mattered was the much more puzzling question:
Why did the man set him up like that?" - [Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card, p 90 paperback,Tor Publishing, 1999]

Of course, having read Ender's Game by OSC, I already know the answer to the question. The main character in Ender's Game (EG) was setup in a very similar fashion on his way to the same space station. At any rate, this particular idea made me put the book down and ponder.

The whole idea (at least in my mind) of this instructor character is to bring attention to Bean, make the other boys begin to hate him, isolate him, thus driving Bean to struggle to survive and try to fit in by rising to every challenge and proving to everyone else (including himself) that he is the best of the best. Now when I was an instructor I also brought attention to those I thought deserved the mantle of being called bright (well I might have been mistaken in Kenny's case....damn I hate him....). As I think back I feel that I "marked" these students for a very similar purpose (though T-ed just BEGS to be made fun of, bright or not).

So the first question to myself is,"Did I actually succeed in my attempt to cause these marked students to become better than they would have?" Now I know some of loyal one's will respond and say of course I did, but I think the truth of the matter is that this kind of question is pointless and silly. The only way to ever determine a true answer to the question would be to have some way to see what the world would be like if "X" factor were different. Which outside of Hollywood and games, isn't very likely. So those of you wanting to make me feel "better" by replying that you couldn't have gone on without me, stow your pens and send cash instead ;).

The main question of this wandering mental masturbation (oh yeah...I said it...) is, "Why do I hate this instructor, and by past deeds myself, for doing this to a young mind?" I finished the chapter and just feel this urge to reach through the pages and punch the instructor right in the "twig and berries". I know in the end Bean will be better for it, and will help save the world (gee...didn't see it coming...). Yet I'm angry that in order to do so, Bean will have to suffer through so much more just to live his life. In the context of literature, I guess I can rationalize that the end justifies the mean (mean...Bean....get it?....damn, tough crowd). So hear I am, on the verge of a intellectual breakthrough, and suddenly my brain turns off and I think I have to poo...

Memories of a past life Part 1.....

This spaced temporarily reserved for a discussion of the BEST program........ I would fill it in now, but I"M DAMN TIRED YOU HIPPIES!!! So I'll come back later and fix it. goodnight

A reason to be a good motorist....

So not to long ago, I searched far and wide as to what the nerdie/geek/freak gaming scene was like here in de'Ham. My results indicate that de'Ham has a little bit better scene than Mobile, but was still far from impressive. I found a shop called Legion, which carries oodles of Warhammer (40k and Fantasy) at standard retail prices (booooo!!!) and a few other miniatures games. Unfortunately I must have went during "scary shopkeeper" hour and was weirded out by the guy working. He seemed to hover on the idea that they supported LARP (Live Action Role Play), which is a "bit" to much for me.

However, I noticed a game by the name of WARMACHINE (it's so 'ard it has to be typed in capitals). Now, I've been a very devoted Games Workshop hobbyist for a long time, but rising prices and a semi-stagnant material release schedule has really put some ice on my love of all things Warhammer. WARMACHINE seems like it might provide a good distraction from the GW line. One thing is models are a whole lot better on the pocket book (you can pick up 4 models, 3 of which are as big as a GW dreadnought, for about the same price as a GW dread), yet are still top quality in terms of sculpting.

At any rate, I promised Dwyer that I would check it out and give him a report. So far (after about an hour with 8 mini's and the rulebook), I've really digging the feel if the game and the mini's are inspiring me to paint again (YEAH!!!). I might even be able to talk Big J into playing a game or three of WARMACHINE on our lunch break at work.

On a side note, I had to drive up 280 to behind the summit and back at 5pm...oh yeah.....rush hour. I would just like to point out, that it would be better to have my colon detached from my intestines, pulled out from my rectum, while still attached to my anus, run over by a fleet of armored cars, chewed and pissed on by a pack of rabid dogs, salted, pickled in New Orleans flood water leftovers, be danced on by a gaggle of Mexican salsa'n in stiletos, and finally placed back in its original place to live with the rest of my life than to have to drive through that again. The things I do and am not proud of!

T-shirt I saw - "I don't have a problem with God, just his marketing department".......