I'm finally getting close to my exercise program targets for the first time in several months. My morning routine of pushups, weights, etc. had gotten missed a lot, and under par the rest.
I have a really hard time sticking with an exercise program, despite very much wanting to be in better shape for a lot of reasons.
Do you exercise? How well do you stick with it?
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Ethnic food in other countries
So in just about any major city in the US you can get Mexican, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, French, Greek, and a bunch of other kinds of food. You can get Sushi in Pittsburgh and eat at a Brazilian restaurant in Seattle.
Is it like that in other countries? I know McDonalds and Starbucks have spread like a pandemic across the globe, but can you get French food in Pskov? Chinese food in Dover? How about calling for a Pizza delivery in La Trang?
Is it like that in other countries? I know McDonalds and Starbucks have spread like a pandemic across the globe, but can you get French food in Pskov? Chinese food in Dover? How about calling for a Pizza delivery in La Trang?
Monday, July 28, 2008
New Mexico is a state...
...of the United States.
...of mind.
Either one works, and that's where I've been for the last week. I do several types of vacations. Going-to-wedding vacations are usually three-day weekends. I recently did the wilder style vacation with my trip to Las Vegas. Every so often, though, I take a vacation where I just slow down. I sleep in. I hike in the woods not to get somewhere, but just to be in the woods. I have no detailed plans for the week, or for the next day, or sometimes for the current day. This was the latter kind of vacation.
Everything moves a little slower in a county the size of Connecticut with a population the size of the Boeing Everett workforce.
So I saw the results of a forest fire at ground level (impressive).
I watched The Dark Knight.
I did some outdoor shooting.
I hiked.
I hung out with various people.
I played computer games.
I read three and a half books.
And I got a LOT of sleep.
...of mind.
Either one works, and that's where I've been for the last week. I do several types of vacations. Going-to-wedding vacations are usually three-day weekends. I recently did the wilder style vacation with my trip to Las Vegas. Every so often, though, I take a vacation where I just slow down. I sleep in. I hike in the woods not to get somewhere, but just to be in the woods. I have no detailed plans for the week, or for the next day, or sometimes for the current day. This was the latter kind of vacation.
Everything moves a little slower in a county the size of Connecticut with a population the size of the Boeing Everett workforce.
So I saw the results of a forest fire at ground level (impressive).
I watched The Dark Knight.
I did some outdoor shooting.
I hiked.
I hung out with various people.
I played computer games.
I read three and a half books.
And I got a LOT of sleep.
The Dark Knight
OK, it's had the biggest opening weekend in history, its getting rave reviews left and right, virtually every person that I've seen or heard comment on it has loved it... and all I can say is "10,000 lemmings can't be wrong!"
Spoilers ahoy! If you haven't seen it yet, you read this at your own risk.
I didn't like The Dark Knight. I didn't hate it, I didn't think it was a bad movie, but I didn't like it. Batman Begins had a certain light-hearted feel to it. "It's a black... tank..." Is the dominant line for me of that movie. Not-quite-believable action is OK because its part of the humor that runs throughout the movie. Yes, there was drama, but it seemed to me to take a back seat to the action and the humor alike. How does Batman appear and disappear? Because he's a Ninja! Ninja can do that! Its kitsch, and that makes it a little funy if you think about it.
In The Dark Knight, drama has jumped from third place or lower to first, and the comedy doesn't quite ring right. The moment that defines this movie for me is the Joker walking out of the hospital as explosions go off, and hitting his detonator repeatedly to make the big one go. It seems like it was meant to be funny, and it might have been, but not coming right after the scene with Dent in the hospital and shortly after the death of Rachel. The humor of this movie is twisted - much like the Joker himself. Drama, disturbing concepts (courtesy of the Joker), action, and humor trailing along like a lost puppy wondering where its owner went. Now, I'm a medic at heart even if I'm not licensed in this state. I do dark humor. Death, disfiguration, and violence can be involved in things without necessarily making them not funny. But here it didn't work for me.
I also felt The Dark Knight was a little too long, with one plot twist too many. By about 3/4 of the way through the movie I was thinking "where did the Joker find all these guys/ how did he get all this information/how did he plan that in advance?" every few minutes. Then "Two Face" comes in and makes that look easy. Dent has no Ninja training - how does he manage to find all those people so fast? How does he get out of the hospital? How does he survive the car crash?
To finish on a positive note, I can say nothing bad about the acting. Everyone from the leads to the one-line characters did a great job. The special effects may not always be believeable, but they're quite impressive. All in all while this movie may not deserve to be the super-blockbuster it has turned out to be, there are many, many movies that deserve it less.
Spoilers ahoy! If you haven't seen it yet, you read this at your own risk.
I didn't like The Dark Knight. I didn't hate it, I didn't think it was a bad movie, but I didn't like it. Batman Begins had a certain light-hearted feel to it. "It's a black... tank..." Is the dominant line for me of that movie. Not-quite-believable action is OK because its part of the humor that runs throughout the movie. Yes, there was drama, but it seemed to me to take a back seat to the action and the humor alike. How does Batman appear and disappear? Because he's a Ninja! Ninja can do that! Its kitsch, and that makes it a little funy if you think about it.
In The Dark Knight, drama has jumped from third place or lower to first, and the comedy doesn't quite ring right. The moment that defines this movie for me is the Joker walking out of the hospital as explosions go off, and hitting his detonator repeatedly to make the big one go. It seems like it was meant to be funny, and it might have been, but not coming right after the scene with Dent in the hospital and shortly after the death of Rachel. The humor of this movie is twisted - much like the Joker himself. Drama, disturbing concepts (courtesy of the Joker), action, and humor trailing along like a lost puppy wondering where its owner went. Now, I'm a medic at heart even if I'm not licensed in this state. I do dark humor. Death, disfiguration, and violence can be involved in things without necessarily making them not funny. But here it didn't work for me.
I also felt The Dark Knight was a little too long, with one plot twist too many. By about 3/4 of the way through the movie I was thinking "where did the Joker find all these guys/ how did he get all this information/how did he plan that in advance?" every few minutes. Then "Two Face" comes in and makes that look easy. Dent has no Ninja training - how does he manage to find all those people so fast? How does he get out of the hospital? How does he survive the car crash?
To finish on a positive note, I can say nothing bad about the acting. Everyone from the leads to the one-line characters did a great job. The special effects may not always be believeable, but they're quite impressive. All in all while this movie may not deserve to be the super-blockbuster it has turned out to be, there are many, many movies that deserve it less.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Dream
It was long, and complicated. It involved flying motorcycles (they used a runway, not magic), truth drugs, and a wide variety of other things.
But at the end, I came face to face with a tablet that contained the objective of my entire life. It was written in Latin (not real Latin, dream-world Latin). It was just a single word, and it meant 'live well'. Not live well as in "eat, drink, and be merry" though that was a small part of it, but rather to live a good, honorable, productive life.
What does your tablet say?
But at the end, I came face to face with a tablet that contained the objective of my entire life. It was written in Latin (not real Latin, dream-world Latin). It was just a single word, and it meant 'live well'. Not live well as in "eat, drink, and be merry" though that was a small part of it, but rather to live a good, honorable, productive life.
What does your tablet say?
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