The rules are simple.
Answer each question in three words.
No more, no less.

1. Where is your cell phone? Docked by computer
2. Boyfriend/girlfriend? None in sight
3. Hair? Short, thinning, brownish
4. Your mother? Passed in 2005
5. Your father? Retired Army man
6. Your favorite item(s)? Computer, Camera, Motorcycle
7. Your dream last night? Way too strange!
8. Your favorite drink? Rum and Coke
9. Your dream guy/girl? Probably not real
10. The room you are in? Living room, baby!
11. Your fear? Zombies eating brain
12. What do you want to be in 10 years? Ten years older
13. Who did you hang out with last night? All by myself
14. What are you not? Skinny, short, humorless
15. Are you in love? Do cookies count?
16. One of your wish list items? Kawasaki KLR 650
17. What time is it? One eighteen PM
18. The last thing you did? Fixed myself lunch
19. What are you wearing? My lounging clothes
20. Your favorite book? Far too many!
21. The last thing you ate? BBQ pork sandwich
22. Your life? Usually happy times
23. Your mood? Feeling good today
24. Your friends? Growing in numbers
25. What are you thinking about right now? Police concert soon!
26. Your car? Blue Dodge Neon
27. What are you doing at this moment? Typing on keyboard
28. Your summer? Hitting the road
29. Your relationship status? Separated and happy
30. What is on your TV screen? Only dust now
31. When is the last time you laughed? Earlier this day
32. Last time you cried? Can’t really remember
33. School? Life long learning

Stolen from Leesa

Sunday I was supposed to go to a friends house for an Oscars Party after the kids headed home with their mom. I stopped by the grocery store to pick up my favorite non-alcoholic beverages (Weinhardt root beer and Thomas Kemper grape soda) then headed on over to my friends house. Something seemed odd as I pulled into the parking place in front of his apartment.  Hmmm… wait a minute, no headlights! Click-click, click-click.  Nope, both headlights out and it’s getting dark fast.  I head on up to express my regrets that I can’t stay and quickly head for home, getting flashed by just about every car I pass (guess they didn’t see Urban Legend).

So today I start troubleshooting things. Pull all the fuses, none blown, clean all the contacts, fiddle with wiring, relays, etc.  High beams work but no low beams. I figure I’ll replace the bulbs since it’s remotely possible that they both burned out at roughly the same time before I schedule an appointment with the dealer. Drive to the closest NAPA store, pick up bulbs and start for home.  I’m behind a truck with a chrome bumper so I take the opportunity to test the headlights again. No headlights, click - highbeams, click - no headlights, click - highbeams, click - no headlights, click - highbeams, click - low beams! And they continue to work fine now.

*Head scratching* So either it’s a wonky switch or maybe a relay just got stuck. I guess I’ll keep an eye on it and take it to the dealer if it happens again. I love this car, I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come…

Whew, I slept in this morning… planning to roll out of bed in plenty of time to log into Ticketmaster when The Police tickets went on sale at 10am PST.  The only flaw in my plan was that tickets went on sale at 9am PST.

I logged in anyway, even though I was sure it would be sold out. It took me about 30 minutes of reloading, reloading, reloading… can I just say the text verification system that Ticketmaster uses sucks?! Finally a ticket popped up.  All they had left was the uber, expensive gold hot seat package. I swallowed hard and bought it anyway. At least I’ll be close to the stage. And I get some kind of exclusive merchandise… no clue what it is!

I was really reluctant to pay that much for a concert ticket, but I figure when am I ever going to have the chance to see The Police in concert again? I never saw them back in the day, so this is a missed opportunity from my youth revisited. I can live with the cost from that perspective!

Anyone else manage to score tickets for the Seattle show?  We should get together before or after the concert and have a mini-blogger bash!

Ok, I saw this one last night and I wound up loving it.  I have to confess, I didn’t think I would up front but it managed to connect with me and I really got into the story.

It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea for sure. It’s got plenty of raw, gritty moments on tap. And vintage Samual L. Jackson. And Christina Ricci… chained to a radiator.  Yes, yes, a strange premise but it winds up working. For me at least. And oh yes, smokin’ blues… Jackson learned to play guitar for this movie and he does a credible job I thought.

I even liked the way they handled religion. Practical, not too preachy, not judgmental. A lot of church-goers could learn something by watching.

If you like a movie a little off-beat this one might be worth checking out…

Black Snake Moan

My name is Michael, and I am addicted to shopping on the Internet.

It’s true, I find myself ordering things all the time. It doesn’t help that I keep a wireless laptop next to my easy chair. On the occasions that I take the time to watch TV and keep up with the handful of series that I follow, I inevitably wind up surfing the web at the same time.  It’s just so *easy* on the Internet… even for things I buy locally, I’ll often order online through Circuit City or Best Buy, find what I want, pay for it and then just select “in-store pickup” so I can drive over and grab it without having to wander around the store.

It’s a sickness I tell you!

Well technically he was sleeping earlier today too… at least he was when we visited him at the Woodland Park Zoo. Today was forecast to be the one nice day in between two storm fronts moving through the Puget Sound, so Lindsey and I decided it would be a good day to spend some time outside in the fresh air. What better way to than to stroll around the zoo with cameras in hand?

A few more photos over at Flickr!

Whew, this has been the week for movies! Besides Terabithia, I saw Breach this week and I’m hitting up a screening of Ghost Rider with Matt tonight. I’m sure it’s going to be campy, it might even suck.  But hey, it’s got a flaming motorcycle in it… how can I pass that up?

All three reviews come out tomorrow.  Man, keeping up with all of this research and writing takes a person that is really organized and and on top of things. Hmm, now if I just knew someone with those traits that I could con into doing the “work” part of things…

Updated 02/16: This week’s reviews have now been published, to recap:

Bridge to Terabithia - Well worth seeing!
Breach - A good movie, recommended if you’re into political thrillers
Ghost Rider - Lukewarm, if you’re into “B” movies or Nic Cage catch a matinee

The only good thing about Valentine’s Day is you can eat gummy bears for breakfast and not feel guilty…

Ever notice I tend to get obsessive about things?  I was sitting here listening to The Police, you know to get *ready* for the concert in June. It brought back fond memories of listening to them in high school with my best friend George.

George and I didn’t actually go to the same school.  I went to a public school, he was in a private school.  We met through a mutual friend because we all played Dungeons & Dragons. That was back when it was still considered evil.  We were really opposites in a lot of ways.  George played football and taught martial arts in his spare time. I was already into electronics and busy running the Strategy Wargaming Club at my school. Some how, we meshed as friends though.

I had a motorcycle at the time (fancy that!) and George had access to his mom’s car. A white station wagon.  Not too cool but it was transportation.  Then his older brother joined the Coast Guard and was in school for a while.  He loaned George his Buick Regal while he was gone.  Man that car rocked! Killer stereo, sun roof, lots of ponies under the hood.

So back to The Police, the thing to do on weekend nights in Savannah, GA at the time was to cruise River Street. It’s an cobblestone street that runs along the river in the old part of the city. You’d cruise nice and slow because of the bumpy street, with your stereo blasting and passengers hanging out the windows (or in our case, sun roof). For us, it would often be The Police Synchronicity album or Ghost in the Machine on the tape deck. Or Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyrie… but that’s a whole other story.

Good times, good memories…

Seasons in life at least. I spent the weekend with my daughter Lindsey, we had a good time. Besides seeing Terabithia we mostly just hung out, though I did cook a couple of special meals at her request. She’s coming over again next weekend, hopefully the weather will clear up a bit so we can go to the zoo or do something else outside for a change.

Matt was supposed to come over this past weekend but it didn’t happen. He wanted to go see a movie instead.  With a… a… girl. I can make light of it, but honestly I struggle with the notion that my “little buddy” is very nearly a man. Do men struggle with the “empty nest” concept?  I mean, technically my nest *is* empty except for weekend visits and vacations.

Is it Matt growing up that bothers me, or the implications that has for my own life? I’m not sure I want to examine that question too closely… especially with Lindsey not too far behind him. Maybe I’ll have to grow up too.