Gnumoon's Stuff

It's hard to hold a candle in the cold November rain

Instead of the pictures I was going to post for today, here’s a cute one of the Maxer.

Why not those others? Because they remind me of my wet, cold morning. The morning that was spent hiking up an old logging road on the back acreage up over the ridgeline to wait for rescue. In a torrential downpour.

Yup, the road flooded again.

Here’s a free real estate tip from moi: When you are looking at homes, and pass three signs stating “ROAD SUBJECT TO FLOODING,” it is best to at least take those warnings into account.   

 That’s us, the Swiss Family Gnumoon. Or maybe it’s Survivor: North Carolina Mountains.

Currently Listening to: Can the Circle Be Unbroken, by the Carter Family
Quote of the Day: From Big Fish:
"It was that night I discovered that most things you consider evil or wicked are simply lonely, and lacking in the social niceties."

Awesomest Weaponry

The other day TomC posted a really nifty animation that he'd done, and it really made me think about what I wish I could do, animation-wise. The answer was, "Nothing practical, but stuff that is really cool." Then, lo and behold, I got an email from my dear GRF with this linked. WOW. It may be the "awesomest" animation I've ever seen.
Okay, I'm off on a super-secret mission- more about it later when it's declassified.

ps- The song is "War Photographer," by Jason Forrest. iTunes will hook you up.

Mobile Phone Photographer

More LG camera-phone pictures…
1. Gorilla Munch cereal- Otis and I giggled about this at the grocery store, because she pointed out that the 2 gorillas in the background look like they’re, as she put it in a Beavis voice, “Doin’ it.”
2. Beef Wieners- Heeheehee, I said beef and wieners.
3. Employee’s Only– OK, people screw this up all the time. But this picture was taken at a large institute of higher education that prides itself on being both impossibly hard to get into and impossible hard to afford. And yet…”Employee’s Only.” Nice try, school that desperately wishes it was Duke.
4. Tall Boy– C. as glimpsed through a huge cylinder of beer.
5. I’m Dead Sexy- Is there anything hotter on a chick than thermal tights and hiking socks? I think not. Settle down boys.
6. d-Con kills BOTH Rats and Mice- ...although apparently in a different order, depending on the color of the box. Those little bastiges are trying to chew through the new ductwork under the floor…death to them! May it come swiftly to them from both yellow and green boxes.

This is what I do with a day off?

Anaconda is on TBS right now. I love this movie- it is so terrible. It has it all as far as stereotypical horror movie characters are concerned. Jon Voight as the merciless, crazed hunter who will do anything to capture the giant Anaconda, Owen Wilson as the enthusiastic surfer-boy who wants to make a buck, Jennifer Lopez as a hot-blooded Latina in love with Eric Stoltz, the rugged but refined biologist. There is also some stodgy British guy who does nothing but quaff brandy and make snide comments until he thankfully gets ingested.

And of course, we also have Ice Cube in there as the token black character who dies quickly. Except he doesn’t die, which proves the “token black guy who dies in horror movies” cliché- he’s the exception.

(Right now the snake is screaming and thrashing about because Sarone (Voight) shot it in the mouth with a tranquilizer dart. Oh, and Owen Wilson just bit the big one…or it bit him. They def. cast this girl as his love interest because she is a real screamer. Nice special effect there- you can see his face outlined in the snake’s belly.)

Oh god, now Jennifer Lopez is kissing Jon Voight. Voight (in a really awful accent): “It has…been a long time….since I have had a woman.”
I may vomit a little bit-this part is way nastier than other characters getting eaten.

This movie is so bad. I may have to buy it.

ps- Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid has no redeeming characteristics. Just another example of the sequel falling well short of the original. Disappointing.

(FOLLOW-UP)
A few more things as the film ends...
1. TBS cut out the awesome "Anaconda throws up Jon Voight and he winks at Lopez" scene. Booo.
2. The only thing scarier than a 65 foot snake that wants to eat you? A 65-foot snake on fire that wants to eat you.

Back on the Mountain

We just finished the first playoff football game, after getting back from a basketball game at 2:00 am last night.
*yawn* I'm kidding about being tired, of course- we have to go out and celebrate the big win!

Max is proud of the team, too. He even has a Championship sweatshirt. Poor dog- I swear I don't do this to him much.

Turkeys and Power Trios

Mobile-bloggin from the boro for turkey day. We slept until noon, and for that I give great thanks. It isn’t until you have a mandatory day off that you realize how much you run run run every other day. I can barely remember how to relax. So what am I doing?

I’m watching my brand-spankin new r30 DVD of course. It is great- the audio mix is good, the camera angles are perfect, and the guys are rocking. My only suggestion would have been to not film one of the last shows on the tour. Geddy’s voice sounds a little strained on some tracks, which it probably should since they had been on tour for about 5 months by the time they filmed this one.

Anyway, it is a great DVD, and a very satisfying way to spend Thanksgiving.

My family decided that they’d go to the beach for the holidays, but I had to work and couldn’t join them. That really sucks. Hope you guys are having fun. But bittersweet fun, because you miss me. (just kidding)

Well, happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Thanks for reading, thanks for writing. Bloggers, thanks for sharing your lives and their details, be they intriguing or mundane. Go eat some turkey (unless you’re vegan, in which case, go eat some tempeh), and relax!

This really pisses me off...

Hey- I’m back! Finally.
The project/presentation thingy went well yesterday, I think. It’s hard to judge one’s own speaking ability, but at no point did I break into tears or burp or anything like that, so I’ll take it. The best part is that it is OVER.

If you want to see the frozen winter wonderland we currently have outside, go visit BlueRidgeBlogger. The photo she took yesterday is damn near perfect.

Also- this picture to the left is for my friend who had never seen the “of salesmen!” episode of ATHF. That’s Geddy’s bassjet, btw.

And BHarb sent me this video…I hadn’t ever considered the fact that if you have children you get to torture them. Sweet. This is definitely a parenting tactic that I would employ.
…
Time to rant, this time on the subject of theoretical children. Prepare yourselves for some bitchin'...

Today we had the department-wide Thanksgiving dinner, which is nice and everyone brings food and we all pretend to be a big happy family. For me, it is an unspoken rule that everyone has to glance at my midsection and then inquire loudly “So, when are you going to have kids?” It annoys the crap out of me.

I wish wish wish I had the balls to say, “You may ask that question when my sex life becomes your business, you pervert.” The answer that I increasingly have to bite my tongue to stifle is, “None of your effing business.”

There is one guy, a guy who I rarely see or work with, who unfailingly will come up to me and ask The Question. Last time I saw him (about 2 months ago), he told me (in hushed tines, like it was big secret) that “raising up some kids” was the only practical reason for marriage and that I’d better get to work on that. Today, as I was leaving, he called out a chipper, “So, when are you going to give your husband some children? It’s your wifely duty, you know!”

In my imagination I wheeled around, introduced my kneecap to his crotch with a solid crunch and said, in a cheery, yet maniacal voice: “Oh, sooner than you will again, I imagine!” In real life I muttered something incomprehensible and walked out the door, scowling in a most fetching manner.

Why do people feel like this is an appropriate question to ask someone they don’t know very well? It offends me that co-workers assume that my life’s ambition, because I am a woman, is to spawn. And it further offends me that this asshat, who I don't even know, ALWAYS feels the need to push his outdated, puritanical beliefs on me.

Plus, it is an insensitive thing to ask someone- I know several women who have infertility issues, and while The Question pisses me off, for them it is emotionally painful to even hear it.

Please do me, and the hordes of married, childless women in the world a favor and DON’T ASK, unless you know them well. Because some of us are just about ready to spit acid in the face of the next insensitive question-asker. Get your damn questions out of my womb, the one I’m not currently using for any gestational purpose.

Rose and Valerie screaming from the gallery

So I’m still here, sort of…this weekend was a blur, and today has been devoted to finishing my 20-page paper and setting up an hourlong (!) presentation for my Technological Leadership class tomorrow.

Oh Steve Jobs, you megalomaniac. You make for such an interesting presentation. It is interesting, too, that my presentation WOULD NOT WORK on a PC, although it works beautifully on a G5 desktop and a G4 laptop. Conspiracy? And on which part?

I’m off to all manner of work-related engagements this evening now…no clue when I’ll finish this project. So let me leave you with some great Beatles-themed flash movies. I will learn Flash someday, dammit.

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer

Come Together

Busy like zee beaver

Sorry for the dearth of postings of late. Between work and this project I’m doing for my grad classes, I’ve almost mastered the fine art of not sleeping. Of course, this is about the longest week of the collegiate athletics year…:
Tonight: Basketball home opener
Saturday: Football game (2.5 hours away)
Sunday: 1-AA Playoff Selection show
Monday: Home Basketball Tuesday: Gigantic Project
Wednesday: other work crap
Friday: Basketball @ Wake Forest
Saturday: 1-AA Football playoffs round 1
We all might die from exhaustion. The radio guys have 8 broadcasts in the next 4 days, so I really shouldn’t be bitching. I have to go home to walk the dog before basketball tonight, so I might try to write a more inspired post then. Otherwise, have a great Friday, and may the force be with you.

ps- I can see what you dirty little monkeys type into Google that brings you here. I have your IP addresses, and if you happened to be looking for nasty (and I might add "quite illegal") stuff earlier today, let me be (probably not) the first to say, "EW! GROSS!" What I can't figure out is what typing in THAT brought you HERE. Go away, dude, we don't want any.

UNPREPARED

Enough with the angsty crap. (I know that "angsty" isn't really a word, but my brother coined it a while back, and I think it's great.)

My buddy Otis and I go way back, all the way back to when we were brownies and girl scouts. In said organizations, you receive merit badges based on the demonstration of certain skills (sewing, cookie-peddling, pole-dancing, etc,). She gave me this badge for my birthday, and I love it. I'm looking for a sash to sew it on.

For more like stuff, visit www.keepthefaye.com