Interruption...

We interrupt the post I was going to write to bring you this breaking bulletin!!!

I find vomit hilarious, which is why I was instantly drawn to a headline that included the term "vomit-assault". I clicked on the link (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/7937858/us-man-gets-jail-for-vomit-assault) to read the article. I'll be honest, I had read it yesterday, but I saw it had been updated. In case you don't want to read the full article, or the article is removed at some stage, there is a picture below from the top of it that shows the most important part. I've already printed the page as a PDF to keep forever.

(Click for larger version)

For those of you who have never met my brother, Kel, there is a comparison photo after you click the "More Bacon" link. It's not the best comparison - unfortunately my selection of Kel photos right now is rather limited... if you already know Kel, you know what he looks like, and you may not want to cheapen it by looking at the comparison.

I'll be back later to post what I was originally going to...

You tube?! I tube

Last weekend was fun and very busy. Stephen (Youngie) and Mari (Stephen's wife) were in New York City for a few days last week and into the weekend. I went down on Thursday and hung out for a few hours, then Liz and I both went down on Saturday. We were lucky in that it didn't rain, but perhaps a little unlucky that it was 96°F (36°C) and humid. We started off at the Brooklyn Bridge, then wandered to Wall Street. On the way to Wall Street I checked out some tripod heads - I'm definitely more comfortable with a pan-tilt head than a ball head. Once on Wall Street we got to see buildings like the New York Stock Exchange, and the place where George Washington was inaugurated as first president of the United States, which I thought was cool. Wall Street ended at the water, where there was a little bit of shade from overpasses and breeze from the river.

We jumped on the Staten Island Ferry, which provided us with a free ride out to Staten Island. On the way they take you past Ellis Island, where they used to process new arrivals to the US, and Liberty Island, which is where the statue is. You also get views of the entire Manhattan skyline as you go. There were some cool old boats on the river too. Once we got to Staten Island we went directly back to the waiting area to ride the ferry back.

One of the old style boats passes the Statue of Liberty

Stephen and Mari with the Statue of Liberty

Back in Manhattan we sat in Battery Park, which Stephen recognized from the game Deus Ex. There was some shade there and a nice breeze, so we sat for quite a while. There was also a Spider-Man there talking to kids - he was carrying a backpack and was wearing tights that revealed his jockstrap and codpiece.

We left Battery Park and headed for the subway station, heading up town to go for dinner. On the way out of the park we passed a monument/sculpture called The Sphere. It used to be in the World Trade Center plaza, but was damaged on 9/11 so is now in Battery Park temporarily. The subway ride was great, because we got on at the first stop the train was empty. We all had seats and weren't crowded in at all. After the ride we saw the Flatiron Building and went to Blue Smoke - a barbecue restaurant. Liz and I got ribs - the Kansas City style ribs were the best ones we had - some sweet potato fries (which were really halved sweet potatoes fried up) and baked beans. After that it was time to part with Stephen and Mari - they headed uptown, and Liz and I jumped on the train to go home, which was really crowded. It was lucky we got there 10 minutes before the train left instead of our usual 2 minutes.

Sunday started off with a nice looking morning, so we went through with our plans of going tubing on the Farmington River with Tiff. There were storms forecast for the afternoon - Tiff's report said 4, ours said 2. We risked it anyway as it didn't look too threatening and the place told us they would warn us if it was supposed to happen. In the end we only got rained on lightly, and we were wet anyway. Tubing was fun even though there were hundreds of people on the river. I had all the best calls of the day - when we started floating I pointed at Andrew and said "Hey, Andrew! You tube!" I admit, it was bad, but very appropriate. I later made a great call about a frog that had lived to 15 or so, and then I said "And then it croaked?" One of the guys there repeated it and laughed about 30 seconds after I said it, which made it funnier to me. Anyway, back to tubing: there are 3 sets of rapids in the stretch where we were, and I think I managed to hit my back/butt on rocks during the first 2. By the third set I had learned my lesson and kept my ass out of the water. My lower back is still a little sore, I need to be careful about how I sit at times, but it's not too bad. Every time we went through rapids I heard Flanders say "I guess we know why they call them rapids and not slow-pids!" then Bart laughing and Homer saying "You are not my son!".

We went back to Tiff's place that evening and her niece and nephew were there. She put Kung Fu Panda on for them, and so I started watching it as well, but we left half way through. Now I want to know what happens, because I was only half watching the parts I saw because Danyella and Cyrus (her niece and nephew) we playing at the same time. I think it has something to do with Jack Black's Panda being (mistakenly) chosen as some big and important DragonWarrior, then a master, whose last student went bad, teaching Jack Black Kung Fu, because it is his destiny to fight the student that went bad.

I realized in the car on the way home why I liked it so much; based on that short description, Kung Fu Panda is Star Wars.

What: Vipre

This is Vipre (pronounced Vee-pray), well, a scan of Vipre anyway. The original Vipre is cardboard and was delivered to Mike as some unwanted advertising mail months ago. Since then it has developed into a game that Mike and I play. The objective of the game is to have the other person find Vipre.

The first time Mike just threw it over the cube wall to me. I got him back by putting it in his lunch bag while he was away from his desk. The next morning at 6:45 I received an e-mail; "Subject: Ouch. Body: Vipre just got me." After that Mike put it in the storage over my cube, and it fell out on me when I went to get a DVD one day. I put small copies of Vipre on his Ctrl, Alt and Del keys while he was out at lunch with the original out in the open acting as a decoy.

The rules are:

• You take it in turns, so when I hide it it's up to Mike to find it. Once Mike finds it, he hides it. When you find it, you are "Vipred",
• The idea has to be your own: we can't ask for suggestions on hiding places. We can, however, use third parties to Vipre the other. Example: we can hide it in a stack of papers or mail that someone is going to give the other,
• You can't bend/roll Vipre.

Vipre has experienced a quiet time over recent months. Mike told me it had been destroyed in his backpack, which was feasible because he had had it in his bag... After about 6 weeks I cleaned my desk and it turned up at the very bottom of a pile of junk, in an unmarked envelope padded with colored paper so that I would have to open it to see what it was. It was a patient and well played Vipre-ing by Mike. The effect that Vipre has is interesting - simply mentioning that Vipre could be around prompts a search of your desk...

On Monday, Vipre returned successfully and unexpectedly to the world. Last Friday Mike locked something in his desk, and asked me to hide the key so that it would be safe. After he left for the weekend I hid Vipre in the bag that he had locked in there, and waited for him to ask for the key. He asked for it, I gave it to him and he opened the drawer. As soon as he grabbed the bag his hands went up in fists above his head, and he leaned back and swore.

In my opinion, it was a good way to be Vipred.

Sabbatical or something?

Wow - it's been that long since I posted?!

There is a story behind it. Google had to perform an investigation on my account due to some weird activity, so I couldn't use it for a week or so. No, that's not true... The truth is that I got an alert saying that my Google account had been accessed from Massachusetts and may have been compromised. I don't know if it really was the case, but why risk it if some Mass-hole had accessed my account...

The reason for the break is that I've actually been floating in a canoe made by South American tribesman down the Amazon river. No... we just spent a couple of dollars on Amazon, which isn't the same...

I did break into some people's dreams to steal and implant ideas though! No, that was the plot of a movie I saw. I really enjoyed Inception, and would recommend it. It does involve some thinking and you do have to commit yourself to following the movie, so if you're willing to do that it is enjoyable. I'll certainly be watching it again to try and pick up stuff I missed, or to listen to commentaries or watch special features to try and work out anything I didn't fully pick up on.

So, what have I been doing? I guess I've just been a bit busy and at times lazy. It's been hot, so Saturday in a movie theater and Sunday at the beach worked out well. Some nights we end up watching a movie from Netflix, so the time I might have spent posting is spent watching a movie. Sure, we don't have something to watch every night, but on the nights we don't we have to catch up on dishes from the night we did. Last night we watched a movie. That, I'm sad to say, makes tonight a dishes night...

But I have worked on some other random posts, so I'm sure they'll make their way here one day...

4th July Weekend, 2010 Edition

On Friday afternoon we finished work early, which I could certainly get used to. We arrived home to find our power back on after it had been shut off because of lack of bill payment (we aren't responsible for the bill). We quickly ran to Trader Joe's (a grocery store) to get some supplies to replace what had spoiled in the fridge/freezer while the power was out. Andrew and Richard came around and we grilled some dinner and then played some cards, mainly Rummy, Gin Rummy and Crazy Eights. I won the first game of gin rummy, but the win was tainted when it turned out we were a few cards short of a full deck. I didn't win any more games after a full deck was used...

Saturday we woke up and watched the World Cup game. It was a nice day outside, so our plan to go to the fireworks in Greenwich in the evening looked like it would pay off. After a last minute hiccup about whether we were going to go we quickly packed up a picnic and ran out the door. We dropped by Stop and Shop on the way and grabbed some sparklers and headed for the park. We arrived at about 7:30 or so, with sunset at 8:30, but dark not coming until 9. In that time we found somewhere to set ourselves up, ate some food, watched snapping turtles in the pond and tried lighting some sparklers. For some reason some of them just wouldn't light, so we still have a lot of sparklers at home. The fireworks started and unfortunately they were partially obscured by a tall tree from our vantage point. They got further obscured a few minutes into the show when a photographer came and set up right in front of us without even looking to see if we were there. He set up right in front of Liz, so she couldn't see, and he was in the edge of the shots I was trying to take. We didn't say anything and shuffled across further, right to the edge of the pond. Then he shuffled across. Liz couldn't see at all, so she was annoyed. I figured it was time to speak up. Apparently, I sound more Australian when I'm annoyed, because I said to him "Hey, mate, are you getting some good shots or what?" He turned around and asked if he was blocking our view. Liz responded with a very definite "yes." He didn't take another shot after that, and ran away probably less than a minute later.

Photographer at edge of this shot...

Sunday we slept in, and the mercury climbed a little higher (upper 90s/mid 30s) than it did on Saturday. We did the bulk of our weekly grocery shopping and Liz baked some cupcakes (delicious) in the afternoon. We went to Audubon that night to try taking some night photos. Arriving there a little after sunset Liz took a couple of photos with the sky still slightly illuminated by the set sun. Because the lights were on on the outside of the building the lawn we were on wasn't as dark as we had thought and hoped it would be, so we started to head towards a lake on the trails. Before we even made it to the woods we had turned back; a large animal, not sure what but it had a light colored back end, was startled by our approach and ran away. Not sure what we would encounter we decided to make do with the lawn.

When we got back to the lawn we were treated with 4 fireworks displays. The center and lawn are at the top of a hill, and from there we could see 4th July fireworks from 4 different towns. Once we had finished watching those we tried taking some photos of fireflies and the stars, but they didn't really work. The tragedy of the night came though when I was trying to change the tilt of the camera on the tripod. Moving the lever I felt a sudden snap - the lever responsible for moving the head and holding it steady snapped, leaving some of itself jammed in the head. I don't know if it is salvageable - I need to take a good look at it.

It was pure luck I was centered on the North Star. I had a general idea of where it was, but didn't know for sure. I really want to take some good star trail photos one day...

On Monday we decided to go to the local Stamford beach because it was hot and we had never been before. Richard came with us, and when we got to the beach our plans to put our feet in the water were changed by a rocky/shell-covered low tide and really dirty looking water. We went for a walk and then sat on the beach, under an umbrella, for a while before going home to sit in the shade there. We set up a table in the backyard and played more cards - adding Memory and War to the list of games we had played. I managed to win some Rummy with a full deck! After Richard left Liz and I made dinner and then watched a movie - Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was good, but had a bit too much full frontal male nudity.

Tuesday was back to work, and probably luckily so. Weather.com said that it was 102°F (39°C) but 104°F (40°C) with humidity at 4PM. Probably a good day to be inside...

Damn photo uploads not sizing properly... annoys me that the fireworks photos are all different sizes...

Germany is my "pick"

We woke up just in time this morning to watch the Germany v Argentina game. Well, we actually missed the first 10 minutes and therefore the first goal, but we saw most of the game.

I've liked Germany in World Cups since I was a kid. Like most Australians of my generation, I had to wait until my mid-20s to see Australia make the World Cup finals. Until then I had to have another favorite team - we were taugh German at school so Germany was a logical choice for me.

In the Australia v Germany game at these finals, I really wanted Australia to do well. I told Liz that I liked Germany, but still wanted Australia to play well, win or draw, but at least not go down in a one-sided affair. Well, that didn't happen, so I switched my hopes to both teams making the second round. That didn't happen either.

Since then I've been following the Germans, and Liz has started following them with me. She likes Müller, because to her he plays like a little kid - he smiles a lot and looks like he has fun out there. She strongly dislikes Özel, who around here has earned the nickname "Sketchy McGee" thanks to his bugged out eyes and sketchy appearance. I'd like to see Miroslav Klose equal Ronaldo's record for most goals in World Cup finals before the end of the tournament, and the way that Germany have been scoring goals lately that could happen (he needs 1 more goal).

But until this morning I wasn't a total believer: when Germany met England in the round of 16, I thought it would be close, but they blew them out of the water. I figured that Argentina would probably have their number, but Germany outplayed them. They're already in the semi-finals, and I hope they go all the way. If they can't go all the way, I hope they at least go as deep as their coach did:

This is a dangerous time for you...

...when you will be tempted by the Dark Side of the Force deliciousness.

The dangerous time started last night. Recently Liz and I have been making these drinks. After dinner we decided to make one of them, and gathered together some fruit, in this case peaches, and some nectar, last night was mango. Previous times have included frozen berries and things like that in place of the peaches. We put in some coconut milk and blended it until it was no longer chunky. The resulting drink was tasty and fruitful. I like to think of them as chunkless blended fruit beverages, but Liz just calls them "smoothies". I think if they're going to take off though they need a catchier name, but probably one that's shorter than chunkless blended fruit beverages... Why would I say stupid junk like that? I guess the mango nectar is starting to have an effect me...

The true danger though came from Liz alone. She felt like baking, and worked up her own chocolate chip cookie recipe. 45 minutes after the baking mood struck her, I was 3 or 4 warm cookies deep and in trouble. Sensing my predicament, Liz wisely rationed the cookies. I had one more last night, and have another for a snack this afternoon. If it makes it that far.

Hey, did that cookie just look at me funny?!?