The Greeks Vs The Geeks


The Greeks are up to their old tricks again... Only this time instead of attacking their arch rivals the Trojans, they're after us. The geeks.

And instead of unloading a pile of heavily armed soldiers on unsuspecting townsfolk, they've buried us in SPAM. Times change. But tactics rarely do.

"SAVE FAT DOUGH ON CELL BILL"
[delete]

He didn't open it. Get another horse ready...

"Click here. No Greeks in this email"
[delete]

Crap.

"Jan wants to be your Facebook friend"
"Really? Wait a minute... [delete]"

Almost got him...

Anyway the gates are holding, but you wonder for how long. Those Ancient Greeks are crafty and virtual horses are so much easier to come by...

20 Things I Learned From Marriage

  • As a single person, you never imagined you could have a fight over a tube of toothpaste.

  • You don't have to recall everything you've said. Once you're married someone else will do that for you!

  • Flowers can fix almost anything. For everything else there's superglue.

  • Marriage is compromise. No where is this more apparent than while watching television

  • Will tonight be Norm making a drop leaf table or stomaching three hours of Gone with the Wind?

  • Beauty is fleeting, but a good cook is forever prized!

  • All the cute quirks while dating will morph into the unbearable habits after marriage!

  • Saying "you're right" is harder than saying, "I was wrong."

  • Before marriage you were right much more often.

  • A twin bed was fun at first but cold feet get old pretty fast.

  • Invest in a comfortable couch. Trust me on this.

  • Before marriage I had zero clue what women went through to "get ready"

  • Nor was I aware of 'which blouse went with which shoes"

  • On the flip side my wife said, "If I'd have known how gross boys were, I never would have married you."

  • Communication is important. Even if she wants to talk at 2:00am

  • Understanding is more important than a solution.

  • Until this sinks in, see #3

  • You buy wedding rings so you can recall what it was like to have money.

  • Life is so much more fun if you have someone to share it with.

  • I'd do all over again at the drop of a hat!
  • Lazy Thursday Blues: Caption 29

    Anyone still here who remembers how to do these?! Here are a couple to get you started...


    Now I see why I got it for such a good deal...


    It was the Hamburgler... I swear!


    It looked better in the store...

    Found on the Internet:
    1.) Mono Face A serious good time!

    2.) Screaming Beans YES!

    Finches

    I came home last night from work to find a bird cage with two finches hanging on my porch.

    "Patricia.."
    Eep!
    "I went to the pet store..."
    Eep!Eep!Eep!
    "I see."
    Eep!
    "It's no big deal because I'll keep them outside."
    Eep!Eep!Eep!Eep!Eep!



    About 2 hours later a neighbor cat had climbed our Japanese maple tree and had it's paw in the finch cage.

    Needless to say I have a cage with two eeping finches in my house. I have this funny feeling it's going to be inside for a bit.

    Eep!Eep!Eep!

    They're cute but noisy. At least there's only two of them...for now.

    Talk Like A Pirate Day 2010

    Today is talk like a pirate day. The one day every year when it is Okay to drink rum in copious amounts and slit as many throats as you please!

    "What are you doing son!"
    "It's talk like a pirate day officer!"
    "Oh, well carry on then"

    First you have to learn how to talk like a pirate!



    Now that ye know how t' talk like a gentleman o' fortune go ou' an' woo some lasses, drink some mead an' live 't up. On accoun' o' once 'tis low tide, ye be havin' t' go aft t' bein' a civilized swabbie next high tide'.

    Now get your Pirate Name I'm "Fishbait Van Horne"

    Still not getting it?

    Try this Pirate Translator

    Past Pirate Post:

    Hoisting The Jolly Roger

    Now go out and live like today is your last and tomorrow someone might swing down from the mainsail and blow a blunderbuss in your ugly mug!

    Nintendo Bedding Set

    Oh no you did not!!!


    Yes. Yes you did. Not to be rude, but I forsee mostly single player campaigns in this bed.

    "Player 2, press 'start' to join..."
    "Player 2?"

    Inception

    Took the wife to see Inception last night. I had seen it once before about a month ago and wanted Patricia to see it before it left the big screen. Before I go any further, I should warn you. This isn't a movie review, but I plan on chatting freely about the film, so if you don't want to know anything skip this post.


    I watched the movie four weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it every since. It reminded me of loads of SciFi movies I've seen before. Most notably The Thirteenth Floor and Dark City. Mostly because they both dealt with dream mastery. Some will call this similar to The Matrix but I believe they would be wrong. There are some similarities to the filming (action sequences in the hotel) but the plots are quite dissimilar in my mind.

    Inception was unique in many ways. That is what made this movie so special for me. It broke new ground. It wasn't a retelling of an old story with a fresh soundtrack and updated graphics (my worries of what the newest Tron: Legacy will be...)

    Inception showed us an world that accepted shared dreaming. Large corporations, the military, vast criminal underbelly and third world commoners all were completely aware of the experience. From the time lines presented in the film, Cobb had been a student of architecture under his father-in-law during his 20's (a guess). At the time of recruiting his replacement I would put him at 35 or 40ish.

    That marks off a time of fifteen to twenty years of shared dreaming. That's longer than we've had the iPod. So long that folks have learned to specialize. A forger, a thief, dreamers, chemists and the aforementioned architects. As we saw from Ariadne original dream the world is pliable, but given the reason for dreaming (to steal information or in this case, plant and idea) the dream state had to feel real. As such we didn't get to see much of the potential fluidity of the dreaming state.

    The concept of a lived in world, an understood technology was one that intrigued me. The fact that Tom could get mad at Nash for dreaming the wrong material in the rug shows how far they had pushed this technology. It was something that had been mastered and refined. It was an art form. Add to this that certain individuals had hired dream coaches to help protected them from extractions. Clearly this is not emerging technology, but an understood concept.

    The movie makers even went so far as to realize that everyone dreams differently. The experience and personality of one person cannot be placed on another. The architects can give them the layout, the maze, but they supply the texture.

    In this way we see how Arthur's' dreams, the original Japanese castle and the 40's style hotel, were in stark contrast to the rather showy personality of Eames and his snow fortress. You can imagine the difference if each were tasked with the others level. The layout, or maze, would be the same but the textures would be different.

    If you noticed while Ariadne was constructing the maze in the workshop, it was all in white. It was not her job to add layers, just the layout and the structure. An interesting concept. This world and concept leaves a lot to the imagination, but the film added more detail than I noticed the first time through. An amazing amount of thought went into this.

    There were also some holes. Such as none of the other dreamers subconsciouses showing in the world. Only the subjects. If Fisher could militarize his projections, why couldn't Eames provide a counter army? Clearly Cobb's projections were there. Why not others? More than likely it would have been too confusing for the viewer, but the concept is fun to explore.

    Of course the part of this film that is getting the most attention is the end. That's too bad, as there is so much more to this movie than an brain teaser ending.

    For me Inception is not about the ending. I accept that Cobb has found his reality. I believe it is our reality, but for the first time, since waking up from his 50 year limbo with Mal, the dream does not define him. That is his breakthrough. We didn't see the totem fall, not because he was dreaming, but because he didn't need it to tell him he was awake.

    All in all a great movie, both visually and in concept. Inception was a true work of art.

    9:59 On Wednesday


    It's 9:59 on Wednesday night and I've just been kicked out the bed that I paid for. Where is the justice in that? Seriously?

    "You know Epcot looks pretty cool. I was just talking to my boss about it today.."
    "Please stop talking."
    "What?"
    "What, what!? Please stop. You're making me noxious."
    "I was just saying that they actually have people speaking in different languages"
    "You're gesturing with your hands and rocking the bed!"
    "Oh. Well I was just saying-"
    "No one can see what you're doing with your hands!"
    "Sorry."
    "First you try to kill us both with the unholy odor of your socks and now you are torturing me by denying my body of sleep."
    "It's not even 10:00"
    "And?"
    "Well, I'm not tired."
    "You didn't get up at 5:00 this morning. And every morning this week!"
    "Well no. But you fell asleep during the movie about 40 minutes ago."
    "And why did you wake me up?"
    "So we could go to bed."
    "Yet you're not letting us sleep. Because of your incessant jabbering nonsense!"
    "I was just thinking about Epcot."
    "Am I honestly not doing enough by getting up at 5:00AM to get you and the girls ready every morning that I have to be asphyxiated at night by rotting feet and then subjected to the musings of a boring turtle rocking the bed?"
    "..."
    "Good night Peter."
    "You know we've got gigantic cutlery.."
    "Seriously? What part of "please shut up" are you missing? Peter! Stop talking! Honestly, no joke. Go play your demonic game or watch your stupid show."
    "It's not demonic."
    "You have minions and you control an abyss... Look, I'm not having this conversion!"
    "You know.."
    "SHUT UP!"

    At which point she started half laughing and half crying. I think she might be a wee bit tired. So here I am. It's times like this when you wonder; do my feet really stink that bad or was she just lashing out in hopes of driving me out long enough to drift into a deep sleep.

    I wonder...