11:36AM - Pray for Me

In about two hours from now I'll be mired knee-deep in the CSET Single Subject English exam. After weeks of waiting, the day is here, and I'm cramming my arse off. Melissa is doing her best to stay away from me and let me be nervous on my own grounds, which is a good thing.

After today I'm sure I'll be feeling much better and much more social. The last week I've been brooding and surly because of my impending doom. I've studied more for this test than any of my finals at UCLA, but since this test is so broad, who knows if I've actually studied the right stuff. I feel confident but that could all change the moment I crack open the first page.

Oh and it's a FIVE HOUR test.

Fun.

Current mood: anxious

Current music: Silence

8:14AM - Bristle-Bot Art!

This is such a cool idea, I have to share.

You take a toothbrush head, one with angled bristles, attach a watch battery with doublesided foam tape. To that you attach a pager motor (after you've soldered a couple wires to the end) and voila, you have a "Bristle Bot". Put the thing down on an enclosed surface and watch it move around. Could be a great cat toy.

Check out what these guys have done - they made a bunch of bots and stuck them down on a canvas with ink.

Brilliant!


Chris Cerrito's Vibrobots on Paint from Anderson Miller on Vimeo via Gizmodo.

1:37PM - Life on Mars?

In the long tradition of Three's Company, Sanford and Son, Mr. Belvedere and so many others, Life on Mars, the fantastic 16 episode sci-fi/detective show from the BBC has been remade by ABC. It premieres this fall starring some people I've never heard of and then Colm Meaney - an Irishman playing an American. I don't have HIGH hopes for this show, considering how much I loved the original, BUT, I'll probably watch it just to see if it's a total trainwreck or a viable remake.

Thank GOD they have never tried to redo Dr. Who -errr---- oh wait, they have.

Anyway, here's a preview, doesn't look half bad to be honest:



Though I really wonder how they're going to deal with the ending of the show, if in fact, it will have one. Here's the setup and the ending of the original - spoilers ahead so leave now if you don't wanna be spoiled.




















In the original DI Sam Tyler is hit by a car and lapses into a coma in the present day, the last song he was listening to on his iPod was Bowie's "Life on Mars" (hence the title). When he wakes up he's in the same place geographically, but chronologically he's in 1973. He discovers that he's still a cop, newly assigned to the local constabulatory under the command of DCI Gene Hunt, and for 16 episodes Sam tries to figure out if he's really in a coma or he's really gone back in time. Complicating matters he hears voices, sees things from the future, and encounters people from his own past (such as his father, his four year old self, and his former mentor). Many of the cases he works on have ramifications in his future.



Here's the end:











Turns out Sam was, in fact, in a coma the entire time. The 1973 scenes were a hallucination while he was incapacitated, and upon waking he feels that he's completely out of place and time. He cannot reassimilate to the present, and decides to take a flying leap - literally. He returns to the past, and apparently lives out his life. His death in the present is ruled a suicide.

BUT...


In the UK there's a sequel series currently running called Ashes to Ashes where a present day psychologist on the police force that has been looking into Tyler's life has a similar accident and wakes up in 1981, where her partner is the same DCI Gene Hunt, and some of the other characters from Life on Mars return. She discovers that in this universe Tyler lived another 7 years and had a great career on the force, mysteriously vanishing from a car accident in 1980.


BBC America was showing the original Life on Mars but it's over now, and I haven't heard anything about a DVD release. Ashes to Ashes is a current show on the BBC, I think it's first series is just about ending or has already ended. No word on whether or not it's going to be brought over, but just like BSG and Dr. Who, you can bit-torrent the episodes if you so desire. I might.


Geeze, I probably should have posted this on my other blog - but oh well.

2:12PM - I have a problem with "Supporting the Troops".

I've had this issue for a long, long time, and I want to get it out in the open.

When did it become our patriotic duty to "Support the Troops" regardless of disagreeing with our government? Why do I have to support people who VOLUNTARILY joined the military for whatever reason, and why must I support them?

I don't believe in this war for oil and I never have. In fact, there's only a FEW times in history that I can justify the use of military and combat, despite the fact that it makes for good history and good fiction. Unless you're invaded by another entity or fighting against a tyrant in your own land or joining in an alliance of world parties who ALL agree that this is the right action, using military might is an anathema to me.

In U.S. History I could say that there's only five conflicts that I would have fought in:

1. Revolutionary War - duh.
2. War of 1812
3. U.S. Civil War (I would have been on the Union side).
4. World War I (I would probably have joined the French or English pilots before the U.S. entry)
5. World War II (Hitler had to be stopped)

Everything else was either imperialism or matters we had no business being involved with.

If armed forced invaded our country for nefarious reasons, I would support the armies of the U.S. But in Gulf War 2's case, WE were the invaders.

But let's be perfectly clear, in a time of peace, those who join the military should be well aware that there is a possibility that they would be called to action. Yes, having armed forces is a must to protect our own borders and freedom, but THIS military industrial complex is not about defending our borders or our freedoms, it's about spreading the U.S. Political Doctrine. Democracy is a wonderful thing, but if the people elect leaders that other countries don't like, how is it their responsibility to remove said leaders? As long as the elections are fair and square who are we to say we don't approve?

If Tony Blair had any balls he would have immediately decried the shenanigans of the 2000 election and refused to work with the Pretender Bush. Of course we shit all over our strongest and most historical of allies, France for basically saying the same thing.

So let's be perfectly clear - ANYONE who joins the military should be well aware of what's in store for them, and if they still join, why should we be FORCED to give them our support? They're fighting an unjust war, in a hostile environment doing the dirty work of a dictatorial President who feels he's not accountable to the people for anything.

I wonder did the people of Germany feel that they had to support the soldiers who turned on the ovens?

Do I have to support the soldiers at Gitmo who are torturing suspected terrorists?

And god forbid that I actually speak my mind and disagree with someone who's already supporting the military because they have family members in Iraq. That just opens up a huge can of worms, because "It wasn't their choice to go." Well, actually, it was. When they joined up, they made their choice. If you don't want to go somewhere that's hazardous to your health, DO NOT JOIN THE MILITARY.

You knew what you were doing when you signed the bottom line.

1:08PM - Blogthings

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Your Score: Antony & Cleopatra

You scored 34% = Tragic, 28% = Comic, 33% = Romantic, 59% = Historic

You scored Antony and Cleopatra. Taking place some time after the murder of Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra tells the story of the geopolitical power struggle between Rome and Egypt following the rise of Octavian Caesar to the thrown. The play, however, is not just some stuffy history textbook, full of war and politics; it's also a romantic love story containing elements of passion, jealousy, romance, and revenge. Like Antony, you are probably an outgoing individual, willing to make a few sacrifices in order to do what you think is right. However, like Cleopatra, you may also be a little jealous and vein. Keep doing what you think is right, but make sure you make time for your significant other, otherwise you and/or your lover might end up on the business end of a poisonous asp. Ouch!

10:24AM - Cats on a Treadmill

Couldn't resist.




I'm going to take the Shakespeare test now.

6:13PM - Oooooh Buy Me Buy Me

Someone buy me this for Christmas please?

http://www.serenitystuff.com/2008/05/09/lucite-serenity-ornament-coming-from-dark-horse/

7:08AM - You too can go to the moon

Well, your name can anyway - NASA is taking names, embedding them on a chip and sending them to the moon with it's LRO program which will be launching soon. Click here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html and enter your name, you get a snazzy PDF certificate and your name goes to the moon.

Of course, if the evil aliens get a hold of your identity, they'll steal your credit cards and start charging up a lot of alien porn and appendage increasing drugs. Oh then they'll come and do things to your bum that you didn't want them to do.

10:58AM - Cloned Leather?

http://gizmodo.com/388469/mouse-jacket-grown-euthanized-in-museum-lab

Very interesting. I'd love to own a leather jacket that wasn't the hide of some poor cow. IN about 10 years maybe I can!

10:51AM - New Quiz

Created by OnePlusYou

Had a hard time with the NASA bot.




This one is for my in-laws. See I'm not a total heathen!


Created by OnePlusYou

10:42AM - Anyone going to the San Diego Comic Con?

If so, PLEASE pick me up a Cobra Commander Exclusive from Hasbro.

http://www.hasbro.com/monkeybartv/default.cfm?page=Entertainment/Videos/VideoSelect&aid=3457

I missed out on last year's Pimp Daddy Destro, but I'd love to get this year's exclusive.

I'm such a geek.


I will update later tonight on my group interview with the LA Unified School District's internship program, which is my next step in becoming a teacher.

9:19PM - Don't you HATE it when...

Someone else can better articulate a theme or a meme that you've been pondering for the last decade?

Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, this article by Davin Heckman has beaten me to the punch, so-to-speak. More or less he says what I've been thinking about and wanted to write about, and he does it in a more coherent and cohesive manner than I could do at this point.

Damn.

Damn, damn, damn.

Now I need to finish the article.

Oh and you can subscribe to their articles via email or RSS, they have some very thought-provoking pieces.

Thanks to my Uncle Harley I'm aware of Ctheory.

I have something snarky to say about that, but it would be for one person's laughter and that's just not right.

Current mood: bitchy

Current music: watching Lakers vs. Jazz game 2

4:29PM - Yup

Got myself banned. Big Shock.

If ANYONE is actually interested in the Bullshit, I'll be happy to share, but I think I need to let it go for right now.

3:52PM - Debating

I'm about to get myself banned from one of the websites that I used to work for (no, not Pojo). I'm debating on whether or not to open the can of worms of all the bull-shit that I know about these idiots, their business practices and the way they run their site.

I'm not sure who it would help, except that it would definitely make me feel better.

It was a matter of time, I can't keep my mouth shut.

1:53PM - Free Comic Book Day - TODAY!

So I just got back from hitting three different comic stores - Meltdown on Sunset, Golden Apple on Melrose and Jay & Silent Bobs Secret Stash on Pico, and I have a serious stack of free comics to go through. It's kind of like the OLD days of buying comics when $15 would get you a stack of about 30 books. Ahhh...I remember it well.

Here's what's available today at your local comic book store:
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/the_comics.asp

I got all but five or six of them. I'll review them all later if there's anyone who wants to read such a post.

5:04PM - Cribbed from roninspoon

I love blogthings. I love that other people love them and I can crib them.

<td style="width:

Your LJ Slut Stats!
Out of your 16 friends, percentages you have:
met		43.75%
hugged		25%
dated		0%
kissed		0%
seen shirtless

Current music: Backyardigans is now on.

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Monday, April 28, 2008

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

3:29PM - The WORST Part of being a Parent

I should have known that today wasn't going to be a good day. Awoke to Kaylee crying at 7 AM, which isn't all that unusual, she often cries first thing in the morning. We though that she had swallowed a penny on Sunday night but weren't quite sure, in any case we'd been monitoring her since Sunday and had noticed that she was very irritable and crying a lot, but she was also calm and quiet often enough to not raise the big alarms.

Mel got ready for work as we watched Sesame Street, a pretty normal morning was happening. We walked down to the car and I remembered that I parked on the wrong side of the street (one side is street cleaning on Monday from 8 to 10 - no parking, the other side is Tuesday.) As I suspected, we had gotten a ticket. $50 for one hour of illegal parking. Frakkers.

I take Mel to work with no further incident, and head over to Target, stopping to get gas and coffee on the way. Who knew that paying $3.979999999999999 per gallon would be the highlight of my day?

Anyway, get to Target, return an item, do my shopping and head back home. Just as I'm passing Cedars-Sinai Melissa calls and says that our Nanny had called and Kaylee was not doing well at all, that she was crying and wouldn't eat, and since we were watching her closely, we both figured that it was time to take her to the ER, which I promptly did, though I did stop at her pediatricians office only to be told to go to the ER.

Cedars has one of the nicest ERs I've ever been in, and the hospital staff is simply top notch. We were well taken care of, and sure enough, Kaylee had indeed swallowed a penny, and it had lodged in her esophagus, not enough to block access to her stomach, but enough to be irritating. She had to have surgery to have it removed.

So needless to say, we've been a basket case all day. Though it was a relatively common enough procedure, she
still had to go under anesthesia and that's always scary. Fortunately she was a brave little soldier and is doing just fine. We've been home for a little while and she's already sucking down another bottle, so she's feeling MUCH better.

I think I'll go die of exhaustion now.

Current mood: Relieved

Current music: Watching "Fairly Oddparents"

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