tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-126768132011-04-21T13:01:07.138-05:00It's either an exciting look at a normal<BR> life, or a normal look at an exciting life.<BR> It depends if you're a glass half full or<BR> glass half empty person, I suppose.scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.comBlogger2421100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-16266263761048790522007-12-16T10:29:00.001-05:002007-12-18T15:58:51.862-05:00

I set the alarm to go off at 4 this morning. It sounds insane, to be sure. Tiffany was definitely thinking it was insane, but it was really all her idea anyway. At least that's what I told her. After making myself some coffee and a thermos of hot chocolate for Tiffany, we left the house and went into the cold and rainy weather.What could get us up so early and out of the house? Shopping!

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-9909161704765795252007-11-14T15:21:00.001-05:002007-11-14T16:20:54.758-05:00

(I was thinking of using some lolcat picture involving cookies and bad grammar in the title, but I decided against it at the last minute.)Over the last two nights, I have made lots of cookies. They are my famous orange cranberry oatmeal cookies. I can call them famous because Tiffany's coworkers will ask for them by name. They were pretty popular at the last office party, too. As always, each

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-62392350007321626452007-08-22T07:27:00.000-05:002007-08-22T07:44:06.859-05:00

The fall semester has started in full swing. Classes have now begun! I just need to figure out what I'm going to take. I has signed up for a class many months ago, and I was looking forward to taking it. It was a course I was required to take, with a professor I know, and I knew what he was going to cover, and I generally like his teaching style. But when I just happened to be looking over his

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-40431558869919240472007-08-20T08:21:00.000-05:002007-08-21T07:34:50.210-05:00

Geez, it's been almost a month since I posted anything here. And I'm horribly behind on my vacation posts, too. I'll try to make up for it all and resume my tales of our European vacation, but the Fall semester over here is about to go into full swing, so I'm going to be busy for a little while.But in the meantime, I was actually able to get out of the house on Saturday night, and we went to go

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-2998545519193688332007-07-25T10:11:00.000-05:002007-07-25T10:21:56.711-05:00

I admit that I blatantly stole my headline from an ArsTechnica article that Lucky Bob pointed out to me.I am one of three million Americans that suffer from peanut allergies. But it seems that researcher Dr. Mohamed Ahmedna has found a way to remove the allergens from peanuts, so that people allergic to peanuts could eat the allergen-free peanuts without any worries. It has been tested on human

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-90706397439865584332007-07-19T07:05:00.000-05:002007-07-19T07:22:13.737-05:00

If you've been living under a rock recently, you probably haven't heard this. But the seventh and final book of the famous Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be released Saturday. If you don't mind staying up a little late, you can even pick it up at midnight on Friday from your local store. And if you're feeling unscrupulous, there's probably an illegal version

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-91765204454950087182007-07-15T17:41:00.000-05:002007-07-16T07:54:15.550-05:00

I've been doing genealogy research for over a year now on the various family branches in my family and Tiffany's. Some of the branches in the families are a lot easier than others. In one case, I've been able to go back as far as the thirteenth century, although I'm not entirely certain I trust my sources. But there is one branch in particular that had been troubling me. I had been able to go

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-71948966969734933602007-07-12T07:12:00.001-05:002007-07-12T08:25:47.719-05:00

Tiffany had been talking about going to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at a midnight showing this week. She wanted to be there with all "the Harry Potter geeks." I pointed out that we didn't even have a good set of round glasses or a Gryffindor scarf for her to wear. So we compromised, and I left work a little early yesterday so we could catch a matinée on opening day.I will

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-71518702676375324782007-07-09T10:39:00.000-05:002007-07-09T12:35:21.034-05:00

We went out with a bunch of friends to see the new Transformers movie last weekend. I grew up with Transformers. I watched the cartoons, bought almost all of the comics books, and had a huge number of toys. Even Tiffany remembered the Transformers fondly, When I showed her one of the Transformers movie trailers, she immediately knew who Optimus Prime was supposed to be (and even remembered his

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-29505181631665159142007-06-15T14:14:00.000-05:002007-07-12T15:18:32.842-05:00

A look at the weather report in the morning set it would be mostly clear with scattered showers and a high in the mid-teens (that's Celsius, remember). Of course, that was assuming I was looking in the right part of the country. The hotel had an interesting feature where you could view news and weather through cable, but it was more like a computer system. It was useful to have, especially since

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-15752718805489975342007-06-14T08:38:00.000-05:002007-07-12T13:35:14.292-05:00

After another continental breakfast (oh, how I missed bangers and fried eggs) we packed up the couch and began our adventure to another castle. This castle was known as Warwick Castle, from the Earl that resided there. It was turned into a dwelling in the 1800s, and is now open to the public.Warwick Castle is a different structure from Caernarfon Castle. Cearnarfon was empty, but very open.

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-47026550589261945642007-06-13T13:35:00.000-05:002007-07-09T14:19:15.186-05:00

The tower was dark and cold. Hundreds of years ago, it was called the Queen's Tower by the people of the land. No royalty would want to set a foot on that stone floor any more. Three brave adventurers, however, dared to venture forth into the darkness."I don't think we can go any further. It is dark ahead--the way may be blocked," said the man in the lead. The tower's stone stairs spiraled away

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-52381060640459052332007-06-12T10:09:00.000-05:002007-07-06T10:30:07.543-05:00

We left our hotel and my last full Irish breakfast (at least for a little while) for Dublin. Tiffany tried the porridge for breakfast. She added some cream and honey to it. The hotel was also nice enough to leave out a bottle of whiskey beside the porridge with instructions to add a shot to a bowl of porridge... which Tiffany did as well. She loved the porridge, and when the weather around here

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-76466302620869696212007-06-11T10:04:00.000-05:002007-07-05T11:38:35.282-05:00

For breakfast I had a cup of tea, a grilled tomato, mushrooms, a fried egg, and white and black pudding. Not to mention toast with creamy Irish butter and sweet black currant jam. Finally, a traditional Irish fry up!I had black pudding the very first morning I was ever in Ireland. Tommy took my mom and I to a little restaurant where we had a full Irish breakfast. I knew what black pudding was,

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-6256554298485643422007-06-10T08:42:00.000-05:002007-07-05T10:02:41.569-05:00

Another breakfast of corn flakes. The next hotel is supposed to be serving a full Irish breakfast, and I'm definitely looking forward to that. I miss black pudding. I did try the lemon marmalade at breakfast today, which was interesting (and I do mean that in a good way).We opened the window in our room last night to let in some cool breeze. Ireland seems hotter than usual this time of year, or

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-18970636066651667712007-06-09T07:09:00.000-05:002007-07-02T09:18:56.201-05:00

It's Saturday? It felt like I lost a whole day. Oh wait, I did. Over eight hours on two planes and a five hour time difference. Breakfast was continental--and I don't mean that in a fancy European way. I had a bowl of corn flakes, toast, and coffee. I asked for tea (I actually like hot tea, and I figure I might as well do as the locals) but I received a big pot of very hot coffee instead. They

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-84742052532958577742007-06-08T10:12:00.000-05:002007-07-05T08:10:58.885-05:00

We arrived at Shannon Airport on the western side of Ireland about an hour late. This was my first time arriving at Shannon. Stepping outside was wonderful once I got passed the smell of cigarettes. The air was cool, some 50 degrees Fahrenheit or so with the wind blowing, and tasted so very fresh after being on an airplane for about 6 hours. It was about eight in the morning Irish time, although

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-50115327033470559722007-06-07T08:56:00.000-05:002007-06-28T09:32:28.685-05:00

This is the first of many entries that are the story of my adventures overseas in Ireland and the UK. Tiffany and I took a little trip with a tour group from Charleston that traveled throughout the two countries in about ten days. Then we spent some time with my sister, brother-in-law and niece in Ireland, and we finally stayed just outside of London at a little bed and breakfast before heading

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-16013743623887876552007-06-05T07:56:00.000-05:002007-06-05T08:31:01.762-05:00

I have belatedly realized that I never posted a review of Peter Ward's Life As We Do Not Know It. And since I have to return it to the library, I should probably write something about this book.Thanks to Lucky Bob, I've been on a bit of a history kick lately with Thomas Cahill's series. So why did I jump from ancient history to astrobiology? It started, as such things do, by browsing Wikipedia.

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-73394463102544563592007-05-31T07:58:00.000-05:002007-05-31T08:15:54.999-05:00

Unfortunately, my wife and I both had to work on Monday, so there was no trip to the beach or anything like that for us. However, I still felt that it would be proper to do some grilling on the charcoal grill. (For one thing, it's getting too hot to use the oven inside.)I grilled some tuna steaks and vegetable kabobs with zucchini, mushrooms, and sweet red peppers. The tuna steaks were a little

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-82141272864231753182007-05-23T08:15:00.000-05:002007-05-23T08:32:38.079-05:00

I met Tiffany at school yesterday to help her with her computer. While I was doing that, she had to go to a conference, and she wasn't quite sure how long it was going to last. I didn't mind, since I could always keep myself occupied on the Internet (even if it's using the school district's proxy and has certain sites blocked).My work on the computer took a lot less time than I thought. But I did

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-11764954866954875442007-05-23T07:59:00.000-05:002007-05-23T08:12:39.884-05:00

As we have last year and the year before, we ventured to St. George's in Greenville for the annual Greek Festival. They've done some remodeling of their parking, partial from the funds they raised from last year's Greek Festival. There is a lot more space now, and it's a lot flatter, too. Unfortunately, the building where they normally hold the silent auction is no longer there, so there was no

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-18064261103602678252007-05-09T09:24:00.000-05:002007-05-09T09:36:32.543-05:00

Another adventure into cooking! While my wife was out last night at a meeting, I started feeling kind of domestic. It was time to bake! We had a lovely batch of blackberries we bought in bulk from Sam's Club, and I happened to find a recipe for a blackberry breakfast cake online at AllRecipes. (Technically, it was a recipe for cookie bars, but after reading some of the comments, I decided to make

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-92154379799302328842007-05-07T08:21:00.000-05:002007-05-07T09:15:58.022-05:00

I've been talking about Spider-Man 3 for a while now. Heck, I even mentioned it last year. And Saturday night, after much geeky anticipation from the movie trailers, I finally got to see it.Firstly, this movie was not as good as the first two in the series. It was still very enjoyable, but I don't think it quite met the standard that the original Spider-man movie set. There was a lot of material

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-40349681492943504892007-05-02T11:19:00.000-05:002007-05-02T11:38:45.316-05:00

I am very excited about going to see Spider-Man 3. Tiffany and I are planning to go either Friday night or Saturday afternoon. All the trailers look so good, and Sam Raimi has yet to disappoint with this franchise.But I'm worried. Although I try to forget, I remember years ago seeing Batman + Robin in theaters on opening night. And it was a horrible experience, and I refuse to acknowledge that

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-69567058918070039092007-04-27T07:35:00.000-05:002007-04-27T09:27:30.801-05:00

Ten years ago today, 3D Realms announced the legendary game Duke Nukem Forever (otherwise known as DNF). The reason this game is legendary is because it has yet to be released. And yet, the game is still being worked on, screenshots and movies have been released, which makes DNF one of the most (in)famous pieces of vaporware ever.Yes, for 10 years now, the world has been waiting for the release

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-36617647912515713842007-04-24T07:44:00.000-05:002007-04-24T10:22:45.447-05:00

After much delay, I finally finished Thomas Cahill's Desire of the Everlasting Hills. Like his previous two books, it takes a look at how religion has shaped our world. His first book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, looked at how maintaining Christianity in Ireland at the fall of the Roman Empire turned the Emerald Isle in to an island of culture. His second book, The Gift of the Jews, looked

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-75259988831630521622007-04-23T08:40:00.000-05:002007-04-23T12:20:10.551-05:00

(Translation of above title: 13 year old girl is new United States text messaging champion).I really don't know what to say. A 13 year old girl won $25,000 for being the US Text Messaging Champion. (Link to the full article.) What sort of contest is that? I must be turning in to an old fart if I'm thinking back in my days we didn't have contests like that, although I imagine that the contest is

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-78272164981282081552007-04-16T08:45:00.000-05:002007-04-16T09:08:23.482-05:00

I've decided I need to pay more attention to the music scene in Greenville. I missed Rusted Rood a while ago, and then on top of that, I found out that Cigar Store Indians were also playing at the Handlebar, too. So I'm not hip or with it to know when the small bands I've actually heard of and like come to play in local bars. So I tried making up for it on Friday by going downtown for

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-90385551895351616132007-04-12T07:45:00.000-05:002007-04-12T08:38:43.181-05:00

Last Friday while in Atlanta, we went to the first home game for the Braves of the 2007 season. The Braves had routed the Phillies earlier in Philadelphia, so we were hoping for a good game.We got to the game early, along with our friends Philip & Cathy. The parking lot was already starting to get full, and I heard that it was a sell out crowd. Of course, one reason the parking lot may have been

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-63242881567957213322007-04-10T08:47:00.000-05:002007-04-10T09:40:35.389-05:00

Several months ago, my wife picked up a little something for me at the school's book fair. It seems that Scholastic is starting to sell manga at their book fairs now. Why weren't they doing that when I was in middle school?In addition to a few manga, she also picked up volume one of Jeff Smith's Bone series. I had seen it before, but never really paid any attention to it. Little did I realize

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-24149979245166521222007-03-26T12:05:00.000-05:002007-03-26T13:10:29.679-05:00

I had the opportunity to play some more with a Wii last weekend. (Not my own, sadly.) My coworker, who had a seperate but equally enjoyable Wii experience over the weekend, has commiserated with me about Wii Sports soreness. There is definite tightness in my shoulders and generaly soreness in my upper arm. Yes, I probably should have stretched first. There was a good bit of bowling and Raving

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-9537480068597034482007-03-20T08:30:00.000-05:002007-03-20T08:59:59.048-05:00

Last Friday, the wife and I went to go see 300 with some friends of hers. Not having read Frank Miller's original work, but being fairly familiar with the Battle of Thermopylae, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was assuming I was going to get a good popcorn flick with lots of action and battle scenes to make an enjoyable movie. In that regard, I was spot on. But I am a fan of history as well as

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-8316278157132752422007-03-16T07:51:00.000-05:002007-03-16T08:58:59.025-05:00

I like cooking. My mom has told me that I got started at a young age. Although all of us kids were put to work in the kitchen from time to time, I actually volunteered more often. I remember the first dish I made all by myself, at the age of ten, was chili con carne. And if I remember correctly, it came out way too soupy.But I've gotten better since then. With my wife usually coming home from

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-39881694245328973342007-03-14T15:08:00.000-05:002007-03-14T15:12:49.165-05:00

It's been too long since I last posted. At the moment, I'm having trouble with Daylight Savings Time. I realize everybody does, just about. It takes a few days for a person to get accustomed to the time change (although it's not as bad as jet lag). I usually tend to be a morning person. Not a chipper, get out of the bed and do a happy jig sort of morning person, but at least a fairly coherent and

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-50369384621520332422007-02-26T13:14:00.000-05:002007-02-26T13:25:41.892-05:00

We were visted on Saturday by a friend from Atlanta and his brand new Nintendo Wii. Let's just sum up to say that I am impressed by Nintendo's latest offering. Even better was that my wife was also impressed. As I've mentioned before, I felt that introducing her to the Wii would have a positive effect. The Wii is the perfect device for non-gamers, which Tiffany is definitely one of. The controls

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-7457457957665285762007-02-22T10:16:00.000-05:002007-02-22T13:28:18.084-05:00

About a week ago, I finished reading Thomas Cahill's The Gift of the Jews. This is part of his Hinges Of History series, the first being How The Irish Saved Civilization. The series had been recommended to me by a friend, and he said he liked the first book better. I actually enjoyed the second book more, and I'll tell you why (and probably put a lot of links to Wikipedia along the way).As one

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-76418504738085181832007-02-19T09:14:00.000-05:002007-02-19T09:24:40.277-05:00

My wife is feeding my insatiable inner gaming monster. I received a belated Valentine's/birthday gift from her on Saturday morning. She didn't have time to wrap it, so I had to close my eyes when she handed it to. I knew immediately it was a DVD case. And it was pretty hefty, too, so it seemed like a video game with a big manual. Big manuals in games can only be one of two things: role-playing

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-55499122407467127092007-02-08T09:11:00.000-05:002007-02-04T13:56:09.194-05:00

This may be old news, but it seems that there is a Dark Crystal sequel in the works by Jim Henson Company. I don't want to think about that. Watching Dark Crystal at the drive-in movie theater is one of the earlier memories I have. Even when I watched the movie a few years ago, it still had an almost magical quality to it. I think it's not only because of the high fantasy and stylization of the

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-58217043522403141942007-02-02T11:59:00.000-05:002007-02-02T12:12:19.564-05:00

I first started watching American Idol last year. I had Taylor Hicks picked out as my favorite from the get go. The moment he had auditioned, I knew that I wanted him to succeed, and I felt that he could go all the way. If I could have placed money on him, I probably would have. (I wonder what odds you would get, picking a contestant from the initial Hollywood pool as being the next American Idol

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-49813914035133673422007-01-25T08:26:00.000-05:002007-01-25T08:48:01.116-05:00

Tiffany remarked the other day that I'm really hooked on Need for Speed: Most Wanted. And she's right. The game contains the two things I've ever liked about the Need for Speed series: fast, pretty cars and cops. The cops have been missing from the last two installments of the game, so it was so very good to see them back. I haven't seriously played Need for Speed since Hot Pursuit 2 on the

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-55891190022672352007-01-25T08:16:00.000-05:002007-01-25T08:24:56.383-05:00

We heard the official announcement over the evening news last night. It is a day that we knew would come when we started dating. We knew it was a matter of time... because Saturday, September 15, Furman plays Clemson. The Paladins come to Death Valley about every three years (the last time was 2003, so it was overdue). I have been told by my wife that I will be wearing a Furman shirt. I offered

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-23224063718909272022007-01-16T09:13:00.000-05:002007-01-16T10:01:07.794-05:00

Sofa Express was having a sale last weekend. Tiffany wanted to go. "Just to look," she said. I told her we could go on Monday. She looked a little cross and then she said, "But the sale ends Sunday.""The sale doesn't matter if you're only going to work," my mother and I said almost together.The look I received became crosser. Fortunately, she knew I was trying to give her a hard time.Later that

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-68102219726305216232007-01-12T11:35:00.000-05:002007-01-12T13:21:22.209-05:00

Earlier this week, I went ahead and installed Office 2007. I'm a constant user of Microsoft Office, and I use Word, Excel, and Outlook on a daily basis; PowerPoint is used probably once a week. I decided to bite the bullet and learn Office 2007. There wasn't much difference between the last two version of Office, and one was pretty much synomous with the other. But 2007 has a new feature that

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-79575531904963594222007-01-12T10:19:00.000-05:002007-01-12T13:02:03.130-05:00

With some Irish blood, not to mention true green-blooded Irishmen in the family, it's obvious to me that civilization wouldn't be here without the Irish. We have a lot to be grateful for, thanks to the men and women of that small green island known as Ireland. Why, without them, we wouldn't have Enya and Lucky Charms. (I kid, I kid!) What is true is that while ancient Rome considered Ireland to

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-17877122108606784462007-01-03T13:53:00.000-05:002007-01-03T15:43:26.139-05:00

Under my tree Christmas morning I received a number of gifts, including Need For Speed Most Wanted and LEGO Star Wars II. I plan on writing a full review of them both later, but needless to say, I'm having a lot of fun playing them. But this isn't about me. It's about my wife and her assimilation to gaming. She was already introduced to computer games a little while ago with adventure gaming and

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-28354111478509100032006-12-18T10:48:00.000-05:002006-12-19T12:53:07.291-05:00

A friend of mine recently finished Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. Some time ago, another friend of mine recommended I read The Handmaid's Tale by the same author. Or maybe she just said it was a book she wanted to read. Or maybe I am imagining the entire thing. The point is, I read The Handmaid's Tale.The Handmaid's Tale is set in a dystopian America. After a horrible ecological disaster, the

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-71590812840875045322006-12-08T08:31:00.000-05:002006-12-08T09:02:19.379-05:00

The New York Times has an article on changes for electronic voting that should be in effect in time for the presidential election in 2008. Electronic voting has been problematic since its inception. Electronic voting has merit, and is currently used by about 30% of the voters in the United States. However, it is open to errors (many numerous errors) and malicious voting forgery. No system is

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-41729575482147449762006-12-07T09:24:00.000-05:002006-12-07T09:40:20.685-05:00

I downloaded the trial version of Bookworm Adventures. We're hooked. That's really all there is to say it. Tycho at Penny Arcade talks about it and he pretty much sums up my feelings on it. I like words, and spelling out multisyllabic gerunds ("clustering" has been our longest and highest scoring word so far) out of random tiles just makes my day. I find it fun for some reason. Tiffany likes it

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-10372162302053605262006-12-05T10:15:00.000-05:002006-12-05T10:38:58.866-05:00

I realize that the bandwagon to talk about the video game Bully has probably come and gone by now. You are probably very aware of the controversy that the game had around it. People were complaining about it back in 2005. And just a few months ago, Jack Thompson, champion of decency and non-violence in video games, attempted to get a restraining order on the sale of the game and threatened the

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-18643944713494268402006-12-04T14:56:00.000-05:002006-12-06T08:43:45.928-05:00

I remember when I first started playing PopCap's Bookworm. It's a little Java based game that requires you to build words from a random assortment of tiles. As you use tiles, new letters fall in to place. Some of the letters are flaming. If these letters reach the bottom of the board, you lose the game. Is it addictive? Oh, yes, most certainly.I got the GameBoy Advance version of Bookworm for

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-87594058498581644082006-12-04T14:34:00.000-05:002006-12-04T14:50:02.057-05:00

Last week, I finished reading Sunstorm, by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. This is the second book in their Time Odyssey Series, the first one being Time's Eye. I read the first book some months ago, but didn't review it. However, Luckybob has an excellent review on the book. This book continues directly after the first, although only one character, Bisesa, makes an appearance, and she is

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-88362704629399326702006-11-27T09:46:00.000-05:002006-12-06T08:44:24.773-05:00

I saw the movie, too. I know others have seen it, and have written excellent reviews. But I'm just so excited that we went out to see a movie. This is the first time Tiffany and I have gone out to see a movie in a while (just ask Lucky Bob). I think the last movie we saw in theater was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest back in August. So after doing even more shopping on Saturday, we

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-7103288762823248762006-11-27T09:38:00.000-05:002006-11-27T09:39:59.760-05:00

Christmas is a month away now, and you can tell. Admittedly, the 70 degree weather seems to argue the fact that the holidy is nearing, but there are other, more postive signs. I have already written far too much on Black Friday. There's also Little Debbie's delectable (and addictive) Christmas Tree Cakes are out. Around here, Christmas music is playing all the time on the radio now. It started

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-59390174440568248682006-11-27T08:51:00.000-05:002006-12-07T14:26:15.631-05:00

Last week, I was dragged out to Black Friday. It was my first Black Friday. For those of you that don't celebrate Thanksgiving and the shopping frenzy that follows, Black Friday is when everybody goes crazy because the stores open long before the sun comes up (as early as 5) and sell items at huge discounts to people willing to wait in line in the middle of the night just to get that digital

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-29845466862923582872006-11-20T13:01:00.000-05:002006-12-06T08:45:04.266-05:00

With much less fanfare than the release of the PS3, the Nintendo Wii arrived in stores over the weekend. Nintendo promised 1.4 million consoles in North America before the end of the year, which means that people were much more likely to buy them. As an indication, the Wii is only going for a few hundred over its initial price on Ebay, and those are the exception.As for me, I did not get a Wii.

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-62210336891741624082006-11-17T08:24:00.000-05:002006-11-17T09:00:20.467-05:00

Some people out there have been waiting for days to get their hands on the coveted PS3. Not many will succeed. Sony cut their launch numbers for the United States to about 150 to 200 thousand units. That will leave only 400,000 consoles that will go on sale today. Stores that were expecting several dozen units originally now find themselves with less than ten. Not that any one has pointed out

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-64248260038776448942006-11-16T09:51:00.000-05:002006-11-16T10:02:00.588-05:00

What an exciting town I must live in to keep writing about the new Starbucks! Anyway, the new sign went up. It's huge. It's the biggest sign on the block by a large margin, dwarfing the shopping center's own sign.Okay, I'm done. No more talking about Starbucks. Promise.

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-49375906273725586372006-11-16T09:22:00.000-05:002006-11-16T09:51:48.758-05:00

Like others, I decided to read the Chronicles of Narnia. I've gone through the entire series, and after asking others, the consensus seemed to be to read them in the order that they were written. After I was about halfway through, I got a dissenting viewpoint that I should have read them in chronological order, but it was a bit too late at that point. This was the first time I have read the

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-7188407162189455382006-11-08T09:01:00.000-05:002006-11-08T09:07:30.605-05:00

Yesterday, I did my civic duty and pulled the lever. Well, in today's age, it was more like I pushed the the buttons on the touch screen. Not all elections went the way I wanted. But that's okay, because I voted. That means I have the right to complain.If somebody I voted for does not do exactly what I want them to do, I can complain. After all, I voted for them, and so they are entirely beholden

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-44267431476857840302006-11-02T09:30:00.000-05:002006-11-02T09:40:04.286-05:00

After thinking about it, I decided to go ahead with NaNoWriMo. Unfortunately, I did not write a lick yesterday. I didn't get home until late, and after dinner, I just really didn't feel like writing. Not a very good start, and certainly not inspirational.Still, the whole day wasn't a complete wash. I think I know what I will write about. I'm torn between two ideas. The first idea is for a fantasy

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-25132071533393782302006-11-02T09:23:00.000-05:002006-11-02T09:42:12.191-05:00

Lucky Bob and I both heard on the radio this morning about a case of salmonella poisoning coming from the Pumpkin Festival. The theory is that the culprit was boiled peanuts, although DHEC doesn't know for sure.Thankfully for me, I am deathly allergic to peanuts (if you did not know that already). Even the smell of peanuts can make me feel quesy. So it looks like I dodged a bullet. Just to think,

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-64991034531086963512006-10-31T14:54:00.000-05:002006-11-02T09:31:24.171-05:00

My friend RougeMacabre has reminded me about National Novel Writing Month in November. The whole point is to write 50,000 words in one month. It doesn't have to be good words, necessarily. What matters is quantity. That probably isn't the best way to get published, but the whole point of the exercise is perseverance. Ignore your cheesy dialog, bad plot, unrealistic setting, and one-dimensional

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-82924922462585485472006-10-30T09:23:00.000-05:002006-10-30T09:26:28.624-05:00

Our team played and lost, and I just wanted to apologize. I was out with my wife that night instead of staying home, watching the game, and drinking a beer. I didn't drink a single beer that whole day, in fact. And since we know that my support of the team helps them win games, the loss was probably my fault. I'm sorry.

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-81853874023135033592006-10-26T22:12:00.000-05:002006-10-30T09:26:46.824-05:00

Once again, Tiffany and I went to see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood. We went last year and loved it. Tiffany wants to make it a yearly event (assuming they continue to come every year). One nice thing about improv is that even if some of the ideas (or games) are the same, the very nature of improv makes each viewing different.This was especially true tonight. What does an improv team do when

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-24930718801333460312006-10-20T14:28:00.000-05:002006-10-20T14:31:43.062-05:00

My friend Ayzair found a nifty little new meme that checks to see how many in the United States share your first name, last name, and complete name. Her lowest number was 13 with her maiden name... I wanted to see if I would get a lower number with my name.HowManyOfMe.comThere are:12people with my namein the U.S.A.How many have your name?For my last name, there's only 720 of us. That's not too

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-13536862002642359892006-10-18T10:31:00.000-05:002006-10-18T10:47:20.614-05:00

The city of Greenville has a proposed ordinance to ban smoking in "public places." This would ban smoking in any public business, from retail stores to bars. It would also ban smoking in open areas such as ballparks and ampitheaters. Smoking would still be allowed in smoking rooms in hotels, certain areas of nursing homes, and tobacco stores. Parades and other special events, like Fall for

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-28828126815548921532006-10-17T12:17:00.000-05:002006-10-17T12:55:12.442-05:00

I've said that I don't intend to talk politics in my blog. And really, I don't. But I've discovered over the last few months that I've become more aware, politically, then I have at any other time in my life. Previously, I could say that every four years I'd think about who I would vote for. I've never been a straight party voter, so I couldn't just pick a lever that said "D" or "R" and be done

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-598883407979892332006-10-16T10:35:00.000-05:002006-10-17T12:02:01.682-05:00

I went to Fall for Greenville for the first time this year. I had walked by it last year to meet some friends of my wife, but did not actually get to partake of it. Fall for Greenville involves some forty plus restaurants, mostly local but some chains, that set out booths down several blocks of main street. You purchase sheets of tickets, and with these tickets, you get to buy food and drink.We

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-29630732403383438432006-10-16T08:40:00.000-05:002006-10-16T09:07:46.300-05:00

The wife, myself, and my in-laws went into Pumpkintown over the weekend for the annual Pumpkin Festival. It's filled with local music, arts, crafts, and food. It started out almost 30 years ago, and it keeps getting bigger. Sadly, I did not get funnel cake this year. After a healthy meal of barbecue sandwiches, fried catfish, and smoked chicken (all at the festival) we went to look around.While

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-78621190548161804492006-10-10T09:28:00.000-05:002007-12-30T20:37:44.090-05:00

One day, I was reading an article on Wikipedia. I can't say now which article I started with. But I do have a habit of following hyperlinks or more than one train of thought from one article to another. I think I may have been curious about the Little Ice Age originally. But as I went from article to article, I came across Snowball Earth. It's a theory that sets forth the idea that at several

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-45724789402651507862006-10-10T08:31:00.000-05:002006-10-17T11:54:59.647-05:00

As I said before, Starbucks are popping up everywhere. I talked about how a new one was being built in the same shopping center where another Starbucks already existed inside of a Bi-Lo. Well, that Bi-Lo encrusted Starbucks is now gone, replaced with a coffee place by the name of J.J. Something-or-other. So maybe we won't be suffering from too much Starbucks overdosing.

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-88350969791864968412006-10-09T11:05:00.000-05:002006-10-09T11:16:44.385-05:00

I'm not sure I meant to write so much today.Over the weekend, Tiffany and I went to little farmer's market in Greenville. They were having a little Fall special at the time, specifically on plants that she wanted to see. We also stopped by a little stall and bought some locally grown Granny Smith apples. I like supporting the local farmers. It's usually tasty, the money goes straight to local

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-52855441176417979812006-10-09T08:28:00.000-05:002006-10-09T09:02:56.020-05:00

I really don't post a whole lot about politics. I think my last one was something about asking for a little less partisanship in American government, and I don't think my advice was heeded too well. And now seems to be a poor time to make any comment that doesn't have something to do with the current sex scandals flooding Congress at the moment. Because I'm actually not going to talk about that.

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-57045495354074674112006-10-09T07:42:00.000-05:002006-10-09T07:53:32.871-05:00

Well, the alma mater pulled through in football, once again proving my beer theory. It was a close thing, though, and I spent at the least the first half lamenting and gnashing my teeth. It seemed as if drinking beer to support the team might not have worked after all. Fortunately, the team pulled through and started capitalizing on the opponent's mistakes instead of just making their own. Around

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-63382848850148355182006-10-02T08:05:00.000-05:002006-10-02T08:45:10.283-05:00

What happened to the Mayans? The Norsemen of Greenland and L'Anse aux Meadows? The Easter Islanders? The Anasazi? More importantly, why did it happen to them? Why did these civilizations collapse? What patterns and similarities did their collapses share, and what can we learn from them in today's modern world? That's a lot of questions, but Jared Diamond's Collapse attempts to answer them.Jared

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-18315841604004811392006-09-29T11:11:00.000-05:002006-09-29T11:13:43.053-05:00

Well, two people I know have completed this meme, and I was told that I have to, too. Although, based on some of these questions, it seems like it was written for high school girls. 1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT?I used to have a burn mark on the back of my hand, but it's faded away some years ago.2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM? In my office, I have some copies of my favorite

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-76575430918426100702006-09-26T07:27:00.000-05:002006-09-26T07:57:36.774-05:00

I watched NBC's new show "Heroes" last night. I became interested in the show since I first saw previews for it. The basic premise is that regular people start developing super powers out of the blue. It seemed like it would take a somewhat more realistic approach to the world of superheroes and comic books.(There are no spoilers below, so read away.)First, the episode started off with an

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-72188272991065552072006-09-25T09:23:00.000-05:002006-10-17T12:02:37.256-05:00

My wife and I wandered downtown a bit before we had a late lunch. I had convinced her that we needed to watch the football game so that I could cheer for my team. I wasn't sure if it was being televised on a local channel or just something like ESPN Gameplan, so I wasn't sure I could watch it at home. I already had a place in mind, and they had balloons in team colors out front to make lunch

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-15580136523219431082006-09-25T09:09:00.000-05:002006-09-25T09:23:02.340-05:00

The state-wide social studies conference was held Friday and Saturday in downtown Greenville. I didn't go both days like I did last year, but I was there for the whole event on Saturday. Although I was mostly there to be the tech guy for the SCCTA presentation.Tiffany has complained that she never wins anything at this conferences. Sure, there's always free swag, but the most she's ever gotten

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-52582563044203117062006-09-19T07:49:00.000-05:002006-09-19T08:11:55.442-05:00

Ahoy. me hearties! Cap'n Dirty James Flint here celebratin' another International Talk Like A Pirate (Gentleman o' fortune) Tide. Ye be havin' figured ou' that its ever' 19th o' September, aye? Last voyage I had a well-timed review o' Sid Meier's Pirates. This year 'tis all bluster, but I still felt th' need t' spread th' word about this wonderful holiday. I`ve got 't marked in me calendar

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-49919639610767683442006-09-15T08:08:00.000-05:002006-09-15T09:17:17.097-05:00

Gas prices, as you may have noticed, are going down. In just the last month, the average gas price in South Carolina has gone from $2.77 a gallon to $2.31 a gallon. I know that South Carolina is one of the cheapest states to get gas, so I'm sure that this is even more of a relief to those of you in places like Georgia. (For those readers I know in Europe, I can only assume that your petrol is

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-6722245992042438822006-09-14T14:13:00.000-05:002006-09-14T14:32:51.546-05:00

I was asked recently what books I've been reading during my blog absence.I did finish reading What Kind of Nation. Like Founding Brothers and His Excellency it's a look at the founding of America. It's set during the presidencies of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and it looks at the developments that set the stage for the powers of the executive and judicial branches. It was a good read, but a

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-13726784222287094842006-09-14T07:42:00.000-05:002006-09-14T14:09:54.243-05:00

They're building a Starbucks not too far from the house. I guess it's not really a surprise. There are, after all, over 5000 Starbucks spread across the United States (at least as of May 2006). I can think of 4 of them off the top of my head that are about 15 minutes away from where I live. Everyone, I'm sure, has probably heard of the anecdotes of two Starbucks locations right across the street

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1150117193055416862006-06-12T07:55:00.000-05:002006-06-12T08:00:52.926-05:00

I like telling this little story because I like to think I can speak in a passable Irish accent...Young Father O'Houlihan showed every sign of being an ornament to the Church if you didn't mind his fercious anti-English prejudice. In one of so Irish a background, it was to be expected that he feel a certain resentment against the English, and yet it behooved a priest to forgive his enemies and,

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1149773793912897112006-06-08T08:08:00.000-05:002006-06-09T07:31:53.980-05:00

I'm a bit late in this review. Tiffany, myself, and a number of friends went to see X-Men: The Last Stand over the Memorial Day Weekend. In a nutshell, I enjoyed it. I was definitely worried about it, considered my own Superhero Law of Three. You see, every third movie in superheroes have consistently sucked. Superman I & II? Classics! Superman III? It's Richard Pryor and a supercomputer versus

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1149685677837834502006-06-07T07:40:00.000-05:002006-06-07T08:07:57.856-05:00

Sentry Peak is a fantasy novel by alternate history author Harry Turtledove. It's a look at a magical kingdom, torn asunder over whether or not to free the serfs. The northern half of the nation wants to keep the serfs, and they decide to form their own kingdom, separate from the southern kingdom. The armies of the two kingdoms battle one another in their blue or grey uniforms, one for the

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1148569174620481902006-05-25T07:51:00.000-05:002006-05-25T09:59:34.700-05:00

So the finale for American Idol aired last night. As my wife and I hoped, Taylor won the competition. As I mentioned before, Taylor was why I started watching American Idol for the first time. Well, okay, it was on the television because Tiffany was watching it, but I didn't care that much about it until Taylor's first appearance. There was something about him I liked from the get go.As I watched

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1148405410338234582006-05-23T12:02:00.000-05:002006-05-23T12:30:10.753-05:00

Well, it took a good long while, but we finally beat The Longest Journey. Yeah, that's right, I said we. Somehow or another, Tiffany started playing it, too. The Longest Journey is an adventure game. They're a rare breed now, but they used to be very popular, back in the day of King's Quest or Myst. You would move your character around, exploring new areas and solving puzzles. This was before you

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1148321707601556662006-05-22T13:02:00.000-05:002006-05-22T13:15:07.640-05:00

Last year, Tiffany and I had a grand old time at the Greek Festival. So I was very happy when I saw a sign in front of the Greek Orthodox church for the upcoming Greek Festival. This year, it seems that we were there mainly for the food. Tiffany does love lamb burgers, and it's a guarantee we'll have lamb burgers for dinner every night of the Greek Festival. We also ate our fair share dolmades,

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1147960385538555932006-05-18T08:39:00.000-05:002006-05-18T08:53:05.556-05:00

Okay, everybody. Take a deep breath now. That movie and the book, Da Vinci Code? It's fiction. It's all made up. It's a harmless work of fiction, just like Harry Potter. Woah, sorry, bad example. Go back to your calming relaxation techniques. Better?Dan Brown, the author of Da Vinci Code, made stuff up, you see. He took some interesting tidbits from history... you know, Renaissance painters,

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1147699039932464842006-05-15T08:09:00.000-05:002006-05-15T08:17:19.946-05:00

Two little events this weekend. First, my wife has decided that she will coach the girl's volleyball team next year. We went to meet some of the current members of the team at a local amusement park. Some of them I had actually met earlier. Overhearing the conversation of the middle school girls while they were eating was an experience. No wonder I had such a hard time figuring out girls when I

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1147441096671103282006-05-12T08:19:00.000-05:002006-05-12T08:38:16.700-05:00

There's two games I've been following at E3. There's not too many games I will buy as soon as they hit the shelves, but these two probably fall under that description.First, there is Spore. It's from Will Wright, creator of SimCity, The Sims, and other games. You basically start out as a single-celled organism, and eventually become a space-faring civilization. New videos show the creature editor

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1146665361193951272006-05-03T08:30:00.000-05:002006-05-03T09:09:21.220-05:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again: games with built-in editors are some of my favorite things. If there were to be a game of games with an editor, that distinction would fall to Neverwinter Nights. I can create my own single-player games, multi-player games, and even run a game from my computer just like playing a roleplaying game at a tabletop with pen and paper (you know, the old

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1146493722437353452006-05-01T08:13:00.000-05:002006-05-01T09:28:52.020-05:00

My interest in American history is on the rise, especially in the late eighteenth century as the nation is taking shape. I think it may have been from reading Founding Brothers originally. For whatever reason, it was never something that really piqued my interest before, so I had no education or independent study on American history beyond high school. That may be part of the problem. The history

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1145989531736136372006-04-25T11:53:00.000-05:002006-04-25T13:25:31.823-05:00

Friday night, the missus and I went to see Thank You For Smoking with some fellow teachers. (I had mentioned that we should all go see V for Vendetta, but I was voted down.) We had seen a few trailers for the movie, it seemed funny and smart. The movie was definitely that, and if there would be one word to describe it, it's satire.After paying for tickets (note to self, urban theaters are more

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1145553371227748312006-04-20T12:13:00.000-05:002006-04-28T10:06:57.036-05:00

In hindsight, I wish I kept a daily journal of our stay in Savannah. Hopefully I'm getting all of my facts right still... if not, I'll have Tiffany correct me later.Lucky Bob recommened breaking up my Savannah trip into separate posts, which is exactly what I'll be doing. Currently, what I've written on Savannah is over 2,000 words, and I've only gotten to Tuesday. So, as a service to you, I'll

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1145555566895777762006-04-20T12:00:00.000-05:002006-04-20T12:53:34.673-05:00

If you read about our tour on Monday in Savannah, you have learned that the Marshall House where we stayed was haunted. Especially the second floor. I posted a picture of our living area in the suite for the Sunday entry.This picture above was actually edited by me, because there were strange lights in the original image, as you can see below.Reflections from the flute glasses on the mantel? Or

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1145290615850088442006-04-17T07:53:00.000-05:002006-04-17T11:16:57.086-05:00

The sun had set hours ago, and the crowd was greatly diminished. The caterers, a few stragglers, a few friends, myself, and my wife were the only ones left. I looked at myself in the mirror, prepared to change out of my tuxedo. And I then realized that I didn't feel any different than I did several hours ago (was it only hours ago) when I was a single (albeit very attached) man. Oh, my left hand

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12676813.post-1146234564166973142006-04-13T08:19:00.000-05:002006-04-28T10:05:59.883-05:00

Our last day in Savannah. Neither of us wanted to go. We were having such a great time in Savananh, and it was going to be hard to just go back home and get back to the normal routine. We went downstairs for breakfast. Although our new room did not look out over the street, we did have a view of the courtyard... an interior atrium where the breakfast was served. We could definitely tell that it

scanimehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01713284429269938007noreply@blogger.com1