I just finished collecting 24-hours of fluid produced by my kidneys (that's the less-icky way to put it), and stuck the required samples in the mail (courier, actually -- I don't think you can put stuff like that in the U.S. mail) to these guys. Fun times.

Now I'm off to work.

Julie, Mom, Dad and I drove all over Springfield yesterday after Ultimate, trying to find a resturant that was open. Seems strange that resturants aren't open on Sundays. We ended up going to the Japanese place for Dad's and my birthday dinner. The hot mustard sauce was awesome-hot.

They make me tempura vegetables special -- though they only serve it for lunch. Yea! I was looking forward to having tempura. I was also interested in some sushi, but I already had so much food, I decided against it.

I updated the "Face Archive" project a little bit. I probably should have added more. I think I have more. But at least there are some more-recent pics in there. I'm surprised how much space I have over at freespaces.com, though it's a pain to upload a lot of things at once or make sweeping changes to file names. [link]

I just deleted four comment spam messages left since Jan. 16. We're getting regular comment spam, though most are on really old posts so most people wouldn't run across them. I assume it is an attempt to make their pages come up higher on search engines. Pretty annoying.

Got a nifty 1981 Yoda puppet in the mail the other day. Ordered a couple Threadless shirts ("Communist Party" and "Potassium Alkaline") [streetteam link]

Saturday afternoon, only two of us showed for practice, so we practiced our pulls and long forehands for a while, then we noticed a pickup football game starting nearby. They let us join them and I played for about an hour or so before I had to go to work.

The game was full-contact and I think many of the guys -- there were men and women -- were at least high school football players, if not college football players. So I got taken down pretty hard a few times. Between that game and the disc throwing and Ultimate the next day, my arms and shoulders were sore for about three days. And I kinda smushed my hand during one of the tackles. I can still feel that a little bit.

One of the guys playing had MacMurray stuff on, but told me he was in the seminary program at Lincoln Christian College. He also told me there is pretty competitive intramural ultimate at LCC.

THURSDAY ULTIMATE
Liz organized a last-minute, Thursday night game last week, which was nice though a little chilly. Not sure if we'll have a game tonight or not at this point in the day. I'm worn down from working late the last couple days, and I haven't seen much of Julie, so I'd be OK if we didn't play tonight.

SND CONTEST
The annual Society for News Design (SND) contest entries were due this week. I pulled a few entries together on Monday. I did a portfolio entry (six pages) and a two or three single pages, but I probably should have put a couple more individual pages in from the portfolio entry. Oops. Too late now.

DOCTOR
I went to the doctor Monday for the kidneys. I have stones in both, I guess. I need to drink way more water, which I dislike -- but I'm trying. I have to get another test done soon, then a checkup in six months.

We returned from our three-day cruise today. We had a great time on the Disney Wonder, ate a lot of great food and had a blast celebrating our parents' 40th wedding anniversary!

There were 22 in our group, all of my sisters, brother, and their families (see photos).

I gained three pounds in three days, the result of enjoying all the great desserts (see photos).

No electrocutions this weekend. I have the waste and vent plumbing installed. I think the secret to the speed of the professionals is that truck of every conceivable part. I must have wasted five hours just going to Menards. I hope to start on the supply lines tonight. I am a certified PEX installer now! How 'bout them apples!

Great turnout for Ultimate on a weird, 60 degree January day, yesterday. We had 18 people out and it was sweet. I hope the temps keep agreeing with us like that. Afterward, Julie and I had Indian food for dinner with Josh and Amanda. -- Great meal, Amanda! Dave came over and we all worked on Josh's puzzle and played a short game of Mario Party.

For some reason, I recently started watching "Naruto." Believe it! It's kinda funny, but a little on the drawn-out side.

I caught Steve Job's keynote this afternoon. I was really looking forward to a new PowerBook. He started off with an update on the iTunes Music Store, iPod accessories, and then an update on iLife with new Podcasting and Photocasting features. After that, the hardware update, a new iMac with a dual core Intel chip (Core Duo) was shown to outperform a Power Mac G5, Cool stuff. Steve noted that Apple plans on transitioning their entire product line to Intel chips this year!

... at the last second, he does the standard "Oh, and one more thing"

MacBook Pro !!
"Its a new name because we're kind of done with power, and because we want Mac in the name of our products"
Intel Core Duo, 4 to 5X faster than the current PowerBooks, and it starts with my beloved 15" model which is exactly what I wanted!

MacBook Pro
iMac
iLife '06

I'm working the night shift tonight, so I'm shortly going back to bed, but holy geeze ... this news can't be real, can it? [link]

Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. .. Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called "Preventing Cyberstalking." It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy."

Derek Kirk Kim started a new Webcomic, "HEALING HANDS," and you can check it out over at his site. [link]

When using a reciprocating saw, make sure and avoid all electrical wires. I accidentally cut through a hot wire today. Lucky I wasn't hurt, but I don't know what it went to. Everything in the house seems to work. I'll patch it, but it could have been bad.

The weather was so great over the weekend -- 50 and 60 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. We played Ultimate both days. Sunday we had 18 people come out to play. My kidney stone damaged area had a little pain flare-up because of all the activity, I guess.

Found these nifty books while I was out and about today:

• "The Star Wars Poster Book" [link]
• "The Ultimate Visual Guide to Star Wars" [link]
• "Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days" [link]

I had to go over to Springfield today for regular service on the car, so I hit several stores and the bank while I was over there. I ended up getting tons of crap. Here's a list:

• Presents for Dad's birthday
  
• Flat-screen television
  
• Car servicing stuff
  
• Dog collar
  
• Container of rubber snakes
  
• Pair of plaid pants
  
• Long-sleeve red shirt
  
• Long-sleeve blue shirt for Ultimate
  
• Three Star Wars figures
  
• Two packs of Star Wars figure cases
  
• "Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader" novel
  
• Chewbacca ceramic figural mug
  
• Mixed nuts
  
• Street Fighter II video game
  
• Submarine sandwich and cup of soup
  
• Two taco salads
• Gasoline
• Jump rope

New years was uneventful, but a calming change. We saw the ball drop and ate Mexican. Not in that order.

The furnace saga continues. This P.O.S. has turned on me for the last time. To my displeasure, I'm having a new one installed on Monday. I wanted to wait till the summer and do it myself, but the coldest months are ahead and I can't have it going out when we are either out of town or it is -20. I hate paying for labor.

I made good on the promise to start on the bathroom re-do. I have the thing gutted and now have to decide on the plumbing layout. I went all the way to the floor joists since the subfloor wasn't looking so good. I just can't be sure how to set-up the waste drain and vents. The tub is tricky with its position in the room. I guess now is as good of a time as any to move it, but I don't want to cut into too many joists to run the pipes. The floor also has a 1/8" per foot slope. So if I flatten it, I will have about a 1" threshold at the door. I really wanted to make that flush. This has made me rethink the need to have to floor flat. I'll work on the electrical and plumbing and come back to the floor.

Heheh ... as though I'll be playing Xbox...




http://live.xbox.com/member/Utini

We picked up Sassafras yesterday. While we were in Illinois, we left Sassy with some friends and they dropped her off at the vet for her scheduled operation (to be spayed). They were closed until yesterday though, and we were anxious to pick her up! Sassy has been kind of lethargic so far, hopefully she'll be back to normal soon.

I thought about watching a movie last night, but played games instead. I watched 55 movies in 2005 thanks to my Blockbuster Online subscription... Guido *still* beat me!

Today I'm back to work, although not onsite, so I'm not sure what this week has in store for me.

Four photos from the New Year's get-together we attended this year. We played some games, including the 1977 edition of Family Fued and Dance, Dance Mania. And we watched Danny Cox and his sermon about Narnia.

Happy New Year!

Jantina was able to find an XBOX 360 for me for Christmas, I've been playing it quite a bit. Mostly Dead or Alive 4, but with my brother's gamertag by mistake... so I don't get the recognition for it. Today I ordered the DOA4 arcade stick, and I'll play through again regaining the achievements with my own gamertag once the stick arrives.

I also received a Nintendo DS from Travis and Emilie, I played a game of Mario Cart DS on the Nintendo wi-fi service last night and it was pretty seamless. Not as well polished as the XBOX Live experience, but I was still impressed to be playing Mario Cart over the I-net.

Here is my current XBOX Live gamer card, it will be updated as I acquire achievements:

The movies that Guido -- and usually Julie -- have seen in 2006.
I didn't keep track in 2003, but went over a list at the end of the year and came up with at least 28 that had come out that year that I had seen. In 2004, I started keeping track throughout the year and we watched 73 films. In 2005, we watched 62 films.

ORDER VIEWED - TITLE (YEAR RELEASED) - FORMAT - DATE VIEWED/DATE FINISHED VIEWING

1. "Melinda and Melinda" (2004) - DVD - 01/01
2. "Murderball" (2005) - DVD - 01/05
3. "40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005) - DVD - 01/23
4. "Dead Like Me" Season 2 (2004) - DVD - 01/29
5. "Siworae" aka "Il Mare" (2000) - DVD - 02/06
6. "The Girl in the Cafe" (2005) - DVD - 02/21
7. "Dil Chahta Hai" (2001) - DVD - 02/27
8. "Junebug" (2005) - DVD - 03/03
9. "Separate Lies" (2005) - DVD - 03/05
10. "Grizzly Man" (2005) - TV* - 03/06
11. "Walk the Line" (2005) - Theater - 03/06
12. "Steamboy" (2004) - DVD - 03/13
13. "Serenity" (2005) - DVD - 03/19
14. "Infernal Affairs" aka "Mou gaan dou" (2002) - DVD - 03/24
15. "The Brothers Grimm" (2005) - DVD - 03/28
16. "The Constant Gardener" (2005) - DVD - 04/10
17. "Millions" (2004) - DVD - 04/10
18. "Kung Fu Hustle" (2004) - DVD - 04/11
19. "Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit" (2005) - DVD - 04/15
20. "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004) - DVD - 04/15
21. "Flightplan" (2005) - DVD - 04/16
22. "Knife in the Water" (1964) - DVD - 04/24
23. "Intermission" (2003) - DVD - 04/28
24. "Croupier" (1998) - DVD - 05/07
25. "Napoleon Dynamite" (2004) - DVD - 05/08
26. "Queen Margot" aka "La Reine Margot" (1994) - DVD - 05/19
27. "V for Vendetta" (1995) - Theater - 05/26
28. "Dogtown and Z Boys" (2001) - DVD - 05/30
29. "Entourage" Season 1 (2004) - DVD - finished 06/14
30. "Open Your Eyes" aka "Abre los ojos" (1997) - DVD - 06/16
31. "The Skeleton Key" - DVD - 6/26
    
32. "Aeon Flux" (2005) - PPV* - 6/27
33. "Ripley's Game" (2002/2003) - DVD - 6/29
34. "Match Point" (2005) - DVD - 7/01
35. "Entourage" Season 2 (2005) - DVD - finished 7/02
36. "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006) - Theater - 7/10
37. "Dark Water" (2005) - DVD - 7/10
38. "Fun with Dick and Jane" (2005) - DVD - 7/11
39. "Superman Returns" (2006) - Theater - 8/07
40. "Deadwood" Season 2 (2005) - DVD - finished 8/15
41. "Stargate: Ultimate Edition" (1994) - DVD - 8/28
42. "A History of Violence" (2005) - DVD - 9/3
43. "Brick" (2005) - DVD - 9/3
44. "Capote" (2005) - DVD - 9/11
45. "The Sting" (1973) - TV* - 9/13
46. "Syriana" (2005) - DVD - 9/17
47. "MirrorMask" (2005) - DVD - 9/18
48. "Good Night, and Good Luck." (2005) - DVD - 10/09
49. "Everything is Illuminated" (2005) - DVD - 10/09
50. "Shopgirl" (2005) - DVD - 10/18
51. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1968) - TV* - 10/30
52. "Hellboy: Sword of Storms" (2006) - TV* - 11/07
53. "The Da Vinci Code" (2006) - DVD - 11/18
54. "Blade: Trinity" (2004) - DVD - 11/19
55. "Akeelah and the Bee" (2006) - DVD - 11/25
56. "The Sisters" (2005) - DVD - 11/25
57. "The Wire" Season 3 (2004) - DVD - 11/30
58. "Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic" (2005) - DVD - 12/5
59. "Freaks" (1932) - TV* - 12/7
60. "Cache" (2005) - DVD - 12/10
61. "A Prairie Home Companion" (2006) - DVD - 12/13
62. "Ultimate Avengers" (2006) - DVD - 12/18
63. "Kwidan" (1964) - TV* - 12/18
64. "The Magnificent Seven" (1960) - TV* - 12/19
65. "Wordplay" (2006) - DVD - 12/23
66. "Empire" (2002) - DVD - 12/23
67. "I'm Alan Partridge" Season 1 (1997) - DVD - 12/24
68. "Monster House" (2006) - DVD - 12/24
69. "The Fountainhead" (1949) - DVD - 12/27
70. "The Prestige" (2006) - Theater - 12/28
71. "Musa the Warrior" (2001) - DVD - 12/29
    
72. "Hoot" (2006) - DVD - 12/30

* Movies on TV are counted if they are unedited.

DVD: 60
Theater: 5
TV: 8

Labels: movies

I'm saving some links here to Jacksonville, Ill., resturants.



The Irish Toad -- delivers

I decided to start my "Entertainment Participation" list for 2006.

Movies '06

1. Friday Night Lights (DVD)
2. Memoirs of a Geisha
3. Cassanova
4. Glory Road
5. Bad Boys (DVD)
6. Last Holiday
7. Kingdom of Heaven (DVD)
8. Hitch (DVD)
9. Bulletproof Monk (Television)
10. The Forgotten (DVD)
11. xXx: State of the Union (DVD)
12. In Good Company (DVD)
13. Blade Trinity (DVD)
14. Christmas With the Kranks (DVD)
15. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (DVD)
16. Stealth (DVD)
17. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
18. Drumline (DVD)
19. The Devil Wears Prada
20. The Producers (DVD)
21. Corpse Bride (DVD)
22. Superman Returns
23. Rent (DVD)
24. Rumor Has It...(DVD)
25. King Kong (DVD)
26. The Legend of Zorro (DVD)
27. Elizabethtown (DVD)
28. The Transporter (DVD)
29. Transporter 2 (DVD)
30. Æon Flux (DVD)
31. History of Violence (DVD)
32. Eight Below (DVD)
33. Stick It (DVD)
34. Nacho Libre (DVD)
35. Monster House (DVD)
36. Mission Impossible III (DVD)

VIDEO GAMES

1. Perfect Dark Zero
   
2. Call of Duty II
   
3. Dead or Alive 4
   
4. R-Type Final
   
5. Animal Crossing: Wild World
   
6. Mario Cart DS
   
7. Burnout Revenge
   
8. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
   
9. Worms Open Warfare
   
10. Black (Rented)
    
11. New Super Mario Bros.
    
12. Bomberman DS
    
13. Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II
    
14. Luigi's Mansion
    
15. Chromehounds
    
16. Okami
    
17. Lego Star Wars II
    
18. Metroid Prime: Hunters
    
19. Mario vs Donkey Kong 2
20. Phantasy Star Universe
21. Gears of War
22. Viva Piñata

Current Game Collection

Labels: movies