I had been looking for some cross country skis, and came across some earlier this week on eBay. I won the bidding today ($26) and have plans to pick them up Sunday in Springfield. My fingers are crossed that the boots I already have fit the bindings. If all that works out, it is supposed to snow tomorrow night, so maybe I'll be able to use the skis Sunday or Monday.

We hung the February show at the gallery tonight. Opening is Friday night.

I've been drinking a load of hot tea lately. Erin got Julie and I a handy electric kettle and I've just gotten into the groove of making tea all the time. In fact, I think I'll have some right now...

I was able to spend the weekend in Lincoln, and had a great time!

A few weeks ago, there was a lot of rain in the area, and our basement was flooded by about three inches of water. Apparently, the backup battery was OK, but the sump pumps failed.

Kallie is watching the house and kept us up-to-date on the whole situation. Our home warranty covered the replacement of the pump, and all the water has been removed and professional cleaners have restored the basement, all before I returned. However, the water heater's pilot light was flooded, and burner rusted, and that was not detected until the day I arrived. Luckily, the part was in town and replaced Friday night.

Friday, I visited with Mom, Emilie and Dad and then went to David's house for coffee. We ended up talking pretty late (midnight or maybe later, its foggy now).

Saturday morning, I had coffee at Katie's with the family and ate lunch at Don Panchito's with David. That night, Dad, Emilie, David and I played "Puerto Rico," it was a blast! Everyone thought that I had won the second game, but, after adding up the points, I was in LAST!

Sunday, I went to early service with Mom and Dad and then we had lunch with the entire family at Mom's, it was a lot like Thanksgiving since she made turkey and homemade noodles. Travis and Grace joined us too, it was great to see them. They recently bought a blue Honda Fit and Grace is now a financial advisor! I went to bed early because I had to fly out at 6 a.m. from Peoria, but that got me to Minneapolis by 7:45, in time for my 8 a.m. meeting.

Julie and I met up up with Mom and Dad for dinner tonight after Ultimate. A dual birthday meal for dad and me.

We tried a new place, "Ginger," near Barnes & Noble in Springfield. The food was pretty good. My vegetable curry dish was freaky hot. They had a sign up that they were having a soft opening. It was only their third day open. We could tell, which was fine, but I hope they pull it together soon.

We saw Joyce, my former boss from the Maple Club, there, too.

Had to get another filling Friday. It's annoying that I have to go out of town to find a dentist on my dental plan. Julie found one in Springfield and I've gone to one in Winchester a couple times now.

I went skiing Sunday night -- back to the place I went last year.

Phil posted a message online looking for anyone interested in going for a special night ski at Hidden Valley in St. Louis. I imagined that he already had some friends going, but it was just him and me.

The temps were especially low, and though I was pretty well prepared, my toes and fingers were definitely getting cold. Because it was so cold, they were making snow the whole time. Having to ski through that was a bit of an obstacle.

It was a long day for me. I got home from Ultimate. We left from Phil's a little after 7 p.m., the night ski thing ran from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., we got delayed with a trip to the hospital, and I got home at 7 a.m. I went directly to bed.

I risked taking my camera, but I didn't get it out too much. I put some photos here.

I updated my iPhone with the new software update announced at Macworld. I think the "locate" function is really smart and makes getting directions with the map application much more useful.

We spent Saturday afternoon with Matt, Mandy and Lucas and had a great time visiting. We ate at a Mexican restaurant "Nacho Mama's" in Stillwater, it was really good, portions were huge!

I've hooked up an antenna to our HDTV here ... and we are currently watching the Giants - Packers game... well Jantina is watching it, I'm surfing while its on :)

I'm heading to a customer in Indianapolis on Friday, and I'm going to drive down to Lincoln after work, spend the weekend, and then fly back to Minneapolis on Monday.

Someone from WICS news recorded my Ultimate group playing today. He said it might be on the 10 p.m. news tonight.

UPDATE: It doesn't look like they used it.

Friends Jake and Nate Sorrill were in the Springfield newspaper's Voice section the other day. [link] Then the week before, a story about Jake was in the Illinois Times. [link]

My usual, Sunday Ultimate game luckily fell on a super, 65-degree day this week. The turnout was pretty good and we were able to play for a bit longer than usual.

BABY
A couple we know through Ultimate -- Matt and Bridget -- are about to have a baby (unless he arrived today). They were both at the game yesterday and the baby was several days past the due date.

Update: Matt and Bridget had Alexander J. Ratz the following day.

OPENING NIGHT
Friday was the opening reception for the January show at Noir Art Emporium. The artist arrived about 11:30 p.m. Thursday night with his work and a friend. The three of us went to work on unloading, then Rhett decided how he wanted the work grouped, then we started hanging.

About six and a half hours later I arrived home and went directly to bed (for two and a half hours of sleep). I also wrote up a little bio and price sheet and got those designed, printed and copied during that time. But at the end, we had around 81 paintings hung. I was amazed thatit took so long and that 81 paintings fit in the gallery.

Josh is in Boston for his graduate program, so he wasn't around, as he usually is, to help out. So with the all nighter, work during the day Friday and the opening Friday evening, I was wiped out Friday night. I don't know how Rhett and Tim managed to drive back to Chicago after the opening.

TELEVISION
Julie and I just watched the first disc of "Extras" season one. And I watched the whole season of "Kitchen Nightmares" online over the past couple days, as our cable has been out. I had to download Friday's "Stargate Atlantis," too.

CAMERA
New camera arrived today. Seems to have some nifty features. Julie took some pics of me flying my remote control helicopter last night at the gallery, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

This was our first weekend in the new place!

Friday was pretty low-key, we rented a few movies and just stayed in for the night. I enjoyed "Live Free or Die Hard." It had its cheesy moments, but still a lot of fun.

I spent Saturday hanging out with Matt in St. Paul. We had coffee, lunch, and more coffee. We were going to go to an IMAX showing at the Science Museum, but they were sold out until 8 that night. But we did learn that a Star Wars exhibit is on its way, so I'll have to make it back for that.

Sunday, Jantina and I tried a new church, Calvary Chapel Twin Cities. We are going to try the one in St. Paul next Sunday. I think it is going to take us a while to agree on a new church here, though.

I was just checking out the new sci-fi blog io9.com when I noticed Josh Cox's artwork in the corner of the page. Josh is in the Gawker Artists program, but this is the first time I've run across one of his pieces "in the wild."

Check it out:

Happy New Year!

I'm back to work today, it was an awesome break though. I did gain nearly 5 pounds over vacation.. probably because I didn't work out at all. So, even though it is really cliché, that goes on the list of resolutions.

I also need to pay special attention to the budget this year since we are balancing two homes, Lincoln and Minneapolis. That is probably just as much a commonplace resolution as the first.

OK, the 3rd thing I'll add for fun, I need to complete more video games this year! I often get distracted by the next release, and then don't go back to finish a game I'm only part way through. I just don't have a ton of time to spend on them either.. so I'll need to take that into consideration when selecting them. Instead of an epic 40 hour game, the sweet spot is closer to 10 hours for me (something I can complete on a weekend or two).

This is the post I'll use to track my movie watching and video game playing for 2008.


Movies '08

1. Ocean's Thirteen (DVD)
2. Rush Hour 3 (DVD)
3. Live Free or Die Hard (DVD)
4. War (DVD)
5. 3:10 to Yuma (DVD)
6. 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (DVD)
7. Meet the Robinsons (DVD)
8. Shoot 'em Up (DVD)
9. The Kingdom (DVD)
10. Charlie Wilson's War
11. Deja Vu (DVD)
12. Employee of the Month (DVD)
13. Blood Diamond (DVD)
14. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (DVD)
15. Rescue Dawn (DVD)
16. First Blood (DVD)
17. First Blood part II: Rambo (DVD)
18. The Departed (DVD)
19. Rambo III (DVD)
20. Enchanted (DVD)
21. Horton Hears a Who
22. School for Scoundrels (DVD)
23. Leatherheads
24. Facing the Giants (DVD)
25. Michael Clayton (DVD)
26. Hitman (DVD)
27. Rocky (DVD)
28. Rocky Balboa (DVD)
29. American Gangster (DVD)
30. Mr. Brooks (DVD)
31. Breach (DVD)
32. Juno (DVD)
33. Iron Man
34. Cloverfield (DVD)
35. The Golden Compass (DVD)
36. Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (DVD)
37. 27 Dresses (DVD)
38. Rendition (DVD)
39. Amazing Grace (DVD)
40. Rambo (DVD)
41. Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
42. Be Kind Rewind (DVD)
43. WALL-E
44. Terms of Endearment (DVD)
45. The Bucket List (DVD)
46. The Dark Knight
47. Untraceable (DVD)
48. Terms of Endearment (DVD)
49. The X Files: I Want to Believe
50. It Happened One Night (DVD)
51. 21 (DVD)
52. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (DVD)
53. In Bruges (DVD)
54. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (DVD)
55. What Happens in Vegas (DVD)
56. Street Kings (DVD)
57. 16 Blocks (DVD)
58. House of Flying Daggers (DVD)
59. My Sassy Girl (DVD)
60. War Games: The Dead Code (DVD)
61. The Love Guru (DVD)
62. Made of Honor (DVD)
63. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (DVD)
64. Speed Racer (DVD)
65. A Lot Like Love (DVD)
66. She's the Man (DVD)
67. Appleseed Ex Machina (Blu-Ray)
68. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton (DVD)
69. Appleseed (DVD)
70. High School Musical 3
71. Quantum of Solace

Video Games:

1. Omega Five
2. Burnout Paradise
3. Rez HD
4. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Ring of Fates
5. Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword
6. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Rented)
7. Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer
8. Ninja Gaiden 2 (Rented)
9. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
10. SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1
11. The World Ends With You
12. Soul Calibur iV (Rented)
13. Galaga Legions
14. Castle Crashers
15. Space Invaders Extreme
16. Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
17. Spore
18. N+
19. Samba de Amigo
20. Civilization Revolution XBOX 360 (Rented)
21. Wipeout HD
22. Civilization Revolution DS
23. Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise
24. LittleBigPlanet (Rented)
25. Gears of War 2
26. Fable II

Current Video Game Collection

Labels: movies

This is a list of the movies that Guido — and usually Julie — have been watching, for the first time, in 2008.


ORDER — TITLE (YEAR RELEASED) — FORMAT — DATE COMPLETED

1. "Stardust" (2007) - DVD - 01/01
2. "The Lookout" (2007) - DVD - 01/01
3. "The Invisible" (2007) - DVD - 01/01
4. "Extras" season one (2005) - DVD - 01/17
5. "Waitress" (2007) - DVD - 01/23
6. "Juno" (2007) - Theater - 02/03
7. "Extras" season two (2006) - DVD - 02/11
8. "Once" (2007) - DVD - 02/13
9. "The Lives of Others" (2006) - DVD - 02/14
10. "The Searchers" (2006) - DVD - 02/17
11. "The Science of Sleep" (2006) - DVD - 02/18
12. "Black Books" season 2 (2002) - DVD - 02/25
13. "Sicko" (2007) - DVD - 02/26
14. "Away From Her" (2006) - DVD - 02/27
15. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) - TV* - 03/03
16. "The Wire" season 3 (2006) - DVD - 03/08
17. "Gone Baby Gone" (2007) - DVD - 03/12
18. "Helvetica" (2007) - online - 03/12
19. "Suburban Girl" (2007) - online - 03/14
20. "The Simpsons Movie" (2006) - DVD - 04/07
21. "Eastern Promises" (2007) - DVD - 04/08
22. "Slings and Arrows" season one (2003) - DVD - 04/13
23. "Hellboy: Animated: Blood and Iron" (2007) - online - 04/14
24. "Justice League: The New Frontier" (2008) - online - 04/14
25. "Knocked Up" (2007) - DVD - 04/15
26. "I Am Legend" (2007) - DVD - 04/19
27. "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007) - DVD - 04/21
28. "Superbad" (2007) - DVD - 04/23
29. "The Mist" (2007) - DVD - 04/28
30. "Lars and the Real Girl" (2007) - DVD - 04/30
31. "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" (2006) - DVD - 05/06
32. "War of the Worlds" (2005) - DVD - 05/07
33. "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007) - DVD - 05/18
34. "The Host" aka "Gwoemul" (2006) - DVD - 05/20
35. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (2008) - Theater - 05/22
36. "Iron Man" (2008) - Theater - 05/25
37. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008) - Theater - 05/26
38. "Fracture" (2007) - DVD - 05/26
39. "Kung Fu Panda" (2008) - Theater - 06/13
40. "The Golden Compass" (2006) - DVD - 06/13
41. "Ratatouille" (2007) - DVD - 06/14
42. "Rescue Dawn" (2006) - DVD - 06/16
43. "Get Smart" (2008) - Theater - 06/23
44. "30 Days of Night" (2007) - DVD - 06/25
45. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (2006) - DVD - 06/27
46. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (2007) - DVD - 07/06
47. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (2008) - Theater - 07/29
48. "The X Files: I Want to Believe" (2008) - Theater - 08/02
49. "WALL-E" (2008) - Theater - 08/02
50. "The Dark Knight" (2008) - Theater - 08/05
51. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (2008) - Theater - 08/16
52. "Traitor" (2008) - Theater - 09/02
53. "Persepolis" (2007) - DVD - 10/20
54. "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" (2007) - Online - 10/27

* Movies on TV count if unedited.

———

In 2003: 28 (est.)
In 2004: 73 films
In 2005: 62 films
In 2006: 72 films
In 2007: 65 films

Labels: movies

Happy New Year, all.