Unexpected Road

A fine noteworthy article:

Customers cook up trouble with fake penis

And yet another

Psycho Path voted wackiest street name

I kind of like "farfrompoopen rd" myself.

I watched "Donnie Darko" tonight, and it definitely did not disappoint. It made me chuckle more than a few times. It kept me guessing, was very original, and had some great plot twists. I highly recommend it. It has a heavy sci-fi taste to it, but unlike many, (about 2/3 at least) the story overcomes any campiness that it may encompass. I'd categorize it more as a psychological thriller/drama with a bit of dark comedy, before I'd bill it as a sci-fi flick because I know the genre often brings about some negative connotations. I think sci-fi must be one of the most difficult genres to direct. You have to make it believable and captivate a increasingly cynical modern audience so they don't sit there rolling their eyes for 2 hours.

Tuesday here I come! Slumber time!

Gluttony, Politics, and yet another dawn of another week

Weekend up In Maine:

My Weekend started with hanging out with Kate Friday night, which was great as it always is.

Saturday I made it out of Massachusetts just as the snow started to really come down. Once I got past York on the Maine Turnpike, the snow really tapered off. They really didn't get much snow at all up in fabulous Lewiston/Auburn.

I went up for my Aunt Virginia's birthday (or Aunt' Gigi, as us kiddies in the fam call her>>> It stems from the youngest of my cousins not being able to pronounce her name, and I guess it just stuck). We had Ham & baked beans, that coupled with massive amounts of Chinese food I had with Kate the night before (and more Saturday morning for breakfast) had me feeling a bit ill. But I'd probably do it again... because, I really like food.

So here I am, dreading a new work week after a bit, but not nearly enough relaxation. I've been spoiled with only nine hour days at work lately (by lately, I mean the past few work days), I reckon that it will be inevitable that the 10-12 hour days will start up again. Grrrrr...

I artificially inflated my blog hit counter by mistake tonight. I'm going to have to see if I can fix it. I was trying to replace my "devil/goat head" with a new picture... and it isn't working for some reason.

Anyway...

In the news

South Dakota nears abortion ban

It looks like it could be a bit riskier to be a woman in South Dakota soon. I'm not quite sure if the Supreme court could step in and over rule it due to Roe vs. Wade and "Stare decisis" meaning that the past ruling has been legitimized as law by past precedent. John Roberts used this in explaining what his policy on Roe vs. Wade would likely be.

I find it odd for a few reasons, as the article says, apparently even in cases of rape, incest, endangering the mother or severe birth defects, apparently it would still be illegal. This seems a bit extreme. I've heard that it says it would be allowed to save a mother's life, but there would need to be proof of certainty that the mother would die. Since this is an often impossible thing to predict doctors could risk manslaughter charges or law suits by other family members, etc.

Having been to South Dakota, I was a bit surprised that this is the first state to recently challenge Roe vs. Wade. While they may be conservative by New England, NY, & West Coast Standards, they are no means a solid "Red State". This is the same state that brought us Tom Daschle (Thank God he's gone.... Now Delay, trouble is new creeps keep rising to take their place. What ever happened to good ole Cute Gingrich, Gephardt and Bobby Dole? :D Ahhh memories).

Well, I reckon it's time to hit the hay.

Oooooh Pictures....

Tonight I bought myself a scanner. It was a display model and I got $25 knocked off of the price including an extended warranty which wasn't initially included. The scanner rang in incorrectly, and I made sure not to mention it. I should have at least paid probably $100 rather than the $75, even including the 10% off. Bonus.

Work was reasonable today. The two experiments I've been working on finally got accomplished despite the injector on my HPLC being broken. I had to rig a manual injection with a 5 ml sample loop added on at a rather unconventional location. I was kicking it "ole school" style, doing things manually. Much to my surprise it worked and my eluted samples are going through some further testing this evening.

Peachy.

Anywhoo... I decided to test out the scanner, and as I haven't really had time to refine my skills of the software I haven't gotten too creative with these pictures. They are from my trip down to Orlando last year to see Jason Duplissis, my long time compadre from childhood. Kate came with and we did the whole theme park thing plus a day at the beach & Kennedy Space Center. I'm doing a reprisal this year, however I'll be spending a couple days in South Beach, then coming back up to Orlando to see Jason. We are going to Busch Gardens on one day followed by a Sox game in Tampa that night. I'm pretty psyched. Our Sunday, and Monday before the flight remains unplanned. I think Kate is going to try and stir up a plan for that.

This first picture is a shot of some thistle-like plants at the Harry P. Leu gardens. Kate and I went there before finally heading back to the airport on the day we left. It was her idea and it was a free, and pretty fun day. I enjoyed watching turtles and tiny lizards eat, and looking at all of the various palms, flowers and tropical plants.


This next picture is Kate, looking very youthful & chipper on a bright spring Orlando day. This is once again at Harry P. Leu gardens.


This last picture is one of me grasping a hold of Jason's naturally hairless leg at Pleasure Island, Disney's night life area. We are in front of one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It is a giant lego serpent that is coming out of the lagoon behind us. Unfortunately the cheap disposable camera coupled with the scan, did not translate its glory affectively. This picture demonstrates how I may occasionally be embarrassing to be around in public.

I think that I managed to screw up the quality more by messing around with the effects. It looks a bit pixelated, but I really don't have the time or energy to fix it. Imagine.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a snappy weekend.