Concert Calendar

I would like to create a concert calendar, mostly to let you know what shows I'm going to, but also to remind me of where I'm going! Anyone know of a way to do this using Blogger?

Anyway, here are shows coming up over the next month or so...
3/7 - Mogwai - Sonar Lounge, Baltimore
3/18 - Matt Pond PA, Youth Group - 9:30 Club, DC
3/19 - The Go! Team - Black Cat, DC

Will my ears stay intact...stay tuned for this, and mooooooooore.

Preliminary Obit and The Best Headbutt Ever

The wife and I went to our favorite Sushi restaurant, Koto, in Old Town Alexandria...nevermind that soy and avocados are no-nos on the migraine diet. When we arrived, we saw three words that instantly struck fear into our hearts: "Under New Management." The last time we attended Koto, there was only one other table occupied, so we were concerned for the longtime health of the place. Apparently, so were the owners. Tonight, we were the ONLY occupied table the entire time of our visit. Yikes! Bizzaro Koto featured a staff that seemingly was learning how to make sushi, based on how long it took them to complete our order. However, the wife noted that she was enjoying the company regardless (must have been the Sapporo talking). Sorry to say that Koto is now off our list and we will probably never return, because the sushi was pretty much a nose-dive compared to how it was before. And I now fear that there really isn't a draw to the place anymore, considering it's over three blocks from the water and doesn't really dazzle to the tourists walking by.

But on to our movie selection of the night...Red Eye. The movie stars Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers) and Cilian Murphy (creepy guy of AC/JC favorites 28 Days Later and Batman Begins). McAdams plays a hotel manager on board a red eye flight from Dallas to Miami and is seated next to Murphy, who has some devilish deeds up his sleeve. Rather than get into the plot (and there really wasn't one), I will instead ask a series of questions.
1) How freaking long does it take to fly from Dallas to Miami?
2) Are people really that oblivious to what others are doing on the plane, aside from when they mistake a bathroom encounter for the Mile High Club?
3) Who is the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security and how does he afford a two-level ocean-view suite on the 40th floor of a South Beach hotel?
4) Where can I get me some fishing wire that is strong enough to haul up a freakin' rocket launcher from the ocean floor?

So you can guess based on my questions that the movie is pretty dumb. Except for THE. BEST. HEADBUTT. EVER. PERIOD. You don't see it coming and it's just great. Had me laughing for at least 5 minutes. So if you need a crappy second-rate horror movie, see something else. This movie is dreadful. 2/5 stars, only for the headbutt and another act of violence that I won't describe for fear of letting you enjoy the movie.

With a Health System Like This...

it's amazing that anyone is still alive. I've been suffering headaches for the past four days and took today off in the hope of seeing a doctor, ANY doctor, to get some good medicine. Two neurologists...sorry, wait until mid-March. My primary care physician...sorry, wait until Monday. I'm sick TODAY.

Only option left is to go to express care at the hospital. Got in, got seen by triage, registered, probably all within 15 minutes. TWO HOURS LATER, I'm still sitting there. A baby is hollering in my ear, Oprah's on the TV talking with sex addicts (and I'm sorry, but if Oprah can say "and then the man ejaculated in your face" and not get fined, what the hell)...just all types of unpleasantness. Then a nurse comes out and says that the ER is full of "very sick people," so I guess I don't qualify as such, and therefore should just go home and die. Which is what I did after she said that the wait would be "within the hour and a half." I'm sorry, I won't wait 3.5 hours for some ass ER (sorry...it's ED, it's not just a room) doctor to give me ibuprofen and send me home. No thanks.

So I'm left to over-the-counter medicine, will probably get charged a co-pay for no work, and I'm just a little f'ing furious.

How's your day been?

Patience...

...is something I've never claimed to have. Anyway, I will be posting reviews of Wicked and the "road trippability" of certain albums soon. The day after we saw Wicked, the wife and I headed to Ohio for a funeral, and ever since we got back, I have been struggling with a headache that won't quit. Perhaps I have migraines...or maybe I'll follow this diet.

In the meantime, enjoy some tunes from the old days here.

Yay Vacation!

JC and I are hopping on a train and heading up to NYC to see Wicked tomorrow night. She's read the book, and I'm pretty much flying blind, so I hope to enjoy it.

We'll also see family, which will be nice.

I have some good new stuff to load onto the iPod for the trip (Matisyahu, Calexico, Arctic Monkeys). I also have some stimulating reading, should I choose to risk train sickness (can't read on a land-roving vehicle).

I should have done my MATLAB hw tonight, but why do MATLAB tonight when I can do MATLAB during the Daytona 500???

Enjoy your weekend.

Condo

Check out this site to see pictures of our condo as it gets built. We were joking that they would put a webcam so we can see the workers not working, but this slide show is cool. We also have some pictures that we've taken (none within the past couple weeks), so I'll post those at some point.

I'm about to drive past the condo to go to Oyamel for their Valentine's Day special (not the 8-minute dating).

Movie Reviews

In an unusual move, we still had all three of our Netflix movies from last weekend (we never wound up sending the Walmart doc back). So we will be diminishing Netflix's profit margin this weekend when we get three new movies. Anyways, on to the reviews.

The Constant Gardener - I have to review this movie based on what JC says. I actually slept through a lot of it, but that doesn't mean I was bored. The acting is first rate, and the movie has a great style to it. The story is about a British diplomat (Ray Fiennes) who is trying to find out why his wife (Rachel Weize) was killed. A lot of the movie is told in flashback, but it still flows. There's not so much a twist at the end as a complete invalidation of what you thought were the motives. 5/5 stars.

My Life Without Me - This movie focuses on how a 24-year-old girl (Sarah Polley) internalizes her pain once she finds out she has two months to live. But in doing so, she does a lot of things that will make life better for her family after she dies. This movie could have been so sappy, but it was very touching, and even makes you think that in some situations, infidelity can be justified! Very unique take on this situation, and handled in such a way that tears were close, but never quite came out (although when they sang "God Only Knows" 100 times, that near did it). Mark Ruffalo, normally solid, is miscast a little bit, so his performance seems a little off. Aside from that, great movie. 5/5 stars.

Hope Everyone in the East Loves the Indoors...

...because there is no reason to go outside today. How early do you have to wake up to be the first to post about the snow? See Rick and Curt for their takes in Ashburn and NYC, respectively.

It started out with everyone laughing at the weathermen-folk and their crazy-never-true predictions. (See photo from 1700 last night)


And then this morning, we wake up to this...

...and...

Yay...one more reason to stay indoors and work on MATLAB problems today!!!

My first post at work...

Oh come on, it's 5:45 and I'm waiting for Captain Sawyer to get out of some meeting where our shared uncle is trying to go after business. He's probably wearing a suit. Pretty bored.

I haven't had a chance to reflect on the fact that I'll be moving office locations in 17 business days. The new office is 25 minutes further from my apartment, and there's no real good way to go without having traffic and/or red lights. Maybe once the condo is done, my commute will get better since I'll be near big highways.

I'm now starting to realize that a post at 5:45 from work makes about as much sense and has as much direction as a post in the middle of the night.

Panic! at the Disco sounds like Fall Out Boy (I think they're signed to a label run by FOB's bassist)...at least they're not as annoying or as heavily displayed on Rhapsody as James Blunt, that GIRL who would fit right in with all the American Idol contestants. God, sound off like you got a pair.

Yeah, pretty bored.

The Most Fun...

I should go to bed...but I've found all these tapes of bands that I was in that I need to master them...I MUST master them. Ah, those were the days. Check out Steve's blog for a couple Tonsul songs.

Weekend Recap

Been a busy weekend. The highlights will be in a bulletized list.

Food
Friday night, ate at South Austin Grill. Terrible service, but draft Shiner Bock and good cheese enchiladas with tomatillo sauce can make a man forgive.
Saturday night (call it an early bird special for a strange reason), ate at Thaiphoon. Got Thaiphoon noodles (called Pattaya Noodles at Tara Thai). Great stuff, and a lot spicier than at Tara Thai.
Tonight, made three bean chili for a Super Bowl party at our friends' place. I'm sure the wife will write about it in her blog.

Entertainment
Watched the Walmart documentary. They have a evil genius philosophy to running their business, which I'm too tired to get into. They run Ma and Pa out of business, their wages suck, they make their employees go on welfare and Medicaid, and it's really all because they can. I'm wondering if Target does similar stuff though. 4/5 stars.

Purchases
Got a new 300W lamp for the living room...hooray for light!!!

Random
God did that Super Bowl SUCK or what. It wasn't interesting, the National Anthem was an embarrassment, the media covered Jerome Bettis like he mattered (he didn't), the Halftime show was painful, and the end was anticlimatic. At least the Seahawks lost. I hate Matt Hasselbeck and his receding hairline, his argyle sweaters, and backwards caps.

Time for bed.