My Randomness

Office Thoughts

Fri, 16 May 2008 02:38:47 GMT

Remarks about the fourth season finale for The Office are under the cut.

It's been a long day, so these are going to be pretty random--you've been warned.

-Just when I thought Jan couldn't be a bigger scuzbag, she went and did that. Michael, it pains me to think and say this, but don't go back to her. Hang out with Holly, maybe even become Jim and Pam 2.0. I actually want that for you, and scarily, so might Holly.
-The storyline with Kevin was priceless.
-I love Toby, but him being around Pam is just downright disturbing.
-Just tried searching for an actual video of Ryan/BJ getting arrested on YouTube. It's not there. Yet.
-Jim is totally going to get Ryan's office, and he and Pam are going to move to NYC and be all cute and in the big city.
-How perfect was the casting of Andy's parents? To die for. As was the proposal, and Phyllis walking in on Dwangela.

But now, to my biggest beef. For the last three years, the season has ended with a phenomenal Jim/Pam moment. Season 2 was The Kiss. Season 3 was, "I'm sorry, what was the question?" You really couldn't have carried on the tradition? Yes, we would've seen it all coming, but we wouldn't have cared. And Pam almost crying while Toby was getting his picture taken with her? Broke my heart. They deserve to be freaking happy after all they've been put through. That is all.

Put on a Tie

Sun, 11 May 2008 21:01:50 GMT

Happy Mother's Day!

Faith

Sat, 10 May 2008 03:23:19 GMT

My review for tonight's episode is up over here.

Randomness

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:27:59 GMT

In case you haven't met him yet: Joseph Adama And if you don't mind HUGE spoilers and you're an A/R fan, go read this.

In other sci-fi news: I've decided that the only way I'll read Invincible is if the library gets it or I win it in a contest. I know some of you are trying to stay spoiler-free, so I won't go into details. I'm sure if there's any J/J goodies, someone on the f-list will post about it. (I'm looking at you amphetamine_47 )

In the non-sci-fi part of my life, I spent last weekend at a baby shower for my friend and then went on to see mustafear and my favorite boys and dogs. the baby shower was awesome. When it was over I went back to my friends new place and helped her unpack all the little clothes while we explained to her husband what some of the gifts were for (i.e. the diaper genie).

My sister comes home on Sunday for the summer, which is muy exciting. I miss her mucho.

Tomorrow I'm subbing for the English teacher I had for half of my time in high school. It's funny yet scary at the same time; the man is not one with whom you would want to mess around.

Anyway, it's just one of those nights where you're waiting for it to be a decent and non-embarrassing hour to call your bedtime.

Stuff

Sat, 03 May 2008 03:32:55 GMT

Randomness:

My review for tonight's BSG
I subbed five full days this week in five different schools; thus, I'm a little sleepy and feel like my week went by very quickly and is now mush in my memory
I leave tomorrow to spend a couple days in the greater Cincy area for a baby shower and spending time with my friend and her boys
My sister has finals next week and I hope she doesn't get too stressed about things
Last night's Office was just meh in my opinion, but then again I don't like Michael trying to do stand up nor do I enjoy Stanley
Is it sad that I consider setting the alarm for 7:30 tomorrow morning sleeping in? I think it is.

Belated Office Talk

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:43:51 GMT

Since I haven't discussed it yet, my thoughts about this week's office:

-Steve Carrell is a brave, brave man for putting that much peanut butter in his hair.
-Ryan on drugs and being all friendly with Dwight and Michael = hilarity.
-Kelly: "I have a question: 1) How dare you?" Great line.
-Of course Dwight would end up with the gorgeous, Amazon, college-aged basketball player.
-Andy asking people if they think he and Angela (whom I dreamed last night went into labor while I was on the set... bizarre) are a better couple than Jim and Pam. Pam: "Phyllis?"
-Everyone's simultaneous reaction to the pix text from Michael of Dwight making out with the girl.
-Of course Creed would be the only one to actually know the security guard's name.
-I don't mind Jim being imperfect; in fact, I think it's necessary from time to time. I don't think they're trying to show that he will end up like Michael one day, just that he isn't the golden boy whose plans always work out in the end.
-I adore episodes written by Mindy Kaling.
-Oh, Toby. It makes me sad he's going to leave, but what a way to go.

Escape Velocity Review

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:59:37 GMT

My review for last night's episode is up over here.

Just Pull Over and Ask for Directions

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:42:58 GMT

For the BSG fans: If you haven't read the discussion about what the appearance of the constellation Orion in last week's episode means for the fleet's location (or didn't notice it all), then click here to read about it on the new blog.

For the non-BSG fans: I swear I'll start talking about something else soon.

Exciting!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:53:42 GMT

Wow a lot can happen in 36 hours. Like filling out a blog application on a whim, not thinking anything would come of it. But lo and behold, I present to you my new Battlestar Galactica blog.

Generation Y

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:29:06 GMT

You know you're a member of my generation when you spend serious time debating which piece of flair would be the best to give one of your best friends on Facebook to celebrate the news that she's having a boy.

Interview Fair

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:57:45 GMT

I go tomorrow down to IU for an interview fair put on by the School of Ed. I'll be interviewing with eight school systems tomorrow, and six of them will be done within two-and-a-half hours. As if this wasn't nerve-inducing to begin with, my allergies (which rarely bother me) have been doing wonders with my nose and ears, and my eyes have developed a new, fun habit of watering in the last couple of days. Thus, I'm now off to bed to wake up at 5:30 tomorrow morning in order to get ready and leave for B-town at 7am to be inside the Union on campus by 8:30 or so. If you happen to think of it, any prayers or happy thoughts you could send in the direction of Bloomington between the hours of 9 and 3 tomorrow would be sincerely appreciated.

Revelation Thougts, Part 3/3

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:27:38 GMT

Three weeks ago I realized I hadn't finished the book even though I'd had it for a month. Two weeks ago I finally finished it, and today I'm just now caring enough to finish putting up the review (chapters 11 through the end) behind the cut.

+ = things I liked
- = things I didn't like (good luck finding some of these)

Chapter 11:
-Why would Fett be ordering troops around?
-Han seemed to heal pretty quickly from hibernation sickness, so why would Jaina know so much about it. And yes, Fett was present when Han came out of carbonite, but he was busy getting killed (yes, killed) by a giant mouth in the desert.
-What does "endex" mean and why must she write it so often?
-Jacen can feel ships? Shouldn't it be he can feel the emotions of the people in the ship? Or did some backwater culture teach him how to read rivets and hull plating?

Chapter 12:
-Why would Zekk be capable of producing the phantom fleet? Was his name just dropped because she realized he hadn't been mentioned yet? To my recollection he hasn't show that kind of ability before, so why would he now?
-Again, why didn't Luke just kill Jacen when he had the chance? Screw Jaina being the Sword and all that, just kill the idiot already.
-Luke was able to break that many pieces off of Jacen's X-wing and it didn't explode? Are Stealth X's made of LEGOs?
-"Short of them until Incom deliver" (pg. 225) There needs to be an s on the end of deliver.
-Wish Jaina would make up her mind about whether or not she knows her twin because she switches back and forth every single page.
-They're already letting Jaina be part of the Mando strike team? They don't trust her to begin with because she's a Jedi, they make her fix parts in a place by herself, but let's have her tag along on a secret mission from an Imperial Admiral everyone thinks is dead. What?
-Mandos are freaking mind readers. They wouldn't know Jaina thinks they're gossiping about her unless she actually said something about it to them.
-"Life didn't center on [Jaina's] small circle, another reminder that there was a wider world she seldom saw." SERIOUSLY? Jaina was pretty much raised by Winter, Threepio, and Chewie because her parents were off building a government and helping other people. I'm sure she would be all too aware of the plights of others.
-Jaina is not going to leave the Jedi to move to Mandalore. Her title is Sword of the Jedi, not Beskad of the Mandos.

Chapter 13:
-If Jacen knows all these techniques then how did Luke fool him and why isn't Jaina training with Luke?
-Non-Force users do not equal mundane, just look at how you write your precious Mandos, you idiot.
-"of this world" --> once again using Earthspeak.
-Tahiri saying only "Vong"? Doubt it.
-So an advantage of being a Sith is having a built in DRADIS in your head? Not so sure about that one.
-The GA can't notice a whole fleet "hiding" right in front of them? Especially after Luke asked to talk to Jacen at the orbitals?
-Why is it a bridge on one ship and CIC on another?
-Jacen is not a fighter ace, so why would he possess that kind of mentality?

Chapter 14:
-"B-list planets" (page 294) -- since, once again, the GFFA doesn't use our alphabet this is yet another example of Earthspeak.
-How does Pellaeon know Luke caused the phantom fleet? Did Luke tell him ahead of time?
-"There was a lot to be said about keeping his powder dry" (pg 295)--what is that supposed to mean?
-Boo to killing Pellaeon

Chapter 15:
+I'm beginning to mentally picture Daala as the Female Q from the Voyager episode of "The Q and the Grey"
-"B-team moffs" (pg 310) see previous complaints about the alphabet and Earthspeak
+Finally the Mandos think Jedi are impressive
-Another Naboo reference

Chapter 16:
-Just more blah storytelling, questionable characterizations, and awkwardly worded sentences.

Chapter 17:
-Again with "endex"
-"Ben had once said to her that he used the GAG helmet comlinks, because the Force was all well and good, but he needed to send and receive complex information in apparent silence, and the Force was pretty poor at that." (pg. 333) Yes, because it's not like Palpatine could communicate clearly with Ben's own mother across the galaxy clearly, or like the Jedi have battle melds or use silent communication in their Stealth X's. Please.
-Love that Jaina is acting like she's new to military protocol. It's not liked she became a military pilot at the age of sixteen or anything. Oh wait...
-"Mirta shouldn't have been able to beat a Jedi's reaction time. But she did." (Page 334) Of course she did, because Mandos pwn the galaxy. (FYI: I hate internet/cell phone lingo, and it really pained me to type it, but it's the only way I could accurately reflect my feelings.)

Chapter 18:
-When would Jaina have had a chance to know Pelleaon really well like Traviss thinks she did?
-Daala on page 342: "No Jedi Council. Keep them in their box, away from politics, and certainly never arm them." Well, I'm certainly glad Traviss was able to keep her personal bias against Jedi out of the book like she said she did.
-Would Fett and Daala really know who Tahiri is and her Vong association? Fett maybe in a briefing from Jaina that we didn't see, but Daala?
-Names on the top of page 352--who are they and why do I care?

Chapter 19:
-Han calling Ben "sweetheart" on page 363? Probably something more like "Kid" would've been appropriate, not a term of endearment Han reserves for the women in his life.
-Why would Fett know specifically that part of Mace Windu's death involved the Jedi falling out of a window? Incredibly unlikely.
-Enough with "barve".
+Do enjoy the use of "detritus".
+At least they are pushing Jaina/Jag
-Oh, I never cared about Fett family drama, and I'm certainly not going to start now.

Chapter 20:
-Daala and her "eyelids"? (page 398) You make a big deal about how she's lost an eye and then you suddenly give it back to her? Pay attention to what you write.
-Even the Mandos think Jaina should've gone to Luke for training.

Overall, I give this book a 0.2/10. It sucked big time, as have Traviss's other two books. And naturally, Lex would give this an 8/10 in the Lit forums. But thankfully YodaKenobi was there with his amazing thesis/review of the book. If you haven't read it yet, you should.

Since mustafear asked, here is the link to Yobi's review. I really meant to post this the first time, but I was tired and cranky and didn't want to search for more than two minutes for it.

Michael Buble

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:45:53 GMT

Last night was the Michael Buble concert, and man was it amazing. He's the first person I've seen in concert that I would without question classify as an entertainer, and not just a singer. He was hilarious (as was his band members) and was bound and determined to let us all have a good time, which we did. But not only was he funny and his band amazing, the man can sing. My only concern with how good and powerful his voice is would be that he's doing damage to it and won't have a throat left in ten years. An example of how great and talented he is? He ended the encore singing acapella. Without a microphone. In Conseco Fieldhouse. To 8,000+ people. You could hear him clearly even though he was about fifty yards away. Amazing.

The Ties That Binds

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:13:14 GMT

Watched tonight's BSG episode early on scifi.com; thoughts on it are behind the cut.

Liked:
-Cottle. The man could not be more awesome if he tried.
-Of course Bill reading to Laura. When she was in the bed, I was just waiting for him to stroll up, but didn't expect the book.
-Kara's art. For some reason I think it's cool that the girl who wants to be so hard-edged and top dog loves to finger paint in her spare time.

Disliked:
-Tory. I don't feel like we got enough of her in the last season and a half to get a good grasp on her character. But regardless of that, I have no idea what is up with her character the last couple of episodes. It seems that the writers say, "Hey, we need someone to be weird and crazy... Tory!" I don't get it.
-Cally is a knuckle-dragger; her nails should not look that nice.
-I seriously hope nothing happens to Galactica while the Demetrius is gone since most of the top officers and nearly all the top pilots are away.
-This just further confirmed my theory that Hero's job in the military is essentially to be a substitute teacher.
-Leaving the note about the Galactica's skinjob club meeting in the door to the quarters the Chief shares with Cally? Really? Saul can be stupid sometimes when it comes to things like trying to be political, but the man ran a resistance for frak's sake. I don't think he would do something that stupid. Yes, I know if it weren't for that, Cally wouldn't have been airlocked (on this episode anyway), but still.
-I still don't understand why Boomer is siding with the Cavils.
-Where's Hera? Mommy and Daddy are off taking orders from Starbuck, but is the first Cylon-Human hybrid with them? Good thing she's not an important character or anything to be left behind or out of a storyline or anything...

Overall, I think it was just ok. Certainly not the greatest episode I've seen.

Night of Awesomeness

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:59:28 GMT

Why awesomeness? Well to start things off, my sister got in last night. We're going to see Michael Buble this evening. Yay! But that's tonight and not yesterday.

Second reason--The Office. Seriously, I heart Jim and Pam. But if a guy did a stunt like Jim does in the second clip to me, I'm honestly not sure whether I would find it hysterical or want to break his jaw. Maybe both.

A little background--Pam just set her landlady up on a date with her boss, Michael, which of course went horribly.

And sidenote--I really loved (and felt bad for) Kevin. Poor thing. But the chair bit in the beginning (especially with Pam and Creed) was great.

And reason number three why last night was awesome: I experienced my first earthquake. This, too, should qualify for today, but since it woke me up while I was asleep, I'll still count it for yesterday. It made me want to get up when it happened at 5:36 this morning and turn on Google Earth on my computer. But I didn't.

And now time to watch live streaming of tonight's Battlestar Galactica.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly of This Week

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:04:10 GMT

Good:
Subbed for the best class yes (at an elementary level) today. Second graders are definitely now my favorite age to work with. They were so well-behaved it was shocking. Definitely made it an easy day for me and my first experience of being in a classroom with the same 20 little ones for the whole day.

Bad:
Buying gas two weeks in a row and knowing I'll have to buy it again next week. It's currently sitting at $3.45 a gallon around here. So not cool.

Ugly:
A friend of mine decided earlier this week that the only way he could turn things around in his life was to end it. Words cannot express how much I want to bring him back if only to beat some sense into him. I wish he knew how much easier it would have been for all of us to hear that he needed some help with money and grades instead of having to hear about this.

Basketball/Icon Challenge Results

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:38:11 GMT

A while ago, I posted a challenge regarding March madness and custom icons and banners. Forgive me for being a week late in getting the results posted:

1st place - Me
2nd Place - X
3rd Place - Crazy Cat

Even though I was awesome and got the final four, championship game, and the winner right (picking all #1 seeds finally paid off after all these years), I will withdraw myself so that someone else can get some Photoshop love. Therefore, X gets 15 icons or 3 banners, Crazy Cat gets 10 icons or 2 banners, and Irish Smuggler gets 5 icons or a banner.

Remember, you must supply me with all the images you want for your stuff. Just leave me links to the images in a reply with a note about what you want me to do.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

What I Did This Weekend

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:47:18 GMT

-Ate plenty of good food (Sonic--although it was weird to eat it and not be in Oklahoma, tomato soup with grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches, Max & Erma's, lasagna, and an amazing brownie a la mode with Graeter's ice cream)
-Held my friend's now five day old baby girl
-Played Wii for the first time, which was quite fun especially since I only played for about a minute
-Took cookies to police and fire stations as part of a churchwide service project
-Saw one of my roommates from Ohio State with her cute pregnant belly (as well as her husband and their two dogs)
-Got a start on my dishes for once I get out on my own thanks to the fantastic mustafear; I now have mugs in cobalt, turquoise, peacock and plum with the promise of rounding out those place settings
-Nearly won a nerf bocce ball tournament
-Got plenty of cuddle time with my favorite four year old and miniature schnauzer
-Thankfully avoided having one of the numerous lectures on pollution the very smart seven year old gave directed at me
-Played video games with the boys
-Had an awesome time that was totally worth the better part of a gas tank with prices as high as they are right now

Still Here

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:02:51 GMT

I'm still around, just been busy and/or feeling too lazy to talk about stuff. But I know there's a lot I need to cover: adventures in substitute teaching, another weekend adventure with mustafear, job hunting, dreams, BSG and Office talk, etc. So hopefully I'll be good this week and update.

BSG Icons

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:32:26 GMT

Thirty icons from episode 4x01 of Battlestar Galactica.

Rules:
-credit callmelydia or iconic_lydia
-comments are love
-feel free to friend
-these are NOT bases
-don't hyperlink

Preview:

You can find them over here.

My AU Love Life

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:46:51 GMT

Quoted from John Krasinski describing his alternate life if he wasn't an actor from EW:

I've gone out on several dates with the bio teacher. Her name is Sarah, and she's just a really great girl.

You can read the rest of it here.

I'm a dork

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:23:22 GMT

Anyone else besides me not know that the actor who plays Hot Dog is Edward James Olmos' son? Didn't even cross my mind till I saw him in the "Why Hath David Forsaken Us" video blog and saw the actor's last name.

Yes, I'm a dork and complete sucker for useless trivia.

And in case you haven't seen the video blog:

He That Believeth In Me

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 03:15:16 GMT

Thoughts about BSG's fourth season opener are under the cut.

First, now that I've picked this icon, do we know what Kara wrote beside it? This show has me thinking there are puzzles to figure out everywhere. And I never get them right, so I don't know why I waste time trying.

-I'm glad SciFi did a marathon, or else I wouldn't have picked up on (or remembered) the significance of Kevin's dad, or Seelix really.
-Even though I'd already seen it in previews, the special effects with Anders' eye flashing was pretty sweet.
-What's the new position Lee's going for? Do they have a VP at the moment? Is it going to be him?
-Totally unfair yet equally awesome that Laura keeps getting prettier and prettier.
-"So the President's still staying in your quarters?" = Favorite line of the night.
-Foreshadowing with Starbuck telling Anders she'd kill him if he turned out to be a Cylon?
-Thank God Gaius got a haircut and shave; I couldn't take him looking like Jesus any longer.
-Love how Imaginary!Six gets a new red outfit every season.
-Saul mentally shooting Adama in the head had me freaking out. Awesome camera work there.
-I was focused on getting back a stitch I dropped (I was knitting while watching because it makes me less nervous and able to focus more) and only saw the last split second of Kara's pictures of Earth. Is it our Earth? I heard something about a trinary system; is "earth" is a star system with three stars? Bad fan I know for missing that.

Not a totally jaw-dropping episode, but certainly leaves me with the feeling that we're building up to something amazing.

So what are your thoughts? What will Apollo's new job be? Will they listen to Kara to find Earth? Was she the clue they were supposed to pick up at the nebula? Could this show frak with our heads anymore? Yeah, probably. Voice your thoughts, but NO SPOILERS PLEASE, just speculation.

As for next week, the split second of Gina looking over to the Centurion to take out one of the Brothers was awesome.

Need a book?

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:14:06 GMT

I knew I had a copy of Vision of the Future somewhere at home, but couldn't find it for a year. So I bought another copy, and of course just found the original that I already owned.

Would anyone like a copy of Vision of the Future? No charge to you. Both books are in good condition, but I'll send you the better copy of the two.

If you're interested, let me know and we can discuss where you would like me to send it to over e-mail or something.

EDIT: This post now has the correct book title. Thank you jawastew.

March Icontests

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:28:48 GMT

35 icons made for various icontests during the month of March. Please be sure to credit, and know that comments are love.

Roster:
1-6: Battlestar Galactica
7-10: Little Mermaid
11-14: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
15-17: Friday Night Lights
18-25: Serenity
26-31: Star Trek
32-35: Star Wars

WARNING: My browser crashed twice in the middle of posting this, so the icons are way at the bottom of the post.

Preview:

The rest can be found here.