Monday, April 26, 2010

Mile High Musings



Just got back from Denver. Reason for the journey? Just some R & R, along with visiting some retailers. First stop was the Apple Store, just had to check out the iPad.

Turns out we weren't wowed. It's an OK device but considering Geogal already has an iPod Touch this newer gadget didn't seem to offer us much. Sure, you can read books as well as watch movies, plus surf the ever-increasing web but we agreed the iPad lacks a camera not to mention a USB port.

That's OK. We need to spend our hard-earned cash on other things right now.

The high point of the trip? For me it was a visit to the Tattered Cover bookstore. Geogal and I planned ahead and she dropped me off there Saturday morning. And left me there for over three hours.

Seems like they flew by.

(I like bookstores overall, but I really enjoy the non-chain ones where I'm likely to find a significant variety of tomes. The Tattered Cover didn't disappoint.)

Besides I had to escape the media for a while, particularly given the Tim Tebow lovefest provided by the local broadcast outlets.

Speaking of local media, I definitely fired up the EyeTV and enjoyed plenty of Denver's TV offerings. There's nothing like comparing your over-the-air reception 720p hi-def picture quality to that of the same-channel-but-piped-in-by-satellite image one sees over the hotel's flat-screen.

Over-the-air wins, hands down.

I also collected several legal ID snapshots, which I will post at one of my other pages. I started the project by featuring some other stations from a city about 70 miles south of Denber, it's been up for a few weeks. Go here, and enjoy what I've got so far. I still have several more stations I need to add.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sun and fresh air

Yesterday was a tailor-made Saturday. Little wind (around here that's about as good as it gets), warm temps, and plenty of sunlight. I took advantage of the day to do a fair amount of yard work plus another activity to which I have been looking forward.

Set up the camper. Popped it up, unzipped some windows, aired it out. Surprise of surprises it didn't have a musty smell I expected after a long winter in storage. Also I was gratified to see I didn't need to give it a good cleaning (the prior owners kept their word and cleaned it out good).

Just get out the Shop-Vac, suck away some accumulated dirt and dust from the outer edges and crevices, and the thing was ready to show off to friends.

Also had Geogal take some pictures. (I still can't find my HP camera, nor can I find Geogal's older Canon. So here are some shots she took with her fancy shmancy Canon I got her for Christmas.)



Wednesday, April 14, 2010

New Adventures

That's my hope.

We bought a small pop-up trailer. The Geofamily will now ofically be campers.

Found a used Fleetwood in the local classifieds, I picked it up this evening. On the drive from Selden (the town nearest the farming family from whom we bought the rig) I found myself with a sudden sense of deja-vu.

No wonder. I drove this very same route two years ago, only I was pulling a U-Haul trailer instead of a much-lighter camper.

I'll post some pictures soon. I already know what the weekend holds in store: opening the thing up and doing some heavy cleaning.

Friday, April 02, 2010

Remake-itis

I didn't pay much attention when I noticed "Clash of the Titans" (new and updated-technology version) scheduled to hit the multiplexes. Yet yesterday, when Geogal told me of a slew of '80's flicks that are green-lighted for remake I almost choked on my beverage.

Lessee, "The Karate Kid," "Tron," "Footloose," and "Red Dawn," just to name a few.

Yeech.

Once Geogal told me the news I responded with: "What's next, 'Ferris Beuller's Day Off'?" Followed by my off-the-top-of-my-head reciting of: "They bought it. One of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second."

Never mind that a fair amount of good 80's movies were subsequently tarnished by lame sequels. (Seen "Caddyshack 2?" No? Neither have I. Ditto for "Arthur 2, On The Rocks.")

And although it's not a sequel and has no connection to "Ferris Beuller..", the movie "Election" was something no doubt pleasurable to teachers everywhere, seeing the actor who portrayed the outsmart-everyone-else Ferris get his comeuppance at the hands of a viciously ambitious student.

Still, I decided to do a Net search for remakes either in progress or in the planning stages.

Yeech yeech.

On the flip side, here's someone's list of 80's movies that are NOT being remade. At least not yet.

And keep coming back here. Geogal and I are in the process of creating a movie list I alluded to some time ago: The ten best science fiction movies that are not "Star Wars" or "Star Trek" related.

Our picks might surprise you.