Sunday, June 09, 2013

A fine Sunday evening ahead

The new season of Ice Road Truckers will begin this evening.  And to make a good situation even better, all of the eps this year take place in Manitoba.  No Dalton Highway.  Why is that good?  Because one week ago today Geogal took a coach up to the Arctic Circle which involves going up the Dalton.  Had this roadway been featured in this year's IRT, she would have been insufferable whenever we caught an episode. 

"I've been there!"  "I've seen that curve."  "I recognize where that is."  "The TV camera just doesn't do justice to what that area REALLY looks like."   And so on. 

And tomorrow the 2013 WWDC will open in San Fran.  I will be working and therefore won't be able to watch the keynote live but if I have the chance I will watch it on 21st century Memorex tomorrow evening.  I'm looking forward to the upgrades and improvements that are no doubt coming to the Mac line.  Just before we dropped Geogal off at the Denver airport I commented that Geoana and I would be heading to the Apple Store at Cherry Creek after we discharged our Alaska-bound family member.  I even alluded to being "bad."  To my surprise Geogal said I had permission to be "bad." 

I only wound up buying the new Apple earbuds ($30). 

While I drooled over the Macbook Air I decided to take a pass, mainly because I was curious over how this product would be upgraded in just a short while.  I know full well the newer iPads and iPhones won't be introduced until the fall so buying an iPad mini at that time wasn't happening. 

That's OK.  I can wait. 

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

God has a sense of humor, and reliving an old childhood game

As all of you know, Geogal is in Alaska as I write this.  I'm not here to lament, nor give a summary of her adventures.  Rather I will just point out that this past Saturday morning, in which Geoana and I went to the nearby state park for the annual kids fun day (translation:  free admission and free outdoor activities), the morning low in our town was 39.  Degrees.  Fahrenheit.

Just for fun I looked on the Net for the morning low in Fairbanks.  45.  Projected high for Alaska's second-largest city?  82?

High for us in our Northwest Kansas town the same day?  Didn't even get out of the 60's.  Who woulda thunk it that a location in Alaska would be warmer than one in the lower 48?  At the beginning of June?

Saturday also was very cloudy and very windy, combined with the cool temps.  Built character.  However the following day dawned with clear skies, calm winds, and more June-type degrees.  I'm sure the local park superintendent (whom we know) was cursing the weather gods.

_______________________________________

On the way to Denver (which is where Geogal caught her plane to The Last Frontier) I decided to engage all of us in the license plate game.  Not a bad way to kill 5 hours on the highway.  Plus the child and I continued it until we again saw our own front door.

Ready for the roll call?

Kansas (of course)
Nebraska (not hard around here)
Colorado (natch)
Texas
North Dakota
New Mexico
Pennsylvania
Georgia
Washington
South Dakota
Wyoming
Arizona
California
Iowa
Louisiana
Illinois
Ohio
North Carolina
Florida
Indiana
Missouri
Nevada
New York
Montana
Arkansas
Kentucky
Wisconsin
Tennessee
Utah
Oklahoma
Idaho
New Jersey
Oregon
and....Alaska!   (Yep.  Spotted in the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Aurora, Colorado)

Maybe it would have been easier to list the states we didn't see.  Pretty much the entire central and western US was accounted for.

Nice to know we don't always have to have a movie going during a road trip.  Plus, we get to duplicate the journey at the end of this month when Geogal returns. 

Monday, June 03, 2013

Fresh Eyes

Geoana and I have only one more Star Trek movie (featuring the TOS case) to watch:  "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." 

Which means, of course, that we already have viewed the first five cinematic adventures of the Enterprise crew.  I decided early on that I would not give my opinions of the flick before we watched it, in order to let the almost-teenage girl formulate her own opinions. 

She wound up with some interesting ones.  So far her favorite one of the bunch is "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock."  Maybe it's just that any flick featuring Klingons as the enemy is bound to be good.  She also gave approval to "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier."  (Regarded by many Trekkies as the movie equivalent of "Spock's Brain" in as far as the badness factor goes.)  However the child thinks there is plenty that is redeemable about the movie.  And I have to admit, watching these movies again after all these years gives me a different perspective as well.  The first movie isn't too bad as far as the story (though it sure could use some more action) but it's just so godawful LONG.  The second flick is my personal favorite.  Three?  It's OK although I still can't fully accept Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon.  The fourth installment is just pure fun.  And the Shatner-directed fifth movie might have a few rough spots but it's far from being unwatchable. 

And speaking of unwatchable pieces of celluloid, I did catch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 take on "Manos, The Hands of Fate."  Yes, almost as bad as "Troll 2."  Wonder what other pieces of trash I can get through Netflix? 

But lest you think I do nothing but watch terrifically terrible movies or Star Trek offerings exclusively, some weeks ago the child and I watched "The Sound of Music."  And lo and behold, just a couple of weeks later her music teacher has the whole sixth grade viewing this musical.  Good taste abounds!

Score one for the Geoguy!