This was an interesting article. The Chicago Tribune wrote a lengthy article about how Netflix works. As a self-avowed geek, I love finding out how this stuff really works. Come on, it’s cool. Don’t you ever wonder?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0804-netflixaug04,0,6424990.story
Show of hands –> Who has a webcam?
We received our webcam as a gift way back in August 2005 from my sister-in-law. Unfortunately, we’ve never had much use for it. Why? Not that many people have one. You would think in this day and age of widespread availability of hi-speed broadband internet coming into the house, more people would be using video chat applications, and frequently too. Instead, we know maybe three other people besides us. Furthermore, your options to connect with someone is limited to using an IM client, such as MSN Messenger, AOL Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger. Even then, AOL and Yahoo display only choppy video, and while MSN is lesser of the three evils, no one uses it.
Logitech released a new (and free to download) video chatting application called Vid. I think it’s less altruism, and more “we can sell more webcams.” I tried it out with my Dad this evening, but the quality is….. well, piss poor. Choppy video and audio that cut in and out. Sigh. I’ve already uninstalled it. Better luck next time.
Today, I made my long-awaited return to the gym. With so little free time in the past few months, I haven’t had the free time. Can you believe that I haven’t gone since April 6th? Can you believe that? I couldn’t believe it. It has been a long time.
I kept it light, as I didn’t want to overdo it, and then put myself out of commission for the rest of the week. Cardio for 5 mins, stretching, upper body workout, and then ran on the treadmill for 25 mins at a good jog. I am so tired and a bit sore, but glad I went. Now, to make it happen Wed and Fri too.
I forgot to mention this earlier, but we are the proud owners of an aquarium filled with water and nothing else. About two weeks ago, all of our fish mysteriously died. Three died on a Saturday, and the three remaining fish died 24 hours later. Sadly, and suprisingly, the death toll include Rufus the catfish. The catfish was one of the original fish I received from my friend Doug, who had helped me set the aquarium up. That catfish had proved most hardy, surviving every other fish we have gone through.
I’m not quite sure what to do now. I had cleaned the tank recently, so I find it hard to believe water quality was an issue, but I won’t rule it out. For now, the tank sits empty, and the water stagnating. I’m going to wait a few more weeks, clean the tank out completely, and hopefully start again.
Looking back, it’s been about a year since we had the first major die off, and when we got the catfish.
We dropped the kids off to my in-laws for the evening, and had a little Saturday date night. Dinner at Sahara in New Brunswick, which was an excellent experience. The excellent experience is due to
a) The food was excellent.
b) We didn’t have to cut up food for anyone, entertain anyone, keep anyone occupied, or take anyone for a walk. We just sat, ate, and chatted.
After dinner, we drove to the theater to see Julie & Julia, the newly-released film starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, but Stanley Tucci had an important supporting role. The movie, if you hadn’t heard, is an A-B dual storyline about Julia Child in the 1950’s beginning her career in cooking, and Julie Powell in the ’00s getting her life together by cooking like Julia Child’s.
The movie was pretty good, but I’ll confess that the Julia Child storyline was the only interesting one. Meryl Streep made her pretty interesting to watch, and it was interesting to watch her begin her famous career. However, the Julie Powell storyline was about watching this young woman have fits, anxiety attacks, and otherwise just trying to be like Julia. It’s interesting in a way, but you would rather watch Meryl Streep.
Meryl Streep is a good actress. Does anyone know about her?
Julie & Julia (2009)
I found civilization in the West Village. I’ve been hurting for something decent to eat while working in the West Village this week. I’m not familiar with the West Village as I am with other parts of NYC. Incidentally, the whole lower half below 14th St is no man’s land for me. On Thursday, I committed to finding something reasonably priced to eat. No more small portions of pasta for $10.
Thursday for lunch, I looked online, and found a promising pizza place with decent reviews on Bleeker St simply named John’s of Bleeker St. I took a walk for a few blocks, and seemingly hit civilization. Bleeker St and 7th Ave is where the action was — stores, eateries, etc. Blame my ignorance.
We’re still within our 3 month HBO free trial from Verizon, and one of the benefits has been to catch up on Entourage. Back in our apartment days (2003-2005), we used to get HBO for free (don’t ask me, but we weren’t complaining) from the cable company. Probably a snafu or odd programming error that went on for years, but I wasn’t going to force their hand to remove it. I wasn’t stealing, so I had no issues with my conscience.
Anywho, we started watching Entourage during Season 2, but after we moved, there was no more free HBO. There was no value in paying for HBO for just one show either, no matter how much we enjoyed it weekly. I do recall once renting one of the seasons on DVD, but that was not a regular occurence.
The cast of Entourage
This month, we’ve been catching up on the 2nd half of season 3, the 4th season, the 5th season, and the current 6th season in progress. What a great show. It’s just so entertaining. I don’t know what we’re going to do when the 3-month trial ends. Go back to living under the 59th St Bridge perhaps, as life won’t be worth living anymore.
I’m working in the West Village this week. I gotta tell ya, there are a lot of leather and fetish shops down there. I’m just saying I have to pass by a lot of them between the Christopher Street subway station and the office. 😉 On a serious note, it’s just another colorful area of NYC with its own style and personality. It’s a nice change of pace to be working in the city, but it sure is hot out there this week.
Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to live in one of the NYC boroughs or Manhattan itself. It was always too expensive for my blood, and trying to find affordable housing near a subway line was seemingly next to impossible. My friend Doug and I almost did, but we ended up in NJ instead. Doug later moved to Astoria Queens for a few years, but he was never a fan.
I’ve never been a fan of lower Manhattan with all the quirky streets. The grid system from 14th Street and northwards works for me. All the crazy streets below 14th St that twist and turn are too confusing. I still remember wandering the Village at night a few years ago for 45 minutes, trying to find the Christopher St PATH station before finally giving up.
There isn’t a lot ot eat down there either, but I’m exploring on my lunch break. I went to one small deli yesterday, but the sandwich was disgusting. I tried City Search today, but that website used to be better. It’s just easier now to just take a walk. Fresh air, stretch the legs, and some boots-on-the-ground exploring in 60 mins.
Cool new Batman game coming out on August 25th. It’s getting great early reviews, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are basically reprising their voice roles for Batman and Joke (from Batman: The Animated Series back in the 90’s.) Looks good, my friends. Who wouldn’t want to be Batman?
I watched The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor on TV over the weekend. It helped to pass the time while I folded laundry.
I’m not going to go into a long detailed synopsis of this movie. It was basically a retread of the last two Mummy movies, except it was in China, and the kid from the 2nd movie was an adventurer himself now. The movie had no pull, and nothing all that interesting about it. It actually felt like a retread of the other movies. There was nothing new and exciting about it to even recommend it to someone. No wonder Rachel Weisz didn’t want to reprise her role — not even for the cash.
Yup, they made another Mummy movie.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
