Friday, January 28, 2011

Hairy Situations



Every time that comes on, I want to throw my speakers out a window. What evil is Mr. Smith unleashing upon the world!

So this thing in Egypt has gotten really interesting. The democratization of the middle east does pose some problems for the US. If free.. okay relatively free elections were to be held in countries all over the region. What are the odds that those popularly elected governments would be better alternatives to US interests than the ones they just replaced? Not very good. Still, it may be in the long term interests for the US for letting these governments go. Eventually they are going to fall and it could further aggravate the populations there if America continues to be viewed as propping up oppressive regimes.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

A Cup of 80’s New Wave


Last week I tweeted this picture daring someone to identify what movie I was watching with the hint that it was from the 1980s. Sadly no one responded but it is from The Flight of the Navigator, one of my favorite movies from when I was a kid.

In the movie, a kid named David falls into a ravine and loses consciousness. When he wakes up, it is 1986, eight years later. He hasn’t aged and everything and everyone around him seems to have moved on. Meanwhile, NASA has taken custody of a disabled UFO and eventually make a connection between David and the spacecraft. Wanting to know more, they take David to a base where he is given a room as the tests NASA plans to do will take place over a couple of days. When David turns on the television with his “remote control wand,” he sees something odd to him—a music video.



I did not know this group nor the song that was playing and as far as I know, I never heard the song on the radio. Whatever it is, all I know is that it tends to linger in my mind. At first, I thought I would track it down by something another character in the movie (played by a young Sarah Jessica Parker) mentioned: Twisted Sister. Yeah… it didn’t take me long to figure out that the song that I was looking for was not by Twisted Sister.

But I have now found it and thanks to UltimaThule8888 for posting it.



Blancmange? Nope, I never heard of them except for that one time in that one movie.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Scraping my cheeks? Feels more like rubbin’.

This morning I sent off two samples of my DNA to get tested for the Genographic Project. I’ve been thinking about it for over a year now and because I wanted some concrete evidence of where I come from. My knowledge of both sides of my family does not extend past my grandparents and what I’ve been told. I’d like something more even if it’s not specific information.

My mom’s side is a big mystery to me. From what I’ve been told my grandmother has Spanish blood and that her family were wealthy landowners until the Japanese invaded. She once told me about how she and her sisters fled into the mountains. Two of her sisters were killed. Only she and one other sister survived. She married my grandfather and had quite a number of children. Off the top of my head, I can think of four daughters and two sons although there may be more. My grandfather picked up two other wives (it’s not limited to those Mormon sects) and who knows what’s been happening there. While there is definite Malay blood in the family and perhaps Spanish (due to my grandma’s early social position), I am inclined to think that they’re also may be Chinese blood as well since that part of the Philippines has been settled and visited by Chinese.

My dad’s side doesn’t make much sense. Most of what makes up his side is large amounts of German by both my grandma’s side and my grandpa’s side. There is a story though, that my grandpa’s family hails from the royal court of some Scandinavian country. Which royal family that was and which country is never elaborated on.

The samples that I took will be tracing my paternal lineage. I chose my dad’s side of the family because that lineage is actually the most murky. Will I pass through Germany? Scandinavia? Although my mom’s side probably has a good story to tell, I’m pretty confident that whether or not my grandmother has Spanish blood in her or not, probably wouldn’t make a difference. That blood would likely have been contributed by a male. Tracing my maternal lineage would probably still keep me in with the Malays and into South Asia.

I hope to have the results back within a couple months.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Did they quit making full sized beds?

Wow, I didn't think I'd stay up so late last night. The kicker is that I didn't even leave the house. I guess I had to wait and ring in the New Year with the Alaskans. Ha! But going to bed at 0430 means not even waking up until noon. That's a couple hours later than I planned as I wanted to get to Mishawaka for the expected New Years sale. I had a JC Penny gift card to spend after all. Also, I would have wanted to get back before the Capital One Bowl game started. Well I left for the stores as soon as I saw the writing on the wall that State was going to wind up with their britches around their ankles and their asses red from a spanking.

When I left for college, my grandma gave me a large quilt blanket. It's heavy and I love it but it's all frayed around the edges and coming undone. It probably wouldn't withstand another wash so I think it is time for a new comforter.

The first stop was the JC Penny home store. It's probably one of the few stores in the area where I could expect a large selection. Of course the fact that I have gift card helps. But when I got there, I could not find anything in full size. It was nothing but Queen and King size. Oh there were a few full sized sets but they were located in the kids section with colors and patterns better suited for kids. I left and decided to try my luck online.

My second and last stop was at Meijer. I thought I would check out their bedding selection and it was the same story there.

So here's what I ordered online:

And yes, it's a full.

Niles Independence Day 2025

I played with the settings on my camera. Not perfect but damn, these are the best fireworks photos I've ever taken.