Friday, August 31, 2007
YMCA
I went to the YMCA again today. I found that jump roping in air conditioning is vastly easier than jumping rope outside in the heat and humidity. Today I brought my jump rope, but all the areas were full. Apparently, something called 'Boot Camp' was going on and all the auditoriums were in use. I just worked my legs and came home. I'll try again tomorrow.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
SeaWorld Again
Yes, I went to Sea World today - and I only stayed four hours. It was just too hot today. But don't worry, half way home, I stopped at a light and a breeze came sideways through the open windows and it was cool (as in cold). I had been sweating all day, and finally, a bit of fresh air. Five minutes later, when I passed a bank with a clock and temperature guage, I realized I had almost acclimated to the summer temperature. That refreshing breeze, the cool air as I drove... 85 degrees out. Must have been 98 while I was walking around, and a 85 degree breeze was wonderful!
Tomorrow is Blue Springs!
Tomorrow is Blue Springs!
Friday, August 24, 2007
A Brief Review of "War"
Warning - A very short review with plot spoilers is below. Don't look any further that point one if you wish to remain surprised.
War, the new movie with Jet Li and some other actor (I'm a bit biased) was a big disappointment. Two actors great at karate, fighting each other - how could that not be a great movie! But alas, it did fall down.
First problem - I didn't check the rating. R for violence and partial nudity, which was shocking for a movie with Jet Li. He always has very clean movies (other than the martial art violence) and I had assumed this one would be the same.
Problem two - Very little fighting that was a pleasure to watch. It was all over too fast with camera angles too close to the actors. The sword fights were decent, but it look very well rehearsed.
Slight Problem three - everyone dies.
Redeeming quality- the bad guy wins. Really! It is the redeeming quality of the movie, and the only way it could end once the plot twist was revealed.
Jason Statham and his parter are tracking down "Rogue". Rogue traps Statham but his partner shoots him in the head. Someone snitches to the Yakuza on the cop that hurt Rogue, so Rogue (who didn't die) comes back and kills Statham's partner, wife, and child. The FBI agent, Statham, swears revenge and spends the next three years tracking down Rogue. At the end, Statham succeeds in tracking down Rogue, and the Triad and the Yakuza are wiped out in the process but Rogue kills the FBI agent in the end.
The plot twist. Rogue failed to kill Statham's betrayed partner John, but did kill the wife and child before dying. John swears revenge against the Yakuza who ordered the hit on him and his family and takes the place of Rogue (who needed major facial reconstruction anyway) to get close to the Yakuza boss who ordered the hit. Rogue manages to destroy both gangs branches in San Fransico but finally finds that the one who snitched and caused his wife and child to be killed was FBI agent Statham. Statham and 'Rogue' fight and Rogue kills Statham and decides to become Rogue since the only person he trusted was the one that betrayed him.
Because of Statham's betrayal, he loses his marriage, eventually his wife and kids are killed, his partner's wife and kids are killed, all but one of the FBI agents are killed, the gangs in SF are killed, long standing friends kill each other, and Statham's whole quest for revenge circles back to himself. Result and effect were all put together quite well and believably, and left me sad that innocents got caught in the crossfire, but satisfied that the mill of justice ground exceedingly fine for those who crossed any line. I was almost upbeat when I left!
War, the new movie with Jet Li and some other actor (I'm a bit biased) was a big disappointment. Two actors great at karate, fighting each other - how could that not be a great movie! But alas, it did fall down.
First problem - I didn't check the rating. R for violence and partial nudity, which was shocking for a movie with Jet Li. He always has very clean movies (other than the martial art violence) and I had assumed this one would be the same.
Problem two - Very little fighting that was a pleasure to watch. It was all over too fast with camera angles too close to the actors. The sword fights were decent, but it look very well rehearsed.
Slight Problem three - everyone dies.
Redeeming quality- the bad guy wins. Really! It is the redeeming quality of the movie, and the only way it could end once the plot twist was revealed.
Jason Statham and his parter are tracking down "Rogue". Rogue traps Statham but his partner shoots him in the head. Someone snitches to the Yakuza on the cop that hurt Rogue, so Rogue (who didn't die) comes back and kills Statham's partner, wife, and child. The FBI agent, Statham, swears revenge and spends the next three years tracking down Rogue. At the end, Statham succeeds in tracking down Rogue, and the Triad and the Yakuza are wiped out in the process but Rogue kills the FBI agent in the end.
The plot twist. Rogue failed to kill Statham's betrayed partner John, but did kill the wife and child before dying. John swears revenge against the Yakuza who ordered the hit on him and his family and takes the place of Rogue (who needed major facial reconstruction anyway) to get close to the Yakuza boss who ordered the hit. Rogue manages to destroy both gangs branches in San Fransico but finally finds that the one who snitched and caused his wife and child to be killed was FBI agent Statham. Statham and 'Rogue' fight and Rogue kills Statham and decides to become Rogue since the only person he trusted was the one that betrayed him.
Because of Statham's betrayal, he loses his marriage, eventually his wife and kids are killed, his partner's wife and kids are killed, all but one of the FBI agents are killed, the gangs in SF are killed, long standing friends kill each other, and Statham's whole quest for revenge circles back to himself. Result and effect were all put together quite well and believably, and left me sad that innocents got caught in the crossfire, but satisfied that the mill of justice ground exceedingly fine for those who crossed any line. I was almost upbeat when I left!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
End of a busy/happy week
Whew, it has been a hectic two weeks, but now I think it has calmed down enough to blog again. So expect daily updates for a few weeks!
Last Monday I went out with a friend I met during snorkeling and one her friends and we put together a snorkelling trip to... Blue Springs! This will make the third weekend in a row I'll have been there. As much as I enjoy Blue Springs, I think I'll need to take a break from it after this weekend. Maybe I'll go wander through SeaWorld next weekend.
My mom and sister came down this last weekend, and it was wonderful! I'm so glad that my family sees where I work and live and play. When I refer to Subway, Taco Johns, Wal-Mart, or directions, my mom will know what I'm doing now.
My sister and I went swimming on Sunday. We started swimming at the beach for... two hours, maybe three. My sister did a really good job of putting sunscreen on my back, but I still have a sunburn on the places I was responsible: shoulders, upper arms, and crazy patterns on the top of my feet where I was a bit haphazard with the lotion. My sister says that her back is pretty sunburned, so I must have missed quite a bit when spreading lotion. I get two chances to put on sunscreen right and what do I do? Miss both times. :-)
Then, we went to the springs to swim some. My sister was still getting used to the snorkel and fins and the cold of the spring, so she swam a lot more than I did. I ended up diving into the spring more than snorkeling along the surface. The only thing really missing from the snorkeling was the schools of fish that I usually see. Those were the best fish to swim through, and maybe M will have a chance next time.
Last Monday I went out with a friend I met during snorkeling and one her friends and we put together a snorkelling trip to... Blue Springs! This will make the third weekend in a row I'll have been there. As much as I enjoy Blue Springs, I think I'll need to take a break from it after this weekend. Maybe I'll go wander through SeaWorld next weekend.
My mom and sister came down this last weekend, and it was wonderful! I'm so glad that my family sees where I work and live and play. When I refer to Subway, Taco Johns, Wal-Mart, or directions, my mom will know what I'm doing now.
My sister and I went swimming on Sunday. We started swimming at the beach for... two hours, maybe three. My sister did a really good job of putting sunscreen on my back, but I still have a sunburn on the places I was responsible: shoulders, upper arms, and crazy patterns on the top of my feet where I was a bit haphazard with the lotion. My sister says that her back is pretty sunburned, so I must have missed quite a bit when spreading lotion. I get two chances to put on sunscreen right and what do I do? Miss both times. :-)
Then, we went to the springs to swim some. My sister was still getting used to the snorkel and fins and the cold of the spring, so she swam a lot more than I did. I ended up diving into the spring more than snorkeling along the surface. The only thing really missing from the snorkeling was the schools of fish that I usually see. Those were the best fish to swim through, and maybe M will have a chance next time.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Clean Up and Snorkel
Today is the day I prepare for my mom and sister's visit. I'm straightening all the books, arranging the movies, hiding the my video games section so it doesn't 'disappear' after my mom sees them ;-), vacuum the floor, clean up papers, collapse cardboard boxes for storage, arrange my dresser surface, and make sure all my clothes are properly folded. In short - everything I should have done for myself already! Except for the hiding of the computer games.
I went snorkelling for four hours today (2000 Calories), and I was pleasantly shocked and surprised to see snorkelling on the shapefit.com site I mentioned yesterday. You know it has everything when it has a listing for horse grooming. Let's see... pogo stick... pogo stick... pogo stick... no. Doesn't have quite everything. Maybe I'll E-mail and request to have it added.
I tried out a new snorkel today. I bought the snorkel so my sister would have something to use when we go swimming. The new snorkel has a feature where a tab will keep water from coming in once I enter the water. The only problems with that feature is that as I go 30, 50 feet down, the water is trying to press into the snorkel and the only flexible entrance to the snorkel is my mouth. So as I go down, I not only need to equalize pressure in my mask to prevent mask squeeze, I also need to equalize the pressure in the snorkel to prevent, ah, snorkel squeeze? The short story? The new snorkel removes useful air from my lungs to use in the snorkel. Fortunately, after my intake of air going down, I can just remove the snorkel from my mouth and not worry about it. Problem solved!
I went snorkelling for four hours today (2000 Calories), and I was pleasantly shocked and surprised to see snorkelling on the shapefit.com site I mentioned yesterday. You know it has everything when it has a listing for horse grooming. Let's see... pogo stick... pogo stick... pogo stick... no. Doesn't have quite everything. Maybe I'll E-mail and request to have it added.
I tried out a new snorkel today. I bought the snorkel so my sister would have something to use when we go swimming. The new snorkel has a feature where a tab will keep water from coming in once I enter the water. The only problems with that feature is that as I go 30, 50 feet down, the water is trying to press into the snorkel and the only flexible entrance to the snorkel is my mouth. So as I go down, I not only need to equalize pressure in my mask to prevent mask squeeze, I also need to equalize the pressure in the snorkel to prevent, ah, snorkel squeeze? The short story? The new snorkel removes useful air from my lungs to use in the snorkel. Fortunately, after my intake of air going down, I can just remove the snorkel from my mouth and not worry about it. Problem solved!
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