Saw United 93 last night. It's basically a documentary of what happened on the flight that went down in Pennsylvania as pieced together by the cell phone calls from the passengers on the flight, the "only hijacked flight that missed its target" as noted at the end of the film. There's also an insider's look at the various command posts across the country as they realized that multiple flights had been hijacked that morning.
Overall, a very well done film. The documentary style made it feel more authentic and it was interesting to see the chaos that went on inside the control centers (from civilian aviation control to military). Some people wonder if it's too soon to have a movie about 9/11 so soon. I think the film does a great job of keeping to the title and focusing solely on the events that went on within the plane and doesn't steer away from that topic. Yes, it does get a little emotional at times, but I believe the intent is to put the audience in the shoes of the passengers and pose the question, what would you do in the same situation?
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Kellie Pickler out on AI!
It's a sad day in entertainment when a hot, semi-talented blonde can't get a break on an American TV show.
There's only one attractive female left on the show. I don't think it's a stretch to say that ratings will be dropping from now til the end of the show.
There's only one attractive female left on the show. I don't think it's a stretch to say that ratings will be dropping from now til the end of the show.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
24
Yup, that's how old I am as of yesterday.
And what better way to forget that I'm getting older than to jam out to tunes at a piano bar along with my co-workers and friends? I can't think of one (except for maybe visiting the bar/nightclub we went to a couple of weeks ago to celebrate someone else's bday).
I was a little disappointed that they didn't play my Britney Spears requests and even went so far as to mock it. Ah well, it was still a lot of fun, and I think it was a good idea to go on a night when it wasn't so crowded (we were the only group there for the first hour and a half). Apparantly, on Fridays and Saturdays, the place gets packed and it's standing room only.
The performers personalized the songs for the audience too, and my name was inserted into lyrics for a lot of the songs (since it was my birthday). There was another girl (an attractive blonde) who also had the same birthday, but for some reason, they kept picking on me instead of her.
Some random guy also bought me a shot; not sure why or what it was (when I asked, it sounded like he said 'liquid colgate').
It was really fun though; lots of dancing, singing and drinking. Not a bad way to celebrate a birthday.
Oh, and they had me dress up in a wig and boa on stage.
And what better way to forget that I'm getting older than to jam out to tunes at a piano bar along with my co-workers and friends? I can't think of one (except for maybe visiting the bar/nightclub we went to a couple of weeks ago to celebrate someone else's bday).
I was a little disappointed that they didn't play my Britney Spears requests and even went so far as to mock it. Ah well, it was still a lot of fun, and I think it was a good idea to go on a night when it wasn't so crowded (we were the only group there for the first hour and a half). Apparantly, on Fridays and Saturdays, the place gets packed and it's standing room only.
The performers personalized the songs for the audience too, and my name was inserted into lyrics for a lot of the songs (since it was my birthday). There was another girl (an attractive blonde) who also had the same birthday, but for some reason, they kept picking on me instead of her.
Some random guy also bought me a shot; not sure why or what it was (when I asked, it sounded like he said 'liquid colgate').
It was really fun though; lots of dancing, singing and drinking. Not a bad way to celebrate a birthday.
Oh, and they had me dress up in a wig and boa on stage.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Monday, April 17, 2006
Blackouts
Two blackouts in two weeks: one of the electricity kind, and one of the not-remembering-anything variety.
You can read about the latter here.
As for the former, the electricity randomly went out today at work around 4:30pm. Some say that it was because today broke 90 degrees (in mid-April, yikes), and the electric companies just couldn't handle all the computers with the weather. Others say it's a vast conspiracy (similar to Enron) and that there's probably more blackouts to come.
Either way, it was decided that it would take about an hour after the power came back to get everything up and running again, so it probably wasn't worth it to stick around. Everyone got to go home an hour early. Woohoo.
On any other day, that would be welcome news. But if you're me (and you're not), you wake up Monday morning (on the week of your birthday no less) to realize that you have a fucking flat tire.
How do you know this? You try pulling out of your parking spot and the car feels funny; it brings back memories of an evening about a year ago when you thought you were going to die as the car shook badly along the highway. Oh, the good ol days when a flat tire was something you just heard about and never had to experience first-hand.
This time, since the car was already at my apartment, I decided it'd be a good chance to try and change it myself (especially after the first mechanic complained loudly about having to change a flat only a couple days after being shot). Turns out I didn't have half of the stuff needed to change the tire. My co-worker was nice enough to drive me to the auto shop to get the necessary materials and help me change the tire.
Should take only half an hour at most if you have all the tools, but it ended up taking much longer with all the driving and half the traffic lights being out around town (due to the blackout).
So off to the auto shop, where they say it'll only be an hour wait. Yeah, turns out to be like an hour and a half. They apologize and give me coupons, but can coupons bring back time?
Welcome to The Sumeet Zone.
You can read about the latter here.
As for the former, the electricity randomly went out today at work around 4:30pm. Some say that it was because today broke 90 degrees (in mid-April, yikes), and the electric companies just couldn't handle all the computers with the weather. Others say it's a vast conspiracy (similar to Enron) and that there's probably more blackouts to come.
Either way, it was decided that it would take about an hour after the power came back to get everything up and running again, so it probably wasn't worth it to stick around. Everyone got to go home an hour early. Woohoo.
On any other day, that would be welcome news. But if you're me (and you're not), you wake up Monday morning (on the week of your birthday no less) to realize that you have a fucking flat tire.
How do you know this? You try pulling out of your parking spot and the car feels funny; it brings back memories of an evening about a year ago when you thought you were going to die as the car shook badly along the highway. Oh, the good ol days when a flat tire was something you just heard about and never had to experience first-hand.
This time, since the car was already at my apartment, I decided it'd be a good chance to try and change it myself (especially after the first mechanic complained loudly about having to change a flat only a couple days after being shot). Turns out I didn't have half of the stuff needed to change the tire. My co-worker was nice enough to drive me to the auto shop to get the necessary materials and help me change the tire.
Should take only half an hour at most if you have all the tools, but it ended up taking much longer with all the driving and half the traffic lights being out around town (due to the blackout).
So off to the auto shop, where they say it'll only be an hour wait. Yeah, turns out to be like an hour and a half. They apologize and give me coupons, but can coupons bring back time?
Welcome to The Sumeet Zone.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Easter Musings
Why don't we crucify people? If they're on death row, and they have to be executed, why isn't cruicifixation an option (along with lethal injection and the chair)?
Is it because it's considered "cruel and unusual" and is therefore unconstitutional?
Or is it because Jesus' crucifixon was so symbolic that no one else should go through that event again?
Is it because it's considered "cruel and unusual" and is therefore unconstitutional?
Or is it because Jesus' crucifixon was so symbolic that no one else should go through that event again?
Friday, April 14, 2006
Bad Saturday
I was really excited to go to a club on Saturday night for a friend's birthday celebration. It was at this club downtown Purgatory that has three levels (Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven), and Girls Gone Wild was shooting that night.
We met up at his parent's house beforehand for a little pre-partying where I had a few drinks, and then arrived way early at the club. I have to say though, the bathrooms were really nice. There was no separate door for the bathroom, just individual doors for each toilet and then a communal sink in front of all the toilets. A different idea, since guys and girls basically shared the sinks and the toilets, but they did a really nice job, and it wasn't nasty this way.
Anyway, I had a couple of vodka and sprites and a shot of Patron, and started dancing with my friends well before there was anyone else on the dance floor (probably the first sign that I had too much to drink). That's pretty much all I remember. Next vague memory is being "escorted" out of the club by a big bouncer (ironically I was in Heaven when this happened, so I've already been kicked out Heaven and I'm not even dead yet: an ominous foreshadowing?) and yelling at him asking why we were leaving and if anyone had complained. After that, my shirt was ripped, my arm was twisted behind my back and the bouncer (or cop?) asked if I wanted to go to jail. Even though I was still pretty pissed and confused, I had enough sense to say no. My memory is spotty from here on out, but I do remember being passed out on the sidewalk and then basically waking up the next morning in my bed.
From what my friends told me the next day, it sounds like I was basically being belligerent and resistant to anyone and everyone within sight. I was running into people on the dance floor, and refused to leave when my friends tried to drag me off. I also apparantly mouthed off to the bouncer and the cops when I was outside and came close to being arrested.
After hearing all of this, yeah, I probably should have been kicked out. It's just weird, and a little scary, not being able to remember any of it. I didn't even have that much to drink (comparatively).
We met up at his parent's house beforehand for a little pre-partying where I had a few drinks, and then arrived way early at the club. I have to say though, the bathrooms were really nice. There was no separate door for the bathroom, just individual doors for each toilet and then a communal sink in front of all the toilets. A different idea, since guys and girls basically shared the sinks and the toilets, but they did a really nice job, and it wasn't nasty this way.
Anyway, I had a couple of vodka and sprites and a shot of Patron, and started dancing with my friends well before there was anyone else on the dance floor (probably the first sign that I had too much to drink). That's pretty much all I remember. Next vague memory is being "escorted" out of the club by a big bouncer (ironically I was in Heaven when this happened, so I've already been kicked out Heaven and I'm not even dead yet: an ominous foreshadowing?) and yelling at him asking why we were leaving and if anyone had complained. After that, my shirt was ripped, my arm was twisted behind my back and the bouncer (or cop?) asked if I wanted to go to jail. Even though I was still pretty pissed and confused, I had enough sense to say no. My memory is spotty from here on out, but I do remember being passed out on the sidewalk and then basically waking up the next morning in my bed.
From what my friends told me the next day, it sounds like I was basically being belligerent and resistant to anyone and everyone within sight. I was running into people on the dance floor, and refused to leave when my friends tried to drag me off. I also apparantly mouthed off to the bouncer and the cops when I was outside and came close to being arrested.
After hearing all of this, yeah, I probably should have been kicked out. It's just weird, and a little scary, not being able to remember any of it. I didn't even have that much to drink (comparatively).
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Moving!
I moved desks again.. this time in the same office, but closer to the other people in the company.
It's going to take some getting used to.. it's still pretty private, but it feels like it's stuck in the corner, plus the last person who sat here had this weird configuration where the monitor was on a bunch of phone books, plus he has a keyboard tray, and I think the chair is much lower than my previous chair.
It's going to take some getting used to.. it's still pretty private, but it feels like it's stuck in the corner, plus the last person who sat here had this weird configuration where the monitor was on a bunch of phone books, plus he has a keyboard tray, and I think the chair is much lower than my previous chair.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Note to Self
Never take recommendations about a bar/club from a person who you don't want to see at that venue.
It's also probably a bad idea if that person is in a different age group and/or has different tastes than you.
However, it may be worth it to visit the venue just to see the person hammered in public; it may be awkward at first (if you don't expect to see them there, and they don't expect to see you), but the look on their face might be priceless.
It's also probably a bad idea if that person is in a different age group and/or has different tastes than you.
However, it may be worth it to visit the venue just to see the person hammered in public; it may be awkward at first (if you don't expect to see them there, and they don't expect to see you), but the look on their face might be priceless.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Work Emails
I got three important work emails today.
Two of them were about upcoming performance evaluations -- for some reason, we have to get evaluated by two different supervisors.
One of them was from our director of technology, proclaiming that she doesn't think she's god. Good to know.
Two of them were about upcoming performance evaluations -- for some reason, we have to get evaluated by two different supervisors.
One of them was from our director of technology, proclaiming that she doesn't think she's god. Good to know.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Birthday Bash
We journeyed out to Addison yesterday to celebrate a co-worker's birthday.
The main criteria for the club/venue was basically cheap drinks/food and a good scene (20-somethings, attractive girls, etc.). Impossible you say? Think again!
The place actually turned out to be pretty decent, and I'm fully convinced of their claim that they have the hottest Wednesday night in Dallas.
It was helped by the fact that they had free food until 9pm, and cheaper drinks than most places we've been to on our usual happy hours.
I think everyone really enjoyed it.. definitely worth another trip back.
Oh, and we had a really hot waitress who was also really nice and friendly. It was her first day on her own, and she seemed to take a liking to us for some reason. Some of my co-workers thought she was just doing it for the tips, but I like to believe otherwise. It seemed that whenever she was taking a break, she would come hang out with us, even dancing with us. Not sure what the appeal was, but I ain't complaining. It was a nice change from our other waitresses, who have either been incredibly emotional (our last one went from bitchy to crying in a few hours) or really slow (and not even attractive enough to make up for it).
The main criteria for the club/venue was basically cheap drinks/food and a good scene (20-somethings, attractive girls, etc.). Impossible you say? Think again!
The place actually turned out to be pretty decent, and I'm fully convinced of their claim that they have the hottest Wednesday night in Dallas.
It was helped by the fact that they had free food until 9pm, and cheaper drinks than most places we've been to on our usual happy hours.
I think everyone really enjoyed it.. definitely worth another trip back.
Oh, and we had a really hot waitress who was also really nice and friendly. It was her first day on her own, and she seemed to take a liking to us for some reason. Some of my co-workers thought she was just doing it for the tips, but I like to believe otherwise. It seemed that whenever she was taking a break, she would come hang out with us, even dancing with us. Not sure what the appeal was, but I ain't complaining. It was a nice change from our other waitresses, who have either been incredibly emotional (our last one went from bitchy to crying in a few hours) or really slow (and not even attractive enough to make up for it).
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Firefox Extensions
I had no idea it was so easy to create a Firefox extension.
I followed the tutorial here: http://www.gmacker.com/web/content/tutorial/firefox/firefoxtutorial.htm , and then looked at the code for one of the extensions I already had, and that was it.
I didn't know any Javascript before I started, and just figured out enough to finish my extension, but the beauty is you don't have to be an expert to create an extension.
The one I wrote basically brings up a webpage (via a "I'm Feeling Lucky" Google search) of the lyrics to the song that's currently playing. It finds out the name of the song through the FoxyTunes extension. So, instead of copying the title from the toolbar, pasting it into another window and searching, it's now just two clicks away.
I followed the tutorial here: http://www.gmacker.com/web/content/tutorial/firefox/firefoxtutorial.htm , and then looked at the code for one of the extensions I already had, and that was it.
I didn't know any Javascript before I started, and just figured out enough to finish my extension, but the beauty is you don't have to be an expert to create an extension.
The one I wrote basically brings up a webpage (via a "I'm Feeling Lucky" Google search) of the lyrics to the song that's currently playing. It finds out the name of the song through the FoxyTunes extension. So, instead of copying the title from the toolbar, pasting it into another window and searching, it's now just two clicks away.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
The 11-Hour Happy Hour
Yeah, that's the only way to do it.
We (ok, I) decided to have our happy hour on Friday instead of Thursday to accomodate some ex-co-workers who will be leaving town soon. They can't make Thursdays, and I thought it'd be cool to hang out with them outside of work.
It was interesting, because they both came to a company lunch this week, and were like, "Yeah, it's not over yet. I'll see you guys at happy hour on Friday!" Little did they know that the people they told this to were never actually informed of the happy hour, and thus did not show up. I don't think anyone really noticed, or if they did, didn't really seem to care.
We had a slightly different group of people this time, less than previous weeks mainly because it was a Friday and some people went of town for the weekend. We ended up having the same waitress as the last time we went to the bar, and she seems to think we're a bunch of alcoholics ("Yall are here all the time!") even though it was only the second time we'd been there. She was pretty pissed the second we walked in the door too. Maybe because of bad memories from last time, or because we wanted to have 8 separate tabs. Not sure, but she was really upset. And I didn't make things any better by making rude, snide comments. Or, as my friends would have you believe, being myself.
We hung out for a few hours, then moved over to the pool tables. Our waitress over there was much nicer and cooler.
From this neighorbood bar (with a decidedly older crowd), it was time to hit up Addison. Things from here on out get kinda fuzzy (ha!), but I do remember a lot of drinking and I believe we visited two bars in the area. It was my first time having a Jagerbomb; that's some good stuff, kinda sweet, but goes down real easy. It's always interesting to see the effects that alcohol has on different people. One of my friends is going through a difficult time right now, and he got completely plastered. It was great; he becomes real chatty - talking about anything that comes to mind. Beautiful.
Yeah, so it lasted from about 6 pm (right after work) til about 4 am (when I finally arrived home after driving a friend's car from the bars back to the other parking lot). Longest happy hour ever.
We (ok, I) decided to have our happy hour on Friday instead of Thursday to accomodate some ex-co-workers who will be leaving town soon. They can't make Thursdays, and I thought it'd be cool to hang out with them outside of work.
It was interesting, because they both came to a company lunch this week, and were like, "Yeah, it's not over yet. I'll see you guys at happy hour on Friday!" Little did they know that the people they told this to were never actually informed of the happy hour, and thus did not show up. I don't think anyone really noticed, or if they did, didn't really seem to care.
We had a slightly different group of people this time, less than previous weeks mainly because it was a Friday and some people went of town for the weekend. We ended up having the same waitress as the last time we went to the bar, and she seems to think we're a bunch of alcoholics ("Yall are here all the time!") even though it was only the second time we'd been there. She was pretty pissed the second we walked in the door too. Maybe because of bad memories from last time, or because we wanted to have 8 separate tabs. Not sure, but she was really upset. And I didn't make things any better by making rude, snide comments. Or, as my friends would have you believe, being myself.
We hung out for a few hours, then moved over to the pool tables. Our waitress over there was much nicer and cooler.
From this neighorbood bar (with a decidedly older crowd), it was time to hit up Addison. Things from here on out get kinda fuzzy (ha!), but I do remember a lot of drinking and I believe we visited two bars in the area. It was my first time having a Jagerbomb; that's some good stuff, kinda sweet, but goes down real easy. It's always interesting to see the effects that alcohol has on different people. One of my friends is going through a difficult time right now, and he got completely plastered. It was great; he becomes real chatty - talking about anything that comes to mind. Beautiful.
Yeah, so it lasted from about 6 pm (right after work) til about 4 am (when I finally arrived home after driving a friend's car from the bars back to the other parking lot). Longest happy hour ever.
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