"Frequent" is a Subjective Term

Yeah, yeah, I know I suck at this. I have some thoughts on why my posting has been so poor of late; I will get to that later. For now, the updates on my life.

• Work goes well. I'm starting to tell the difference between the different types of dirt that I see. Oh, how all of you poor fools miss out. You see a pile of dirt and think "wow, that is really uninteresting dirt." I see it and think: "Wow, that is a sandy silt with few (<5%)>
• The Reva will be proud of this one: I've started watching How I Met Your Mother. I stopped watching sit-coms (and most TV as well) when I shipped off to college a few years back, and hadn't gotten back into the spirit of watching them again until very recently. HIMYM is quickly approaching my favorite show, although it has stiff competition, mostly from Two & a Half Men, but also from another show that is a guilty pleasure of mine that I will not mention here lest I get mocked incessantly.
• My mom had been out visiting the past two weeks. I wish I could say I spent a lot of time with her, but due to other circumstances (see lower post) she had to leave early, cutting short our visiting time.
• Over on National Review Online this weekend has been Star Trek Weekend. They have some interesting articles up. The sum of it is that Star Trek was liberal, Star Wars is conservative. Except for TOS, which is more of a Kennedy-liberal, which in today's poltical climate is practically fascist. Some good reads. (I would provide a link to said article, but that website isn't working at the moment. bah!)
• In Transformers news, the DVD for the AWESOME MOVIE is slated to be out October 19th, so go pre-order people! The second movie is now scheduled to be released Summer 2009. I'm excited!
• The first Lakers exhibition game is October 9. Who wants bets as to whether the Lakers make the playoffs this year?

So Brandy noted her corruption due to me a while back and I would also like to note that I, too, have been corrupted. For the first time in 24 years on this planet I am excited about a playoff series in a sport other than Basketball. And I can name nearly all the Anaheim Angels starters. And I've been watching football like I care about it! It's definitely wierd, but in a good way. I've started reading TMQ over at ESPN and am getting about half the references. But I'm determined to keep learning about these sports which aren't basketball.

Finally, I have much to say about the style of my blogging, why I haven't done much recently, what I plan on doing to change that, and all that good stuff. But it will have to wait for another post.

On a Personal Note

My grandmother's taken very ill this weekend; all of your thoughts and prayers are appreciated for her, my mother and the whole family.

What to Post?

Whenever I'm at work I think of things that I should blog about; then, when I have a moment, like now, and I can blog, I can't remember any of it.

*Sigh*

Oh well. Maybe next time I'll remember.

Mea Culpa

Sorry folks, moving destroyed my blogging abilities. I'll try to be back on track now.

So, what's all the new deals? Well, first, Colton: Yeah, this is where I live now. Everyone (meaning my mother and Brandy) thinks that Colton/San Bernardino is some horrible ghetto. Now, Brandy's excusable, she's lived here her whole life; she doesn't know any better. But my mom? Come on! Do you remember Berkeley? Like, at all? People's Park ring any bell to you? There's just no way that Colton is worse than Telegraph Avenue. And while yes, there are some parts of San Bernardino I wouldn't want to be in late at night, it's still much, much better than Oakland. To me, that's obvious.

The new job: it's... different. Whereas before I was hitting rocks with a sledge hammer, now I'm... looking at dirt. Seriously. I'm drilling holes in the ground and looking at the sand (or silt!) that comes out. There's a huge learning curve that I'm trying to overcome, but I'm making progress. It is definitely interesting, and I like the geology involved. So far, so good there!

Did I mention Transformers kicks ass? I did? Well, it's worth repeating. The new Transformers movie is totally badass.

My parents have finally made the move to North Carolina. They (and the dogs) made it out there in one piece. Apparently it's hot there in August. Like, really hot and humid.

I love my apartment. It's not fantastic or anything, I just like it; maybe because it's mine.

For my friends who read OOTS (who should be everyone, it's a great webcomic), beware, spoilers ahead:
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So outside of killing Roy, which continues a proud tradition of killing my favorite characters in a show/series/novel, etc. I read the second prequel book "Start of Darkness." It is, of course, extremely well written. It's not quite as funny as the others, mostly because it is far more sad. It has a definite "Episode 3" feel to me, and solidies Redcloak as my favorite (living) character. When/if Roy is ressurrected I'll be quite distressed as to who my favorite is. Meanwhile, I would kick Xycon in the balls... if he had any.
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Not much else new going on here. I'll try to be better at updating; can't promise everything though. I'm thinking of revamping my website as well, focusing on reviewing X-Men comics. Again though, no promises. If you're in Colton of course, feel free to call and check out my place!

Iraq Debate

It's been a long time since I've done a political post, and I kind of like it that way. Even so, with debate coming soon over Iraq, and reports of the Iraqi political government sucking ass, I feel it is important to emphasize the importance of the mission over there. General Petraeus, US commander in Iraq, has an interview with the New York Post today which I think is a good read. To me, the crucial part:

Q: Now that the surge is fully in place, what's your sense of the positives and negatives thus far? If you could have more of any one item, what would it be? Troops? Time? Iraqi unity?

A: I can think of few commanders in history who wouldn't have wanted more troops, more time or more unity among their partners; however, if I could only have one at this point in Iraq, it would be more time. This is an exceedingly tough endeavor that faces countless challenges.

None of us, Iraqi or American, are anything but impatient and frustrated at where we are. But there are no shortcuts. Success in an endeavor like this is the result of steady, unremitting pressure over the long haul. It's a test of wills, demanding patience, determination and stamina from all involved.

Sadly, this is the one thing he is unlikely to get. Oh, and to keep things in perspective, make sure you're reading some Michael Yon at least sometimes. From a recent dispatch:

The official reported that on a couple of occasions in Baqubah, al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking. In each instance, the family had a boy, he said, who was about 11-years-old. As LT David Wallach interpreted the man's words, I saw Wallach go blank and silent. He stopped interpreting for a moment. I asked Wallach, "What did he say?" Wallach said that at these luncheons, the families were sat down to eat. And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family.

Yes. An 11-year old. Shall we really give up and run from these bastards?

Transformers Kicks All Kinds of Ass

Yeah, I'll post more later, but I saw an advacned screening, and it kicked all sorts of coolness ass. Easily the best movie of the summer; easily.

I'll discuss further later this week, after more people have seen the movie - which I strongly reccomend.

The Big Reveal

I can't believe that it's been a year since I graduated (more than that, actually).

Damn.

If someone had told me how my life would work out between then and now I would've mocked them; although if somone had told me about how my life would work out post-high school I wouldn't have believed them either. Still, I'm amazed at how my life has worked out.

I expected to get a job as a geologist; instead I work as a geophysicist. I expected my stay at home with my parents to be temporary; it's been slightly longer than that. I would never have expected that Candace would break up with me; nor that I would try an online dating servie, let alone fall madly in love with someone from such a service! At this point, though, I shouldn't be surprised by such things. God has proven to me over and over that nothing works out like I expect it to. So be it; I have faith that things will work out in the end.

Nonetheless, this summer will prove to be one of changes for me. So let's start listing them: My parents are - finally - moving out to North Carolina. As for me, I am leaving my employment at GEOVision to take a job as a Staff Geologist at CHJ, Inc. As such, I will be moving out to Colton, CA which, for those who don't know, is basically between Riverside and Redlands on the I-215.

Whew. So there you have it folks; the big news I've been waiting to tell everyone. If you want my new address, let me know and I will send it to you; additionally, if you want a birthday/Christmas card from me, get me your contact info and I will ensure that you receive one.

Pirates 3 Sucked

Sorry Candace.

I wanted to like it; really. And it was better than the second one; unfortuantely it was better in the same way that Episode II was better than Episode I: The first was so bad that the following one had to be better; and it wasn't that much better. It seems that At World's End's major problem was that there were too many subplots that just kept... going... on... forever. So much so that when something finally happened you were too bored with the movie to pay attention!

The thought that I had during the movie was that it would be better served as a series, like Lost. Then it could take all the time it wanted in fleshing out its subplots with no 2-hour or so time limit. Not that something like that is going to to happen.

Meanwhile, Will Turner kicked major ass! He went from "whiny, self-righteous pansy" in the first one to "total freakin' badass" in the final one. He was practically the only thing worth watching in the film (like Ewen McGregor in Episode II, ironically). The scene between him and Davy Jones was my favorite by far.

Personally, I hope that there aren't more of the films, or at lesat if there are that they keep a better, faster pace. I don't know what genre this film was, but "action" definitely wasn't it.

True Story

So we hired a special consultant to help us out on a job this week, and he came out on Tuesday. I met him, and he seemed nice enough, but something about him bugged me. I couldn't tell quite what, maybe the long hipppy-esque hair, but I wasn't sure. As I got to working with him he seemed like a nice enough guy; willing to work hard and good at his job.

So the second night on the job we're talking about a variety of things and he mentions: "So I went to graduate school at Stanford."

DUN DUN DUN!!!!!

It all made sense then; I sensed his Stanfurdness, and it bugged me. Out of professional courtesy, I forced myself to not respond with a "Fuck Stanfurd" when he told me. But I could only barely hold it in.

*sigh*

I'm bored. And stressed. And can't sleep. And I'm working nights the rest of this week.

*sigh*

It's going to be a long week indeed.