I Can't Wait!

Showtime has some of the best shows on TV. Yes, better than HBO.

September 30 is the premiere of two of my favorites...

Gandalf Hates Leviticus

SIR IAN MCKELLEN is so offended by the Bible's anti-gay stance he makes a point of ripping out the relevant page every time he stays in a hotel room. The openly homosexual actor, a longtime campaigner for gay rights, accepts he shouldn't vandalise the Bible, but finds it difficult to contain his outrage at the contents of Leviticus 20:13 when he spots the holy book in hotels. MCKellen says, "It's the one thing I find difficult to defend but do go on doing." The Leviticus 20:13 passage reads: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them."

From Here.

I wonder what would happen if it was a modern feminist who tore out a page of the Koran that read, "men take authority over women... As for those who are disobedient, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. (Surah 4:34)."

Whatever would happen, I bet it'd include burned cars and bomb threats..

Can You Dig It?

A copy 'n' paste from Scott Adams' blog:

=============
Did you see the story about the two Chinese coal miners who survived six days after a tunnel collapse? They ate coal and drank their own urine.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070828/od_nm/china_mine_coal1_dc_1;_ylt=AjSdP8lISg1LTBPSwwJceN0E1vAI

I had many reactions to this story, and that’s not even counting “Eewwww!”

When I was young, parents encouraged their kids to eat their vegetables by saying, “People in India are starving.” This is the sort of parenting that teaches children values, such as stupidity. To this day, when I think about people who are starving, I eat a little extra. I think it helps.

Now, thanks to the miners, parents have a better argument. “Eat your broccoli, Brittany. Chinese miners only get to eat coal and drink piss.”

I am happy the miners survived. But their problems are not over. If you eat coal and drink piss ONE time, you’ll always be a coal-eating-piss-drinker. I don’t know if people in China tease each other, but if it’s anything like here, those miners are in for a tough time.

“Hey, Meng, can I refresh your drink?” Zzzzzip.

“Bartender, I’ll have a beer, and for my friend, just wiz in his mouth. And put a head on it.”

“If we run out of charcoal for the barbecue, Meng can squeeze out a few brickettes.”

One of my many mental hobbies is thinking up new country sayings. My newest one is “I’m thirstier than a Chinese coal miner.” While nothing can surpass my all-time favorite, “I’m hornier than a two-peckered dog,” this new one comes close.

Miss Teen USA South Carolina (update!)

This isn't much of an update. It's mostly just a reposting. It's so funny I have to post it again.



This time, you can read along with Miss South Carolina's World-Paradigm-Shattering Wisdom.

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children.

New School Grand Opening (Retrospective)

I have some pictures from last Saturday's Elementary School Grand Opening.

Here they are:

Spiders

Some pictures of spiders I saw around the apartment complex. (Taken with my Cingular 8525)

First Day of School

Today was the kids' first day of school.

It was also Hannah's first day of kindergarten, Zach's first day at a new school, and the new school's first day of public service.

The morning drop-off situation was a complete cattle herd.


The kids both liked their teachers and started to make some friends.





After the short half-day, they were both happy to be home and in each other's company.

This Guy Hates Transformers

If you talked with me at any length about Transformers the Movie, you know that I appreciated it, but didn't LIKE it.

I saw it twice (it wasn't my fault! I had to screen it once for Zach and then take him to see it) and both times were equally painful.

There were a lot of things wrong with it and even more things that had great potential. Subsequently, I joined the facebook.com group called "all those that felt Transformers ripped them off."

This guy summarizes some pretty salient points in a very... errr... concise way, (if not obscene.)

NSFW (language) click thumbnail to view in full size.

Miss Teen USA South Carolina

Decipher the following:

Lots to Blog About

Excuse the excessive brevity... it doesn't mean I don't care about these topics... just that there is a lot to talk about and I have to go to sleep soon (so as to wake up in time to take the kids to school!)

Speaking of which...

1) Kids start school tomorrow! First day! We're all anxious and excited. I call it "anxited".

2) We visited Nora earlier this week. I didn't get a chance to post the snap shots I took of the new baby. Here they are:

3) Yesterday was a crazy day... Here's what I wrote yesterday while on the road:

Today was a strange day.
Annie's parents came to visit us and the kids at the apartment. I had a slideshow-projection gig that started at 9 pm. when the inlaws came over in the afternoon, they took the kids to the swimming pool, Annie went to show Pelly some houses, and I was told to go keep myself busy. ''From 2 to 9?!'', I protested. ''yes.''

so I went to watch The Invasion and then drove around Legendary Palace for 60 minutes looking for good parking. there was a street fair today in Chinatown so parking was scarce.
I could have parked wherever and then walked, but I have a bunch of gear so it makes walking harder and less safe if I park too far.

so I finally found parking and still had two hours to kill. I got some noodles at some random vietnamese place until it was time to go. the craziest part of today is the fact that there was a ''water emergency'' in the apartment while I was out. enough so that annie had to call the fire department to have them come shut off the water to the whole building!

strange day.

4) as I mentioned, I watched the film, The Invasion. I will post a review later.

5) For those of you who like Manga (Japanese term for "comics"), the Bible is going to come in Manga form. Publisher? Tyndale. More here>>>

Our Longest Receipt Ever

At Safeway, Annie managed to combine coupons, Club Card discounts, and the grand opening 10% off to knock a grocery bill of $282 down to $182!



And, to boot, she managed to get the longest receipt we've ever received.

Video Test

Windemere Safeway Grand Opening

I don't know why I'm blogging about this. It wasn't even that big of a deal.

Alas, these are the days of our lives...

So today was the new Safeway's Pre-Grand Opening (the Grand Opening is Friday.) They were offering 10% off all purchases between 4:30pm and 8:30pm. We went right around 4:30 and the place was packed. The parking lot looked like the lot outside Cinemdome 25 at Union Landing on the night of the opening of Transformers or something.

The Safeway itself was really nice. Of course it had the requisite florist area, USBank, pharmacy, and Starbucks. But this one also featured a sushi bar!

This fully stocked Safeway was beautifully organized (I wonder how long that will last!) with all the cereal boxes lined up perfectly. Almost as if they were shelved by A.R. Captain O.C.D.

I'm looking forward to getting more acquainted with this neighborhood and all the different resources at our disposal.

One resource I put to my disposal today was the public library. I worked on some editing at the quiet study area. The library is small and they're still stocking it with books, but it was delightful to be a part of it, nonetheless.

Later, just before sunset, the kids and I ran to the top of a local hill using a narrow deer trail to try to catch the sun going down. We didn't make it in time because we started too late, but the view was still quite magnificent.

Mostly we could just see track housing in this neighborhood, but it's NICE trackhousing. Rolling golf greens and multi-million dollar homes abound. We'll try again next time (with actual shoes instead of sandals and we'll start 10 minutes earlier.)

Random Picture of the Day

I'm sending this from Coffee Cat in Scotts Valley.

Despite the differences in views regarding foreign and domestic policy, our military, environmental legislation, and the useage of interns as humidors, I'm still honored to be having a cup of coffee with President Bill Clinton (pictured in back.)

Ruby Hill Spy Photos

I had the opportunity to do a video tour in Ruby Hills today.

I know some of you have friends who live in this area and try to act like it's no big thing when you drive through the neighborhood, but don't kid yourself. You're still awed by the ginormousness of the homes perched atop the exclusive plot of land known as Ruby Hills.
Here is a picture of the entry of the house I worked in, followed by some spy pics taken with my cell.

Random Picture of the Day

Direct from Japan, via the Doobey express... the Andrew Mechanical Pencil!

Random Picture of the Day

here are the kids eating lunch on the balcony after a vigorous bike ride around the neighborhood.

Giant Lego Man - the video

Update!
Here are some video clips of the Giant Lego Man that washed up on shore in Holland.





He calls himself "Ego Leonard" and you can, apparently, visit his website HERE.

Wasps versus Ants

Annie, the kids, and I took an evening stroll outside our apartment complex. (If you're wondering why I'm living in an apartment, read here.)

I had my trusty Cingular 8525 with me and managed to film one of the longest-raging battles in natural history: The Ants versus The Wasps!

Click here to see the short video.

Mr. Toto

Yesterday at one of my eHometours gigs, I was reminded to pray for Mr. Toto.

Of all places, the name "Toto" showed up on a toilet! I guess God can use pretty much anything He chooses to speak to us. We just have to be open to listen. Here's the pic.



Mr. Toto is an Indonesian Christian whose entire family - wife and children - are Muslim. As difficult as it is to be a Christian in a Muslim nation, it has to be a thousand times harder when your own family cannot side with you.

I learned of Mr. Toto's plight when Jim Grace shared about his chance encounter with Mr. Toto while on an Alaskan cruise. Isn't God's providence inexplicably miraculous? I doubt Mr. Toto would ever guess that a Chinese Californian Christian whom he's never met would be praying for him. I mean think of it:

Mr. Toto lives in Indonesia - he gets a job working for a cruiseline - he joins after-hour fellowship meetings with fellow Christian staff and passengers - Missionary, Jim Grace, happens to be on one of these ships headed for Alaska during his furlough - they share together - Jim Grace is invited to speak at the TCCBC Summer Family Camp - Jim Grace shares about Mr. Toto's plight - I blog about it here - you read it and also pray for him.

How can anyone map out a string of such intricate, beneficial coincidences except the omniscient God, Himself?

Anyway, I'm praying for Mr. Toto that his family would soon com eto know Christ as their Savior.

The Bourne Supremacy

No, I haven't seen the movie so no, this isn't a movie review.
This is just a Jimmy Kimmel piece that I found on YouTube.

Pretty funny...

San Jose Grand Prix

Here are some older pictures from the San Jose Grand Prix (and other events.)

SJGP:

VBS (Day Three) Yes, it's very late, coming now:

Coca-Cola Blak:

Metal Gear Solid 4 Playable Demo - Video

Last Christmas I wrote a few posts that alluded to Metal Gear Solid 4. I referred to MGS4 very fondly and said it was the sole reason I was looking forward to acquiring a Playstation 3.

I posted a link to some Metal Gear Solid 4 cinematic trailers that blew me away. But now, a playable demo is circulating the net and it's equally impressive if not more so. The war sequences are so realistic (like I've ever been in a firefight, right? Well, it's very realistic as compared to war movies that I've seen or as what I imagine what war is like.)

Here is a direct link to the video.
If you have 15 minutes of free time, watch it. It's awesome.

Below are the (lower quality) YouTube versions of the same movie.

Kameraflage

There is a new up-and-coming clothing trend that I think will take the world by storm - and then fizzle like the pet rock.

It's called "Kameraflage" and it's clothing that displays imagery that your digital camera or camera phone can see but the human eye cannot.

Check it out at Kameraflage.com or see the image below.

Giant Lego Man Invades

AMSTERDAM (Aug. 8) - A giant, smiling Lego man was fished out of the sea in the Dutch resort of Zandvoort on Tuesday.
More after the jump>>>

Hat tip to MonkyFries

The House - An Update

Here's an update of the status of our house. (We will be doing a "pre-drywall" walkthrough tomorrow.)

Here's what the official Centex Homes update says:

What a fascinating sight!

The plumbing pipes, heating/air conditioning ducts, wiring systems, and if selected,security and pest control systems have been installed. You're seeing the result of Centex Homes' dedication to quality from the ground up and inside out.

I can't wait to move in!

One of the things I'm most excited about is the kids' new school. It's brand spankin' new and looks nicer than my old high school.

It's only a 8-minute bike ride away and hopefully Zach and Hannah will be able to enjoy a safe ride to school every morning... maybe with a black lab in tow. :-)

That would be the dream life! Here are some schematic drawings of the school.