I just finished building Maryanne’s new computer.  It has 2 things that Maryanne enjoys…nay, demands in her electronics.  It is little and shiny.

check out the keys on top for scale

I have to hand it to the folks at Shuttle, they make an excellent chassis.  The video card was an extremely tight fit, but managed to fit in.  Now she has a new system that’s much faster than her older system and about 1/4 the size.

I didn’t post the stats of said box (which has been dubbed “Starbuck”) because Maryanne really doesn’t care that it’s an Intel quadcore system with 4GB of RAM and 896MB nVidia GTX260 .

Spider-Man is saying "Hey, if you get to be on my cover, can I be on the dollar bill?"

Yesterday’s issue of the Amazing Spider-Man had a variant cover featuring Barack Obama.  For those not familiar, a variant cover is a alternate cover of a particular issue that is produced in limited numbers.  Typically it’s done just to fuel the collector market.  This issue was no different.  The current store we go to instantly jacks up the price on particular variants.  I totally disagree with this policy, but since I usually don’t care about variants, it’s not that big a deal for me.  Personally, I think if you are a regular subscriber to a comic, you should get a variant.  Joe at Atlantis does it that way, which is another reason it’s the best comic store evah (number one reason is because that’s how I got to know my dear wife ((eventhough she totally flaked on me multiple (((3((((how many times can I nest aside comments?!?!)))) ))) times when I tried to ask her out)) !)

Well, our comic store had it marked up to $39 and when I went in, they were checking out all the auctions on ebay, with it selling for crazy amounts of money.  So on a whim, I picked up a copy.  I listed it on e-bay and Amazon marketplace for $99.95.

Woke up this morning to see an email from Amazon saying that it sold.  How crazy is that?  A quick $50 profit after shipping.

I guess Obama is already redistributing the wealth!

When the video started, I immediately recognized it as the Haka, a traditional Maori dance. Where did I first see this? At the Pacific Islands night we had showcasing the cultures of our members from that area. Good times.

In the past people have asked me how effective I think martial arts would actually be in a ‘real world’ situation. I’ve always felt that rarely would I use any of the more ‘flashy’ things I have learned and would fall back on the more simple judo or jujitsu techniques.

This video is a great example of why:

The other day, I was driving around in our ridiculously overpowered family car, listening to some Soundgarden and it got me to thinking about the path I’ve taken during my lifetime.  I almost had a Talking Heads moment of “well, how did I get here?”.  I can’t imagine that when I was 19 or so and originally listening to this music I would have thought my life would turn out the way it has.

Then I started wondering what I would have thought at age 19 if I met my current self.  Would I have nodded approvingly and said “yeah, that dude’s got it going ON”?  Or would I have instead shaken my head and thought “man, what a tool, what’s he trying to prove?”

I took my question to my loving wife and she asked, “would you really put any stock into what 19 year old you had to say?”.  Whereas I am sure 19 year old me had good taste, I guess since I don’t really care what most people think (that sounds a lot more harsh than I mean it), I probably wouldn’t.

Ultimately I think the question becomes whether or not my ideas as to what makes a good life have changed over the years.  Certainly there are aspects that have changed dramatically.  The importance I place on family being chief among them.  When it comes down to it, I guess we all probably have aspects of our world view that stick with us for years to come.

On reflection, I seem to have settled into a particular groove around 26 or 27.  Luckily that groove included a classic dress style of jeans and black t-shirts that have always been around, so I don’t really feel out of place.  I’m still finding new music to listen to (Duffy, Psapp, TV on the Radio) while keeping my favorites from earlier in my life (Soundgarden, The Cure, Faith No More, Prince) in regular circulation.

I’m guessing this is part of what evolving as a person is about.  You find the things that worked in the past and mix those in with new tricks.

I know, quite the ramble, but it’s been on my mind for a couple weeks now.

…I totally post more than Chris “Johnny Utah” Rock.

See this cute puppy?  This is rebel, a Scottish Police dog-in-training.

He is also the cause of a big stir over in Scotland where Rebel has outraged the Muslim community in Tayside.  The police there started passing out postcards to make people aware of a new non-emergency contact number.  They soon started receiving phone calls from Muslims complaining about the adds because they consider dogs to be “ritually unclean”.

The police department responded with, “We did not seek advice from the force’s diversity adviser prior to publishing and distributing the postcards. That was an oversight and we apologise for any offence caused.”  This is mindnumblingly ridiculous political correctness!

I guess we can take a little comfort in knowing that other countries have to deal with this kind of nonsense as well.

An interesting point to consider:  if Rebel is a police dog, isn’t he technically an officer of the law?  So basically they are saying that they find a member of the police to be offensive.  I’ve heard a lot of people in Santa Cruz say they find police to be offensive, but it didn’t get them anywhere.

I’m really impressed by Amy Winehouse’s vocal talents.

I had to clarify that I am impressed by her singing, because for those of you who aren’t familiar with her, she is a complete train wreck. Drug and alcohol abuse, confrontations with police, etc. The sort of things I might have thought were “punk rock!” when I was younger, but now it’s just kinda sad.

I was listening to my Pandora station yesterday and heard this crazy voice coming through that reminded me of Nina Simone or Billie Holiday. I flipped over to see who it was and my jaw dropped to find out that it was none other than Winehouse. I quickly picked up her two albums “Back to Black” and “Frank” (not as good as Back to Black. definite “sophomore slump” had the order reversed, thanks Alan) and have really enjoyed them.

Now why am I embarrassed, you may ask? One word: Hipsters.

That’s right, Winehouse is really big with the hipster (see below) crowd.

So despite her trainwreck public life and her fanbase amongst my mortal enemies, I can’t stop listening to her music.

Curse you Amy Winehouse!

I know Zoë usually stays on her site, but I just had to post this. Last night Z was “reading” out loud and making quite a ruckus. I looked over to see what it was she was reading to discover she had pulled all of the Akira collections off the shelf and was sitting on the couch looking through them.

Not that there is anything wrong with Akira, its just something children shouldn’t be reading…

I spent a little time today cleaning out the carpet and giving the car a good wash. I’m taking it into a shop on Monday morning to have them check out the transmission and brake system. I can’t for the life of me figure out what is making the noise in the transmission. Someone suggested it might be the torque converter, but I think I would be hearing the noise through all the gears instead of just 1st and 2nd. Hopefully, the transmission just needs some adjusting. It sounds like something isn’t quit catching right in there. I’m going to get the guys at the shop to fix the transmission, change the tranny and brake fluids, give the brakes a look over and just give the car a once over. It will probably cost me a bit, but I’d really like to drive it while I restore. Knowing me, if I’m not driving it every day, it will get pushed lower on my list of priorities

I have to admit, I am a little nervous going in to this project. I have never really been anything more than a tinkerer when it comes to cars, so every now and then I get a little overwhelmed with what I’ll need to do.

If you want to see bigger pictures, click on any of the pictures in the slideshow. (or click here)