Today’s movie from Netflix was one that you’d have expected me to go see when it originally came out, Fantastic Four. For whatever reason (it probably came out during baseball season or something), I never went to go see it, never picked up the DVD, and never even saw the sequel (which is next in my queue actually). If I had seen it when it initially released, it would probably be part of my collection right now. It was well paced, decent storyline (as far as comic book movies go), but I just don’t see myself rushing to Amazon in order to add it to my cart. If I absolutely love the next one then I of course reserve my right to modify that previous statement, but it’s definitely a movie I enjoyed. My score: 7.5/10.
Fortunately my office move doesn’t happen for another week because the building I’m moving into is going to be a media circus tomorrow morning (even bigger than balloon boy, I bet). To celebrate the official release of Windows 7, Microsoft is opening the NASDAQ tomorrow morning from our campus, and then live video of the launch event in NYC with Ballmer is being streamed to projectors. I, on the other hand, will be going into work at my normal time, sitting at my desk all day, and actually doing work. I may get bored halfway through since I have nothing else to do, but at least keeping busy should be the last of my worries.
Personal - Seattle
There’s a Domino’s right around the corner from me, but since I’m not a huge pizza person, I hadn’t ever ordered anything from them since I came up here. Well, tonight I decided that I was in the mood for some pizza of the non-microwavable variety, so I did what any internet generation person would do and hit up their website. Ordering over the phone is so last century. So, for less than $8, I got a large cheese pizza and an order of cinnamon sticks, and all I had to do was walk about a block and a half to go pick it up. Pretty economical dinner, no?
I got Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on DVD today, so I spent the hours that most other nights would be used to watch TV to watch it instead. Just like with The Seeker, it’s obvious why critics who want more than big action scenes and explosions would have hated the movie, but you know, that’s all I really wanted out of it. Maybe my movie expectations are just far too low, but at least with my bar, I’m not disappointed nearly as often.
Personal - Seattle
So, I hadn’t really processed this until today, but my Thanksgiving/Christmas trips are basically going to be a repeat of when I went to Dallas twice last month as far as the duration between them. Sure, it might have just been about 8 days last time and this will be more like 2.5 weeks, but still, that remains a pretty short turnaround for for amounts to two vacations. Of course, the Vegas flight is only about half as long but between the end of November and the start of 2010, I’ll have spent more time away from Seattle than I will have actually been here.
My one glimmer of hope for not having a boring today got cancelled, so while I was just sitting in my office all day long, I was at least able to be productive. Tomorrow I got nothing, Wednesday I at least have an entertaining afternoon, and then it’s up to me for entertainment the rest of the week. If the weekend just wants to move up by a couple days, I’m totally fine with that.
Personal - Seattle
So that plan to go see the Toy Story movies in 3D? Didn’t happen, primarily because I was just too lazy to make it so. What I did do this weekend was watch another Netflix movie that I forgot to review yesterday, so you’ll just have to deal with a one day delay for it. Battle for Terra was a movie that actually I never heard about until Alexander used it as a comparison to show how awesome the CGI was in Avatar. It originally came out all the way back in 2007 but didn’t actually see a wide release until May of this year. The could sort of be thrown in the same bucket with Titan A.E. and Treasure Planet but with computer animation instead of (primarily) being drawn. It was again an average movie that wouldn’t have made the DVD cut then and still doesn’t now, but I at least stayed entertained. My score: 6.5/10.
This next week is pretty open as far as my calendar goes, but this is apparently “spec week” which means that I might actually get to put my PM skills to work and write something up. Of course, when interns are writing their first specs, it goes through who knows how many revisions, and I’m effectively at that level of expertise right now. If I had to guess, my days should be relatively busy even without a bunch of stuff on my calendar assuming that I’ll actually have some specs to work on. If I don’t, well, then I’ll just have to go back to doing what I do best.
Personal - Seattle
I have two upcoming trips on my calendar (Vegas for Thanksgiving, Dallas for Christmas), but I can’t help thinking already about where I want us to go next year. My parents claim that next Christmas will be our Australia trip, but I’ll believe that once the tickets are purchased. In that year interim, I’ll probably be back in Dallas at least once, but what about another vacation? New York is one of the few American cities that I’d have an interest in going to that I’ve never visited before, and the big bonus of going there is getting to see all the musicals on Broadway. Hmmm, perhaps a summer trip there to nicely balance everything else out?
I started catching up on this season of The Amazing Race earlier, and the first place they went in the first episode was of course Tokyo. I’m sitting on my couch watching the show going “I remember that place…and that place…”, all the while planning my inevitable return back. That’s a couple years down the road once I’ve accumulated many more frequent flyer miles and vacation days though because we spent two weeks just in Tokyo last year; I’m thinking that to see a lot of the rest of the country, two weeks is definitely the minimum to aim for.
Personal - Seattle
Today it rained pretty much all day long, so it seems like the stereotypical Seattle has arrived. After I got home and was watching the news, the grand total of rain today was something like .5”, and the news people were saying how this was so uncharacteristic of Seattle. Ummm, ok? Apparently for a very rainy city, half an inch of rain is something that only happens a few times a year. I think these meteorologists need to come down to Texas where we almost consider it to not have done anything more than sprinkled if the rain gauge isn’t above half an inch.
My weather gadget says that it will continue to rain through at least Monday (that’s as far out as it shows), so apparently I can just expect more of today for the near future. As for more specifics about this weekend, I might go see Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D at the theater right down the street from me. First, I haven’t seen either of them in a long time (I don’t own either on DVD), and second, since Toy Story 3 comes out next year, it’ll help me catch any references that Pixar might make to either of them.
Personal - Seattle
Since the start of the week, Microsoft has been handing out little game pieces every time you buy a meal in one of the cafes, and you scratch them off (but unfortunately, no sniffing involved) to reveal a board game piece. Collect all six pieces, win a prize, and repeat ad infinitum for the next six weeks or so. Well, it occurred to me today that this was effectively just a different version of McDonald’s Monopoly game that I used to be completely obsessed with. Apparently this observation was more accurate than I thought, as Microsoft does this every year at the same time as the McDonald’s Monopoly game is going on.
Tomorrow has another two hour meeting scheduled in the afternoon, after which a glorious weekend can start. This glorious weekend shall consist of things like playing video games, watching TV, and maybe going to see a movie. You know, the things that all weekends consist of. Why is it glorious then? Well, it’s a weekend! Does anything else really need to be said?
Personal - Seattle
The Seeker: The Dark is Rising was an average movie, but probably quite representative of the class of movies that I’ll be getting from Netflix. If it’s one that I’m really expecting to love, I’ll go see it in the theater (and likely end up buying it). If it’s one I know I’ll hate, I’ll just pass on it altogether. It’s the middle range that are the ones that I’ll sometimes go see, sometimes buy on DVD, and the lower of those are the ones that I don’t go see and therefore are great candidates for my Netflix viewing. I can definitely tell why the critics hated it as even I didn’t feel like it was that awesome, but if I’d gone to see it in the theater, I’d probably have ranked it right on the edge of my DVD purchasing threshold. Now, I have to say that it falls distinctly below, and I don’t think it’s one I’ll ever need to see again. My score: 6.5/10.
I have at least something lined up for tomorrow and Friday afternoon now in the form of meetings, but my mornings are still wide open. I’ve graduated from looking at my mentor for work and instead asking my lead these questions now, so I’ll likely have at least something to do. Meetings are slightly more entertaining because it isn’t just sitting at my desk but getting to actually go sit someplace else. Believe it or not, the someplace else makes all the difference.
Personal - Seattle
I got my second movie from Netflix today, but it took two days longer to get here than it should have due to Sunday and yesterday being a holiday (for some people). Therefore, I should get most of my movies in 3 days instead of 5, so if I watch them the night they arrive and drop them back in the mail the next morning, I’ll be able to handle getting two per week. Of course, I could bump up to a plan with more discs and have a more constant stream, but I probably couldn’t handle watching a new movie every night. This is at least a good pace to start off with and can be tweaked as necessary in the future.
My drivers’ license appointment didn’t take as long as I was expecting (I was anticipating close to an hour since they want you to make an appointment and everything, but it was more like 30 minutes), but having stuff to do at work today kept the day very busy. My day tomorrow is still completely devoid of any entertainment or meetings, so it should be a struggle to stay busy from 9-5. If I’m lucky maybe there will be a few last minute meeting requests, or I can just bug people about getting information that I need and amuse myself that way.
Personal - Seattle
So, today was Columbus Day, celebrating some dude that came over a longtime ago from a land far, far away (I think Europe, some place like that). Anyway, For 13 years of my life, today was a holiday, full of rest, relaxation, and game playing. For the past four years, however, UTD decided that us college students needed to be in school and that holidays were for weak and stupid people. Microsoft sides with UTD on this matter, so while Andrew has a long weekend in Boston (he’s with his parents at their vacation house because SMU gives students today and tomorrow off!), I had to go to work. On the bright side, today was arguably my most productive day at Microsoft to date because in addition to my meetings, I was finally given work to do!! Hey, it only took them like three months, but I’ll take whatever I can get.
Tomorrow I have to go downtown in the morning to get my Washington DL, and I’m not about to play the driving game with morning traffic trying to get into downtown. Therefore, I have to wake up earlier than I otherwise would so I can get on a bus, but luckily for me, it’s just as easy as my other downtown excursions are in order to get to the building that I need to go to. With that in the morning and a 2.5 hour meeting in the afternoon, I think that I should be able to keep the boredom level at a minimum tomorrow. My calendar is still wide open for the rest of the week, but just going one day at a time is a very valid plan for now.
Personal - Seattle