Moon shot

Took this tonight. Click the photo to enlarge it and check out the craters on the right edge. Can I just say for the record that I love my camera?

Click photo to enlarge. Seriously, do it ... then check out the craters!

Do they know it's Christmas?

I went to the mall today, a pretty rare thing for me to do outside of the Christmas shopping season, but I went for a reason completely unrelated to Christmas. In fact, because the holiday wasn't on my mind, it wasn't until I was nearly done that I realized it didn't feel like Christmas at all. The mall wasn't any more crowded than it would be during a regular weekend. There was no Christmas crowd. There was plenty of parking, and it was easy to find a spot near an entrance. And this is the second-to-last weekend before Christmas. There's only a week and a half left. And it was even a nice sunny and pleasant day, so weather wasn't a factor. And this was the crowd?? If that doesn't say something about how far our economy has tanked...

One Year

One year ago, Dec. 10 fell on a Monday. I know this because that was the start of a work week. But more importantly for me, it was the start of my first week at my new full-time job. After my third unemployment period in 2 1/2 years, I was out of the contracting game and gainfully employed directly with a company again. Of course, with the economy now in freefall, it's hard to feel secure anywhere, contracting or otherwise. And I still find it difficult to plan very far into the future. Shortly after Halloween this year, one of my coworkers hit upon a theme that our team could use next year. And what struck me about that was how his ability to talk about something nearly 1 year in the future felt so foreign to me. It's not just that I no longer feel safe assuming we'll all be employed in the same place a year from now, no matter where anyone is. But it didn't even occur to me to think that was possible. It's like my default assumption now is that a potential layoff is always just around the corner. A year from now might as well be a decade. Anything can happen, good or bad. Still, it's nice to be somewhere long enough that you no longer feel like the newcomer ... or even worse, temporary. And  I'm lucky enough to have been hired into a really good group. While nothing will ever match those early days of NI, where we all hung out during and after work and still keep in touch 15+ years later, this group is like my early days at Tivoli/IBM. Everyone gets along great and we're able to have fun and keep the stress to a minimum. That's always important. So, it's been good to have this stability again, and even with the uncertain economy, a full-time job comes with at least an illusion of security that I never found while contracting. And for me, that illusion is far, far better than the alternative...

SNL Digital Short

This pretty much speaks for itself...

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Fun with rum

A couple of people I know who shall remain nameless have been reminded recently, in completely unrelated incidents, that alcohol sometimes has, um, vomitous consequences. But who among us hasn't had that pleasure? And that ignores the fact that most of the time, alcohol can lead to a fun time by all with no regurgitation whatsoever.

Case in point, the Austin City Limits Music Festival (photos just posted). Every year, the beverage question you face when you arrive each day is, "How many overpriced beers should I drink over the next 8 hours?" Sure, there's wine too, but beer is so much more conducive to an outdoor festival. Even better would be some liquor to mix with a Coke. Unfortunately, as far as alcohol goes, beer and wine are your only choices.

Unless, of course, you ... ahem ... BYOL. Some people have been known to smuggle in a flask that, I've heard, might contain something you can mix with a Coke for a rip-roaring good time. But I've always been a good boy and never snuck anything in.

However, this year, on the first day of the festival, I realized that the searches of our bags and mini-coolers were very cursory. And that got me thinking. The water bottles I had were easily resealed. And while some rums are dark-colored, light rum is ... well, water-colored.

I'm not saying I took my thoughts any farther than that. All I'm saying is that early Saturday afternoon, the second day of the festival, I bought a 1.75-liter bottle of rum. At the festival, Barbara, Michelle, and I bought fewer and fewer beers and more and more Cokes (or Diet Cokes) as the day grew into night. And on Sunday, we pretty much just bought Cokes/Diet Cokes. Very little beer. And we had a great time both days, but especially after a few hours of drinking our, um, Cokes. And when I got home Sunday night, this is what was left in that 1.75-liter bottle of rum that had been brand-new the day before (my fingers mark how much is now empty):

I'm sure this mysteriously disappearing rum is totally unrelated to the great time that Barbara, Michelle, and I had drinking, uh, Cokes all weekend long. And on a complete and utter tangent that has no connection at all with anything in this post, thanks to Tamara for loaning me her funnel.

Home Dipu Mini-Update

New albums from September and October!

• John's Bachelor Party (Sept. 6-7, 2008)
  
• Cameron Visits Austin (Sept. 10, 2008)
  
• My Birthday (Sept. 18, 2008)
  
• ACL Fest, photos and videos (Sept. 26-28, 2008)
  
• Lisa Visits Austin (Oct. 2, 2008)
  

NAME INDEX NEWS: Brian becomes to first to break 900, while Lisa tops 200.

New Photo Sampler

Blogging again

I know I've been a bad blogger the past few months, and my last new post on this blog doesn't really count. Well, just so you know, I'm trying to be better again, so for the one or two of you out there still reading, there's actually new material out there from me now. Including on the horribly sporadic Home Dipu Reviews ... I actually have two new movie reviews on there now from this month. So stay tuned on both blogs, because I'm back! Or at least trying...

Home Dipu Updated

This is the last massive update I'll do like this. Why? Because from now on, I'll update the Home Dipu front page each time I add a new album (sorta like a blog) rather than waiting for a bunch to do at once. So, you'll have to check back more frequently to see what's new! I'll also change the spotlight photo monthly regardless of when I add new albums.

This update is almost as big as the last one, emcompassing 14 new albums, including last year's Lake Tahoe Vacation.

NAME INDEX NEWS: Brian closes in on 900 as Tom and I join him in the 800s. Also, Omid joins the 500 club; Barbara and Craig both top 400 but swap spots, as Babs moves into 9th place; and John, Marcus, and Michelle K. hit triple digits.

NEW STUFF: Easter at Laura & Eric's, Six Man, Texas World Premiere in Dallas, Kyle's Surprise Birthday Party, Memorial Weekend Pool Party, Zipline Tour, 4th of July, What I Want Right Now Cast Party, Matt's Birthday, Craig's Birthday, Lake Tahoe Vacation, Nike Human Race 10K, Barbara's Birthday, Brian's 40th Birthday Party, Anita & John's Wedding Shower.

Don't forget to check back every few weeks now and see what's new!

http://homedipu.com

Political Drinking Games

I'm sure you could get nicely hammered if you had a drinking game where you took a shot every time Obama referred to hope or optimism in a speech. Last night, I realized what the GOP version would be. So, introducing the Palindrone Drinking Game: Take a shot every time Sarah Palin refers to small towns. You'll be blind stinkin' drunk in 10 minutes!

U2 3D

Okay, I let a couple days slide. And now this one is almost over too. Hell, the whole month is almost over. And I'm tired. Watching a 10k race can take a lot out of you. (I'm kidding, sort of ... obviously it's much more draining for the runners, but on a muggy day, even walking to several points on the race route is sweaty work). So I'll just do a quick photo post to get something up here.

I've seen 3D shorts at the IMAX, and I've seen features at the IMAX, but I'd never seen a feature-length 3D film at the IMAX before. That is, until early May. And even then, not really.

I'll explain. Back in May, Barbara, Michelle, and I went to catch the U2 concert film at the IMAX. A full-length feature shot not just with IMAX cameras, but in 3D to boot. That meant an hour and a half of wearing funny glasses. As you can see, they're quite sexy:

Click photo to enlarge

The film started out pretty cool, with the excited crowd running into the arena before the U2 show (in Buenos Aires, I think). Then the band launched into their first song. And after awhile I thought, is the sound out of sync? Just barely, and because of the editing I wasn't even sure, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Until the sound cut out entirely. And then for the next 5 minutes, the sound would keep cutting in and out, getting more and more out of sync, until finally, horribly, the screen went dark. And stayed that way. Then after a few minutes of silence, an announcement came on asking us to please make our way to the exits.

We got comp tickets for another showing AND refunds for that show, so the net result would be that we'd be seeing it completely for free ... eventually. Suddenly finding ourselves with two more hours than we'd expected, we headed out for some pizza, where Michelle seemed vaguely disturbed by the swan our waiter made to hold my leftover slice:

Click photo to enlarge

Finally, in mid-summer, we made our way back to the IMAX and caught the full, error-free, totally synced up film. Even though it meant looking like Kim Jong Il again:

Click photo to enlarge

The 3D worked great and wasn't the least bit uncomfortable. The concert was great as well. In the end, a very good IMAX experience. It just took awhile to work out the kinks. As for how the 3D looked if you weren't wearing your glasses, take a peek:

Bono looms large in IMAX 3D
Click photo to enlarge