gigamatic

So, Jay and Scott have been talking about some chick from Lost, and before I saw who they were talking about, I thought it might've been Emilie de Ravin, the pregnant blonde.

See, she played the pouty blonde evil alien sibling on Roswell, and hasn't had too many acting gigs on TV or in the movies. It was a surprise to see her even working at all. But, much to my delight, she's in the new horror flick Santa's Slay, which, had it been out in time, would've been Thanksgiving-dinner movie fare this year.

Posted by gigamatt at 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

well, i almost forgot that this happened, but i should tell you all.

i am a c*cksucker, and my coworker told me so.

he walked into my office and said, with a straight face, "i just had to tell you, you suck c*ck."

shocked and awed, i know my eyes widened, and my jaw dropped slightly.

"yeah, and?" i said impatiently. i had a major crisis on my hands and i didnt need this jackass interfering with my trying to fix things.

usually his lines come across better than that... "hey joe, you c*cksucker, how's it goin?" but not this one.

yesterday was just bad all around.

Posted by gigamatt at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

at the end of a day like today, i need time to unwind, collect my thoughts, and usually, to write.

there's some depression that's lurking... there's some affected moods from my medication... there's the stress from work (my head quite literally felt like it was going to explode)... and then the lack of eating. i didnt have 10 minutes to leave my desk today... and only time enough between work and class to run home and get my books.

and what am i doing? drinking diet coke before bed. more caffeine.

i'm going to go sort a few more comics and then turn in. maybe tomorrow, i can get a lunch and relax a bit. maybe even finish a new article. there's been lots of toy news.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I'm tired, my blood sugar is low, and I'm walking, frustrated through a Target at Polaris around 8:00. I've grabbed a soda and some naproxen, and I'm just about to swap the soda for a diet one when....

"Matt?"

Um. I'm at friggin Target in the friggin boonies (so to speak). Who the hell is yelling at me?

I look up and it's my ex-fiancee's college roommate, Stephanie. Working at Target. The girl still looks fine. It took me a second to realize it was her, and for my brain to come back through its wandering.

We talked for what seemed like forever in the checkout line (her line was closed, but she rung me out anyway). Small talk. Her boyfriend had died, and she had tried to get ahold of everyone who knew him, but had lost touch. And then the inevitable "Have you heard from Jenny?" -- er, no.

So, then we caught up about what we knew last about Jenny and her whereabouts, which was pretty much nothing. And then, other mutual friends. Apparently, one of the guys we used to hang out with is now here in Columbus, and just quit working at TRU.

She asked about my ex, Stephen, and his next bf, Donny. I told her they were still together, married, and living in Massachusetts. I have to email Stephen today to catch him up.

Has anybody from your past ever come out of nowhere like that? I was just thinking about her the other day when I heard some old hiphop on the radio.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Nothing like pulling a high B on a second midterm after missing all but one associated lecture to make you feel good. What a difference a couple more hours of studying and review makes!

I should maybe be able to attend the rest of the lectures from now through the end of the quarter, knock on wood. I'm also making an effort to read the material corresponding to each lecture at the time of the lecture so I reinforce it then, instead of cramming.

2 more labs, and that's it.

The TA still hasnt changed out lab grade from 3 weeks ago. I emailed him about it today as a reminder.

Posted by gigamatt at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One thing to say: I know why this movie failed.

TOO MUCH TALKING! NOT ENOUGH SMASHING!

Blah blah blah. Fucking stab someone already.

Oooh look... white sheets flying around. It's like Matrix-style wire work, without the actors! Spoooky!

Look how cute miscellaneous eastern-Euro guy (Goran Visnjic from ER) is! His name is "Miller". Yeah. Ok. So if his name is Miller, why does he sound like he's from one of the Balkans? Hello... I'm not even a detective, but I could tell you he's not from BALTIMORE. Sheesh.

I'm not going to even say how fucking predictible it was. I'm glad I saw it, so I can tell everyone how crappy it was. STAY AWAY! YOU WILL FALL ASLEEP in all it's chick-flicky wannabe moments.

Jesus Christ. It makes you wonder how bad Catwoman was.

Posted by gigamatt at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have washed my hands almost a dozen times since cooking that roast last night and they still smell like meaty onions. No wonder the Hoont loved me this morning.

Out, out, damned smell!

Posted by gigamatt at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday, I bit the proverbial bullet to buy Nala some crack. I used up all my cash, all my gift cards, and yes, 1/3 of what was left in my bank account. And I still dont think I got everything they had. But, I can't go back today, because...

I am, as they say, flat broke today. I went to the bank to deposit a check on Saturday, but neglected to take cash from it, so it's in limbo, waiting to be deposited. Ironic, since my bank was open on the holiday. Bastards. I have over $700! I just cant touch it?! MAYBE I can get it in the morning, since today they'll be trying to process everything from Friday night through last night. This sucks. You know why? Target restocks on Tuesday!

Evebird gave me $20 (which I totally wasnt expecting this soon) for a figure I found for him the other day, but I'm still feeling the pain.

It all comes down to poor money management, because I trust that the bank will do what it always does... deposit money in my account when i deposit a check. but, not this time. yet.

So now I wait.

Last night I made a pot roast. It was good. Not the best, but considering everything, it was good. My first pot roast.

Tonight, we're going with Kristy to see Elektra at the 50-cent theatre. No, that's not a peep-show... here in Cowtown they show second run movies for between a dollar and a dollar-fifty most days. On Tuesdays, at one theatre, they only cost 50 cents. And even I am willing to pay 50 cents to see Elektra. It can't be as bad as they said Catwoman was, and I have zero expectations. Plus, it doesn't have Ben Affleck!

As an added bonus, we're eating at Skyline beforehand. I swear, they put something sinfully addictive in their chili, because I crave it at least once a week.

Mmm. I'm even craving it now.

Grades still arent posted for the second midterm, which was Friday. I'm not too nervous. I'll take whatever comes in stride.

I've been writing. A lot. I struggle to put together cohesive ramblings (?) about tv, animation, comics, action figures... Right now, I'm working on two posts, but each requires a lot more work.

Can't remember if I said it before -- I'm not taking classes again this spring, but I will try to get my PSP finalized so I can at least feel like I can move on.

Posted by gigamatt at 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

my niece turned a year old last week, and, horrible uncle that i am, i didnt send her birthday package yet. it's sitting here on the church pew in our living room.

in it, i put a Pooh set of toys, a stuffed animal, and a very inexpensive but very nice picture book of doctor who monsters. that's for my sister, not my niece. yet.

i've been really realizing that i don't laugh like i used to when she and i used to hang out. my god, the toilet and trashy humor Zan and I used to throw around. cheap jokes at everyone's expense. laughing out loud at bad wigs. or funny euphemisms in polite conversation. you know, immature shit.

seriously. we laughed so much, i can't convey it in words. and then we grew up.

so many people try and recapture their immaturity in the wrong ways. sleeping around, drinking too much, or getting high.

fucking loosen up! laugh a little. no, laugh a lot. don't take everything so damn seriously... you'll go crazy. (if you weren't already.)

remember when you met Nala and he told you "It's just chocolate!"

this is something i'm rediscovering in the last two weeks: a hefty dose of snark and a few dick-and-fart jokes never hurt anybody.

why the hell did it take me 7 more years to remember it again?

Posted by gigamatt at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

ah, midterms.

i will say i felt much more prepared for this one than the last one, and finished the test in good time, feeling confident that i at least knew the material better than last time.

our prof came to our lab last night and helped us review. our ta gave us a quiz and helped us review. then today, before the test, our prof helped us review some more. (as he always does.)

the prof is very, very strange, and i have to say if i had the option of taking one of his classes again, i definitely would, if the lecture were a little (ok, a lot) smaller. he wants you to understand the material, not so much compete for a grade. he gives mnemonic devices with which to remember things. he tells personal anecdotes to help you understand the material (but beware, they could be on the exam. -- good luck if that happens).

to sum up, while i hate the sardine-like qualities of sitting in lecture, i do generally like the class. despite my TA still not fixing our lab grade, and being slow to grade in general.

plus, the TA is kinda cute.

Posted by gigamatt at 2:46 PM | Permalink

wow.
i have news for Sidekicks.
i cannot wait to say it.
did a first draft this morning.
toyfair is rocking so far.

notes to self for other reasons:
TRU Hamilton, Target Brice kick ass.
Check receipts at home.
New The Batman stuff shipping to both Targets and TRUs.
Target Brice. Mmm. Cracky goodness in all forms.

Posted by gigamatt at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By now you've heard me speak about my servers being named Tarantulus and Arachnia... and I just realized I have a ruby iMac which hasn't been named.

I think he's going to have to be Inferno, yehhhhhs.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

did anybody tape 24 on Monday this week? is it replayed? for some reason, i hadnt programmed tivo to do a "season pass", so we missed it.

anybody? anybody?

Posted by gigamatt at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

after a 2am chocolate scare with the hoont, it took me a while to get back to sleep. around 4am, i had a dream that i came home from work (it was warm outside, and people were over... neighbors even), came in the house, and there was another dog bed next to hensley's. in it was a pretty mottled grey standard shorthair daschund, looking at me with the look that says "hug me," so i picked him up and took him (upstairs?) to find nala, to thank him for the other hoont and to ask about him, but as i rounded the second set of stairs, the grey ghost disappeared in my arms. Thinking I must be going crazy, I didnt say anything to Nala, and went downstairs to find his dog bed was gone.

later, while relating this at the party (in my dream), one of the neighbors said "you mean Phantom. he lived here a LONG time ago. he must like you guys." Nala overheard, and said "Oh yeah, I've seen him too." -- and then both Kristy and Kelly said they'd seen him in glances around the rooms when they were dogsitting.

What a strange dream.

Posted by gigamatt at 7:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

welcome visitors from trusty sidekicks. please excuse the mess as I'm going to attempt a redesign today, if time permits.

Posted by gigamatt at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ok, so because i wanted to get to work pretty early this morning, i skipped coffee.

note to self: DO NOT SKIP COFFEE, even if it's from Speedw@y.

the machine crap tastes like, well, crap. 70c later, i'm drinking it anyway because it's caffeine.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ok. so i didnt get squat done this weekend, aside from laundry. i didnt get any of my writing done, i didnt move ahead with the changes to my site, and i didnt get to work on work.

it's not entirely my fault.

my wireless access point died. again. sort of. i did get it to reset, and according to my laptop-of-doom, it was broadcasting a signal at some point, but after i had given up.

i suppose i can try again tonight. i'm not certain it's worth the hassle.

but, now comes a new hassle. after having been through 2 wireless access points since we moved 2 summers ago, i have to find one more reliable, and with better encryption, etc.

I need WPA and WEP, at least. A firewall. 802.11g. Easy management.

I may end up waiting till I get either my taxes or my insurance settlement back.

AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh...
Life without wireless... it is killer.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

ok.

yesterday sucked at work. loooong story.
today sucks, too.

the only good part about yesterday was dinner at thurmans with kristy. it allowed me to calm down properly, before i went home and found an email from my TA (sent at 9pm) telling me i had a quiz to take in my bio lab today.

quiz? what quiz? there are no quizzes on the syllabus. and no place for quiz points in the syllabus, when speaking of lab grading. in fact it speaks only of NYT article synopses and lab exercises from the lab manual.

so i was a bit freaked. it was due to cover material from all three classes this week. guess how many i've been able to go to?

and so i wrote the TA an email back. hey, what's going on, you seem to be testing over material not covered yet; there's nothing in the syllabus; and you're giving us no notice? that's wrong.

so i get an email back, saying it's not his job to manage my time (well, duh, that's my job, and what i rely on the syllabus to lay out for me -- nothing ever was said about quizzes.), that this is to help get us study for the midterm (ok, i can see that), and that if i still have a problem with it to take it up with the head TA.

then, following that email was another one explaining that the quiz would be next week, the day before the midterm, and not this week, as his prior email said.

my other problem is with his grading. not of our labs, but of our article synopses. i've wavered a whole point (out of 10), and yet, i feel my content has remained consistent.

I have other issues with his lab grading, but i'm going to keep those to myself for now, and I might bring them up to him after some further followup. He hasn't answered my last email, nor do I expect him to.

Update: after a strong backlash of emails from the students, we were given a rather convoluted explanation of quizzes and their grading. Bottom line: They're worth 10 points, combined. Still, didnt appear (that I saw) in the syllabus. He says the TA's have 10 points to do with what they will. Never talked about it before. But, the quiz is the day before the midterm. He says it's to help us study. Not sure how effective that will be.

My group got some points back from when he misgraded one of our labs. Did I tell you he waited 2 weeks to grade it? Yeah. So, we got points back on that one. Our group was talking while waiting on an experiment to finish, and decided although we arent all that smart, there are some DUMB folks in our class based on listening to the other groups.

One problem I have with our TA is that he will spend 15 minutes or more bullshitting with some guys who sit in the back of the class. Our group can be practically screaming for attention so we can ask him a question and finish the lab, but he's too busy discussing DVDs or music downloads or his Vegas trip (which caused him to miss lab last week) with the boys in the back. "One second," usually means at least 5 minutes.

Posted by gigamatt at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ok. so i'm almost done with the kerberos thing i talked about in the last post.
and i wrote a draft of something which may or may not ever see the light of day. and i did finish the javascript i promised to a friend.

problem is, i've had too much caffeine today and i want to stay up writing.
but i cant.

i must get to work early tomorrow and finish some tasks before most people get there. you know, server tweaks, etc.

and then there's that pesky work for the Queen. Oh god, what a geek I am. I really want the soundbyte from Inferno the Fire Ant Transformer as my ringtone on my phone.

Chester's asleep next to me on the couch. Hensley is asleep in his bed next to the couch. Nala's asleep in bed. Siggy is asleep under the dining room table. The whole house is asleep. Except me.

My brain is still chugging.

I have worked through 2 weeks of class. I have worked through 9 lunches. I have missed "Stress Management" training because (guess what) I'm under too much stress at work. I have put in 80 hours of solid work on this project, normally billable at $40/hour. That's $3200, boys and girls. And since it's for the Queen, we will never see it.

Hoo boy. Ok. I'm gonna grab the laundry and let the dog out one last time, since he has woken up and headed for the kitchen.

And then it's sleepy time.

Posted by gigamatt at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One car, J, followed by two cars, N N, in 5 minutes for a buck fiddy.

That's more than these two skanks down on the corner of Ellis and Jones.

Posted by gigamatt at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I somehow now have 50 invites left. Anybody, anybody?

Posted by gigamatt at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So. We all know the coffee I get every morning sucks pretty bad. And, I think I've mentioned that even at home, I'm trying to cut back on caffeine. So, I've gone from a 24 oz. to a 20 oz. to a 16 oz. over the course of 2 months.

Yay me.

I usually do a half-caf mix with flavored creams to mask the stankiness of the coffee. No matter how clean the filters, the "premium blend" tastes like dirty socks. Well, this morning, as I pre-loaded the creams, I decided to just use half and half, because I like it, too. And I figured the flavored creams had more sugar.

So I turn around to fill my cup and the manager is in my way (I tend to go to the decaf first), so I poured a half cup of premium. I snag a lid, and notice he's done over by the decaf. OH NO! He's just started brewing the decaf. I arrived too early. "It'll be done soon," he says. "Not soon enough," I say, under my breath, and fill up on skanky premium. He takes my dollar at the register... and I am later than I should be for work, but earlier than the last few weeks. That 5 minutes of extra slacking at home meant there was a full pot of decaf waiting on me... and now that I was more "on time", I'm not gonna get it.

Gotta start getting up at 5:30 again and making my morning half-caf at home.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

wow. is it me or has the animation taken a turn for the better in the jlu series?

and black canary and wildcat have me jonesing for new figures. not to mention roulette. ROULETTE! HOLY CRAP! now there's a custom I really REALLY want to see. visually stunning, and i think moreso in the "animated" style. same with canary. i know, women figures cut into the budget of the mattel folks, but COME ON! more villains! (And for goodness sake, hire Casimir to do some prototyping, willya? he kicks ass.)

as for her appearance in the show, nala and i just looked at each other in disbelief.

black canary. hm. i know i've seen a great custom of her recently, and I'm betting ww would make a good base with some minor sanding. of course, cut off the wings and hawkgirl would do well, too. and head swap with something else.

speaking of figures... it was an expensive week. *shudder* i must have spent $70 on figures and another $5 in trade. ah, the joys of collectordom.

ok, enough with this. tomorrow's agenda includes a quicky javascript fix, a kerberos authentication implementation, and an action-figure review. seriously.

Posted by gigamatt at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ok... this really irks me.

when something goes out to the whole university and in HUGE letters (and TWICE on the same document) and someone didnt even bother to spellcheck...

it's CARNIVAL you "morans".

Perhaps the Robot Minion saw this as well.

Posted by gigamatt at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

ok, ok... this isn't a post about the transformer big daddy.

this is a post about the scale and design differences between the Bandai Teen Titans line and the Mattel JLU line.

first of all, let me say that the JLU Green Arrow and the TT Speedy look enough alike to not look bad together. the hair color is different, (and expected, if it's Roy and not Connor) and the paint on GA is matte while Speedy is glossy, but overall, Speedy looks like he almost belongs in the JLUniverse.

However... TT Aqualad and JLU Aquaman may as well have been from two different worlds. Not only are they painted with different finishes and different skin tone, but Lad has a round head with beady eyes. (Which may change in a new mold, if you believe the card-backs.) His style looks nothing like that of his older namesake, and yes, I realize they're two different folks, not related. But even the scale looks odd. Moreso that the GA/Speedy combo.

And you can guess (correctly) that's why I didnt compare Bats and TT Robin. Robin is so horribly deformed compared to his Batman Animated counterpart that to compare the two would only have you wondering if Larry had existed in the Bat/JLU Animated world, would he be TT Robin?

Posted by gigamatt at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

from my mom last night:

We went on "the largest gambling ship in the world" today. It is BIG. Caught the bus about 9:15 this morning and went to Port Canaveral where we boarded. The boat returned to PC about 4:15 and the bus returned us to Port Orange (5-6 miles south of us) shortly after 6:00. Not too many blackjack tables and the $5 ones were full, so dad didn't play. Said he was content to watch this time. There were nickel, quarter, dollar, and $5 slots. I didn't play, but did watch. It was a little cool for sitting outside. We may go again when the temps are warmer and hopefully the seas aren't quite so rough.

Now, please note, my mom is a nickel slots player. Once in a while, she'll get adventurous and play the quarter slots. This is the first I've heard of my dad playing the $5 blackjack, too. Squandering my inheritance. I wonder how much it cost to ride this big gambling boat. I know seniors ride free on Wednesdays on the one my dad usually goes to.

At least they're having fun!

Posted by gigamatt at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)