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March 27, 2007
Protesting the War in Iraq
Ok, I just have to get this out of my system. Every Saturday, Don and I take our usual stroll to the downtown post office to pick up his mail from the post office box. And many of these days, we see protesters picketing outside the building (because it's a Federal building) speaking out against the war.
Now, no matter whether you're for or against the war in Iraq, I just have to wonder...does picketing and protesting REALLY work? Does it really make Bush regret what he's doing to the point he'll pull our troops out? Based on past observations, I would have to say no. He strikes me as the type of guy who does what he wants, when he wants it, and how he wants it. If he doesn't get what he wants, he'll find a way to get it eventually.
So really, what's the point in going out there on a day when it's freezing cold or raining, holding up your sign and yelling to passers-by? President Bush isn't there to hear them; it's a Saturday, so the Federal employees aren't there to hear them; and anyone who passes by isn't going to care--people are too apathetic these days, as compared to in the 1960's. Now, I know you're probably going to say at least they're trying. But I honestly think it's a waste of their time and it's a little annoying to have to listen to because realistically, we're just going to have to wait until Bush is done with his 8-year term or he makes a mistake big enough to get him impeached. Don tells me that's a possibility now what with him firing all the lawyers--don't know the details on all that, but I'm waiting to find out if he's right.
Posted by Amy at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2007
Guitar Hero II
Over the weekend, Don and I bought a new game for our PS2--Guitar Hero II. It's the game where you have a fake guitar with buttons and try to play along with different rock songs. It's really fun--when you can get the notes--and can be pretty addictive. I had to play in "career" mode to unlock a bunch of songs, but doing that meant I was playing for long periods of time and it gave me SUCH an awful headache! Here's why.
When you play, there's a kind of moving fret board that shows you which buttons to hit and when. But it's like watching an assembly line with objects moving on it. The longer you do it, the more your head spins. And you can get bad headaches like I did. I've been careful not to play for more than a handful of songs. But it's great fun! They have songs like Message in a Bottle, You Really Got Me (Van Halen version), and EVEN TROGDOR: The Burninator! I couldn't believe they had that!
The guitar even has a "whammy bar", the bar you hit on the guitar that makes the note go "wee-ooo-wee-ooo!" Hilarious! And the characters actually play along properly with the music; they're not just animated for the sake of being animated.
Oddly, for me, it's easier to play in medium difficulty, rather than easy mode. I think I expect too many notes and easy is just too simplistic. But hard is REALLY hard...I can only imagine what the expert level is like! The hard level involves a fifth button where medium only uses four. I haven't figured out how to shift my hand properly to hit the fifth button and move back to hit the other notes successfully.
Don and I are having a great time with it (between that and the hot tub)...though I think Don is happy just playing Trogdor. HAHA!
Posted by Amy at 03:45 PM | Comments (1)
March 12, 2007
Aaaahhh!
What a weekend. I slept in pretty late on Saturday which felt really good. Don tried calling the tech guys for the hot tub to see if he could get some help "handshaking" all the controls on the hot tub. Basically, that means the hot tub and the stereo and stuff have to be connected and work together so we can use the remote control. The lady he spoke to was kind of a bitch and not very helpful even though all Don wanted to do was to speak to a tech guy. So we went to the hot tub store and talked to the salesman that sold it to us and he told us what we had to do to make all the devices handshake as well as how to put the chemicals in the water for the first time.
We got home and I went outside and stuck the hose through the filter to fill it up which took about an hour. Then I had to turn the hot tub on--had to flip one breaker on the power box, check the control board, then flip the other breaker and check the board again. Turns out we didn't have to do anything complicated to get stuff to handshake...everything just turned on nicely. But it took hours and hours for the thing to heat up.
Meanwhile, we went out to dinner with Nick, Pam, Greg and Sue to Carlyle's. Dinner was good, but I realized at the restaurant that I'd lost my diamond earring that Don had given me for Christmas! Yikes!! We looked all around the table, but couldn't find it, but I was pretty sure it was lost somewhere at home. But I feared since I'd been outside half the day that it was lost in the mud somewhere in the yard. Fortunately, I looked around as I got home and found it in the carpet. PHEW!! I was so excited at finding it! But I put them away in a box immediately since I didn't find the backing. Though I didn't care about the back, just the earring itself. I have to get a new pair of backs for them anyway.
So Sunday, we wake up around 9:30. Don took his pain meds and we both jumped into the hot tub...aaahhhh! It felt so good! We got in it about 3 times yesterday. I think we're really going to like it!
We also saw "300" in the theater. Don says it was just ok, but I thought it was well-written. I liked the story and some of the characters, but I didn't care for the artistry...too much like the graphic novel it was based on. And had a lot of the "Sin City" style since the same guy wrote both. Mom called 15 minutes into the movie saying she and Dad were on their way to our house for dinner. But I told her since we'd just gotten into the movie, it'd be a couple hours till we'd get out and since we didn't hear from them earlier that day, we thought they weren't coming. Oh well. Had to skip it this time, but we'll see them next week.
I can't wait to get home tonight and use the tub again. Aaaahh! :)
Posted by Amy at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2007
No More Hernia
Don had his hernia surgery today. I picked him up at 11:30 this morning to take him to the St. Joe's hospital. We thought he was possibly coming down with something and I was afraid it was something he had caught from me. He said he had a massive headache and that if it weren't for his surgery, he would have taken 3 Advils and went to bed. But he wasn't feverish, so I figured we'd take him to the hospital and see what they said. Because if he was sick, obviously, they wouldn't operate and we'd have to postpone it for another day. Poor guy was nauseous on the way there because of the headache. I'm sure my driving didn't help. Heh.
But we got there and they said he was good enough to operate on. They took him in and let me sit with him for a few minutes before he went in. When they took him away, I went to wait in the lobby. I found a nice little cafe they had in the hospital where I had a really nice, yummy deli sandwich for lunch. Guess hospital food is getting better! Then it wasn't long before the doctor came out to talk to me. I was surprised at how short the surgery was. But it took a while for them to let me come in to see him again because it took him a while to wake up in the recovery room. All in all, I managed to get through the latter 3/4 of Star Trek 4 on my video iPod. (I love that thing!)
When I got into the recovery room, I was expecting him to be really loopy--like he was when he had a scope of his esophagus. When he did that, he kept asking me the same questions over and over...it was so funny. But this time, he was much more lucid and coherent. He opted for the general anesthesia instead of the local because his headache was so bad. He seemed to be in a very good mood, though I think that was because he was happy to get his hernia fixed and the fact that the medicine they gave him got rid of his headache. Of course, they wouldn't let him leave until he could stand and walk around on his own without feeling dizzy or fall down.
We got back home at around 4:30. He's moving around alright, though slowly and carefully and he tries to keep it to a minimum. He mostly sat on the couch and in his lounge chair just tooling around on his laptop. He went to bed early around 9pm. I think the Vicodin made him sleepy. I told him he should probably work at home for the rest of the week and he's not allowed to do any martial arts or heavy lifting for the next month. Believe me, that's a good thing. He's had this stupid hernia for 2 years and I think he finally realized that if he didn't take care of it and take some time off from training for a while, he'd break himself pretty good sometime and then he wouldn't be able to train at all. I'm sure he'll be right as rain and feeling better than ever sometime very soon.
Posted by Amy at 09:25 PM | Comments (1)
March 06, 2007
9 Laws of Physics Broken by Hollywood
I'm a big movie-lover as well as a big Mythbusters fan, so I found this page of nine laws of physics Hollywood breaks and thought it was pretty cool. Especially since the Mythbusters have busted a lot of these myths. Enjoy!
Posted by Amy at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2007
Cough, cough!
Ugh, I tell you this sux! Last week, I get sick with the stomach flu and now, I'm coming down with what I think is half-way between a cold and the flu. Started coughing last night and today, I'm a bit achy. And my skin hurts...the way it does when I get feverish. Urgh. I've been toughing it out here at work, but it's hard when it makes you so tired. Took some Tylenol which helped, but I think I need to take more cause I want to go to Costco today before I go home.
Plus, today was one of those days cause, like a dunce, I took my work laptop home to work at home yesterday afternoon and forgot to bring it back. I ended up having to get a loaner from IT, but it took them forever because they had to do some set up with it and install some updates or whatever. Well, over 2 hours went by before I even got it back to my desk--it was nearly 11:30! I'd been on and off other people's computers to check email and do a couple of things, but I was basically sitting there twiddling my thumbs waiting for the damn thing cause the IT lady told me it wouldn't be that long! Argh. In the time it took her to get my loaner, I could have gone all the way home and back to grab my laptop and been working for over an hour. Oh well. Today wasn't so hectic that it was critical. Though it did suck having to wait so long.
I can't wait to go home!
Posted by Amy at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)