Thursday, July 31, 2008, posted by Q6 at 8:42 PM
My son got his learner's permit today. I got him signed up with a local driving school. His trip up north to visit his mom screws up the order a little, but he has so far completed the four classroom sessions, a one-hour permit validation lesson, and a few hours in a parking lot with me (more to get him accustomed to a stick-shift). He still has a two-day, behind-the-wheel skills seminar to complete; the school likes to do that before the permit test, but it's not required.He took the 46 question test at the DMV today, and missed only three. Given the practice tests he's been taking, he scored best on the actual test. (Why can't he do this at school? I think to myself.) By the way, if any of you with kids have this event coming up, make an appointment at the DMV; the non-appointment line went around the building, but we walked right up to the counter.So now I get to do the whole get-him-insured, teach-him-to-drive, get-my-car-repaired-every-so-often, worry-my-head-off thing. And somewhere, off in the distance, I can hear my mother. Laughing. Her. Ass. Off.P.S.: I left my computer for a few minutes while blogging. I came back and found this typed on my screen:thank you for helping me with all of my driving stuff
--your son
Which is kinda cool.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008, posted by Q6 at 8:40 PM
No, I didn't go to the festival in San Diego. Instead, I am one of those who follow it online. Not the same as being there, but there's still a lot of great stuff to be seen.Two things I thought were especially cool:1) They're going to do a sequel to "TRON," one of the best movies of my childhood AND a milestone in sci-fi films. Disney sprung a trailer on the crowd--complete with Jeff Bridges, who seems connected to the project--and it looks great. It's been up and down on the Internet (copyright and all that), but THIS SITE seems to find it wherever it pops up. (If you see a version with audience reaction, you get some idea of my own.)2) I'm equally excited to see that "WATCHMEN" has a trailer, and I was even more jazzed to see the LOBBY POSTERS for this one. The graphic novel was a landmark in the comic book genre, and many were worried that it couldn't be made into a good film. All indicators, however, suggest otherwise.Like so many others, I patiently wait for these things to become reality. (Or whatever passes for reality amongst us geeks.)
Monday, July 14, 2008, posted by Q6 at 8:50 AM
I have this little map off to the right of my blog--it indicates where my blog readers are. (I decided to use ClustrMaps. Another popular one is MapLoco, which has the added benefit of listing the specific locations; it resets daily, though. My ClustrMap is cumulative, so after a while it will look like certain continents have the plague.)The red dots on the map get bigger with the number of visits; I understand that. Each dot represents a geographical area, not a person; I understand that, too. Here's what I don't get: how did I get such a following in the midwest? On both my personal and my professional blog, I have this big, honkin' red dot in the middle of the U.S. Weird. Cool, but weird.Hello, Midwestern United States! UPDATE: If you check the comment on this post, you'll discover two things. The first is that I don't actually have a fan base in the midwest; the default location for the map program is the middle of the country. The second is that the ClustrMaps people are obviously paying attention to the blogs using their program. Thanks to CJ for clearing up the confusion in record time.
Thursday, July 10, 2008, posted by Q6 at 8:46 AM
As we get closer and closer to our wedding date, my fiancee and I have noticed a lot that has yet to be done. Mark one more item off the list, though--we now live together. (There's still some stuff to move over, but all the essentials are here.)With only about 23 days left before wedded bliss begins (there's already plenty of engaged bliss), we're doing pretty well. I'm sure the transition has been harder on her than on me--I'm not moving, I'm just [happily] making room--and will be a little tough until the rest of her stuff trickles in. All her clothes, all her necessities, and some of her furniture are here . . . it's cool, actually. (It's worth noting here that my son has taken pretty well to this too. She didn't initially think so, but his dick-like behavior of late has been more about his tour through summer school and not at all about her moving in.)So one more big item off the list of stuff to do. Another couple of weeks and we'll have everything checked off--including happily ever after.
