Another Friday rolls around... you can tell it's Friday because everyone skips class and all the metered spots outside my apartment are empty. It's a little shocking to realize that there's only about eight more full weeks until the end of the semester. A year ago tonight was a round of Thursday night football with West Virginia at Tech, which Tech won 48-20. Maybe I'm a traitor, but I hope Miami wins in the FSU game tomorrow... it will break FSU's home game streak, and make Tech look better when Tech beats Miami in the final home game of the season.

Poor Bert...

Part V of V

Chorus and Orchestra: The Broadway recording is done with a reduced orchestral set, using synthesizers as if it were a standard pit. The full orchestrations of the other two recordings give the music a lusher, more believable quality that's also more enjoyable. The Complete recording is the cleanest of the three, which lets you hear every note of the score as it was meant to be heard, but the impact of the live performance on the Tenth Anniversary recording can't be beat for excitement (even though it's a little sloppier than the other two).

At the End of the Day, Broadway (MP3, 572KB)
At the End of the Day, Complete (MP3, 571KB)
At the End of the Day, Tenth Anniversary (MP3, 565KB)

Interaction: Because there was no complete dream cast on any one recording, the interaction between actors can be hit or miss. The Broadway recording is unmemorable, but the other albums contain several well-done moments. Of particular note are the sequences where Philip Quast interacts with the best actor or actress in the other roles.

Javert and Valjean, Tenth Anniversary (MP3, 825KB)
Javert and Thenardiér, Complete (MP3, 799KB)

Completeness: The Complete recording (obviously) shines in this category, because it contains every single note of the score across three discs. As a composer it's interesting to hear everything that the composer intended with full orchestrations, without the cuts normally associated with Highlights albums and live running times. Coming in second would be the Tenth Anniversary recording which does a good job of hitting all the interesting spots without going overtime.

Overall: In the end, it comes down to a tie between the Complete and the Tenth Anniversary recordings. The only redeeming feature of the Broadway recording is Eponine. If you're looking for a comprehensive recording with decent actors and solid sound balance, I'd recommend the Complete recording. However, the nature of live performances gives the Tenth Anniversary recording an energy that's hard to mimic in the studio.

During the writing of this Special Feature week, it was announced that Les Miserables would end its run on Broadway in March 2003, sixteen years after it opened. I hope you found this week's updates interesting and enjoyable, or at the least, distracting. I'll close off with a few extra sound clips. The first is just for kicks. The second shows how effectively the composers handled dramatic structure to insert a light-hearted moment in an otherwise tense situation (although personally I think the Little People would be more at home on a 70s episode of Sesame Street than in its current spot). It's effective even if a little ridiculous.

How to sing like a Lead Trumpet, Tenth Anniversary (MP3, 170KB)
Javert's Discovery, Complete (MP3, 1.09MB)

Note: All of these MP3s are not recorded at the highest quality, so as to make downloads slightly faster. If you want to borrow the original recordings, just let me know.

This has got to be the stupidest packaging idea ever. You open the full-sized box to reveal a minibox, fully sealed and shrink-wrapped. You open that to reveal a wafer thin cardboard CD case that could easily fit through a hairline fault.

I saw School of Rock last night, and it was actually pretty funny -- much funnier than it could have been, and a lot less annoying than it could have been. Another good movie I've seen recently: Confidence with Edward Burns and Dustin Hoffman. Con-man movies always follow the same basic concept, but they're still fun to figure out as they go.

Alias, tonight.

Best Buy had a 10% sale this weekend so I picked up three CDs (limit 3 please), the first CDs I've bought since Coldplay in 2003. I bought Muse's Absolution, Dido's Life for Rent, and Brian Wilson's Smile. I'll keep you posted on what I think of them.

I also picked up an XM adapter for my home stereo, so I can have wild house parties daily in my basement pad.

Florida-Mike's birthday was on Saturday and he's sad that he didn't get a birthday graphic.

It's rained pretty much nonstop for the past six days -- that cold, messy cloud spit that isn't strong enough to have thunder and lightning (which would make it worthwhile), but still gets you soaked when you walk outside. The only plus to this weather spell (Nasty Rain Rank 3) is that it gave me an excuse to turn on the heat a few weeks early. Now, for the half hour that encompasses my morning routine of waking up, the house is a toasty 75 degrees. Growing up in my parents' house, the thermostat was permanently set at 68 degrees (because 68 is "room temperature") and there were space heaters strategically placed in major rooms that you had to huddle up against if you didn't want to be cold. Sharing many traits with the noble iguana, I prefer my house to be slightly warmer, so it's usually between 72 and 82 degrees all year around. Here is a list of my morning routine -- it's down to the minute because that's what you're supposed to do when you own a digital watch:

• 5:28 Alarm goes off, waking up cats.
• 5:29 Alarm goes off, sort of waking up me.
• 5:29 - 5:35 Cats attempt to wake me up in various ingenious ways involving tar and feathers.
• 5:35 Last alarm goes off. Get up and feed cats FIRST (or else).
• 5:40 Take a shower and don disguise as mild-mannered computer programmer.
• 5:50 Pet cats and leave house. Drive to work.
• 6:00 - 6:05 Arrive at work, depending on how many slow drivers are on the road. Yes, I'm talking about you, -- the speed limit is 35 so you should be going at least 45 in your ugly black SUV, and definitely not 20. Someday I may put BUS BMPR in BEVS TLPIPE just to get you moving faster.

The picture of the iguana was drawn by Brenda, a student at Felipe Carrillo Puerto in the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Brenda has never visited my site, but she is well on her way to being an artistic superstar, as is Luis, who is exceptionally talented at drawing a turtle who's having a head-on collision with a sand dune (or alternately, it's BEVS LTHRBCK and it was holding up the daily ocean commute). Incidentally, I think Quintana Roo would be a great name for a superhero marsupial on a Saturday morning cartoon. It could even be bilingual for all the Spanish viewers.

Because lists are great, especially on rainy Wednesdays, here's a list of cartoons I watched as a kid:

• Shirt Tales
• Duck Tales
• Garfield and Friends
• He-Man
• Any cartoons on that USA show with the train in the credits (I think it was Cartoon Express, or something similar)

I also watched Babar, Tom Sawyer, and Belle and Sebastian on HBO when at my grandparents' house. These were the first mainstream Japanese-style cartoons in the U.S., where the main characters barely moved at all, had ridiculously large puppy dog eyes, and spent lots of time with one-word interjections like "Huh?" and "Hey!" and "Oooh!" because they meant less work for the animator. I wasn't one of those kids that woke up at 6 on Saturday and watched cartoons until noon -- even back then I was a TV snob and thought most of them sucked.

P.S. putting your bumper in someone's tailpipe is not slang for anything perverted.

Yesterday's search terms:
imodium lingerie advertisement, sex teachings by quixtar and amway, newscasters in inappropriate attire on air, quiznos cursed with the legs of a goat commercials

Normally, I block out an hour or two for leisurely sitting at my computer in search of inspiration to write the following day's news post. These past couple weeks, it's been hard to keep that time reserved for such pursuits because of a rather hectic work schedule, and yesterday I completely blew that period on putting the finishing touches on my Warsong Gulch guide for Warcraft . This guide should improve your WSG skills and is conveniently located at the subdomain, wsg.urizone.net.

In the three years since I first bought this domain, many quaint subdomains have come and gone, like illegitimate foster children of the Internet. Here is a list of them -- how many did you know about?

• chompy.urizone.net: The home of Mike Catania's personal "not-for-profit" blog (distinguished from his "I'll write about mass-market-appeal-TV-shows so I get more money from Google ads" blog)
• frenzy.urizone.net: My strategy guide for Footmen Frenzy, which moved to the official Frenzy site last year .
• java.urizone.net: The site for my Java Training course materials at work
• mdr.urizone.net: Prototypes and mockups for the Metadata Registry at work
• nohunters.urizone.net: The mugshots for a Starcraft/Warcraft guild that's survived for almost ten years now
• turtle.urizone.net: The forum for my current Warcraft guild
• wedding.urizone.net: The wedding information site for Anna and Ben's 2005 Wedding Extravaganza and Potluck Dinner. Who needs The Knot when you've got The Zone?
• wow.urizone.net: The forum for my old Warcraft guild
• yourethemannowdawg.urizone.net: Someday I will have content and a good reason to set up this subdomain, at which point the world will tremble.

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

widescreen edition

6:34 AM: Getting a slightly late start to the morning. It's always harder to wake up when it's chilly out.

6:50 AM: A view from the driver's side window, while on my way to work. The car's console is reflecting in the window glass over the ONE WAY sign -- there are no ghosts in Herndon.

7:35 AM: At my desk, working hard.

7:52 AM: Reenacting the Heroes DVD cover, using only the Sun and the Oracle building.

11:31 AM: When 12 of 12 falls on a Friday, you can always bet on seeing a picture of Popeyes.

11:38 AM: A scenic picture of the brisk Fall sky, complete with Dominion Power lines.

11:42 AM: I hate election month.

11:48 AM: Welcomed home by two lazy-assed cats who didn't even clean the house like I'd asked.

3:09 PM:: After a few hours of working from home, I took a break for a quick snapshot.

3:48 PM: In the basement, prepping for the installation of the second half of the new carpet on Sunday. Now that almost every room in the house is renovated, I'm not sure what I'll do in future 12 of 12s. I may have to resort to cat pictures with misspelled captions.

4:34 PM: Doing one final mow of the yard before the Fall!

5:45 PM: Looking in the fridge for something to eat. I ended up being lazy and having leftover chicken in mushroom/sour cream/onion/lemon/dill weed sauce that Rebecca and I made last night. Everything is better with dill weed.

See more 12 of 12ers at Chad's site!

Happy Birthday to Rick Dunham on Saturday and Dan Shiplett on Sunday!

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

For this month's 12 of 12, we're on our honeymoon in Kauai, Hawaii!

6:42 AM: On the balcony of our condo at Kapa'a Sands, enjoying the sunrise and a breakfast of bagels, bananas, and peach-mango juice.		7:20 AM: Driving down the highway to the western side of the island in our rented convertible.
10:02 AM: After driving twenty miles up the length of the Waimea Canyon, we enjoy the view of Kalalau Valley from Pu'u o Kila Lookout, which is somewhere around four thousand feet above sea level. Because it's always in the clouds, it's either raining or very foggy.		12:02 PM: We hiked through the Alaka'i Swamp to Pihea Vista, which was a muddy rock scramble through the rain to a disappointing view. Rather than continue the two miles to the next lookout, we drove back down the canyon to the Koke'e Lodge and ate our packed sandwiches in the company of the wild chickens.
12:16 PM: We then drove a few miles down (to get out of the rain) and stopped at an overlook of the Waimea Canyon.		1:05 PM: Since you can only do some much in a canyon, we drove down to Kekaha next and spent some time on Kekaha Beach, where the sand is so fine that you sink in three inches whenever you walk.
2:50 PM: After the heat of the west shore (where it's always sunny, even when it's raining on the other parts of the island), we had some Shave Ice at Jo-Jo's in Waimea.		4:25 PM: After crawling across the island in what passes for rush hour traffic, we returned to our condo and had a couple Pipeline beers, made with Kona coffee.
5:34 PM: This is the beach/tidepool thirty feet below our condo.		5:51 PM: Rebecca does a handstand in the sunset on our personal beach.
7:34 PM: We went to the House of Noodles to eat, where dinner was a bland but filling saiman for $25 total. This made up for the fact that last night's dinner ran over $120 at the Beach House Restaurant.		8:25 PM: We were given this bottle of champagne last week at the Sheraton, but I was unable to drink it at the time, being stricken with strep throat. Fully recovered with antibiotics, tonight was the perfect time to pop the cork!

See more 12 of 12ers at Chad's site!

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

6:04 AM: Someone needs to clean this mirror.		6:08 AM: Not everyone has to go to work in the mornings.
6:23 AM: The lights in the company sign were finally repaired, after weeks of proclaiming "fgn' c".		8:22 AM: Working hard before a conference call.
1:05 PM: On the way home for lunch.		1:15 PM: Greeted at the front door by a hungry Booty.
1:43 PM: Lunch consists of a delicious leftover cheesesteak from Omia's. (Booty is having some butt).		2:00 PM: Doing a little more work from home.
2:25 PM: Rebecca returns, bearing treats from the grocery store.		5:00 PM: Laundry time.
6:14 PM: I'm not sure why I'm still addicted to Minecraft, but I am.		10:23 PM: The deliciousness of the shells and cheese for dinner made me forget about taking pictures, so all I can share is a shot of the aftermath.

See more 12 of 12ers at Chad's site!

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

5:25 AM: Showered up.		5:36 AM: Booty suggests the brown shoes with the black pants. Booty sucks at fashion.
5:48 AM: Packed up for a trip to the inner city, sometimes called Alexandria.		6:17 AM: The traffic starts earlier on 395 every year.
9:57 AM: The "satellite office" where I worked in my parents' house.		1:14 PM: Driving home from a meeting at IDA, and passing the old DISA building which they still have not managed to rent out yet.
1:49 PM: Someday I will live in a world where The Legwarmers have larger ambitions than performing biweekly at the State Theatre.		2:22 PM: Home in time to eat lunch with Rebecca before she leaves for work. I had rainy-day chickinara soup.
4:01 PM: Working on yet another brief.		5:30 PM: Playing Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, game of the infinite loading screens.
8:24 PM: Booty would like a fortune cookie.		8:50 PM: Chinese food for dinner!

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

6:07 AM: Waking up to cats.		6:23 AM: Booty offers to help me work, but is really in it for the space heater.
8:19 AM: After breakfast, Rebecca gets started on her neverending studies.		9:13 AM: Booty offers me lumbar support, but is really in it for the warm seat.
10:45 AM: Traffic at 11 is pretty identical to traffic at 6.		10:55 AM: So early to Popeyes that they hadn't made any fries yet.
11:20 AM: Lunch at my desk.		3:58 PM: Driving home after meetings.
4:01 PM: This unwieldy sign is 0 for 2 at surviving wind storms. This is why they put it back up again.		4:30 PM: Treadmill time with Jack Bauer.
5:45 PM: Time for Torchlight 2.		8:45 PM: Safeway Pizza for dinner.

Weekend Wrap-up

On Thursday evening last week, we made the drive down to Virginia Tech for the Grand Opening Ceremony of the Marching Virginians Practice Facility. I had donated some loose change to the construction a while back, which made me eligible for a ceremony invitation and a 1000% uptick in requests for money from poor undergrads working in the VT call center.

The trip down was actually as pleasant as it's ever been with zero cops, even in Botetourt County. Being able to go 75 MPH instead of 65 seems to make all of the difference, especially in the time-warping Bermuda Triangle-like section between Exit 222 and Exit 140.

Dinner in Blacksburg was at Macado's, where they sat us in the Creepy Baby section under King Kong. I almost didn't recognize the area with so much new construction -- the lone Hardees north of campus is now dwarfed by a four story parking garage, and they're in the process of replacing all of the original Corp dorms with Hokie stone buildings.

The new MV facility is pretty swank, featuring a full-sized field with synthetic turf, a covered pavilion for musical rehearsal, real restrooms, and temperature-controlled storage rooms. Following multiple rounds of speeches ranging from obligatory to heartfelt, the entire audience was invited onto the field for a full band performance and a group effort of the Hokie Pokie, which Rebecca got to experience as if she were a new freshman.

Afterwards, we took an hour walk around campus to see what had changed. Besides the new buildings, not much had. The New Residence Hall is STILL named as such, sixteen years after construction (which may constitute false advertising). The Cinnabon in the students' center has been replaced with a dimetrically different offering, Au Bon Pain. And, the dining hall where "all you can eat bacon as long as it fits in your to-go box" reigned supreme has been replaced with a massive arts building with art exhibits and hippie walls covered in poetry.

From Tech, we went to Christiansburg to visit Anna's youngest sister, Becca, and her three kids, two dogs, one cat, and one husband. Kitty, of "Kitty and Sydney" was also there, living out her old age as a fat sun-stoked whale on the woodsy porch.

To close out the day, we visited the Flying Mouse Brewery in Troutville, based on the T-shirt that someone at the ceremony was wearing. It turned out to be owned by an old MV, so we traded a few stories and tried a flight of good, varied beers before getting back on the road.

The drive home wasn't as fun because of a thunderstorm, but we made it safely back around 9 PM on Friday, so Rebecca could get ready for another weekend of yoga teacher training.

The real weekend was pretty low-key -- I played some games and worked on a new web hosting project which should be live sometime this week. How was your weekend?

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

5:01 AM: Ready for work.

12:16 PM: Home for lunch (after the camera battery died during the morning, preventing any pictures at work).

12:30 PM: Feeding the senses. Delicious!

12:37 PM: Back to work on proposal stuff.

1:45 PM: Amber offers her services as a thesaurus.

3:07 PM: Quick afternoon nap.

3:31 PM: Playing Overwatch.

4:55 PM: Rebecca comes home and reads on the couch.

5:08 PM: Exercising and watching the second season of Narcos.

6:53 PM: Ordering dinner from Joe's Pizzaria.

7:20 PM: Fried stuff.

8:09 PM: Starting season two of iZombie.

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

12 pictures of your day on the 12th of every month

6:12 AM: Showered and ready for work.

7:12 AM: Working from home.

10:05 AM: Breakfast for babies.

10:14 AM: Breakfast for me.

10:37 AM: Waving goodbye on the way to the library.

1:21 PM: Chimichangas for lunch while troubleshooting my dog-slow Linksys router.

2:40 PM: Nap interrupted by poop.

3:06 PM: Helping Rebecca sort through old boxes of junk.

3:48 PM: It's Fall! Also, Maia is making an alien shadow puppet.

6:24 PM: Dinner at Poke Bowl.

6:45 PM: Meeting bunnies at the pet store.

9:09 PM: Elisa is here from Columbus!

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

12 pictures of your day on the 12th of every month

6:25 AM: Showered and ready for the day.

6:38 AM: English muffins for breakfast.

7:02 AM: Quick Safeway run to restock on fresh, delicious bagels.

7:32 AM: In the new basement office.

8:41 AM: Working on Puzzle Boat 7 with my team from work.

11:36 AM: Shells and cheese for lunch. It's LIQUID GOLD, according to the box.

12:22 PM: Hanging art in the rearranged bedroom.

2:54 PM: Catnap.

4:45 PM: Exercising on the treadmill and watching Schitt's Creek, Season Two.

5:47 PM: Shroom burger from Red Robin for dinner, in the gentle shade of our avocado tree.

7:28 PM: Video chat with the family in Nag's Head.

7:38 PM: Playing Paper Mario: Origami King, which is 50% charming and 50% tedious.

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

12 pictures of your day on the 12th of every month

6:04 AM: Showered and ready for the day.

6:17 AM: Bagel for breakfast.

8:30 AM: View from my office.

9:06 AM: Writing about software development.

10:56 AM: Welcomed home by Ian.

12:32 PM: At the doctor's office for my 2020 annual physical.

1:30 PM: Back to work in the home office.

2:49 PM: Post-kindergarten snack time.

3:48 PM: Helping me vacuum out the cars.

5:34 PM: Maia loves corned beef.

6:15 PM: Maia works on her 12 of 12.

6:54 PM: Tough Trucks for storytime.