Improvements

This weekend my dad and I moved twenty-five 80-lb bags of concrete mix for the next round of sidewalk improvements next to my house. I also tore the old carpet out of guest room #2 (it's time to pick new paint and carpet colors), rearranged the living room a bit, and started improving the appearance of the basement romper room. I ordered some tasteful posters online and moved the dining room table downstairs for barbeques and poker games, and I need to buy a dartboard for people who don't like to shoot pool. Replacing the dining table upstairs is less important, because I eat everything off a coffee table and it's only used by cats to look out the window. I'm improving the rooms I'm not in as much, so when I get distracted for months at a time, I don't have to worry about living within my work in progress. The rest of the weekend was filled with some nice gaming, some nice progress on my "How to Read Music" presentation, and a nice lunch at Boston Market (dark meat chicken with macaroni & cheese and mashed potatos with gravy, of course).

I've been diligently exercising for an hour a day for over a week now. My parents loaned me the fifth season of The Sopranos last week so I breezed through that while biking. It was decent enough but really more of the same. With such short seasons and a high price tag, it's definitely overhyped now. The previous seasons were great at creating interest in morally reprehensible characters, but it felt like too much of this season was spent making every little grimace or reaction shot deeply symbolic with layer upon layer of subtext. There was also way too much blatant product placement (though I did like the fact that a mob boss rewarded one of his men with the Whirlpool Duet washer/dryer set, since I have a pair in my basement and didn't rub anyone out for it). Overall, good TV if you can rent it, but don't go out and buy HBO just for the show -- the first couple seasons are still the best.

At work, Jack upgraded to a single-person office befitting his new managerial status, so I slyly relocated to the side of our old office near the window. The old slot will probably be filled in by whoever the next hire turns out to be (since we're always hiring someone). I still like the fact that everyone at FGM gets an office instead of a cubicle.

My 100? Things About Me page was a hit, judging from the spike in visitors I saw. I'll try to improve it with another 61 things to it at some point so there's an even 222. Incidentally, Anna mentioned that she ended up with exactly 222 pictures from her honeymoon.

As an added bonus this week, I'll be reposting funny videos from my news archive, one per day through Friday. Because movies are so large, they'll only be up for a couple days each. This should give you plenty of motivation to visit daily (and people who visit every day might also have the chance to be entered into a lottery where the winner has a chance to win a free toaster).

First up is this infomercial for a genuine stainless steel katana: (5MB MPG)