Man, Where Does the Thyme Go?

Geez Louise, the days are flying by... It's already the beginning of August.

OK, well, the LAN party was a raging success. Zombies were slain by the thousands, and thus the world is now a safer place. You're welcome, everyone! Man, about the only things better to destroy than zombies are Nazis... I may have to bust out some WW2 shooters for the next LAN. I was concerned that we wouldn't have enough variation in games to play, and that everyone would get bored with Left 4 Dead 2... but that's what we spent the majority of time playing - from 10am to about 8pm. We mixed in a little Team Fortress 2 about half-way through the day, but basically, I needn't have worried.

Ethan took some pictures for me. Click to enlarge, if you need more detail...

That's about 60% of us there. Paul (my new son-in-law) is just over my head in the background, with his brothers on either side. That's the top of Trevor's head over my monitor. And a hoagie in hand. That's not my soda, though...

There's a shot from the other side of the table... I include it so you can see two things: Spencer playing Call of Duty on the TV in the background, and my wife's Shoe Calendar on the wall above my head...

Yanni (without shirt on, as usual), showing us how it's done in Team Fortress 2. He's going to shave his beard on his birthday this week... his hair is staying, though. 

Random shot of me contemplating playing a sniper in TF2.

One of Paul's brothers (sorry, Josh and Joel... I still can't tell you apart). OK, so if Paul is my son-in-law, what does that make his brothers? Is there a term for that, or does it just fall under "in laws"?

Dimitri contemplating something or other. He's going to try out for the Navy SEALS. He seems determined; I hope he makes it.

So that's that. I'd call the party a success. Zombies were slain, sandwiches and chips were consumed, there was laughing, mild insults and camaraderie, and in the end, the good guys won.

Beyond that, I am enjoying my solo time at home. I've been spending a lot of time on the phone with Wifey while she's away. I'd hate to think that we need to be two states away to get along well. At least we're getting some things talked through. And I'm still reading Youngest her books before bed - we're just doing it over the phone. I did install Skype last night, so maybe we can video chat tonight, who knows.

Here is a movie I will most definitely be seeing when it comes out... Cloud Atlas...



Simply amazing.

I was going to go see the new Batman movie tonight, but then I saw the run time... 2 hours and 44 minutes!?!?! Are you kidding me? Man, I had no idea it was almost 3 hours long.

Here's another movie coming out soon (called Samsara) which I might try to see on the big screen...



While I'm talking about movies, I heard yesterday that they announced that The Hobbit movies have been expanded into a trilogy. Smacks of a money grab to me, but that's just the uninformed cynic in me. I mean, the book was shorter than the first book in The Lord of the Ring novels... that epic trilogy warrants three movies, for certain... but a book the size of The Hobbit? I can't imagine why that needs 3 films, unless they just want to milk the cash cow.

I guess it doesn't matter, in the grand scheme. There's more important things to worry about, I suppose. (important or impotent, which one?).

"Here, I brought you a bubble..."

Got my "emergency" Piranha job done, technical difficulties notwithstanding. Now I can plan my week, as far as exploring around the city a bit. Saw some interesting places I may want to eat at. Thanks for the prompting, B.A...

I guess I better go now. Let's see if I can make it over to Starbucks before they close. Then, who knows what the night will hold!

Adios for now,

Davey the Kidd