This weekend was totally a very spiffy and relaxing one. I spent a good bit of time with Ruthie, saw Episode III for the 4th time with the bro, and got a PS2.

After seeing Ep III four times, I can say that I still haven’t found the Millenium Falcon in there–I saw on a forum that it was in there, in some spaceport scene, but I guess they sent everyone on a wild goose chase. hehe. It was still definitely worth seeing yet again, though.

I’m watching some movie on SciFi called Barb Wire. It has the guy who played Jango Fett and the clones in Episodes II and III. I think this is the only other thing I’ve seen him in. Pamela Anderson is the star. I think I won’t be missing much if I go to sleep after this posting. haha.

I got a PS2 today at CompUSA. The only reason I got it there was because of a free controller that came with it. I wasn’t able to eBay a deal for it, at least not one of any true significance (after shipping, and all). So, in the end, I got one the easy way. lol. I got Gran Turismo 4 and Episode III for it. Ruthie and I raced a bit tonight, and she beat me once out of about 9 times.

It’s all good, though, because she beat me at chess Saturday and tonight. I came fairly close to victory on Saturday, but she completely stomped me tonight. It was fun, though–I haven’t played a human in chess since high school.. It’s mostly been computers whooping the snot out of me. hehe.

So here I am, it’s 5am and I can’t ****ing sleep. There’s some damn redneck outside honking and carrying on because some girlfriend or something won’t come out to him. Things have been going on since at least 4am out there, if not before that, and it’s really starting to piss me off. It’s probably starting to piss off half of the damn complex, too. If he comes around again, I’ve put Madison Police Dept on speed dial. Looks like he did some damage to the car of whomever he is pissed at.

All I know is that he was in a dark color Firebird (too dark outside to tell the true color yet), and that he had really short hair (shaved). Probably not enough for a frickin conviction 😛

There goes my ****ing sleep.

Well, after the weekend, I think I’ve finally caught up on sleep I missed after the mid-week Star Wars excitement. I saw it again yesterday morning with Ruthie and a few of her kewlish friends, and it certainly did not lose any of its awesomeness the second time around. Windu’s death was, by far, the most disturbing of all of the Jedi deaths. I did get a little misty-eyed when Order 66 was carried out and so many Jedi were gunned down by the Clones.

I read an interesting article on the Injuries of Darth Vader. It looks like much of the content was updated for Ep III. It basically postulates exactly what his injuries were that made him have to don the big bad suit, and why he died at the end of Return of the Jedi.

Cubs actually gasp won against the White Sox today. They’re sure having their ups and downs this season, but so it is with every other team. They’re not the worst, but they’re not in first–typical.

I cancelled WoW Friday, in favor of Guild Wars. I get pretty much everything I get in WoW with Guild Wars, and a few friends are even playing. Right now, I’m a Level 7 Elemental/Ranger and I just got some very smashing armor. I still can’t believe it’s free to play.

I’m watching Journey to the Center of the Earth right now. It’s been years since I have seen it. They cleaned it up quite nicely for DVD. I think my favorite part, by far, is when they’re attacked by the gigantic iguanas 🙂

Well.. To expound on my last post after the viewing of what is probably the coolest movie in the saga..

The flick was frakking awesome. From beginning to end, it captured everything that I think most fans have wanted to see from the very inception of this prequel sleigh ride. There are probably some things that the huge nitpickers might find lacking in the film, but as a whole it was a very fulfilling 131 minutes.

What I liked, didn’t like (spoilers)

OMG!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

Episode III ticket is in-hand!!

This is the week of graduations; congrats to Matt & Ruthie who are graduating this week. It was a long journey for both of them. Matt’s off to Jacksonville for Residency and Ruthie’s sticking around here to work for NASA–I so proud of both of them 🙂 My bro graduates in August–soon enough, I suppose. One long summer semester.

It’s been a really nice end of the weekend. There was a good bit of rain around here yesterday, but it subsided fairly quickly and manifested itself into a bright and sunny Sunday. I was going to go riding yesterday, but the rain got in the way. Perhaps I will tomorrow.

My brother’s home from Chicago today. He spent a week there visiting cohorts and continuing his attempts to get a job at WGN Radio. Unfortunately, the Cubs weren’t there while he was. Ironically enough, his flight there and home went through D.C., and the Cubbies were playing the Nationals. He didn’t have any time to stop by for a hot dog, though.

I’m downloading a WWI mod to Battlefield 1942 called Battlefield 1918. It should be interesting. Of all mods to that game, though, nothing beats Desert Combat; there’s just something awesome about piloting an Apache.

I got the 1st season of Enterprise in the mail yesterday and swung by the office at the apartment to pick it up today. Despite its cancellation, it really turned out to be a great series; like every Star Trek before it, the show didn’t really fire up until 3rd season. Unfortunately, I think prevailing politics at UPN in conjunction with failing ratings took it down. If it’s the end of Trek, it’s alright–it’s had a good run. There must have been something redeeming about Star Trek, if it’s gone 700 episodes ever since The Cage.

I’ve had mixed feelings about the Enterprise finale. It was an Enterprise episode in the context of a TNG episode. I think in many ways, it detracts from what this series was; the discovery of what’s out there. Everything in this series was supposed to be viewed through the eyes of relative n00bs in interstellar space. I think that, while the show strayed beyond this much of the time, it should have ended in that context–that, and I think they should have shown Archer’s frakking speech during the Federation Charter signing 😛

Even with its demise, there’s still plenty of Sci-Fi out there. SG-1 will probably go a season or two more, and there’s Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica. I think that Sci-Fi on network television may be seeing its last days, though. Sci-Fi has a very core audience, which is certainly smaller than most other types of programming. Network television seems to excel at sitcoms and, more recently, reality television. In the end, this seems to be the developing niche for network television. Everything beyond, I think, will end up on the cable networks.

Episode III comes out this week!! Some friends of mine and my bro are going to go on Wednesday night at 12:01. This is going to be frelling awesome. I’m going to take a nap pretty much from the time I get home to about 10, I guess. I’ve been spoiled by the script, but I still can’t wait to see it all go down.

So this week was pretty interesting.

On Monday, I got the bike.. The Trek 6500. Front-suspension, v-brakes, very kewl shifters (one for up and one for down on each side). It was a very nice ride right-off. They fitted me on a 21.5″ bike which was pretty funny because the first time I got on it, it felt like I was getting on a horse.

On Wednesday, Ruthie and I went riding on a path down Old Madison Pike. I had been on the trail a few times before, but only walking. This time, on a bike, the path seemed much shorter–even given that it was extended fairly recently. It was also my third time on the bike. The path begins at the Pike and ends at a subdivision. The road into the subdivision is inclined–I’m guessing about 20%, but that’s just a number I’m pulling out of my arse. On some egging from Ruthie, I decided to go up the hill and shoot back down it. I just barely got to the top of the hill without getting off the bike. After a moment’s respite at the top, I began the trek downward. I began pedaling, just to gain a bit more momentum. Before I knew it, it felt like the rear of the bike exploded on me.. I was still coasting downhill, but I noticed when I pedaled, there was no resistance. After getting halfway down the hill, I finally got off the bike to find the derailleur sheared away from the frame. I really don’t know what happened, but it looked like the chain was toast. Perhaps the assembly (or the chain) took a hit–either that, or I don’t know my own strength 😉

Anyhoo, I took the bike in Thursday and it was ready Friday. That was definitely a hugely uber awesome thing, because I figured it might’ve been out of commission for a week or something. I took the bike out again yesterday morning with Chris on the same trail with more happy results.

I started a new MMORPG this week called Guild Wars. It’s a very awesome game, and it might even persuade me to ditch World of Warcraft. I know of a few people playing, so I could go either solo or party if I wanted to–it looks like this game could be good in either case. Your powers, spells and items aren’t given to you based on level, but based on merit–if you have enough gold, then you can have the same weapons as a level 1 as you do as a level 20. Training is the name of this game, and level is only a secondary means of gauging a player’s abilities. Level 20 is the max level, but that is the point where the game presumably really begins–everything up to that point is basically playing on training wheels 🙂

And the best part is that this MMO is free–after you buy it for $50, of course; no montly fees whatsoever. I think that alone can get a bunch of my RPG buds to switch, not to mention the awesomeness of gameplay.

Right now I’m chillin’ at the parents’. My brother and I got mom some Begonias yesterday for Mother’s Day. She seems to like them, but I hope that rabbits don’t start munching on them. We saw the Cubbies finally break a 7 game losing streak. Poor Cubbies. Something tells me it’s going to be another tough year for them. Watching The Phantom Menace at the moment.. Episode III is right around the corner *wipes the geek drool*

And, yes, I’m glaring at you stupid tractor-driving rednecks who insist on driving tractors with max speeds of 20mph on 55mph roads in the frickin midst of morning rush hour traffic 😛