:: Troutmaster blog :: February 2004 Archive

:: Sunday, February 29, 2004 ::

We've had our condo for about 10 months now and we've never run our dishwasher, that was until Saturday. We put regular dish soap in the dishwasher and ran it. That didn't quite work... We had suds and water coming out of the dishwasher and had to mop up the mess. We'll have to try again sometime. I wanted to go snowboarding this weekend, but I think we're going to save that for next weekend. Instead, I had a busy Saturday. I bought a gi for jiu jitsu training and also bought Risk: Lord of the Rings Edition. I have to say that this game is far more complicated than the original version. I have to thoroughly read through the instructions before we try playing it again. We played it last night and spend a large amount of time just starting off the game. I also bought a super dwarf banana plant, so hopefully I'll get some bananas from it at some point.
:: Tom 3:21 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I went to see a controversial movie last night. I went to see "The Passion of Christ" and am wondering what the controversy is about. Here's my review. First, I thought the cinematography was very well done. I also through the actors did a convincing job. And what can you say about the story? I think just about everyone already knows the story, and I think the movie followed the story very closely. But I have to admit that it would be extremely difficult to not get emotionally charged by watching this movie. I know I that I went through a whole range of emotions and was brought to tears by this movie. I can understand how some people would have a difficult time separating the movie itself from their feelings about Jesus. But I had heard before watching this movie that it anti-Jewish. I don't think this movie is any more anti-Jewish than a movie about WWII is anti-German or anti-Japanese. And as far as inciting anti-semitism, my view is that this movie does not make me hate Jews or Romans or anyone for that matter. What is in the past is in the past. Using the WWII analogy it would be the same thing as saying a movie about WWII inciting hatred against the Japanese and Germans. The Japanese and Germans around today are not the ones that our grandparents fought in WWII, so how could we justify hating them? But that's the crux of it isn't it, justifying hatred? It is very rare that someone says they hate a group of people and then give logical reasons. So I guess people that hate other people are going to continue doing so regardless of whatever movie comes out. But really none of that should be included in the review of this movie. Overall I thought the movie was excellent. It was graphic, and I think that was one of the points of the movie. I would compare the gory-ness of this movie to Gladiator. It is just about on the same level except Gladiator doesn't focus as much on the suffering that arises from the violence. So really, the focus on the suffering makes "The Passion of Christ" seem more humane than Gladiator because it shows that there are consequences for inflicting damage on another person. And as far as Mel Gibson not working in Hollywood again is concerned, it would be a shame if that happened because he is immensely talented and did a great job with this movie. Maybe the people in Hollywood have a problem with the message the Jesus delivers. They should not take that up with Mel Gibson, but instead take that up with their maker.
:: Tom 12:35 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I wonder when this wedding will take place? I'm sure the news will be full of nothing but Rosy. So if they are recognized a a married couple, does that mean that her wife can divorce her and take half of her stuff? Yahoo! News Full Coverage - World - Rosie O'Donnell to Marry Girlfriend in San Francisco
:: Tom 8:41 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I'm working on compiling a list of songs that I would not have it if weren't for the iTunes music store. Thus far I've got:
P.I.M.P (featuring Snoop Dog) by 50 Cent
It's Five O'Clock Somewhere by Alan Jackson
The entire Globe Trekker Album
Blue Star by Benny Carter
Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman
Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday
Song 2 by Blur
Dungeon Waltz by Booker Little
Well you get the idea...
There are a lot of songs that just sort of popped into my head and then I was able to find them and buy them on the iTunes store. Overall I would say it is pretty cool.
:: Tom 6:28 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Never one to shy away from controversy I'm willing to take on the issue of gay marriage. First, I want to say that I am not a moderate. I have an opinion, and sometimes I feel like moderates are too afraid to let people know their opinions, so they stay with the majority. So now on to my opinion. I'm not against gay marriage for other people. In my view, if marriage is defined as two consenting adults that agree to spend the rest of their lives together, that's all that matters. I view it as being similar to how interracial marriage was viewed 50 years ago. I think back then people said that it would tear down society and fire and brimstone would fall from the sky. Society is still standing. Now do I think gay marriage is wrong? Yes, because I will never marry another guy. It is wrong for me. Same thing with abortion, I would never get an abortion. It makes it pretty easy for me to say that because I'm a man. And time will tell if gay marriage tears apart society. But I certainly don't think a constitutional amendment is necessary. How about we cover something else in the news now? Perhaps we could cover all the rain we're getting right now and how some of the ski resorts are going to be closed because of the high winds and vast amount of snow. I hope I get to at least do some snowshoeing this weekend.
:: Tom 12:11 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Don't you love the way things are sometimes linked? I need to get something from someone at work so that I can get a task done, they in turn need to get something from someone else so that their task gets done. The third person in turn needs to get something from me in order them to get their task done. So instead of kicking other people in the butt sometimes we should kick ourselves and cut out the middleman. :-)
:: Tom 12:00 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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There has got to be a way to buy gas and fuel futures. I could make tons of money on that. Mercury News | 02/24/2004 | Gas prices soaring near record levels
:: Tom 5:21 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I just had an idea, we can have a hawaiian cookout at my place! The PIXPage - 400-lb Wild Pigs Roam SJ Condo Complex
:: Tom 9:40 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I went to Tulipmania with Timber yesterday. I had originally wanted to drive up to Freemont, take BART into San Francisco, and then take the bus to the other places we wanted to go (Flagship Apple Retail Store & REI). But Timber seems to have some sort of aversion to Public Transportation so we ended up driving up there. We first went to the REI store which was the biggest one I've ever visited, and then we drove down to the Flagship Apple Retail Store. Our information said that Saturday was the grand opening, but when we drove by it was still under construction. But once all of that was out of the way we checked out Tulipmania. I often wonder why I subject myself to these sorts of things, but I get a smile on my face when I think of our June visit to Alaska. At that time I'll make her suffer through Salmonmania. The tulips were nice overall and she took lots of great photos of them. We stopped off at Bubba Gump's for a quick bite to eat and then we were on our way over to Emeryville to visit IKEA. In most of our visits to IKEA we stroll through the store and buy very little, if anything. But this time we got the Forsby table. I bet the sound of Risk dice rolling on this table will be quite nice. :-) But now we have a proper dinner table to eat at...
:: Tom 12:08 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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For any of you out there that haven't seen The Apprentice, you should check it out. In the latest Episode Tammy Lee got Nina'd. A clue to what being Nina'd means can be found at this site. I think Tammy was a good choice because she didn't bring any value to the team and only functioned as dead weight. In other news I went to the gym today and had a better workout than Tuesday.
:: Tom 10:43 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I just found out that Tulipmania is early this year. I think Timber and I are either going up to check it out early on Saturday or Early on Sunday. But I don't want to miss it this year. I'm glad today is my day off from working out, I'm pretty sore. I found out that to get my heart rate up to where it needs to be for my cardio workout I have to run at a pace of 7 Mph. That's crazy! I could only do that for about 15 minutes yesterday before I gave up. Next time I'll try to last a little longer. I think my goal is going to by to lose 20 pounds by the end of May. That way I'll have more fun when we're up in Alaska.
:: Tom 6:51 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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The Dean ship has sunk! So much for the internet...
Yahoo! News - Dean to Leave Race, Mobilize Supporters
:: Tom 9:31 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Alright, today's workout is going to be Tuesday -> Upper body and Lower body weight training (about 30 mins), then 30 mins of cardio. When I do my cardio my target is going to be have my heart rate in between 140 and 174 beats per minute. We'll see if I'm actually able to do all that. I'll report on my progress later.

:: Tom 4:20 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I'm trying to figure out if this is real or not... I'm willing to believe that it is real and that people out there are stupid enough to listen to Outkast when they say "Shake it like a Polaroid picture" You be the judge...CNN.com - Polaroid warns buyers not to 'Shake It' - Feb. 17, 2004
:: Tom 4:08 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Well the weekend is finally over. I got a lot done. I put my snowboarding stuff away, beat Timber at Risk, organized some of my papers, went for a hike, and did lots of other miscellaneous things. I also think I'm going to get an avocado tree for the patio. That is going to rock. Another thing I did was finally give Forrest a titanium spork for Christmas. It was my last chance to do it since he's leaving for India on Friday.
:: Tom 10:52 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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It looks like the Dean ship is about to sink. Adios suckers!
Yahoo! News - Dean Struggles to Keep His Campaign Alive
:: Tom 12:37 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I haven't gotten the hole in the ceiling fixed yet. I wanted to get it done on Wednesday, but I didn't have quite enough time go to Home Depot to get the stuff. The plan is to get it fixed this weekend. This is going to be a busy weekend.
:: Tom 4:08 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I was just paid a visit by the plumber. The total visit cost $200. You might ask what I got for my $200? I got two, six inch plastic pipes replaced with brass pipes which stopped a pretty bad leak. We cut open the area where we saw the leak to confirm that the piece of pipe was indeed causing the leak. So I'm glad that was fixed. The next step is to go to Home Depot to get the supplies to patch up the hole. I'll try to do that tonight. This is part of the joy of being a home owner.
:: Tom 9:22 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I finally got around to posting some of the photos from my vacation last week in Tahoe. You can check them out here.
:: Tom 11:49 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Timber has gotten me into watching the show titled "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" on FOX. I didn't think it was a very good show at first, but now I find the show hilarious. I find it funny mostly because the girl in the show deserves what she is getting. She is fooling her family into thinking she is getting married so that she can win $1M dollars. Of course FOX won't make it easy for her. Another show that I saw coming to FOX is the "Midget Bachelor". What will they think of next?
:: Tom 11:56 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Well I'm back in the routine. I've got a lot of work to do and two soccer games tonight. I played some Risk with Timber last night before going to bed. If she reads my blog entry today she'll get a tip that might save her before I finish her off. You should have taken Australia near the beginning. There was no one there that could fight back. I had a dream last night that one of my friends was about to get into a fight with someone. I jumped in the middle and told them how childish fighting was and recommended that they play Risk to settle their differences. I have a tendency to act in my dreams as I would in real life.
:: Tom 8:55 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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We made it back home last night. We dropped Jackie off in Sacramento and then headed home. We've been working on getting our gear ready for the next trip and enjoying being at home. I half expected to be recovering from this trip in the hospital.
:: Tom 12:10 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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We went snowboarding at Mount Rose today. That makes four days in a row (NorthStar, Alpine Meadows, Sugar Bowl, and Mount Rose) for me. The conditions were not that great today, and we spent a good part of the day searching for powder. Luckily we were able to find some powder and I found a cliff to jump from. I left a crater where I landed, but it was fun and I didn't get hurt. We are dropping Jackie off in Sacramento tomorrow and then heading home. I'll spend the weekend recovering around the house.
:: Tom 11:54 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Timber, Jackie, and I went to Sugar Bowl today. There was no new snow, but we still had a lot of fun. We spent a good amount of time at Strawberry Fields and for our last run of the day we climbed to the top of Mount Judah to get some fresh turns. It was awesome. We are going to have to do that again. We are going to hit Mount Rose tomorrow.
:: Tom 7:14 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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We went to Reno last night to pick up Jackie. On the way there we saw a car that had been overturned on the Mount Rose highway. Once we were in Reno we went to the Nugget downtown and get the Awful Awful. It was awfully good once again. We spent the day snowboarding at Alpine Meadows and got to venture into the backcountry there for the first time. There were points in the day when there was too much powder. I got to observe a few small avalanches that were triggered by other riders.
:: Tom 7:58 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I was just watching the CNN coverage of the primaries today and one of the analysts likened exit polls to crack cocaine. He said that exit polls are like crack cocaine in that past experience tells them that they are dangerous, but they just can't stay away from them. Whoa!
:: Tom 5:49 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I was finally able to connect to the internet! It is a long story, but I'm glad I was finally successful. Timber and I went snowshoeing yesterday near Mount Rose, and today we went snowboarding at NorthStar. It was snowing all day today while we were snowboarding, and I'd guess there were about 10 inches of snow on Timber's car by the time we got back to it. We were able to snowboard all the way back to her car (literally). At times it seemed like there was too much snow.
:: Tom 11:17 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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