Trivia Update: In case you couldn’t tell from the previous post, I’m a little tipsy. Why? We got second place in the trivia tonight! (The team that won was so far in front they had to have cheated.) Even more amazingly, we won four of the mini-jackpots for the night. Snooky won a Wild Turkey prize pack (hat, keychain, coaster, and glass of beer), Kenya won a jug of beer, and I won a Wild Turkey pack and a bottle of wine. In other words, we drank free all night. Personal highlights were naming the song “Sunny Came Home” and the actor who played Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies. (The latter was the subject of an immense bet between a roommate and me in college. Somehow I had picked up the misguided belief that the same actor played Apollo and Lando Calrissian. Can you name both different actors?) Also – what are the four most spoken languages in North America? What are the three biggest islands in the Mediterranean that start with the letter “C”?

If you were head of programming at a cable station, what five television shows would be on your channel? This is the discussion we’re having over at Max’s site. I answered: 1. “Get a Life”; 2. “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose”; 3. Vintage 80’s “Days of Our Lives”; 4. “Double Dare”; 5. “You Can’t Do That on Television”. The Snook’s answers: 1. “The Goodies”; 2. “Dr. Who”; 3. “Battle of the Planets”; 4. “You Can’t Do That on Television”; 5. “The Greatest American Hero”.

Two comments: First, hello? We both picked “You Can’t Do That on Television”! He hadn’t heard my answers when he said that. He confessed to having a crush on Moose too. And second, his Mom informed me that when he was little he fashioned himself a “Greatest American Hero” costume from a pair of pajamas. How freakin’ cute is that?

Surprise victory.
There’s a posh boutique down the street from my house and every day as I walk by I covet the grey wool skirt in the window. It’s fitted from the waist to the knee but then has these kicky big pleats that make it look like something from the 1940’s. I figured they wouldn’t have any size to fit me though so I never went in… until today. “Screw it!” I thought. So I went in and asked the guy (who turned out to be the designer himself) what sizes he had. He said he had a 14. I haven’t been a 14 since high school. He held it up though… and it kinda looked like it might fit. So I tried it on. And it did fit! I stood there in the changing room like an idiot pulling on the zipper because I just couldn’t believe that I’d really zipped it all the way up. It didn’t look that great on me, to tell the truth, but that’s beside the point. Wearing a 14 was one of my original weightloss goals! I’ve probably been this size for ages but never thought to check. Amazing.

(And no, I didn’t buy the skirt. On top of its unflatteringness, it was $120! I thanked the man and made a hasty retreat.)

I keep forgetting to update my reading list. Anyway, I just finished Orson Scott Card’s book Ender’s Game. It’s one that I always meant to read, but I’ve had such bad luck with the “geek canon” lately that I was almost scared to try. (Examples: though I loved Philip K. Dick, William Gibson and the Dune series really let me down.) I shouldn’t have worried. Ender’s Game was fantastic. It’s really almost a kid’s book, and once I picked it up I found it difficult to put down. In the future humanity is threatened by a sentient alien species called “buggers” so we specially breed and train military commanders to lead the war against them. That makes it sound boring and nerdy. Really it’s about an 8-year-old boy called Ender who just might be the hero we need. The story follows him through his training, which mostly involves playing games (both physical and video). It’s really, really good. I had a couple remaining comments and questions for those of you who’ve read it…Okay, the ending blindsided me. It all works, but it just happened so fast. It’s like, I was getting worried that Ender was still in “training” with only 20 pages to go, and then suddenly the war was over, the colony thing happened, he and Valentine got older, Peter ruled the world, and then Ender discovered that he could help the buggers live again. I know there are sequels, but it just felt a little rushed.

Okay, so we’re to assume that the buggers sorta “read his mind” via the ansible during those couple weeks when he was going crazy from the battles? Why only him? Was it because of his super-empathetic ability? The rotting-giant-hollow freaked me out. So they didn’t put it in the game; they just dredged it up from his subconscious to get his attention. Remember the bit where he saw Peter’s face though, and someone commented that it was a picture the computer couldn’t have seen? Where did that come from? That’s the loose end that bothers me the most. Any ideas?

I like it when people don’t realize their domain names can be read in different ways than they intend. Today’s examples: powergenitalia.com and artisansexchange.com. Hee!

Update: It appears that the first one isn’t working right now. It’s actually the site for PowerGen Italia, an Italian company that makes batteries. It was mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald today so it must have gotten too much attention. 🙂

What do you think Martha Stewart’s jail cell will look like? (Apologies for harshing on your idol, Max, but it was too funny to pass up.)

Great discussion at not martha (6/17 entry) about the preferred order for receiving change from a cashier. Personally, I hate it when they give me change on top of the bills. The grocery store in Newtown is even worse because they usually throw the receipt in there too. So I stand there juggling change and trying to get receipt into bag, change into compartment, and bills into slot before the next customer barrels up and knocks me over. As a former checkout chick I guess I understand part of the impulse: if you put the bills down first, you don’t have to touch the person’s hand. (You’d be surprised how many ferals there are in my Indiana town – and in Newtown too.) The end result is I’m using my debit card more and more, which means I never have change for train tickets or the pop machine. It’s a no-win situation. Which way do you prefer?

I scored 34% (“Total Geek”) on this Geek Test. The Snook managed a 37% (“Major Geek”). This should come as a surprise to no one.

I was all set not to recommend this Mash Game because I had such trouble getting the stupid thing to work on my Mac. When I finally got it to function in IE though, my fortune was so good that I just had to share. According to the site, I’m going to be a professional knitter in Paris and drive a pink PT Cruiser. I’m going to be married to Seth Green and we’re going to live in a mansion with no kids. That rules!

The official race photographs have been posted and there are two of me! Unfortunately their stupid site won’t let me link directly to them, so you’ll have to search on my number (6847) if you want to see them. The one on the right is from about the halfway point, while the one on the left is just as I was coming up to the finish line.