Perspectives

Cari and I went to see The Duchess yesterday. I thought it was really good, but very sad. It made me cry, which hasn't happened in a movie for a while.

On the ride home discussing the movie, it quickly became obvious that Cari was mainly effected by the love story while I was mainly affected by the story of her relationship with her children. I guess that's understandable, considering the difference in our life stages. It's one more piece of evidence on how different my view has become since having a baby.

The woman I took my private pilot check ride with just won her second US National Aerobatic Championship. When I flew with her last June, she had just had shoulder surgery and could barely move her arm far enough forward to grasp the yoke. Guess she got throug rehab OK!

HoaxBusters

I am so there!

Please don't become BSG 1980

That's what I was repeating out loud 15 minutes from the mid-season finale when Jen and I watched it tonight. It was great, there's been a lot of stuff happening in the last few episodes as they begin to close up the series with half a season left.

Anyways, I'll post the rest in the comments. With spoilers.

Snoozing

I think Carina inherited her sleeping habits from me. When we don't have the daily necessity of getting up in time to get to day care, we tend to sleep later every morning and stay up later every night. Gavin says that we're just getting her on Pacific time early, but by the time we head back to home she's going to be on Hawaii time at this rate.

I bought my brother-in-law a game called "Masons" for Christmas. We played it a couple nights ago, and it was pretty fun. It's sort of in the "Settlers" category of games. It doesn't have the trading aspect of Settlers, which is one of my favorite things about the game. Masons can be played by two people, though, which could be very useful.

she has good taste in movies!

Last night AMC was playing The Hunt for Red October, so we watched it. Carina was fascinated by the movie! Maybe it was the sonar sounds, or the ocean cloaked submarine profiles, or Sean Connery's accent, but Carina had a great time.

And then, for an encore, AMC played a widescreen version with tons of factoids on the bottom of the screen! If only I had known before I had spent two hours watching it. Oh well. I guess I had to watch it again. Not many people can say they've watched 5 hours of The Hunt for Red October in one day. Except, perhaps, the film projectionists. And the people that made the film. And Sarah's family.

Did you know that:
- Sean Connery often felt sea-sick when they tilted the submarine control room?
- The principle screenwriter was offhandedly offered the Chief of the Boat (CoB) role on USS Dallas, and consequently kept writing his character into more and more scenes? The screenwriter and director together acted out scenes before cutting the shooting script.
- The sub yard that Jack Ryan visits was a real submarine drydock in San Diego, the first time the US Navy had ever let a film crew in to see one? They draped tarps over the propeller section since its design was (and is) classified.
- They used many US Navy crewmen for the Dallas and Reuben James scenes?
- They used Russian immigrants and US Coast Guard crewmen for the Red October?
- Most of the Russian immigrants refused to sing the Russian national hymn?
- Sean Connery wasn't the first choice for Ramius, but the previous actor had to withdraw when production was delayed?
- The director wrestled briefly with the selection of Connery? He wanted the audience to question Ramius' motives for much of the movie and he was worried that with Connery, no one would believe he was a bad guy. But he decided, hey, it's Sean Connery, we'll live with him!
- Once James Earl Jones signed on, a lot more actors came out of the woodwork to try to join the cast?
- The movie was being produced as the Berlin Wall was crumbling? The director had already thought to make the movie like a second Russian Revolution (homage to The Battleship Potemkin classic), and the real world events just prior to the release of the movie really hit home.
- Clancy loosely based his story on an article he had read concerning the Soviet frigate Storozhevoy that attempted to defect? The Russians declassified the 1976 incident just as the movie opened. The frigate had made it to within 21 miles of Sweden before being forced to surrender.

"... and stay out of politics!"

Last year I saw that Jim Baker, Reagan's Chief-of-Staff and Secretary of Treasury, Bush 41's Secretary of State, had a book out. "Work Hard, Study... and Keep Out of Politics!" After blitzkrieging through Harry Potter, this book has been a fun and different read. It covers his life before and during public service. Baker has some great perspective on the fall of Communism and the first Gulf War. He also touches upon several presidential campaigns and the Florida recount in 2000. But what I really enjoyed are the stories of President Reagan. From pp159:

The president often directed his wit at his own alleged frailties in a way that charmed his friends and disarmed all but the most humor-impaired critics. [...] After a U.S. fighter plane shot down two Libyan jets one night, controversy erupted because the president had not been awakened. "I've laid down the law, though," he joked later at a dinner for White House correspondents. "From now on... no matter what time it is, wake me... even if it's in the middle of a cabinet meeting.

It turns out he wrote a larger book in 1995, The Politics of Diplomacy, which goes in much greater detail concerning his role in the global events between 1989 and 1992. He wrote it to serve as a historical record and analysis of his work as Secretary of State. I think it might be a good read as well.

Deathly Hallows

After spending some of the evenings last week rereading Book 6, I was able to punch through Book 7 last night and this morning. I liked it a lot, especially the second half which reaches a spectacular climax suiting the entire series. I'm sure many, like myself, had questions about what happens to some of the characters afterwards. Turns out Rowling was going to put a lot more at the end, but felt it didn't read well. If you've already read the book, then feel free to check this out. It's an interview where Rowling fills in some of the gaps.

More Than Meets The Eye

We saw Transformers when it opened, but were stuck in the 3rd row. My impression then was that the first half of the movie was incredible and that the second half was okay. So I went to see it again yesterday with some friends who hadn't seen it yet, and then time we had good seats. I liked the second half a lot more, now that I could actually see what was going on. ;) I still feel like there is a change in the script around when Section Seven shows up, a change that wasn't for the better.

It's interesting how all the evil Decepticons use military or government vehicles, and the good Autobots use the civilian vehicles. I guess the Autobots also have the good guy armies on their side... the Decepticons are rather outnumbered.

Blessed Silence

Well, the guest onslaught is over. Both Gavin and I are missing our niece today, but it is rather nice to have a quiet house again. Three-year-olds have tons of energy and no volume control. I'm not sure whether I miss being followed around constantly being asked "Whatchou doing?". A typical conversation would go something like this...

Caroline: "Whatchou doing?"

Me: "Feeding Carina."

Caroline: "What's Carina doing?"

Me: "Eating milk."

Caroline: "She drinking the milk?"

Me: "Yes."

Caroline: "Whatchou doing now?"

Despite some concern that she was fussing more than usual yesterday (and her rude inauguration of Cari as babysitter) Carina slept well again in her own room last night. I got 5 full hours of uninterrupted sleep last night between a 12:30 AM feeding and a 5:45 AM feeding. And she's been down since 2:00 PM this afternoon for a good nap.

We saw the new Harry Potter movie last night, and I was pleased. Since I've read the books several times, I was concious of the moving being a little thin relative to the book. It's unavoidable as the books get longer and more involved. I think they did a pretty good job with the movie as far as removing the details that weren't essential to keep the run time reasonable.

I've got a hint of a sore throat today, which scares this new mother. First of all, I don't want the baby to get sick. Secondly, I don't want to be sick and have to take care of the baby. I have enough trouble getting things done as it is. Must get a maid...

Battlestar Galactica

I don't watch TV much these days. There are a few exceptions. Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Numbers. And Battlestar Galactica.

I missed out on Battlestar when it first came out. Enough friends recommended it to me that I watched an episode, found it interesting enough to borrow some DVDs, and that was it. Now Jen and I are both hooked, ready for the third season premiere. A few friends are coming over tonight, so, I must go make sure that our sound system will work with the TV direct (we originally set it up for just DVDs).

There's a lot of hype about the show in the news the last few days. For once, I'm inclined to believe the hype. The first two seasons were great stories with characters that seem real, with the second being stronger than the first. I would be surprised if they didn't get even better.

Kids Say

OK, so it's way past time for me to post already.

I talked to my sister yesterday. She says that Caroline has been asking for us ever since we left Wyoming. She was in the grocery store the other day, and there was a guy that looked *a bit* like Gavin. Caroline starts yelling "Gabbin! Gaaaabbbin!" across the store. Jessica had trouble convincing her that it wasn't Gavin. They also took a car trip over the holiday weekend, and as soon as they buckeled Caroline into her car seat she started demanding "Jen! Come Jen!". Doesn't that just melt your heart?

I had a busy weekend. Here's the short version...

Sundance Grill in Seabrook is good, but the birds are mean (I got pooped on and pecked at) and the tiki tourches catch on fire - more than they're supposed to, I mean.

Talladega Nights is 60% funny, 15% boring, and 25% over the top.

We were the "Bubba Burger Lucky Row" at the Astros game. We got t-shirts and coupons for frozen hamburgers shaped like Texas.

I hate cleaning.

One more of my friends is 30 now.

Josh went to DC, and I ate lots of fried stuff.

Fame

So after Becca's post today, I googled my name. Interesting results...

"Jennifer M..." produced
My WoT rant on Amazon
Mars Exploration on Inbox Robot - my name shows up in the google description, but I can't find it on the actual page
My Flickr profile
A bunch of false positives that have Gavin, Mike, or Lauren listed

"Jen M..." produced
The Quote Board - flashback
A bunch of Yuri's Night listings
Everybody's blogs, including my favorite post of Becca's ever
A bunch of false positives that have Gavin, Mike, or Lauren listed

"Jennifer S..." produced
My co-op bio - #1, I was suprised that the #1 Jennifer S... listing is actually me
The UW Sigma Gamma Tau alumni list

"Jen S..." produced
A listing of names flown on Stardust - forgot I did that

So, as far as the internet knows, I'm famous for being friends with people, Yuri's Night, liking space, and dissing Robert Jordan. My star is rising.

Invincible

Becca, Sarah, Jen and I went to see Invincible yesterday afternoon, the football movie with Mark Wahlberg as the Philadelphia Eagle walk-on. It was pretty good, I liked it. I didn't know any of the background story going in, so, I wasn't sure how it was going to end. I mean, I had an idea (it is a Disney movie, after all), but sometimes Disney surprises me.

In other news, looks like Atlantis will roll back to the safety of the huge assembly building as the storm Ernesto threatens the Cape. First the most powerful lightning strike ever recorded at the Cape, then the first hurricane of the season... I wonder what the next challenge will be to get this mission underway.

Withdrawal x 2

Well, I have survived the first week back in the office after the flight. My mentor had been predicting for months that I would suffer from some pretty severe post-flight withdrawal. He was right. The only thing that is keeping me up is the thought of vacation in two weeks. That and the fact that the launch of STS-115 is still scheduled for August 28.

We finished watching Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica last night. In order to see the last episode, we had to obtain an illegal copy off the internet. My conscience is assuaged, though, by the fact that we fully intend to buy the DVDs when they come out in September.

Now I have to wait until next season like everyone else. Booo.

AI and Melys

We went to Mely's tonight for the first time in over a month. That's quite a record for us. Now I will watch American Idol and then go to bed so that I can hopefully get up early enough to go to work before 8:00. I need to start going in earlier.

Speaking of AI, I think Ace needs to go home this week. I know he's prettier than everyone else in the competition this year, but he's not that great a musician. He's always somewhat out of tune, and he doesn't do anything interesting. Anyhow, that's my vote.