Rants R Us

jrolsma @ 2007-12-07T22:11:00

2007-12-08T05:12:30Z

This is no surprise to anyone who knows me.

95%ALCOHOLIC

How the Grinch stole Christmas

2007-12-08T04:39:56Z

Consider:

My daughter is with her father out of town for Christmas from the 20th to the 28th.
My boyfriend is going to see his grandfather and one of his friends leaving the 23rd and coming back around the 30th.
My sister has invited me to her in-laws for Christmas dinner with 20 of her closest in-law relations.

Is it any wonder I have a Grinch name like:

Crabbyfrown Rottenpants?

What's your Grinch Name?

meme stolen from rimrunner

2007-09-19T02:26:26Z

The Weasley twins are my favorites.

Who is your Harry Potter love match? (for girls)

Fred or George WeasleyThe practical joke was invented for people like you. You love to be surprised, and revel with a guy who has a wicked sense of humour, is always optimistic, and has the same merry disregard for rules as you.
Take this quiz!

Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

jrolsma @ 2007-09-18T18:47:00

2007-09-19T00:50:37Z

Robert Jordan died two days ago.

It made me sad to hear it. He's had a significant influence on my life. In fact, there wouldn't be this journal without his books (it was a long path, but trust me it was there).

And then Randy Milholland captures the feeling of lost fans.

meme!

2007-09-05T03:21:45Z

Stolen from Stormfeather.

I had to know how nerdy random people on the internet think I am.

Bad news kids...

2007-08-17T03:17:35Z

According to this meme, I'll be taking over the world any day now.

This rules. I always knew I needed to study the evil overlord list for a reason.

I AM
73%
MEGATRON Take the Transformers Quiz

Blame missysedai for this trip into my soul.

I can has lolcats?

2007-08-14T03:15:08Z

Meme!

I love this one.

Your Score: Lion Warning Cat

60% Affectionate, 62% Excitable, 35% Hungry

You are the good Samaritan of the lolcat world. Protecting others from danger by shouting observations and guidance in cases of imminent threat, you believe in the well-being of everyone.

To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Harry Potter

2007-07-23T02:22:52Z

Warning! Warning! Spoilers for the new book in this post!

DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER! DANGER!

If that wasn't sufficient warning, it's your own fault for being spoiled.

Well, it was a predictable and yet well done. Despite a fairly incomprehensible reason for Harry not dying, I enjoyed the ending immensely. For all those Snape fans out there, some excellent closure. Nice look at the young Lilly and Petunia.

Some of my favorite characters didn't make it out of this book. Sad. Very sad. The Weasley's took heavy damage, but I was happy to see Molly finally get to do something other than wring her hands, nag the kids and worry about one of her thousands of kids dying.

I definitely loved this book. It was darker than any of the others but the story went where it needed to go.

Cheers:

Neville and Luna really came into their own in this book. Especially Neville.
Harry did a great job of stepping up to his responsibilities (and convincing Lupin to do the same)
Ginny once again took no crap.
Ron and Hermione's relationship came together nicely.
The darkness of Dumbledore's past was a welcome change.
Kreacher's rehabilitation was beautiful.
Dudley is a human being. Who knew?

Jeers:
She had to kill 4 of my favorite characters and the Malfoy's get off scot free? Major suckage.
The reason Harry didn't die made no sense to me. I read it three times and I still don't get it. I'll have to try again, maybe do an entire re-read.
Ginny needed more action.

The last chapter (19 years later) was in some ways unsatisfying. Who was the headmaster? What does Harry do for a living? And Ron? I liked Harry's kids names.

All in all, a fine finish to the series.

Harry Potter predictions

2007-07-20T22:30:22Z

This is just for me so I can say "See! I knew it!" later after I read the new book. I haven't read any of the spoilers or anything. I get my copy tomorrow at Barnes and Noble. I finished re-reading #6 last night and had a few thoughts.

1. Regulus Black isn't dead. He's in the equivalent of the witness protection program for wizards. I think Dumbledore faked Regulus death to keep him safe.

2. Harry is a Horcrux. They say so many times that the horcrux is a piece of the soul, a wizard has to kill to create one, and Harry has a piece of Voldemort in him. How can he not be a horcrux?

3. If Harry is a horcrux, he has to be destroyed before Voldemort can die. I'm not sure this means Harry will die, but it will have to be something pretty amazing to not make his lack of dying make sense in anything more than a "Stranger Than Fiction" way.

4. Regulus and Harry play Batman and Robin. Ginny comes and saves them both in a Batgirl role. Just because I want to see it.

I'll let you know if I'm right about any of them.

Harry Potter mania!!!!!!

2007-07-18T02:37:22Z

Sadly enough, this one actually works for me.

Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!

Meme!

2007-07-15T05:43:58Z

Stolen from stormfeather

Your Score: The Wolf

Here's your results! Your spirit animal has a Nobility ranking of 12 out of 18.

Your spirit animal is the wolf. It is a ferocious companion, and a loyal friend. It is both a respectable and noble creature; to have this spirit animal says good things about you, and that you are starting to figure things out. Wolves are pretty rare spirit animals.

***Wondering how this animal was chosen for you? These questions were carefully thought out to see how important you hold certain virtues such as: humanism, self-knowledge, rationalism, the love of freedom and other somewhat Hellenic ideals. Some of the questions were very subtle. Your score was then matched with an animal of corresponding nobility. However, you shouldn't think this was a right/wrong sort of test, but more of an idealistic values test. It's ok to not hold these values, you'll just get an animal spirit of lower stature if you do!***

Link: The What is Your Spirit Animal Test written by FindingEros on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Meme!

2007-07-01T18:43:18Z

I love this one. I stole it from rimrunner and absolutely adore it.

When you see this post, quote from Doctor Who on your LJ.

"You just assume I don't...dance"

Ninth Doctor while resonating concrete. So many wonderful quotes from that episode like "I've had many companions over the years but you seem especially jeopardy friendly." or "Who says I'm not red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve?" and "Who am I to argue with history? Rose: Usually the first in line." imdb has a bunch of good ones but it also misses some of the ones I really loved.

Movie review

2007-06-25T04:17:17Z

So, I took my daughter to see Nancy Drew yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. The kids were mostly adorable and looked very young. I was pleasantly surprised that they got an actual 16 year old to play a 16 year old detective. Her boyfriend, Ned, was a 19 year old.

Things I liked:

Characterization. Nancy is portrayed as slightly old fashioned and an overachiever but there is very little camp to the way she is shown. Ned was absolutely wonderful. They gave him a small role as her moral support from back home without making it like he was rescuing her. He wasn't there as comic relief to get into trouble she had to save him from. He was just a guy. Even when the LA girls started hitting on him, they gave him a realistic reaction of irritation rather than making it a comic moment.

The Story: It's a simple mystery with fairly straight forward clues and resolutions[1]. It is also something a 16 year old girl could have figured out without requiring too much suspension of disbelief on the viewers side. Also, this one was girl power in the sense of there being no need to rescue the girl but it wasn't offensive to the guy's side either by making Ned a milquetoast or comic relief.

Things I didn't like: The bad guy was the typical caricature you find in this kind of kid's movie. Plus, not enough Ned-time. He had good chemistry on-screen with Nancy Drew.

Overall, I enjoyed it more than High School Musical (not a terrible movie, but nothing I want to see again) but not as much as The Incredibles.

[1] I could tell immediately from the description of the "mystery" that there was a missing heir and it was predictable in what would happen in the end. The fact that the heir turned the house into a home for single moms was a nice touch.

Meme!

2007-06-24T05:56:19Z

This one is so very...um..odd.

You scored as Dante Alighieri, According to you most of humanity will spend at least some of their afterlife in hell. You have a high likelihood of being exiled, but anyone as bloody fucking romantic as you deserves what they get. You have an exceptional moral code, overshadowed by the fact that you yourself cannot uphold it.

Your existence bears a definite irony, although of fairly Christian morality, many pagans, satanists, communists, and intellectuals admire you and your works for all the wrong reasons.

Also, the brighest star in your sky is never going to be your lover...

It takes a lot of grief to be the cartographer of hell.

</td>

Dante Alighieri

100%

Sigmund Freud

67%

Miyamoto Musashi

67%

Jesus Christ

50%

Friedrich Nietzsche

42%

C.G. Jung

42%

Adolf Hitler

33%

Stephen Hawking

33%

Mother Teresa

33%

O.J. Simpson

25%

Charles Manson

Elvis Presley

Hugh Hefner

Steven Morrissey

What Pseudo Historical Figure Best Suits You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Why is all the rum gone?

2007-06-18T03:39:52Z

Or at least livejournal. Turns out that my workplace has updated their Websense software and now livejournal, and BoingBoing, are gone. Gone. Rats.

On the other hand, I've gotten in a significant amount of reading lately. Mostly rereads of the Dresden series (or at least what I could find of them - book 1 went to my nephew last fall, book 4 and book 7 are currently MIA). I'm working on some non-fiction right now - The Black Swan. A chapter in and I'm still interested. We'll see how that goes.

There was also a book on Enterprise Architecture. It was not a great translation from the original language (may have been German based on the examples it used, but definitely not French or Spanish), but it was ok. It was very jarring to read about a holistic approach to IT. It isn't a bad concept, just a poor word choice to get through to the technology types at the CXO level.

Did I mention I've read "Uglies" and "Pretties" by Scott Westerfield? Well I did. I need to read "Specials". Overall, I give them a thumbs up.

They're a great commentary on fitting in and being superficial. Basically, in this society everyone gets plastic surgery at the age of 16. They have their entire bodies redone into some "ideal" of pretty. The young pretties are made vapid along with pretty. They stay that way until they become "middle pretties". Middle pretties are the ones who have jobs and kids. Nobody every becomes an old pretty. They get old, but they stay pretty, and stupid. Turns out that the dumbness is due to the operations.

There is a girl who is the last of her friends to get the operation which she really wants but she ends up being refused because one of her friends runs away and the powers that be think she knows where the friend went. She eventually changes her mind about wanting the operation, but due to circumstances (i.e. the end of book one) she gets changed anyway. Book 2 is about her fighting against the brain lesions that make pretties so stupid. I haven't read book 3 yet, but it's about the "Specials". Specials are basically pretty enforcers. They get called in when things go wrong (like a small society of people who refuse to be pretty).

I really enjoy the writing and the subjects are handled pretty well. It doesn't feel like he uses a clue-by-four with the moral of the story but it isn't so subtle the young adults it is aimed at won't get it. These books are about not being a follower, using your brain the way it was designed, making good choices - all good concepts for young adults to know. It's aimed at early teenagers who will be faced with the peer pressure and choices about fitting in for the next few years and does a nice job of presenting things in an entertaining way.

All in all, I wouldn't mind having my daughter read them in a year or two when she's old enough to understand the concepts.

Goodness. None of that is what I was going to write about, so I guess it won't hurt to throw in a random restaurant review!

The Cup
4959 Pan American Fwy NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109-2243

The Cup is located near the Century Rio 24 movie theater in Albuquerque. They are owned by the same people who own the Gold Street Cafe. The restaurant opened just a few weeks ago and business has been slow so far as I can see. 3 of us went for dinner last night and decided to give the new place a try.

Overall impression: The food is excellent and at a reasonable price.

Specifics: Two of us had the red snapper enchilada special. They were both very happy with the choice. The enchilada's were covered with a very light, flavorful mole sauce. The beans needed salt, but the enchilada's were delicious as was the rice.

I had the french dip au jus. The filling choices were beef or portobello and the au jus was a vegetarian green chile. I got the beef which was cooked to a tenderness you don't get at many places on their top sirloins and a choice of how I wanted it cooked which tells me they made me a great steak and then sliced it for the sandwich. Amazing. The side I chose was a potato salad which had a touch of red chile in it. Fantastic.

I just worry that word won't get out about how tasty it is before they have to close. So those of you in the Albuquerque area, go try them! They're open for breakfast and lunch Sunday and Monday, dinner until 10:00pm Tuesday - Saturday.

I guess that's everything for now. There's some drama with the child but I'll let that sit for now. I just want to know if every 8 year old turns into a stranger out of the blue. sigh.

Today's Heroes marathon on Sci Fi

2007-05-19T16:01:02Z

SciFi channel is having a Heroes marathon today. Since I have a little time right now, I figure I'll just make note of the things I've been trying to recall as they show up.

I'm watching "Fallout" right now. Primatech does know who Sylar really is and what his original power is. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they know all of his powers. Bennet talks to Sylar in his cell and calls him Gabriel. He even mentions his work with watches, then corrects himself and calls them "timepieces".

So if Peter and Bennet sit down and talk, it's possible that Bennet could tell Pete how to beat Sylar with the powers he's absorbed so far. Bennet is the only one with any sense in this show.

ETA: In "Godsend", they talk about how they can find out what the person's powers are. They have a way of using a chemical to find out what a person can do. They were having trouble with Sylar though. They could only find the telekinesis he used to smash the glass and get to Eden. Apparently his powers work differently than the rest of them ('cause of the brain eating!).

ETA2: In "Distractions", Bennet actually does shoot Sylar. He hits him solidly enough to knock him down. Either Sylar is wearing a bullet proof vest (doubtful) or he has some way of preventing the injury or healing it quickly.

I vote for prevention. Some way of making his body impenetrable to the bullet makes more sense than healing in the context of Sylar's powers.

ETA: Episode "Unexpected". Sylar doesn't walk in to kill Dale, the lady with the awesome hearing. What power does he use to get there without walking? I suspect it's part of the telekinesis.

Awwwwww yeaaaahhhhh....

2007-05-19T05:02:14Z

Mr. HRG himself.

Your Score: Mr. Bennet

You scored 50 Idealism, 54 Nonconformity, 62 Nerdiness

Are you on the list?
Congratulations, you're Mr. Bennet! You are one mysterious person with mysterious motives. Despite all the mystery, it's clear that you believe what you do is for the greater good, and you are obviously a well-educated person in your field.

Your best quality: Dedication to your work/organization/etc.
Your worst quality: Keeping too many secrets

Link: The Heroes Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Because it's Friday and I'm in a bit of a mood.

2007-05-18T22:44:53Z

Memage.

Stolen from desdenova because I couldn't let her be wrong.

She says:
26. Who will repost this after you? Someone who went to a more typical high school, I'm sure.

And I am (if Catholic school counts as typical)

1. Who was your best friend? Barb.

2. What sports did you play? Golf for one semester.

3. What kind of car did you drive? I didn't drive a car.

4. It's Friday night, where were you? At home watching something on TV or more likely reading. For some time in there I did play D & D.

5. Were you a party animal? Not only No but hell No.

6. Were you considered a flirt? Rumor has it I was exceptionally shy and completely socially inept. I did get voted class "individual". I'm not sure it was a compliment.

7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? band and choir.

8. Were you a nerd? If desdenova was the one they named Nerdsville after, I was the mayor of the town. Sci-fi books and movies, Star Trek, D & D, marching band, you name it. I can't imagine why the class would vote me class individual if I wasn't a total nerd.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No. I was so squeaky clean people thought I must have been hiding something.

10. Can you sing the fight song? No, but I used to be able to play it on a clarinet.

11. Who was your favorite teacher? It was a close tie between Father Aucoin and Father Gaffney. Both of them believed in treating teenagers like thinking human beings. Both of them taught about critical thinking. Neither of them believed in having a teacher's pet.

12. What was your school's full name? Immaculate Heart Central High School.

13. School mascot? A guy with a feathered hat (a.k.a a Cavalier)

14. Did you go to Prom? Yes.

15. If you could go back and do it over, would you? This is not only no but hell NO. I hated the inanity of the classes with few exceptions. I hated being a teenager with raging hormones and poor social skills. The only thing I miss from those days is my waist line and trust me, I would not go back to get it.

16. What do you remember most about graduation? Lame parties afterwards except for the one a couple of days later that I got drunk at. It was my first time getting drunk and my mother laughed at me.

17. Where were you on senior skip day? We didn't have a whole day, just a morning. I was in the line of cars making noise on the way to school after the breakfast at HoJo's and the champagne on a back road near the school.

18. Did you have a job your senior year? I didn't have one. I don't think most kids in our school did. Most of them came from pretty affluent backgrounds. (I stole this answer straight from desdenova 'cause it's true for me too).

19. Where did you go most often for lunch? School cafeteria. We weren't allowed off campus during school hours.

20. Have you gained weight since then? I've not only gained weight but what amounts to almost another whole me.

21. What did you do after graduation? Went to a lame party then to a decent one I couldn't drink at because I was driving.

22. When did you graduate? 1985. sigh

23. Who was your Senior prom date? Glen.

24. Are you going to your 10 year reunion? Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the hangover. Ditto for the 20 year. SIGH

25. Who was your home room teacher? What year? Father Gaffney freshman and senior. Mrs. Biedekapp Sophmore. Sister something-or-other junior I think.

26. Who will repost this after you? Probably paoconnel. He needs to update his journal and this as good a reason as any. :-)

Heroes

2007-05-03T04:12:14Z

All that rooting about in the Heroes forum has finally paid off. Most of the theories make no sense at all or are weeks behind the discussion at desdenova's journal. On the other hand, I found this:

Interview with the people behind the scenes

The short version is Sylar doesn't have any powers of compulsion (Eden's sacrifice was successful) and all those "crazy" theories about interim timelines are right. There are some small things that change every time Hiro jumps around in time. There were a couple of other tidbits that I liked as well.

Check it out.

(ETA: And desdenova was right about Linderman being influenced by Ozymandias.)

Meme stolen from missysedai

2007-04-22T19:28:33Z

Turns out to be exactly right for me.

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

Northern. Whether you have the world famous Inland North accent of the Great Lakes area, or the radio-friendly sound of upstate NY and western New England, your accent is what used to set the standard for American English pronunciation (not much anymore now that the Inland North sounds like it does).

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

Book report

2007-04-17T03:31:53Z

I finished reading "White Night" this weekend. Ah, Harry Dresden how I love thee. In this book you can see how far he's come as a wizard and as a nice tidbit, he can too. There are more basic intrigues, only one ongoing plotline got cleared up, but overall it was a fine addition to the series.

It even had bits that took part in New Mexico! Whee! (He should have gone for southwest NM, but I can live with his poor choice).

I might be easy to please, but this one was still a bunch of fun for me. I definitely recommend it.

Books

2007-04-04T03:25:53Z

Book reports. Been meaning to get to these.

First, Susan Cooper "The Dark Is Rising"

I enjoyed the book. Not much really happened in this one except for some mystical time manipulation and some really easy retrieval of artifact stuff. All the same, it was a pleasant read that pulled me in for the feel of it more than anything. Another woman[1] I know who read it said that both she and her son felt like it was confusing. Neither of them could figure out what was going on and it didn't really hold together for them. For me it seemed like the point of the book was the journey, not the destination. The quests were simplistic and seemed relatively easy but the feel was lovely.

I'll read the rest, but I'm not in a hurry. Not for those who want complexity in their adventures but if you enjoy the journey and YA novels, it won't put you to sleep.

[1] The epitome of the soccer mom. Nice lady but I wouldn't say her interests are complex. Her son, on the other hand, has a need for some more non-fiction type stories. His taste in fantasy tends toward longer and more complex stories. Think 11 year old who loves Lord of the Rings and is looking for similar.

Second, Val McDermid "The Mermaids Singing"

Dark. Bloody. Graphic. On the other hand, an excellent serial killer mystery novel. The heroes are flawed at best but have a definite chemistry. I won't say I "enjoyed" it due to the subject matter (gruesome torture to death of single men) but it was an excellent mystery.

Third, Val McDermid "Wire in the blood"

I liked the story for this serial killer more than "The Mermaids Singing" but the character development was definitely ongoing and well done. The two primary characters are developing an interesting dynamic that is similar to the TV show but much more complicated.

I'm definitely enjoying this series and will keep reading to see where it goes.

And finally, Max Brooks "World War Z"

This was a fun read. It's subtitle is "An oral history of the Zombie war" and it is exactly that. It is presented as a series of interviews with survivors of the war. They're well written with a wide range of characters. I can't speak to authenticity of some of the foreign voices, but the writing was engaging.

Not bad for a few weeks effort.

meme stolen from missysedai

2007-04-02T02:30:28Z

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated.
You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

Books

2007-03-15T00:42:24Z

Well, the reading more books this year thing is going slowly but quicker than last year. I finally finished another one. This time, it was "Dead on My Feet" by Wm. Mark Simmons.

The book is about a guy who is part vampire due to some exchange with Vlad Dracul, whom everyone thinks is dead. He lost his family in a car accident and is now a bitter, independently wealthy professor and private eye living in New Orleans under the theory that the vampire clans won't bother him there. Due to an accident, he ends up involved in a series of unfortunate events that involve vodun loa, zombie civil war soldiers, more vampires than you can shake a stick at, and a plot to destroy the world.

It was an entertaining read. It never really hit dark and gritty nor was it light and fluffy. I enjoyed it, but it definitely never hit the mark in tone or pacing. The attempts to make the main character a funny smartass fall flat in places making the main character's personality a bit annoying at times.

This is the second in a series of books that start with "One Foot In the Grave". It was a present from a friend - I don't think I would have picked it up on my own. I may go back and read the first at some point just as I may go pick up the third as well. I probably will not go out of my way for either of them, though.

Next up, "The Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper.

Meme

2007-03-12T03:37:39Z

The Everything Test

There are many different types of tests on the internet today. Personality tests, purity tests, stereotype tests, political tests. But now, there is one test to rule them all.

Traditionally, online tests would ask certain questions about your musical tastes or clothing for a stereotype, your experiences for a purity test, or deep questions for a personality test.We're turning that upside down - all the questions affect all the results, and we've got some innovative results too! Enjoy :-)

Personality

You are more logical than emotional, more concerned about others than concerned about self, more atheist than religious, more dependent than loner, more lazy than workaholic, more traditional than rebel, more engineering mind than artistic mind, more cynical than idealist, more leader than follower, and more introverted than extroverted.

As for specific personality traits, you are adventurous (95%), romantic (86%), greedy (64%), intellectual (60%).

Stereotypes
Young Professional	94%
Prep	77%
Hippie	70%

Life Experience
Sex	38%
Substances	14%
Travel	42%

Politics
Your political views would best be described as Socialist, whom you agree with around 100% of the time.

Socioeconomic
Your attitude toward life best associates you with Middle Class. You make more than 0% of those who have taken this test, and 28% more than the U.S. average.

If your life was a movie, it would be rated PG-13.
By the way, your hottness rank is 57%, hotter than 82% of other test takers.

TAKE THE TEST
brought to you by thatsurveysite