Rain Days

This weekend was rainy, occasionally chilly, and overcast around here, which made it a good time to stay inside. Now, a lot of Minnesotans don't like this kind of weather in June. I like rain and cool temperatures, but I sympathize with them -- nice days are so scarce here that people want to make the most of them when they're around. June in particular is usually a good time to be outside in this state, as it tends to be milder than what we can get in July and August.

I have nothing against spending time outdoors; I went for a hike at Lebanon Hills yesterday right before the rain hit and usually spend some time outside every weekend. On the other hand, it is nice to have a good excuse to spend time inside doing things like watching movies, napping, and getting housework done without people practically being offended that I'm not outside and wondering what the hell is wrong with me.

w00tstock

I went to w00tstock at the Guthrie Theater last night, which was all kinds of awesome. It's kind of hard to explain in a blog post, so I recommend checking out the link if you're curious. It was really something to get to see so many people I'm a fan of (Paul and Storm, Will Wheaton, John Scalzi, Adam Savage, and many more, including a special appearance by Neil Gaiman) in one fantastic venue.

If it comes back, I'm definitely going again.

Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day in the US, which for a lot of people means being at the lake, grilling, traveling, and enjoying a day off of work (at least for people with office jobs).

But it's also important to remember why we have this day, so take a moment to do that too.

Lost No More (No Spoilers)

Last night we had a mini-marathon of the last four episodes of Lost, as well as the two-hour special that aired right before the finale. We had them sitting on our Tivo for a while and had never gotten around to watching them, due to being pretty busy, so with the series ending, it seemed like the right time to finish it off. Plus, I figured I could only stay unspoiled for so long.

I know people were quite divided on whether or not the show ended well. I don't want to get into a big discussion of its merits or flaws -- there are certainly enough of those elsewhere on the Web already -- but overall we were both very pleased with it. Yes, there were a few plot threads and elements they didn't address, but in terms of character development and their personal stories, they reached a highly satisfying conclusion.

Eventually, I want to go back and watch the series from the beginning; the special and certain moments of the finale reminded me of a lot of awesome scenes from earlier on. And I'm also looking forward to being able to finally watch Glee in real-time next season too.

A Name Change

I've finally settled on a new name for this blog, which you can see at the top of the page.

I got the idea for this last week when, after finishing my Imperial Platter from Leann Chin (bourbon chicken and cream cheese puffs with fried rice, my standard), I unwrapped my fortune cookie and broke it apart to read the fortune.

Except, the fortune was blank. Just a strip of paper with nothing on it.

At first, I thought this was just funny, but then I realized that, if I reeaally wanted to read way, way more into this than is warranted, I could interpret this as a sign meaning that my fortune is in fact blank, and that I can write my own. Now, I don't actually believe in signs like this, so in fact this is more of a reminder of something I already knew rather than a deep revelation.

But hey, I like the name, and I think it's a neat story. So there you go.

Reboot

So, it's been well over a year since I last updated this blog. As such, I've decided to reboot it and take it in a new direction. Rather than just focusing on writing, it's going to be a general-purpose blog where I talk about whatever I feel like at the moment. Writing will certainly be a large part of it, but it could also include everything from book reviews to interesting pictures I take. I think it will be easier for me to commit to a blog if I don't pressure myself to keep a particular theme all the time.

I may change the name; I'm not sure about that yet. And I will also include a blogroll that links to whatever I happen to find interesting and worth a read. Eventually I may even move this to another host, but I'm not sure on that yet.

A Bit of Cross-Promotion

Happy 2009! A few days ago, I started the second blog that I'd alluded to previously. It's called Hired Minds, and it's about consultants, contractors, temps, and other "hired guns" that companies hire to help them with their business needs. You can check it out here.

It's not a replacement for this blog by any means; I'm still going to post here when I have something to post, though I expect that I will be posting more often at Hired Minds for a little while.