My laptop SUCKS!

For the past week my frickin' laptop has failed to even start up. I have been backlogged on emails, blogging and porn! Oh, the humanity!

The worst part was I missed the one year anniversary of this blog. I've done over 100 posts in the past year and in reviewing them, it certainly has been a fun year. I appreciate the comments people have made and have really gotten a kick out of the fact that there is a "regular readership" which checks here on a regular basis.

Kinda like trying not to look at a bad car wreck on the highway, right?

Oddly enough, I had a little flashback moment just the other day very much related to my blog. My friend Cheryl and I went to see "Team America". (Slightly disappointing BTW. Not as laugh-out-loud-all-the-way-through as "South Park" was.) While waiting to go in the "young lady" entered the theater. I don't know much else that happened because I think my heart completely stopped making me clinically dead for at least 4 minutes. The reason I had this reaction was because she was followed close behind by "the Neanderthal" she had taken to the Christmas party last year. Needless to say I've been in a slight funk ever since.

BUT NOT UNDAUNTED!!!!!!

From a distance I did not see any jewelry, so there's still hope! Stop shaking your head. I know, I know. Yeah, just like Mary Jo Kopechne reaching for that last breath in the back of Teddy's car....there's still hope!

My ex's father just suffered a heart attack two days ago. I have been in close contact with her and Johnny to make sure all is going well. John seems to be doing OK with it. When I called the day it happened we talked about TV and video games for about 15 minutes before he even thought of mentioning what had happened.

I'm still trying to cajole my laptop into working or I'll just be making more and more visits to the library again. Thanks again for reading over the past year. It's longer than I ever did with my old journals.

First, thing to share is that I finally have my photos from the hurricanes posted on the net.

http://www.geocities.com/uss_trident/hurricane.htm

Secondly, are my thoughts on the passing of Christopher Reeve. This hits extremely closely to me due to my friendship with Jim Langevin. While Reeve's injuries and condition over the past 9 years was much worse than Jim's, the infection and complications which led to his death could do the same thing to Jim. He works hard to keep his body as healthy as possible and puts in many hours towards that goal but I still hold the fear in the back of my mind that one day I will be attending his funeral thanks to something as stupid as an infection. As you know, if you've read much of this blog, I don't do well with death.

I remember when I first saw "Superman". It was the first time, as film critic for my college newspaper, I was invited to a midnight screening of a film. I was excited to be let in the backdoor and see a movie before anyone else had, so that added to the experience. There was something special about the movie from the moment those first John Williams notes trumpeted. A man really could fly.

My movie buff friend, Gary Keller, always questions my masculinity because of my love of "Somewhere in Time". While there are times I moan and whine about being able to suspend disbelief during a bad movie, I was totally sucked in to the love story and forgave major lapses in logic for this film. My eyes still dew over when Reeve pulls that penny out of his vest pocket.

And then there's Reeve post 1995. How can you not admire someone who has gone through the past nine years as he has. Someone who has taken what would have ripped the spirit from most and just made him soar higher than the cape and tights ever could have taken him.

In recent months I have been reevaluating where I am in life. There has been one quote from Reeve which has been haunting me recently. "I get very impatient with able bodied people who are paralyzed for one reason or another. C'mon, what are you waiting for? If you have a dream, go for it!" Add to that, someone at work recently said, "You missed your calling".

Ever get the feeling the universe is trying to tell you something?

OK,OK,OK. I have tomorrow off because of the holiday and I PROMISE I'll post my hurricane pictures. It's still been a little tough getting "back to normal". And I'm not the only one feeling it. I don't seem to have the initiative at work to meet the regular goals I have set for myself. I am meeting my management set standards, I have my own numbers I want to meet above and beyond the minimums. I have yet to stay past 5PM when before I had been putting in between 10-18 hours of overtime. I'm hoping the three day weekend will recharge the batteries a little.

One thing I did get to do was nose around in my storage space a little yesterday. Just the one box I picked at random was filled with stuff from high school. This should be a real adventure when I start moving to another facility. The last time some of these boxes even saw the light of day was when they were packed back in RI 10 years ago.

Just a quickie TV review. The season premiere of "Enterprise" was a good cure for sleeplessness. It had the pacing of a good colonoscopy. I'm still trying to hold on to the hope most fans have in Many Coto, the new Executive Producer. He has stated a love of the original and a plan to intergrate more references to Classic Trek in the coming season, which I still say will be the FINAL season of the show. I can excuse the next two episodes as he is just cleaning up the mess of a story line he was handed by Berman.

I may be speaking sacrilidge here but I really think too big a deal was made over Rodney Dangerfield's passing. Here's why I feel this way.

Tonight's "ABC's World News Tonight" (the best in network evening news) starts off their program with three "teaser" stories designed to keep the viewer's interest through the half hour and boost ratings. Yes, the are designed just for that ratings reason but they are also supposed to be the highlight of the most important news items of the day. Tonight, they pushed last night's vice-presidential debate, the flu vaccine crisis and, finally the passing of Rodney.

I don't recall what the teasers were for Monday night, but none of the big three teasers made any mention of the passing of Gordon Cooper. Yes, they did cover it in their broadcast. Apparently, to the minds of the producers of ABC World News, the passing of one of the original Mercury Seven pales in comparison to a comedian.

I am a big fan of Rodney's. He was a master of his craft. More important than that was how, as his celebrity cache grew he used it to help out up and coming comedians; some of which would go one to be bigger then he could ever dream of being. The would have been no Sam Kinison, Robin Williams or countless others if not for the google-eyes godfather of stand up. But, after all, he was only that; a comedian.

Gordo Cooper was the 6th man to fly into space. There is in no possible way Rodney's life eclipses Gordo's. Cooper epanded our universe. Rodney told jokes. I really don't want to diminish Rodney's contributions it's just that there seems to be a loss of focus, not only with the ABC producers but in our society as a whole, as to the definition of a hero. I overheard three or four people mention Rodney's passing today at work while I didn't hear Cooper's name once. In a time when police officers and fire fighters have been recognized for the heroes they are it's disheartening not to hear Gordo's name mentioned with the same reverence.

May both men rest in peace.

And FP&L said, "let there be light!" and there was and it was good!

This time it has been a sweltering 8 days without electricity. I finally gave up and took Johnny for our weekend to a hotel in Hollywood. Not really in the budget, but a Hurricane Relief bonus from work helped take care of that. Just to sleep in air conditioned comfort without the constant groaning of generators was worth it. I was half sick most of the time. At work on Friday they were trying to cut down on the mold buildup by having the air on so high you could have stored ice. I usually don't mind a chilly room, but when my teeth started chattering, I knew it was time to go. I came home and slept for three hours. I don't know how I made the 90 minute ride to pick him up and while I found cheaper hotels on the net I just flopped into the first one I could find and ended up spending about twice what I should have had to. Still was worth it.

John and I got to spend some of that quality time together. We did lots of talking and simply spending time together. The more time we spend together the more I'm looking forward to him becoming an adult. Like most 13 year olds, he hates the taste of alcohol, but I dream of the day I can take my son out for a drink; something I never got to do with my father.

We went to see "Fish Tale"; which sucked, and "Shaun of the Dead" with was hilarious. Most other times we sat around watching TV, went out to eat and hit the pool.

I also seemed to have gained points with him with my clothing choice on Friday. I had just bought a sleeveless Starter basketball style shirt. It is black and I wear it with a red t-shirt underneath and my black calf-length shorts John has one just like it so he thought it was fine. It was dubbed by everyone else as my "Mid-life Crisis Outfit".

Wasn't feeling totally up to par for work today so I stayed home, slept and got most of my belongings unpacked. I feel a little confident in unpacking, now that odds are in our favor against having yet another hurricane coming through our area.

Not that most of us are nervous about the weather but a friend of mine scared the hell out of me by asking if I had heard from Storm lately. Storm, if you remember, is the name of the "young lady". In my hurricane paranoia all I heard was had I heard "about the storm" and thought there was another on the way. It took most of the morning for my blood pressure to return to normal.

Photos from both hurricanes WILL be coming soon.