The Occasional Solipsist

Back when I was staying with The Out-Laws while our house was being built, I thought I had it bad when I had to be on dial-up to get my internet on. I lamented, I complained, I maybe whined a little. They eventually got high speed via a rural hick wireless connection, (which I also now have at my place) and I am pretty sure it was all because of the aforementioned whining.

But my beautiful HP laptop, trusted friend and conduit to all things external to my home, died on me last week. Cause of death seems to be motherboard failure. So now its off to the under warrantee repair folks who will hopefully treat my girl right and get her back to me soon. Sorry, but anything I spend that amount of time with is going to be female in my mind.

And now that she's gone, I only wish that I was on dialup, because at least then I'd still be able to sit on my couch and be connected when I should be sleeping like the rest of the house. I seriously feel like I am missing a limb, or at least an extremity. And I have so much time on my hands. In the past week I've read two books and a graphic novel that I have been meaning to get into for over a month.

The B.I.L. has very graciously loaned us the use of his desktop, so that Superwife can do her work from home until my old friend is back, but it is not at all the same. I just can't sit in the office on a pc anymore. I feel too tied down, so I only use it to start a download, copy any completed files (hello Doctor Who xmas Special!) or post on this blog. Hopefully the people at HP get me back in business soon. The time-off part of my swing shift is coming fast and I can only read so many books.

Labels: everything else, tech

getting me through
Originally uploaded by raistlinsghost

Here's a little love note from superwife that is doing wonders getting me through an otherwise really shitty night at work. Its just one of those nights that I want to be at home with my family a whole hell of a lot more than I want to be at the office.

And Superwife's addition of the horns and tongue on the making-fun-of-Jeebus postie that the note is written on just adds that extra something special.

Labels: family, superwife, work

I try to take as few of these quizzes I come across as possible, and this one in particular was about as insipid as they come. But after taking it, I didn't turn out to be Chloe or anything so I figured it was worth a post.

The damn writer's strike means I'll see my last new Smallville episode for a long time (maybe ever) within the next week, and I am so bummed about that. But I can console myself with the fact that according to the folks at Buddytv, whoever they are, I am Clark Kent.

Labels: narcissism, smallville, superman

At some point in the near future, sometime after Superwife goes back to work and we have something resembling a disposable income, we are going to be finishing our basement. And one of the things I like to pretend I'll get my way about is that I will get to put in a proper home theater when the time comes.

So, while I'm pretending, I will imagine that my home theater could someday look like the above picture of an actual Star Trek themed theater that is currently taking up space at some rich bastard's place in Florida. I so want to have this. The shitty thing is that whatever I do to my home theater when we do finish the basement, it won't look enough like this one, so its going to be a disappointment right from the start.

The Batcave one found on the same site is cool too, but its not Star Trek, and Batman wouldn't be caught with his parents dead with such a small monitor.

On a somewhat related note, the new beard is growing in nicely, and a not-at-all-trek-fan-friend-of-mine today told me how much it made me look like William Riker. Right in the middle of the office, like something that had just come to him in a flash. 'Riker!!' He yelled across the room. I couldn't have been paid a better compliment. So now, the growing of the beard is going to be called The Riker Manoeuvre, which coincidentally enough I was already calling it. Just not previously in public.

Labels: comics, movies, our new house, star trek

In Canada in an election year, we don't get the benefit of having to figure out which of the candidates is the least corrupt and vote for that one knowing we're going to get screwed anyway. Here we just vote for whatever goof is going to make us look the least stupid. To date we haven't had a lot of success in the department. Names like Chretien, Harper and Mulroney come immediately to mind.

That's why I'm urging my American friends to vote Zod in 2008. That's right, General Zod, of the Superman mythology.

I actually can't see why Americans wouldn't vote for this guy. At least he comes right out and admits to being a dictator. None of this weapons of mass destruction horseshit, or appeals to his constituant's outrage over a terrorist attack to justify war. And if war was necessary it would only last as long as it took for his nukes to hit their taret. And he probaly wouldn't even care about oil or money or land, because it would all be his anyways.

Yup, when its time to hit the polls, remember Zod.

Labels: politics, superman

A friend of mine loaned me his entire collection of DVD sets that encompass the seven year Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series and I have been working my way through it whenever I can, sometimes by myself and sometimes with either or both of Trin and Superwife watching with me. I know, this guy is a nice friend eh? I wouldn't trust anyone I know with hundreds of dollars of my stuff. But that maybe says more about me being a a bit of a jerk than anything else.

Anyway, out of all of the Star Trek series I have watched over the years, DS9 was the one that I always thought the least of. I watched a few episodes here and there, but I never paid it the kind of fanatical attention that I have given to all the other series. To wit, I have copies of pretty much every Next Generation and Enterprise episode, all the movies on various formats, and have watched and re-watched all the Original Series episodes countless times. Even with Voyager I have seen every episode at least once and I knew that show sucked while I was watching it. I think probably because I was (and am) a HUGE Babylon 5 fan that I never gave Paramount's version of a space station on the frontier much of a chance. But I am almost through Deep Space Nine now, one season left to go, and I have a whole new appreciation for the series. Its really very good. I listened to a speech put on by Armin Shimmerman (the guy who played Quark, the bartender) at a convention once, and I now wish I had been more into the show at the time so that I would have geeked out a little more about seeing him speak in person.

The reason for this morning's DS9 love in, is that I just now finished watching one of the most moving Trek episodes I have ever seen and felt the need to record my thoughts before they flitter off onto something else less impactful.

The episode was called Time's Orphan and centered around a Time Travel accident that involves The O'Briens and their daughter Molly. The little girl disappears through a re-use of the City on The Edge of Forever prop 300 years into the past, and when the O'Briens manage to get her back she has aged ten years, and not for the better. She has spent the last ten years as a savage, the only inhabitant on an isolated planet. She is violent, can hardly communicate and only wants to go back to what she thinks of as home. At one point while the O'Briens try to reconnect with their daughter she attacks a number of people and ends up viciously stabbing one poor bystander, causing her to be arrested.

In the end, faced with the prospect of their little girl being sent to some rehabilitation center she would most likely die at, the O'Briens (through the miracle of Treknology) decide to send her back through the time-gate to live out the rest of her life where she is happy and safe. And the scene when they let her go, and the two of them have to say goodbye to her, ostensibly forever, is just really, really heartbreaking. Either the acting in this Star Trek was better than I would have thought, or the fact that I now have a daughter impacts me in ways that I would never have suspected. I seriously had a good cry because of that scene.

And yes I know my daughter isn't likely to go time travelling anytime soon, but I do not ever want to say goodbye to her in any permanent sense as long as I live. I can only hope that she outlives me by a wide margin and that she gets the chance to be happy and safe for however long she has. See, here I go again. Fucking Star Trek: You've been teacher, comforter, friend and longtime companion. But I never thought you'd turn me into a crybaby.

Labels: family, star trek, trinity

Blu-Ray FTW!
Originally uploaded by raistlinsghost

With the recent announcement that HD-DVD is being dropped by WB, its almost a guarantee that Blu-Ray will win the High Def war.

I bought my PS3 for the games but if I needed another reason to remain a Sony fanboy, there it is. Did my pen from CES 2007 just go up in price?

Labels: gaming, movies, tech

Dear Trinity,

This month you got to spend your first xmas at our new place, and you had quite a time of it. You got a laundry list of things for xmas from your Mom and I, as well as from all of your grandparents and Aunts and Uncles and friends. If things keep on like this, this new house of ours is going to get filled up quicker than we'd planned. Here is some of the loot that I think bears worth remembering:

• Twilight Turtle - We got this one for you. It projects a starfield on the ceiling from a cutesy plush turtle. The telescope is next year, so keep your eyes on the stars. Er, ceiling.
  
• Digital Camera - I so love that you have this. Until you take a pic of me with a finger knuckle deep in a nostril with it, that is.
  
• Dora video game - aww, your first video game (actually it isn't but the infant learning one we bought last year never caught on)

You had a lot of fun opening and playing with your new stuff. And you were so polite to everyone, every single time you got a new gift. One would think that you would get tired of all the "Thank you so much"es and "I love you"s, but you didn't seem to. We shot some video and of course, we took a number of obligatory pictures. Not as many as I did last year, because I tried to actually be a participant as well as a photographer this time around.



A friend of mine loaned me the series set of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and I have been working in episodes pretty much whenever I can. I don't know if its the exposure to it or that you get off on knowing how much it pleases your Dad, but the fact of the matter is that you like Star Trek. For a geek like me I really don't know what else there is to say other than that you. Like. Star Trek. So fun. And it is so annoying for your Mom, because now there is no longer only one trekkie in the house, so we actually get to watch it. Obviously any episode that has any real violence in it gets omitted, or if anything nasty is coming up, we just skip by it. For that reason I end up re-watching a lot of Trek, but I'm not complaining about that. And when you see the Changeling shapeshift your imagination is working overdrive. That is pretty cool.

You got your very first dogsled ride this past month. We were walking our husky and pulling you along on your toboggan at the same time and decided maybe we had ourselves a winning combination. So we hooked the leash to your sled and you had the time of your life. I think we are going to have to get that doggie a proper harness for next time. Both you and her had a big sleep that night and that is the kind of thing your Mom and I like to see in both of you.



It looks like your Mom is going to be able to work a few days a month now that we have access to free daycare (your Grandma) that will make it financially viable for her to. But on the days that your Mom is going to work and I am off (thank you, shift work) you and I are going to get to hang out together, and I am so looking forward to that. And its not looking to be the nasty cold winter we were promised, so hopefully we'll get to do a lot of outdoor fun stuff in the snow. I am thinking of taking you ice fishing, but you are only going if you are attached securely to me. I don't want to spend any part of the trip freaking out worrying about you deciding to see where the hole in the ice goes.



Not much else to tell you about Princess, except that you are my Princess. I don't mind the implied connotation that I think of your Mom as a Queen, because she is, but I am no King, except maybe of random Star Trek trivia.

See you next month,

Love

Daddy

Labels: everything else, family, star trek, trinity

I am feeling old tonight.

I was laying in the bath earlier and was listening to my daughter throw a spectacular tantrum out in the living room with Superwife. And I just felt old. I know that I am not that old to have a two year old daughter, but sometimes I am older than I'd like to be with one.

Earlier today Trin threw a similar tantrum while Superwife was trying to take her out of her carseat and ended up smacking herself so hard in the lip on the car door that she cut herself. It wasn't Superwife's fault at all, but I was so paralyzed when it happened.

I guess tonight I kind of wish that we had Trin years ago, when I was only marginally less stupid than I am now. I am comforted by the fact that causality would have demanded that we had a totally different child then the one we have in the here and now, but I have been thinking lately of how old I will be when certain milestones in my daughter's life are reached. First day of school, driver's test, high school graduation, first boyfriend. And yes it will happen in that order, if me and my shotgun have anything to say about it. I am also comforted by the fact that Superwife is the awesome Mom that she is. I love my little girl more than I love myself, and being the narcissist that I am, that is saying a lot. But I don't have the patience that Superwife does, and she is so good with our little girl that I feel like such a pretender by comparison.

I don't think this melancholy has anything to do with the changing of the year, but I suppose if I think about it long enough, I could make a connection. I just feel old in my bones tonight. Maybe its the fact that the holiday season is over and there's not much to look forward to between now and warm weather except for a little ice fishing. Maybe its that I feel like at my age, it might be better to have more security at work than I do now. But I have only my decision to switch careers a few years ago to blame for that one. Maybe its a recurrence of the financial pressure of being the only bread-winner in the family. But maybe I just know that I won't be around forever, and when the end does come, hopefully 70 years or so from now, I am going to want to have had more time with the people that matter to me.

Or maybe I am just having a periodic attack of melodrama and I need to lighten the fuck up.

Labels: causality, family, trinity

I just came across one of those top 10 lists that you always see floating around at the end of any year and thought this one merited special attention. I have an on again/off again relationship with lifehacker; some of their so-called hacks can hardly be called such. But sometimes, the site is a very useful tool. Sort of like John Tesh without all the ridiculous pretension. This one is a list of their best 20 top 10 lists of 2007. Topics range from body hacks to wallpaper to ways to longer life.

In case you haven't already, start the lifehacking here.

And yes, it looks like the old online journal has become a dumping ground for my links. I could just use a bookmarking tool, but where's the fun in that?

Labels: everything else