Can I <em>Please</em> Go to Work?

Tuesday I drove to work slowly in snowy weather. After awhile, as noted before, I drove home in freezing rain. I worked from home, and again yesterday, assured that the roads were nasty, and walking on ice sucked. But I'm running out of things I can do remotely. I wanna go in to work. Right now, the street outside my house is again a sheet of ice. I'm gonna wait until it gets brighter outside, then start thinking hard about whether I wanna risk a drive.

If experience serves, the roads are crappy and unsafe for six or so blocks, then they get just crappy, then the highway will be just fine, then the feeders around work will be just crappy, then the parking lot will be crappy and unsafe.

Updates later as I have 'em!

More Bogus Weather

I put on the chains this morning and drove down to work. The roads were snowy, but safe. I worked for three or four hours before Ernie pointed out that the snow had turned to freezing rain and if I didn't want to spend the night at work, I should leave. So I drove home. The main roads were fine, but the neighborhood streets were touch and go. I've got DSL, so I was able to work some from home. Then I exercised, and watched the crappy weather outside the window.

I'm hoping the roads will melt enough to let me drive down tomorrow for a full day. Wish us luck, everyone!

noPod

At $300, I wasn't ready (yet, anyway) to buy an iPod. I'll just continue to use my laptop for 'portable' music, at least between my office and home. This weekend, Tom, Alan and I were talking about the rumored iPod Mini, and we agreed that at $100-$150, they'd be great. I'd certainly consider getting one at that price and a capacity of one or two gigs.

Now the announcement has been made, and we have this. Nope, $250 is still too much. Come back later when you have something better. If I were ready to spring for $250, I'd scrape together the extra $50 and get 11 gigs more storage. I mean, come one.

Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry is fun, but like most of the skill-based shooters I've tried, is probably going to strand me before I get too far into it. Last night I finished 'Mission 6 - Evil of the Waterways', and saved before getting into 'Mission 7- Holding the Key of Ardor'. Some of the missions are longer than others, but just about all of them crank my heartrate way up, as I try to keep up with the fights. At that point, I've abandoned all hope of strategically applying combos and I'm just mashing buttons. That's a guaranteed way to get your butt handed to you in the advanced levels, so I expect I'll stall out in another two or three levels. Still, it served it's purpose.

Atom Heart no Himitsu

This is the game that James gave me at the NOVA Christmas party. I've been playing it on and off, and finally got stuck near the end of the first stage (next to last picture, the red-legged robot insect thingy).

So this weekend, James pointed me to the message board on GameFAQs for the game, suggesting I could find hints there. No go. Everybody there just talks about how to find the various hidden characters, and how easy mode is too easy. This is the mode I'm stuck on.

I suppose I could post a message asking for help/hints, but I have to 'work up my courage' as I'm sure all these hard-core guys will snicker at where I got stuck. Oh well.

Prey

I picked up Prey for the holidays, and ended up reading it over the four-day weekend I allotted for New Year's Day. It's around 500 pages, but not exactly Wittgenstein.

I was somewhat disappointed in the book, as it sort of violated the implicit contract of a Chrichton techno-thriller (as distinct from some of his departures from the pot-boiler genres). He spends the first chunk of the book, up to page 117, developing his main character via domestic Mr. Mom minutiae, foreshadowing some of the plot elements to come, but mostly boring me to tears with details of the rube's family life. Cut to the chase, Michael! By page 130, we're finally starting the actual ride.

From there, the scientific handwaving that Chrichton is so good at sustained my interest and supressed my disbelief until the very end, when he more or less threw out the rather plausible evolutionary horror for a Frankenstein-monster ooga-booga grand finale. I suppose it will play better on the big screen (all M.C. techno-thrillers read like screen treatments anyway), but I felt let down by the shift from sorta-sci-fi to full-blown fantasy at the last.

iTunes Music Store Purchases

I forgot to share my latest online music purchases. The Christmas songs are all Kelly picks:

1. A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley (dance mix)


2. A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley


3. All That Jazz - Liza Minnelli


4. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen


5. Death on Two Legs - Queen


6. Everywhere You Turn - Longwave


7. Fell in Love with a Girl - White Stripes


8. Fugue for the Tinhorns - Guys and Dolls (Edward Strauss & New Broadway Cast Recording)


9. It's Your Thing (Single Version) - The Isley Brothers


10. Jingle Bell Rock - The Moonglows


11. Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs


12. Molly's Chambers - Kings of Leon


13. Mr. Record Man - Willie Nelson


14. Olio - The Rapture


15. One of These Days - Pink Floyd


16. Per Un Pugno Di Dollari (Title Track from "A Fistful of Dollars") - Ennio Morricone


17. Run Rudolph Run (Single Version) - Chuck Berry


18. Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict - Pink Floyd


19. Silver Bells - Anne Murray


20. Silver Bells - The Chipmunks


21. Sleeping In - The Postal Service


22. St. James Infirmary Blues - The White Stripes


23. Stand - R.E.M.


24. Untitled - Interpol


25. Violet - Hole


26. We Used to Be Friends - The Dandy Warhols


27. We Will Rock You - Queen


28. You Can't Go Home Again - DJ Shadow