RIP 1-2-3-4 Jackson

Our fish jumped out of the net when I was moving him into his newly-cleaned bowl. I picked him up off the floor and got him back in the water before Spike could eat him, and he seemed OK for a week, then not so good for a week, and then stopped moving yesterday. It would be more of a loss if the rest of the family hadn't forgotten he existed months ago (all except me, who fed him and kept his bowl clean, and Spike, who desperately wanted to play with him).

Farewell, 1-2-3-4 Jackson. You were a good fish, as fish go.

On a completely unrelated quote, I found a new internet toy. Not a quiz this time, a generator that puts words you choose (like your name) into movie quotes. This is what I got:

Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the Kate.

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Which science fiction writer are you?

I suspect being a female science fiction writer wasn't an option no matter which answers I picked, but other than that, I'm quite pleased to be:

I am: William Gibson The chief instigator of the "cyberpunk" wave of the 1980s, his razzle-dazzle futuristic intrigues were, for a while, the most imitated work in science fiction.

Which science fiction writer are you?

(Dude, how old is that picture? He's just a pup!)

Who put me in the Kobe Bryant section?

I got to go to my yearly live Timberwolves game last night. My husband got the tickets from work; his company has season tickets in the lower deck behind one of the hoops - pretty close to where Jesse Ventura used to sit, so nice seats. It's kept hush-hush when they let employees use the tickets so there's no keeping score and finding out who's the boss's pet or whatever, but I think Quin gets the best tickets. I mean, last night we played the Kobe and the L.A. Lakers, last year we saw Shaquille O'Neil and the Miami Heat (although Shaq didn't play), and the year before that it was Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns (the single most painful sporting event I've ever witnessed, hands down). All good opponents. Now if he could just score tix again in March when we play the Celtics so I can see Wally play again...

Well, the first three quarters were fun. Ricky Davis made some amazing shots, including an across the court 3-pointer at the buzzer at the end of the first quarter, but they choked in the fourth. If you follow the Wolves at all, this is hardly surprising; it's their M.O. They didn't completely buckle like they did in the Suns game, but they got beat 34-7 in the last quarter with Kobe on the bench the entire time (I think he got in and scored one point in a free throw). I think Casey waited too long to put the A squad back in, and Mark Blount in particular. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is when no one is getting any rebounds? Keep the tall guy in the game! He gets the rebounds and as a bonus, he makes a few baskets too! But what do I know?

The most painful thing was that I was completely surrounded by Kobe fans. And these weren't casual Kobe fans; they had all already ponied up for new "24" jerseys; not an "8" among them. Lots of cheering at the wrong moments, frankly. And the three in front of us had brought cameras with enormous telephoto lenses... to shoot the scoreboard. Honest; they were digital cameras and I could see the screen on the back. What is that all about? How many shots of a scoreboard does one need?

Well, at least I got a cute Santa hat with a Timberwolves logo on it. The night wasn't a total loss.

Still my favorite band ever

And thanks to the internet, the fact that they don't have US distribution no longer matters so very much.

For fans of Avatar, the Last Airbender only!

Because I love these little quizes, here's another. I'm Uncle Iroh mainly for my love of tea, but any character voiced by Mako is inherently cool. (see also, Aku from Samurai Jack and of course the chronicler from Conan the Barbarian)

Which Avatar Character are You?

Find out @ Distant Horizon.

A post five days in the making...

Blogger has been grumpy about uploading pictures again, and when one only gets a few minutes a day to do things on the computer, that can be very, very frustrating.

At any rate, this pic is a picture which is not of my new built-in bookcases. They won't be done until after Christmas (but I've been assured they will be very nice when they finally turn up). Never get two perfectionists working on a project together, that's what I'm thinking.

I have asked why we absolutely had to move the old bookshelves out, and dismantle the entertainment center, and paint the wall before the wood was cut and ready to install. Strangely, I don't quite get an answer to that. I'm reminded of one of my favorite scenes from Mad About You when Helen Hunt is trying to get Paul Reiser to say he was wrong about something and all he'll admit to is "It's not the most right I've ever been." So the tree went up against the lovely brown wall and the echo is distracting, but it's just for a few more weeks.

(My other favorite scene from that show was when her sister was begging her to make some gravy. "But what are you going to eat it on?" "A plate.")

The boys in the pic are being hypnotized by this new show on Noggin called The Upside Down Show. It's technically for preschoolers, but it really is hypnotic. These two Australian guys pretend to do things, pantomiming and making their own sound effects, and pretend like they are being controlled by a remote control you're holding. They'll both fall down and say "Please don't press the stumble button." Oliver laughs and laughs. For a preschool show, it's surprisingly watchable. It's not as hypnotic as this, however:




I found a few other pics on the camera when I was downloading that shot of the not-bookcases, pretty old ones, too. I've been camera-neglectful. At any rate, my kids are both Lego Maniacs. If they had no other toys than Legos they'd be perfectly content. My eldest can build anything out of Legos. I've shown a few of his previous constructions before (and now I'm not digging up the links now, no time!). This one is an ATST. This is not a kit, this is his own design (the pieces come from other Star Wars sets, which is why the colors are mostly correct).

This one is Luke Skywalker on a speeder bike. Some of the colors are off, but the overall design I think you'd have to admit is very nearly spot-on.

And here is the boy in question, on his ninth birthday, with the pumpkin pie he asked for rather than a cake.