Ploafmaster General

So, I was reading the Weezer webiste to see if they were planning to release a 10th anniversary edition of Pinkerton, just like they did for The Blue Album.  I noticed, however, a much sweeter announcement:

The first US Rentals show in many years is happening in Los Angeles on July 7th at The Henry Fonda Theater (with the legendary Ozma supporting) and the tix are on sale now.

Wow.   The Rentals reuniting is cool, and all...but OZMA!!!??!??!?  HELL YES!!!!!

The return of one of my favorite bands of all time...a band, whose initial break-up literally saddened me for an entire day.

I read this announcement as I was listening to "Say it Ain't So" off of the Blue Album, incidentally.  My trademark Weezer song.  And now I'm listening to "In the Garage."

I'm so happy my spleen could burst!

Man, everyone shoud listen to Car Talk.  This morning, as Valerie and I were heading to the bank, we heard Click and Clack talking about Wal-Mart's decision to start selling wine.  They had listeners of their show submit suggested name for the, um, Sam's Choice Special.

My personal favorite?

I Can't Believe it's Not Vinegar

Alright, some link-reorg stuff going on...

I removed A Pair of Pathetic Peripatetics because it's become somewhat defunct.  Mugs, though, has created a new version of a blog, reincarnating The Writing on the Bathroom Wall.  He still has his site where he posts his personal literature, but this new site is more of a crazy blog like mine, I suspect.  His old blog still exists at muggsy.blog.com, but that's fairly redundant considering his lit site.

So go visit his new joint and post comments, defame him, and be merry.  Or punch yourself in the face.

And I don't mean a thin layer of mucous either.

On Friday I saw Thank You for Smoking with my buddies Dave and Jake. Holy crap. This movie was hilarous, intelligent, and excellently filmed. The lead roles and supporting cast contributed well. The dialogue between Aaron Eckhart and Rob Lowe was a high point. I think I'll add this to my collection when it hits DVD. Valerie had already seen it with a friend of ours, and she approves, so that should be an easy sell.

Saturday, I watched an achievement in acting. Valerie, Dave, and I watched Capote, starring the incredible and versitile Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's easy now to understand why Hoffman received Best Actor at the Oscars this year. Wow, his consistency of voice, physical expression, and facial mannerisms blew me away. The photography was terrific. The camera shots were delicious. The supporting cast contributed only positively. I'm going to watch this a second time before sending it back to Netflix.

On a final note: Friday evening - or rather, Saturday morning - I exposed Dave to Battlefield Earth. Here is a movie that I currently consider the worst film I have yet seen. With a story by the inimitable L. Ron Hubbard and a budget seemingly of one half of ten dollars, Dave's conclusion was, "I think that movie made me go blind." I can't help but wonder why my friend Chris, from whom we borrowed the DVD, even purchased it.

Ciao.

Alright, since I think my buddy Jake is about the only regular reader I have, I'm going to post a reminder here for him:

Jake, shoot me a call today, at work or later, so we can iron out the details of hanging out tomorrow (Friday) evening.

Yo.

In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination.
- Mark Twain

Awwwwwwww yeeeeeah.

Now I have a new set of keys on my keychain. The closing on the house went smoothly. The drive to Winchester was fine. The wedding was wonderful, and the rest of the weekend festivities were excellent.

A delightful surprise? My cousin Mick, whom I haven't seen in at least 10 years, was there. Not only is he married, not only does he have an adorable baby boy (Seamus), but he's been living in Virginia for the past 6 years, a mere two hours away from me. Rock, rock on.

Ciao.

Oh man, this is set to be a righteous weekend.  Today is my last day of work for the week, so that's a good start.

Tonight, Val and I have the final walk-through of the house.  Tomorrow, at 8 AM, we have the closing.  Immediately after that, we drive up to Winchester, VA.  Around 4 PM is the rehersal for my older brother Tom's wedding.  After that, the weekend essentially turns into a huge-normous party with my family and some friends.  Rehersal dinner, wedding, chill time with the fam.

Yee-fricken'-haw!

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2. The Royal Tenenbaums

3. Gross Pointe Blank

4. The Shawshank Redemption

5. Garden State


6. Tombstone


7. Fight Club

8. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

9. Snatch

10. The Usual Suspects

So yeah, the king of Nepal has agreed to reinstate parliament.

Let's hope that's the last of it...

It seems the other day that Nepal's king had offered merely to share power with the people.  Well, they weren't havin' it, so they continue to protest, and the police continue to shoot.

Hurrah.

Wow. I saw "Silent Hill" this afternoon. It was revolting.

The dialogue sounded as if a child repeatedly sat on a keyboard in order to write it. The story was wack. The conclusions were muddled.

It was freaky, but not particularly scary. Yeah, it was gory, but nothing too sickening.

This movie exemplifies why I don't care for the horror genre.

The only two saving graces were that I saw it with friends, and it was a matinee.

You know, I think I'm going to try to compile an actual top and bottom 10 of movies I've seen.

Nepal's King Steps Down

People in Nepal protested day after day, in huge numbers, despite a "shoot to kill" curfew and apparently no giving in from the king.  Today, however, the king finally caved in to the people.

Rock on, Nepal!

The seller agreed to our terms!!!  WOOT!

I don't know exactly what I'm doing, but I'm celebrating somehow this weekend!  Closing scheduled for Friday, 4/28!

Huzzah!!!

Okay, so yesterday Val and I finally put in our "rebuttal," as it were, to the seller.  We initialled the changes on the contract last night, and as it turns out, the seller's agent only this evening got it (after three faxes from ours).  Our realtor seems to feel confident that this will all work out well for us, but I just want a response.

Poop.

AHHHH!!!

So yesterday I heard from my realtor, and the seller of the home basically a) doesn't want to give ANY credits, and b) wants to hire his own contractors to make some repairs, and c) doesn't want to replace the roof, but repair it.

After much fuming, discussion, and finally some consultation with my buddy William, Valerie and I decided that we're going to wait it out a little bit, and respond on Wednesday evening with a request for a slightly smaller credit.  We're not budging on anything else.

Looks like this is building to a head, and we'll know by the end of the week whether this house will be ours or not.

Sweet! I just found out from City of Richmond that the gas meter on the back of this Seminary Ave. house is indeed active and usable.

This means, that should I so choose, I could get a gas range, and eventually switch out the furnace with a gas one as well. Good-bye oil, someday.

As planned, on Friday, Valerie and I modified the offer for the house.  The seller has until this Friday to respond...

Additionally, there are now less than two weeks left until our scheduled closing date.  I'm going to make sure I stay in town this up-comming weekend, and do nothing that isn't relaxing, since it's likely to be my last normal weekend for a long time.

Just had a roof estimate yesterday, and geez.  It's gonna be pricey.

Val and I will essentially have to replace the roof, removing the slate and putting up new asphalt shingles instead.

Today, though, we basically meet with our realtor to ammend the offer with our requests for "credits" and such based on everything that came out in the home inspection.

Time to see how low we can go...

I can't believe I forgot to post a link to my bro Mugs' new site:

BJW Designs

This is his new business site for web design.  He only just learned how to do this stuff a few months ago, and has been learning more technique at lightening speed.  Check it out, and if you know anybody that needs a website, consider Mugs.

Geez. I never thought it would be so tough to get a freakin' roof estimate. Yesterday I called one contracting company, and they said because I wasn't the home owner it would cost $150 for a "roof inspection." So I called another company yesterday, and they said I'd hear from an estimator this morning. No dice yet, and it's getting close to 11 am.

This morning, I decided to call a third, and I was again told that I'd hear from an estimator, but this time with no time frame. Why is this so difficult?!??!?

Oof...that was a long but excellent weekend.

I left work early on Thursday for a home inspection. That went mostly well - there were several things pointed out that we needed to deal with that were unexpected, but not world-ending. I just need to get some estimates and figure out if the house is still worth the work and time.

Friday I headed SW to Farm-Vegas and hung out with my Mom at Mugs' place for a while, also seeing my sis-in-law and nephew. That was excellent. Mugs and I then headed further SW to Greensboro, NC for Tom's bachelor weekend. Mass-chillage ensued. Drinks were poured. Drinks were emptied. Jokes were tossed. Insults hurled.

Sometime on Saturday night we decided, after 7 hours at Natty Green's, that we should go to Steak and Shake for some 2:15 AM munchies. That was the dumbest idea I've ever had. While nobody threw up that night (or the following morning), we all felt like we would. Several of us even had the craps all night. Huzzah.

Thankfully, Robert made is signature Biscuits and Gravy for, well, brunch on Sunday, and we all parted ways tired but satisfied.

Less than three weeks 'till my bro's wedding now, and I'm looking forward to it. There's little better than partyin' down with the people you love most.

Apple made an announcement of their own, today, too:

Apple Introduces Bootcamp

This should make the transition even easier for Windows people (particularly my AutoCAD using wife).

I just finished reading all the entries on a relatively new blog, My Journey to Macintonsh, which chronicles the sitch of a heavy Windows user to OSX.

Quite a good read, both entertaining and informative.  A blog I'll keep up with as I attempt to switch this summer.

I'm really psyched about this coming Friday.

Shortly after Valerie leaves for work, I'll head SW towards Farmville to start collecting my brothers.  I'll pick up Mugs at his joint before heading south to Keysville for Nick.  Then we'll head to Greensboro, NC, where Tom and an Air Force pal will meet up with us at our buddy Robert's place.

We'll spend the weekend eating pizza, drinkin' fine beer at Natty Green's pub, and participating in the general  nonsense so common to our personalities.  I can't think of a more fantastic way to say "Adios!" to Tom's bachelorhood than gettin' us fellas together for beer, food, and nonsense.

Rock on.