Whatcha Doooin'?

The hall bathroom is complete and is ready for our Christmas visitors - man, I am glad that is over.  This will be known to me as "The Project That Broke All My Tools".  In the pic on the left you see all the tools that gave their lives to make the new bathroom happen. My Craftsman Radial Arm Saw (broken table adjustment knob), Skil Angle Grinder (broken on/off switch), Industrial power drill (old, frayed, dangerous cord), and even my Roomba Dirtdog (broken internal gears) are all going to live on a farm with a kindly old couple after Christmas, I am told.

I finished all of the Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and final challenges in Kinect Adventures.  While playing these games, I swear I heard the ghosts of a hundred billion badly abused Marios and Sonics chuckling mirthlessly as I tried and failed to hop cliffs or dodge things: "Not so easy to jump the 200 foot ravine, is it?   Ohhh.... Poor baby... Did you miss the cloud jewels again? Boo freaking hoo. Come talk to me when you get dipped in lava after some kid forces you to misjudge the leap over the spinny fireball things for the 50th time..."

Finished Griftopia by Matt Taibbi.  Although I loved the well-thought-out anger and outrage, it was pretty obvious about halfway through the book the author was not going to present any sort of suggestions or solutions to the perceived mess the USA is in, which made the ranting a little tedious – after a while I was like “Jeez, dude, pick up your own pitchfork, I'm busy.” The writing style is overall solid, he doesn't appear to "pick sides" in the traditional political sense, and Chapter 2 gets my vote for "Most Awesomely Named Chapter Ever in a Non-fiction Book".  Look it up.

Some random closer info:

I bought some Stride Mega Mystery Gum.  First off, Stride, did you really need to trademark the term "Mega Mystery"?  Just calm down, for crissakes.  Second, my guess on the mystery flavor is "grapefruit with a hint of pinecone".

Placed my order with La Nova to get some wings shipped here from Buffalo - they should be here Wednesday.  The Mighty Taco burritos were pricey-but-totally-worth-it, sure, as was (is? were?) the three pounds of sponge candy.  The Vernors Ginger Ale was another taste of home I was glad to find.  Will the five pounds of La Nova Wings be worth $1.38 apiece?  Stay tuned!

Rumor has it that we will be getting Dance Central for Christmas. My wife was horrified that I did so much better than her in the demo when I am, at best, a pathetic embarrassment on the dance floor. What she forgets is that my career path since high school has more than adequately prepared me to instantly follow ridiculous orders from a wide variety of two-dimensional masters so this game is pretty much business as usual for me. Since she cherishes her “dignity” and “independent thought”, being commanded to break into “the Running Man” (or whatever) at the spur of the moment causes her enough pause to drop points. Victory is sort of mine!