All Over the Map

Thus begins the season of experimentation. Last week I made the switch to the new Blogger in beta, so this week I'll probably start playing around with changes to my template. I apologize in advance for any weirdness that may take place. I don't know that any will, but I certainly can't rule it out. I'm hoping I won't have to make too many changes, but at this point I just don't know. I don't know how the template upgrade is going to deal with my three-column layout. So we all get to find out together! It'll be an adventure.

Of course, there may be a certain amount of delay before that starts to happen. I got home last night to discover that my cable modem service was down and a note saying it probably would continue to be down until the cable company comes out to rewire the entire apartment building, which they'll be doing on Wednesday. Or maybe Thursday. Good to know they're on top of things. The rewiring is a long time in coming, though. We have had cable problems more frequently than we should, which the techs have always attributed to the building's poor wiring when they've had to come out, and some services aren't even available to us. Hopefully this will take care of those problems. I did manage to get the modem working for the time being, but we'll see how long it lasts.

I'm also experimenting with a new website called Writely (which I learned about from LibraryThing 's blog). It's an online word processing program that allows you to edit and save your files online, granting you access to them anywhere you go. I'm using it right now to compose this post, as a matter of fact, so we'll see how it goes. I already know I like it for regular word processing. You can create new documents or upload those you already have, so this will definitely come in handy for anyone who does any amount of writing. (Edit: I've since discovered that I can't, in fact, post to my blog from Writely, at least not at the moment. Maybe they haven't configured it yet for Blogger in beta.)

I parked myself on the couch on Sunday and watched NFL football pretty much all day long. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be. There was a good cool breeze coming in through the window, and it felt like fall was in full swing. This is the best time of year, I think. Brandi and I actually cracked (and I polished off) a bottle of champagne last Thursday, when Miami played at Pittsburgh, to toast the opening of the NFL season.

The BGSU Falcons also had their real home opener this weekend, playing at Doyt Perry Stadium against the Buffalo Bulls on Saturday. I was really looking forward to the game, but it turned into perhaps the worst football experience of my life. I don't want to go into too much detail because I'll probably send myself into a rage if I do, but it's mostly due to the fact that the game started at 3:00 and didn't end until well after 8:00. I don't mind long games, per se, but this one was lengthened by two lightning delays (one of which was totally unnecessary) and then went into triple overtime before BG finally bested a Buffalo team that they vastly outclassed in terms of talent.

Of course, with the football season now fully in effect, and the fact that they've all but disappeared from playoff contention, my interest in the Reds has waned significantly. If history is a guide, I'll probably continue to tune into their games on nights when there's no football on, then find myself doing something else and ignoring the game entirely. My interest in baseball may re-emerge briefly when the playoffs start, depending on who's in them (and with the Mets running away with the National League East, it's likely that I'll pay some attention), but it's mostly over for me. I haven't totally given up hope that the Reds can go on a run and get themselves back in the race, but I'm not holding my breath. As you've undoubtedly noticed, football is king.

Last night I finally went to see Snakes on a Plane with a couple of co-workers. I'm a big Sam Jackson fan, and with all of us in the office paying a lot of attention to the hype surrounding this movie, we had to see it at some point. I'm so glad we did. It was intense, implausible, hilarious, and totally enjoyable. As you can tell from the title, it was a B movie with a little more star power than most. I know it didn't do nearly as much business as expected, but I recommend it. I think it'll be a hit on DVD.

Speaking of DVDs, today is the release date for the original theatrical versions of the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD. I'm still trying to decide whether I want them or not. For the most part, I like the Special Editions (which are also included on the new DVDs), and I already have those on DVD. There are a few things I don't like, though, such as Greedo shooting first (or at all), a couple of dialogue changes, and the extended musical number in Jabba's palace. What I would really like is the ability to customize the DVDs, choosing between the original or the updated version on a scene-by-scene basis.

I do know, however, that I'm totally interested in the original trilogy version of the Star Wars Lego video game, which also comes out today. The first one, the prequel trilogy version, was ridiculously fun, and the new one looks to be just as good, if not better.