October 2003 Archives

I failed. I totally didn't prepare a Halloween post last night. Oh well.

For now, here are some pics from "The Ring" just for good measure (Thanks Kato! I'll have to throw in the music after work). Happy Halloween!

So, let me first say that I could never dream up a costume idea this lame. But for Halloween at work they were having a contest for both individuals and teams, and as I'm part of a team I got roped into this silly idea of dressing up as "The Holidays". I told them I'd go along with it if they wanted to find me a costume. They originally wanted me to be Uncle Sam, but since red and white striped pants aren't so easy to come by, I ended up being more just an abstract representation of Independence Day (4th of July). They bought me this table cloth, plastic hat, and little flag. I had some face paint stuff leftover in my cubicle from last halloween so I decided to make it slightly more creative. Anyways here's my makeshift costume...

I may post some more pics from the custume contest later, there were some funny ones.

P.S. It's still snowing. Feels more like Christmas time than Halloween! So lets see-- dressed up like 4th of July on Halloween and it feels more like Christmas. Yep, the world really is screwed up!

Here I was betting that it wouldn't snow in October. It was 70 degrees earlier yesterday, what they were saying was the "warm before the storm". It got pretty cold last night, and this morning was really overcast. Ok. Then it starts to snow lightly-- no big deal, a little bit of snow that hardly anyone is noticing and certainly won't stick.

Yeah. It's coming down pretty heavy right now. At least it gives me something to blog about, heh.

It just keeps coming...

Picture of snow up at the U of U, taken and sent via camera phone by Kato

I remember seeing commercials for these cereals when I was little. It was always such an interesting cereal, maybe because Mom never bought it for us.

Several years later I find myself in a grocery store at Halloween time looking for cereal to take to work. There is a sale on Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry. Being in Halloween mode, and recalling that I had always wanted to try these cereals but had never been given the opportunity, I was quickly sucked in and bought these two, impulsively (I never did think Boo Berry sounded that good).

I must admit they are not as good as they look ;) But they are definitely festive and fun to have. Actually, Franken Berry reminds me of a cereal I ate in Korea, Starberries I think they were called. Except Franken Berry has marshmallows-- which ups the sugar content significantly.

Anyways, the cool factor on these cereals was so high that I had to take a pic and post it. :p Time to eat some Franken Berry.

(By the way, I just noticed that Heeble updated his site after coming a week and a half shy of going two months without an update. Woo! He may take a while between posts sometimes but it's always worth it. Unlike my half-aced posts about food, haha. Check it out! )

Trogdor Strikes Again! Check out all his majesty...

So they had a pumpkin carving contest after institute today, and I had no idea what to carve. Of course what did I end up doing, but a Trogdor jack-o-lantern. I did the best I could from memory, it's off a bit, a little lacking in the majesty department after having come home and compared it to the real trogdor-- that and it got a little sloppy with the spineties and wings and what not, but I still get a kick out of it, hehe. Anyways I won "Scariest", woo! You'd be suprised how many people are less creative than me-- I just used an image from homestarrunner.com, hehe. I guess my pumpkin had more majesty than I thought ;)

Though there's been talk of costumes and the stores are filled with Halloween decorations and candy (not to mention Christmas stuff that's already available), I hadn't really caught the Halloween bug yet this month.

At lunch today I chatted with my sisters about Halloween and Halloween movies and decided I needed to A) compile a list of movies to watch for Halloween, and B) Get started watching them! So folks, if you have recommendations let me know and I'll add them to the list. As long as there's a connection to halloween or something supernatural or scary, it should work just fine...

Edit: updated the list-- some of these are pretty cheesy but still nostalgic for Halloween.

Movies to Watch for Halloween

The Ring
The Others
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters 2
The Changeling
Scary Movie 3 (comes out this Friday, the 24th-- I'm there!)
The Sixth Sense
Mothman Prophecies
Watcher in the Woods
Mr. Boogedy
Casper
Hocus Pocus
The Burbs
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror
Scary Tales

open to more suggestions... if only I could somehow find a copy of Mr. Boogedy.... [edit] Actually you can get bootlegs on eBay, woo!

On a side note, I found recently that I get a lot of visits from people searching for the words "Samara" and "The Ring" on my site. I wonder if someone has me linked to their site from the stuff I had posted last year? Hmmm.... guess I better get to posting some freaky stuff!

김치 찌개

Man. I was craving Kim Chi the last couple days so I had to make this last night. It wasn't bad for my first attempt at 찌개 since coming back to the states. Indeed, I didn't even make it like this in Korea very often I don't think. It wasn't bad for my first attempt here-- definitely on the right track.

Eating this last night took me back to the cold winters in 광주, just like 됀장찌개 takes me back to the cold winter mornings in 청주 when Josh and I would eat 백반 with the MBC radio PD님 at the 기사식당 next door to the station...

Yes, a simple bowl of Kim Chi Jji-gae ended up as a trip down memory lane. It was like a time machine back to December of '98...

The following is a legit survey that I recieved just a moment ago, sent out to the employees at work on behalf of the "custodial staff".

JC Survey
Toilet Paper Dispensers

Please provide your feedback to the following questions about our new, massive toilet paper dispensers in the 5th floor restrooms. Thank you for your time.

1. Height of the dispenser: too high | too low | just right

2. Pulling the paper off of the roll: too easy | too hard | just right

3. Quality of the paper: soft and gentle | more like newsprint | OK

4. Have you ever hurt yourself trying to access the dispenser? Yes | No | I don’t think so

5. Additional comments:

Bwahaha! Well people, maybe you don't have new "massive toilet paper dispensers" in your work restrooms, but perhaps you can share your opinion anyways, hehe... I may have to make a trip up to the 5th floor restroom just to see how big this "massive" dispenser is. Honestly, has anyone ever hurt themselves trying to get TP in the bathroom? Heheheh... For some reason Goldie Locks comes to mind... "this one's JUST RIGHT!" hehe.

Hehe. Kato sent us this pic from her camera phone Tuesday morning with the following caption and ensuing conversation via text message:

Suddenly gus thinks Soogies love sac is his new bed! Is it just me or does Gus look uglier in this picture than ever before?!?

Mar: Um - he looks deformed!
Melissa: He looks like a little monster!:-)
Mikie: but he's a good little monster... or not! it's guszilla!
Kato: ohhh man, thats a funny one!

Somehow we wound up talking about Flushy Push Marfmellows. I know, can you believe it?!

Hehehe... well, for those of you who know our dog who's still kickin', Gus-- I took some pictures a couple weeks ago and have been meaning to post them. See, we let Gus go an aweful long time without getting him groomed, he was in bad need of a haircut, as you can see.

Well, his hair was so unkempt that it had become matted pretty much everywhere on his body. I knew he was gonna get a close shave to be able to get rid of the matted hair, hehe... this should give you an idea of how crazy his hair was...

We seriously had to trim the hair that covered his eyes or else he would be more or less blind...

Well, recently he got his hair cut...

Hehe, with actually having other thing to blog about it's been a little bit since I did a food post, hehe. I made myself some samkyupsal tonight, only I didn't bother with garlic and did use kimchi this time around. We were a bit apprehensive when Joel and I first got the kimchi at a Korean Bazaar, but we found that we just needed to let it ferment a little. A few weeks later and man, it was so flavor packed when I grilled it with the onions and meat...

Anyways, I was in Korean food heaven for a short while and of course had to take a pic. Have a nice weekend!

...there are geeks there that do not sleep.

I mentioned in the line party post yesterday that the SLC line party page might have pictures of us at some point. Well, they do now-- and you'll notice that of the 5 photos posted at the time of this writing, we're quite visible in 2 of them-- woot, let the geekyness spread. It's also cool as this is the only shoth with both Joel and I, as well as the only shot with Marianne visible. Anyways, I just thought it was cool that we appeared in pictures on another web site :) Check it out: http://www.ringfaq.com/slcline/photos.html

Today with the fact that it is paid attention in Josh's web.site together Engrish one, is. To be like this, the Engrish lovin talk ' fool!

The camp-out / line party was successful-- we had a blast and succeeded in getting tickets.

Day 2 (Wednesday) was as fun as Tuesday and I think we saw more Sloanies and Sloanie friends this day than the day before. Stevo held down the fort with me Tuesday night and then manned our spot while I was at work...

(click below to read more and see more pictures)

They put Molly to sleep shortly before noon today. I don't have much more to say about her going, and we appreciate everyone's sympathy. We love her, she'll be missed, and we know she's much better off where she is, and happy. I just wanted to link to Marianne's entry about our beloved pooch, which brings back many of the fond memories we have of that dog.

Well, Mar just sent me a message saying she's going over to the pet hospital to say bye to Molly, they're putting her down this afternoon :( It's once again one of those surreal feelings. Molly has just been there for so long that it will strange to have her gone.

Isn't it amazing how much we cherish last moments? It's like, we have a dog for 11+ years and just take for granted that she's there, and then when she starts to leave you try to cling and do anything to keep her here because you'll be sad to see her go. Suddenly time spent with that animal becomes precious and it breaks your heart to say goodbye. Though I'm writing about an animal this really applies (and to a greater extent) to humans who are close to us-- our loved ones. It's just something that struck me yesterday as I was thinking about Molly leaving. It's like a reality check where we have to painfully realize how valuable something is to us that we won't have much longer so it becomes even more precious...

Too bad I won't be able to say by to that poor doggy before she goes... I'll miss ya Molly, and all your cuteness, loving, and your silly idiosyncrisies...

A couple of updates, first:

I guess the Megaplex DIDN'T get permission to show the films on more than one screen and were going to go behind Newline's back. Newline e-mailed them and told them if they sold any more than 500 tickets (more than one theater's worth) that they'd yank their copy of the films. So, one theater, around 500 tickets or so-- the first 100 people in line should be able to get tickets. Looks like the three of us that are buying are within the top 40 so we should be good to go, barring that anything crazy happens and we get screwed over.

Also, though I communicated this to most of you, the price is now $35, which includes a card that's good for $12.50 of stuff at the theater's food court... maybe enough to get you a meal or something.

That being said, here's how it's going--

Got down to the line just after 3pm, there were a few tents up and and a bunch of people sitting around (probably 25-30). I grabbed my newly aquired camp chairs and, being a newbie to the whole line party/camping thing, sort of apprehensively staked a spot with the chairs. I looked around as I was setting up my chairs and made eye contact with a guy sitting near the beginning of the line, who looked like a regular guy. He just grinned knowingly and said "Welcome." Hehe... it's great how you instantly have a connection with everyone there because they're all there for the same reason-- they love the movies.

So shortly after I set up my chairs it started raining, doh. I called Shawn and had him bring down the tent, and after a little struggle to set it up in the wind and a haste attempt to weigh it down, Mar, Shawn and I relaxed and chilled for a while. Then Mar took off and Melissa showed up, having just gotten off work. She decided that since she didn't have any plans and this was pretty cool that she'd hang for a while-- so she drove me to pick up a pizza and she, Shawn and I chilled for a bit. Dan showed up for a few minutes before he had to go to class, then Mel showed up later around 8:30 or so. Right before Melissa, Mel, and Shawn left, Steve showed up with his 5' Lovesac to spend the night. Dan also stopped by after class to hang out for an hour or 2.

Man, I thought I would be pretty bored but just the excitement for the whole thing makes it fun to hang out there rather than boring. A guy that's camped next to us named Dustin was pretty conversational and we spent a lot of time talking to him about LOTR, video games, Harry Potter (with Melissa, of course), etc. He's married and probably about 26 or 27, cool guy. Actually, most of the people there were adults, no kids really. Maybe some in their late teens, that's as young as they got unless they were someone in line's kid.

Crashed around midnight last night, didn't sleep too bad. Someone had just fired up the Two Towers as we were going to bed, and people were playing board games well into the night. Far from the best sleep I've had but good enough-- this may be the only time I ever pull a stunt like this, hehe.

All in all it's been suprisingly fun. Star 102.7 is down there broadcasting now (Laura from their morning show is camping out for tickets along with some of her relatives)-- she's geekin' it up with us. And geeking it up we are ;) Melissa mentioned that it had become a family affair, and I said "Yep-- we're geekin' it up, and we're geekin' it up together." What else are families for if not to support you in your geekyness?

There are more tents up now than there were when this photo was taken, but that's us in the teal colored tent ;)

A double rainbow at the end of the the first wave of rain. It didn't rain too hard but just enough that you'd want a tent. The thunder and lightning was cool too.

Anyways, I'll be back again after work for the rest of the haul... good times :)

Man. I got to work this morning and there were already like 6 guys outside of the theater just waiting for them to even set up the lines so they can set up camp, hehe.

In other news, I noticed Lion King (SE) came out on DVD today. Sweet-- probably one of the few Disney cartoons that I really enjoyed, I'll have to pick that one up.

UPDATE: 11am
There are maybe 15 or so people out in line now. Not to bad yet.

My heart is a bit heavy as I type out this entry... I have to admit I'm a bit choked-up. Last week our dog Molly seemed to be in particularly rough shape-- not holding down food, not moving much at all... we thought she was about a goners. We took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with jaundice. They put her on antibiotics and she seemed to improve over the weekend-- she was more energetic and was even back to eating Gus' food for a bit, we thought she was on the mend.

Sadly, she seems to be worse today than she was any time last week, she's having a real tough time breathing. My parents don't think she'll last the night, and it breaks my heart, as it does the other members of the family.

It is amazing how attached we can become to animals. Especially a dog like Molly, who always seemed happy and always wanted to give love and recieve it... she was just that, cute and lovable. She rarely seemed to be grouchy, unlike Gus. She's had her share of problems with allergies and other weird things that we can only guess stem from generations of purebreeding, but she's always done a great job at being cute and lovable, as well as loyal (though sometimes stubborn or dumb). I guess it's dogs like her that brought about the saying that dogs are man's best friend. They just love unconditionally.

Anyways I thought I'd get some of this out. If Molly doesn't make it through the night, we'll miss her, but we'll know that she'll have finally been freed from they physical problems that have plagued her for so many years. It is a comfort to know that the Atonement of Christ also redeems animals from death and that Molly will live again. We can see her again some day. Until then, she will be missed as a member of the Sloan family.

Update - 9:09 pm

Well she's at an animal hospital, they've got an IV in her and she's on some other meds and seems to have perked up some more. I guess they'll run some tests on her and see if there's anything that can be done...

OK folks, here's the deal.

-- Each person can purchase up to 6 tickets, so there shouldn't be a problem there.

-- They are only getting ONE print of the movie from Newline. They are hoping New Line will give them permission to link it up and show it on 3 screens simultaneously, but they don't know yet (should know later today hopefully). This means there will be at least 400 seats available-- if they can link them, then 1100. This is 400-1100 for all of Utah.

-- Asked the guy if they anticipated campers. Yes-- they are opening up an area in the North parking lot tomorrow morning for people to wait in line. That's 48 hours of waiting in line!

-- Again it's $30 a ticket, and they go on sale at 9am Thursday Oct. 9

I guess we'll see how many start lining up tomorrow... has anyone ever played the ticket-line game before? It's tough when you have work. Can you set up a camp spot and take shifts or what? I'm thinking if it starts to get a bunch of people we may need to do that... I can take some time off work too.
I know that Jeff and Dan are willing to wait in line / camp, but I'm fairly sure they're both pretty busy Tuesday and until Wednesday night. Hmm....

Update Again
For those who wanted to know, current information says that the first feature of the trilogy starts at 3pm on the 16th of December. (then Two Towers at 7, then ROTK at 11). Not 100% sure on that but I bet it's pretty close-- though that makes for pretty short breaks between movies. We'll have to pack some dinner I guess!

I think we've got things more or less figured out... the next few days should be fun, heh.

Well it's long overdue but I finally updated and changed my site design. I think It could still use some tweeking-- not sure if I like the logo where it is and whether the design overall is too big for the average browser, but a change has been made nonetheless. If you have any suggestions design-wise feel free to let me know, it always helps to have outside opinions. Thanks!

Haha, the theater list for theaters participating in the Dec. 16 "Trilogy Tuesday" showing of all 3 LOTR films has been posted:

http://www.lordoftherings.net/trilogy/theaters.html

And yes, the ONLY theater listed for Utah is the Megaplex 17 in none other than Sandy. Woo! Wonder how hard it will be to get tickets for this... tickets available October 9th!

You can see it listed at the theater's site:
http://www.jordancommons.com/flicks/megaplex_17/coming.cfm

UPDATE:
I stopped by the box office for a moment today and they say that tickets go on sale for Trilogy Tuesday on Thursday morning at 9am-- and they're only on sale at the box office. I haven't found out yet how many each person is allowed to buy or how many theaters they're doing it in-- but I do know it's $30 per person, ouch. I guess if it's 10 1/2 hours or more that's fair enough... who's still down for it?

This seemed really random so I thought I'd post it. I was on my way to work earlier than usual this morning, so I hit the McDonalds near my house and ordered an Egg McMuffin and a breakfast burrito. I remembered, as I was driving away, that this McD's has forgotten to give me picante sauce for my burrito before-- but decided it was no big deal since I have a stock of it in my desk at work (the McD's I usually stop at usually gives me two when I need only one-- it adds up after a while). Well, when I opened up the bag at work, I found a mild picante sauce in there-- wow, they remembered... they also put... a couple packets of strawberry preserves in there, LOL. I have to wonder-- was I supposed to put this on my burrito? Maybe on my egg mcmuffin? Maybe it was for just in case I wanted to disect my egg mcmuffin and just eat a half of the english muffin with jam? It's a mystery.

Click-- another inane food post ;)

It amazes me that I don't seem to tire of the view of the mountains and sky from my window at work...

Well, my brother Shawn discovered that he could browse my site on his new cell phone so I thought I'd see if I could post from mine.:) sweet!

Yawn.. sleepy....

Does that make any of you yawn or feel the least bit sleepy? I was feeling fairly awake just a moment ago when Mar told me on messenger how sleepy she suddenly was-- next thing I knew was yawning and now I can't stop yawning. Why is yawning so contagious?