OK, I'm not even going to pretend that I am going to try to do LiveJournal regularly anymore.  I'm just not faithful about it like I used to be.  I do miss being able to go back and read things in detail, though.  The worst thing about Facebook, by far, is that you can't go back to a specific time period and see what you were up to.  You have to keep clicking and scrolling until you get to when you want and if it's more than a few weeks old, it's too much of a pain.  I guess you can do that with the Notes feature, but I'm not any better about that than I am about LJ.  I figure if I am going to put in the effort, I might as well do it on here.
 
( Various activities in detail )

Guess those are the big items from the last few months.  I want to keep a record for myself on here more than anything else, but comments are always welcome.  Like I said, I tend to be on Facebook pretty regularly at this point.  Whether it's on LJ or FB, keep in touch!

 
Haven't downloaded a 'Glee' song yet, but if I did, this would be it. (Naya Rivera's "Valerie" would be second.)  Short, but really good; I like all the guitar work.  Kevin McHale (Artie) has a really good voice.

Ooh, boy.  I keep resolving to use LiveJournal more often, then it just goes completely out the window.  Ah, well.  Such is life.  I'm on Facebook pretty often, if people want to check that out.  Things have marched onward since the last LJ posting, mostly things have been somewhat positive.  Got reelected president of the Summit City Fencing Club again in May, hoping to do some positive things in the 2010-11 season.  Already have some tournament dates set up, excited about those.  We marched in the Three Rivers Festival parade, did a demo in the Great Hall of the Main Library a few weeks later and were briefly featured on the local FOX news broadcast that night.  I also set up a partnership with Neighborhood Connection to offer beginning fencing classes where we practice, St. Henry's Catholic Church, but unfortunately those don't seem to be filling up.  We may have to seriously tweak our recruitment strategy in the coming weeks.

Been helping out at the Volunteer Center @ RSVP down on Lake Ave, I'm assisting on a project to verify and print out all vaccination records for Fort Wayne Community Schools.  Not rocket science, but it's good to get out of the house and feel like I'm doing something useful with my time.  Have been sending out job apps, including to a few local library jobs, which unfortunately did not pan out.  Trying to be optimistic and hoping the Lord will bless my efforts soon.

Chad C, Muffy S, and Andrew all came over for a get-together on April 18, it was nice to be able to hang out with them.  Also had lunch with Chad C. at Bandido's a couple times this summer, as well as spending some time with a church men's group that included Chad V. and Adam M.  Mother's Day was nice, I got my mom a couple DVDs, plus my brother Brian and I gave her flowers.  Father's Day was delayed since Mom & Dad were on vacation in Wisconsin, but we all chipped in to buy my dad Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef.  Justin & Andrea were kind enough to invite me to join them & their daughter Tabitha for a Tin Caps game on August 8.  Great seats, right behind home plate, had a lot of fun with their family.  Ballpark food is expensive, though!  Seen a couple movies here and there, nothing monumentally exciting.

( Matt & Kim's wedding )

I just updated my Flickr account with more pictures from the wedding, as well as from the parade, the library demo outside, and the baseball game.  Check out "Fencing 2010" for the sports stuff, "Year 2010" for the rest!  And let's hope I remember to update this darn journal a little sooner next time. *crosses fingers*

I've been feeling pretty good the past few days.  I'm cautiously optimistic that the new medicine regimen is having some greater benefits than what I've done in the past.  My leg feels a lot better, too, which is very nice.  Did a private fencing lesson on Thursday and then fenced a few bouts, felt pretty good.  I can tell I'm feeling more energetic when I get bored at home.  When I'm tired, I just putz around on the computer for a while or watch TV, if not sleep.  I feel more active lately and not content with just sitting around.  Did some walking, both on the treadmill and a little bit outside.  I'd really like to get in better shape.  I even did some laundry today, which I had put off for a while.  Nice to get some things accomplished and feel good about myself, you know?

Also talked to squealnakedcatj  today, we made tentative plans for a couple weeks from now.  Played some "Civ IV" and had a fun conversation.  Next weekend, I have the SCFC Spring Fling Open here in Fort Wayne.  I'm hoping to fence sabre, then ref epee and foil.  Should be a good time!  I went to the Tre Ore service at St. Paul yesterday for Good Friday, heard Pastor Neubacher preach, then also made it to the 7:00 PM Tenebrae service at Holy Cross.  Pastor Merino preached at that service, I assume the new Senior Pastor, Tom Ahlersmeyer, will be preaching for the first time on Easter.  So, should be a nice Sunday with family.  Hopefully, I can keep things going next week and make some good progress.

I hurt my leg on Monday, I was stupid and didn't warm up properly before trying to exercise.  I went to get new glasses on Tuesday morning and was limping through the mall, it hurt really bad and I had to stop more than once.  I wanted to go to the Purdue tournament this weekend, but between feeling bad and some remaining stiffness in the leg, it didn't happen.  At least my leg is doing better, even if I couldn't fence at 100% like I wanted.  I was able to go to a screening of Collision: Christopher Hitchens vs Doug Wilson at the library on Friday evening.  It was held at the main library: a full house, followed by a panel of five guests, then cookies and other munchies in the lobby.  Interesting time, glad I was able to do it.  And I am definitely pleased to have new glasses, my old ones were about four years old and things were getting extremely fuzzy!
 
Trying to get fencing demos set up at Turnstone, Glenbrook, Jefferson Pointe, and Germanfest.  Need to do better on the job front in the coming week, I was kind of lax about that the past couple days when my leg was hurting.  Hoping to get back into practice, get some more physical activity as well.  Our tournament, the SCFC Spring Fling Open, will be in two weeks on April 10 -- should be fun!  The biggest news is that Holy Cross is installing a new Senior Pastor this weekend: Pastor Ahlersmeyer is going to be taking over about 9 months after Dad retired.  Dad is actually going to take part in the service and add his blessing during the ceremony!

Haven't felt like I've had a ton to post about recently.  Same old story, different days.  Trying to stay involved with fencing, going to church regularly, etc.  The job situation is still bleak, hoping to turn that around soon.  I feel like I'd post more if I had more going on in my life.  It's frustrating at times, but I suppose I'm not alone.

Finally posted a bunch of pics to Flickr, check out my photostream if you have some time. (Add me as a contact if you're on there!)  I taught a kids class through the Parks Dept for the first time in a couple years, so I got some photos from that.  We also had a guest coach, Rebecca Schneider, come to a few SCFC practices and help out.  Did some demos at library branches, Cedar Canyon Elementary, the University of Saint Francis, and Heritage High School recently, too.  Trying to get out of the house and get some exercise with that, at least.

Still updating Facebook fairly often, feel free to "friend" me if you're on there.  In other news, Mom & Dad just got back from my aunt's wedding in Wisconsin.  A couple different friends have given birth within the last two weeks.  psychogryphon  and silentknight  got married in a civil ceremony, but will be doing a religious ceremony for family and friends soon.  Talked with squealnakedcatj  recently, hope to have him and others over for a game get-together soon.  Otherwise, pretty quiet.  Hopefully I'll have some good news to report down the road!

Well, of course right after I pledge to renew my interest in LJ, my DSL craps out and I don't have access to the internet. I guess I could have used dial-up, but honestly, I'd rather not check my e-mail and stuff than try to deal with the snail's pace. Anyway, the Juno DSL modem crapped out for the second time in under a month, so they're sending me a whole new kit this time. I understand wanting to save on costs, but it's very bad customer service when you're counting on junk to get the job done. At least we're getting a free month of service once it arrives. I'm at the library right now, thank the Lord I can plug my laptop in and not have to worry about a time limit or weirdos sitting next to me.

I have a doctor's appointment on Dec 22, I plan to tell the internist that the latest medication is having limited effect. I'm feeling pretty decent today, but I had planned to come to the library yesterday and just wasn't up to it. It's very annoying because I went to fencing practice on Thursday night and had a good time, but I feel like I pay for it because I am so tired the next day. *sigh* Quit the endocrinologist a couple weeks ago -- after all this time, I'm convinced that's not the way to get this thing figured out.

Just posted pics from the fencing tournament last month, check 'em out if you're interested!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124735&id=59929646861&ref=mf

Unfortunately, this demo took place yesterday, but I think the video turned out pretty well and thought people might enjoy seeing the interview. We may be going back to the Hessen Cassel branch over Christmas Break, so come on by if you're free!

It has been quite a while since I posted here on LJ. More than a year, actually. Trying to figure out why, I think I sort of associate it with some unhappy times now. I have an icon that talks about LJ drama, there was literally enough of that going on that someone designed a userpic about it and I felt like I should adopt it. Needless to say, that kind of thing got really old! The sad part is that LJ is pretty cool, it's much more customizable than a lot of other stuff out there. Anyway, I'm going to try to give it another chance. The other big reason I haven't written much is that things have been so sporadic in the last year. After the economy went downhill, I wasn't working and I've been feeling ill for some time. Not really fun to write about, so I never logged in.

There have been some good things, I tried to post stuff to Flickr pretty regularly. My dad retired after 38 years in the ministry, he had a nice send-off from Holy Cross back in June. My brother got married in July, he & Jen had a very nice ceremony. Jen is going to school in Missouri, so I haven't had a lot of time to hang out with her, but she seems like a cool person! Also moved the Summit City Fencing Club down to St. Henry Community Center & Catholic Church over the summer, we have practices down there on Paulding Rd nowadays. Pretty nice facility, I'm hoping we'll be able to bring our membership numbers back up in the coming months. Started hosting "game afternoons" a few months back, having people over every few weeks to hang out and play board games. (Once Dad retired, weekends were a lot less stressful since he didn't have to preach and I could more easily accommodate guests!) Had a nice birthday in November, my buddy Andrew came up to visit and we hung out that Sunday. Another big reason I'm trying to get more into LJ again is that, as a joint b-day/Christmas present, my parents paid for the lion's share for a new Dell laptop! I sold my old desktop to my dad, so between that and the gift, it almost totally covered the new computer, which has been very useful.

Anyway, I guess those are the highlights. I still log into MySpace every once in a while, but my big thing lately has been Facebook. It seems like a ton of people I used to know are on there, it's been fun to reconnect a little! Feel free to "friend" me if you're on either or both of those! I've made promises about communication before and haven't followed through, so I'm not going to do that again, but hopefully I can be a little more faithful about this kind of thing in the coming weeks. We shall see. Hope all my LJ friends are happy, healthy, and wise!

Guess I haven't logged in and made any personal entries in quite a while, huh?  It's funny because a couple weeks back, I needed to remember a particular day and details in my employment history, so I got on here real quick and found what I was looking for.  Now, darned if weeks go by without a peep from me!  Oh, well.  So it goes.

The big news is a couple weeks after leaving Parkview, I started working for a company called AdForum.com, so I am now doing freelancing work for them.  AdForum produces the Group M Business Reader and I update information on companies that are tied to Mediaedge:cia.  Confused yet?  Basically, this ad agency represents different companies like AT&T, Citibank, and others, so I get up early each morning to update the latest news and post top stories so they know what's going on with their companies.  It's actually pretty interesting, I enjoy keeping up on the news and I freely admit the structure of having to get up in the morning is very helpful.  My friend Andrea, whom I met in library school down in Indy but lives here in Fort Wayne, was already working for AdForum and put in a good word for me with her contact guy.  We did an interview and it went well, so I've been doing that for about 6 weeks now.  Amazingly, I just got paid for the first time yesterday!  Better late than never, huh?

Wow, it really has been a long time since I've posted.  The other big news is that I was elected president of the Summit City Fencing Club back in Sept.  We moved over to Imagine MASTer Academy at the end of that month, plus we've had multiple classes going, so it's kept me pretty busy!  Perhaps between that and the online gig, I haven't felt like sitting down and typing much the last few weeks?  *shrug*  Anyway, we hosted the Mad Anthony D & Under here in Fort Wayne in Sept, then I went to Purdue later that month, and helped host the Storm the Fort Open here again on Nov 8.  Good times, I think our events went quite well and I am pleased with how they turned out!
I have tried to be sociable, I had fun seeing Chad C. at lunch just yesterday -- we went to the Baan Thai restuarant and had a good time, a nice meal.  Sara E from church had a bonfire a couple weeks ago, so I made it out there and had a fun time with all the folks around the fire. Been going to church, and like I said, keeping busy with fencing.  We also celebrated my brother's birthday in Sept, my dad's b-day in Oct, and my aunt & uncle visited for a couple days this month.  So, no major earthquakes, just living life and slowly trying to improve.  I'm sure y'all can relate. ;)
Stay happy and healthy out there, all you blogosphericals!

For those of you reacting negatively to the Sarah Palin icon, you can relax because I voted for Obama.  When it all came down to it, I am looking for the guy who is going to have the proper temperment, and McCain could run too "hot" for me at times.  People say Obama is too cool and analytical -- shouldn't we want those qualities in the leader of the free world?  That said, I think people are forgetting how much Obama stumbled out of the gate and struggled to find his footing in the debates against some very tough opponents early in the campaign.  Newsweek, to its credit, mentioned this in its special "44" issue that came out at the end of last week.   I do not think Sarah Palin is a moron, I just think she was unprepared to be under the full glare of the media spotlight with no chance to ease into it like Obama did.  I think she has done a fine job overall as governor in Alaska, even though no one's perfect, and I'd like to see her lead some truly genuine soul-searching for the GOP in the coming year.  Does the Republican Party really give a hoot about kids with special needs or young girls who make a mistake, but choose life and carry a pregnancy to term?  Palin's own family is a wonderful microcosm of what the GOP could stand for, if they can put old ideologies and myths about Reagan aside.  As Wayne and Garth would say, "Live in the Now!!!"  By the by, I voted for the Republican governor of Indiana for re-election, so I wasn't "locked" into a particular party.

I hope the passage of Proposition 8 in California convinces people that we are giving the Democrats a chance to get things done, not go wild.  In Connecticut, where the judiciary just forced the issue of "gay marriage" on another state, the vote was 4-3 -- not exactly overwhelming support.  Even Obama and Biden both said they oppose it.  My take on it is this: if two consenting adults want to make a legal contract, that's none of my business.  You can designate who gets your life insurance, who you want to receive health benefits, visit you in the hospital, whatever.  My problem is exemplified in an article I read earlier today:

By the way, I know everyone loathes Bush and Cheney, as do I, but I actually always thought John Edwards was a little too "slick."  I liked his message, but something about him was slightly off-putting; he was never a draw for the Kerry campaign for me.  History has proved my initial uneasiness justified -- what a sleazeball!  I can't imagine him or John Kerry leading us to greatness either, so again, I can't say we had any "real" choices in 2004.  All four of the 2004 candidates -- Bush, Cheney, Kerry, and Edwards -- did not inspire confidence or a sense of patriotism, just opportunism.  While Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin are all politicians and therefore not one of them is a saint by definition, nonetheless I feel like there is genuine good will and a little more hope for competent leadership from them.  We can only hope!

 Yesterday would have been mudstang94's birthday.

 I miss you, Matt.  Wish you were here...

Oh, Kherington... why did you have to phone it in on Wed night?  You and Mark were both surprisingly lackluster, but while he just had a major scare, you ended up going home.  To add insult to injury, you lost out to the contestant who had already been voted off the show!  (Comfort, the previous gal eliminated, was brought back to replace the injured Jessica King.)  That's just sad.

I wondered how some of the dancers would fare if/when they lost the "chemistry" they had with their old partners.  I actually figured Mark would suffer a bit without Chelsie, but I didn't think Kherington would fare quite that badly without Twitch.  Hard to know if it was the Mark-Kherington partnership itself that just didn't "click" or if they wouldn't have done so well with anyone, but it's disappointing.  Honestly, I wonder if Kherington wasn't quite on top of her game precisely because she thought she didn't have to compete with Comfort and it was basically a free pass?  To give Comfort credit, while the ballroom routine was "eh," her solo and the hip-hop number with Twitch were pretty cool.

By the way, I must confess I am slightly suspicious about Jessica's departure because she looks perfectly fine.  She walked out onstage without trouble, I didn't see any extra padding or anything, even she says she thought it was a "cramp."  I half-believe she was so sick of the judges giving her lackluster marks and making comments about how Will would basically be better off without her, that she made it to the Top 10 in order to be part of the tour and then quit.  I can't prove it, of course, but it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be the case down the road.

And so, in tribute to Kher-Bear, here's her contemporary routine with Twitch... *sniff, sniff*

On Sunday, the Holy Cross softball team ended up playing its last game for the season.  We didn't win many games the past few weeks, but had a good time and got to know each other a little bit.  Holy Cross is such a big church (with four different services available on the weekends) that, in an ironic twist, it becomes very difficult to get to know folks over there.  Between the weekly Bible Study and softball, I feel like I've gotten to know a goodly number of people my age over at the church, so that's very cool in my book.  Speaking of the Study, Chad & Kristen hosted it after the game on Sunday evening and we had a nice time.  We are discussing prayer and having a more personal relationship with God, so it's neat to hear some different perspectives and feel like we are communicating more effectively both with God and with each other as fellow Christians.  And in other sports-related news, the SCFC hosted the Titan Event at Zion Lutheran Academy on Monday evening.  We technically had a couple practices last week, but with vacation and everything else, nobody showed up, so this was the first time we had a class session in the building followed by fencers sticking around during the normal practice time.  We all had a good time, I was pleased to see three of the brand-new fencers in the Intro class wanted to take part, that shows an admirable level of enthusiasm on their part.  So, hopefully we will have folks coming over regularly and we can get a good routine going.

I've actually been feeling pretty good the last few days, which has been nice!  I had to rest before each of my sporting events, but I got through them in decent shape and was able to enjoy myself while I was participating.  I definitely need more income at this point; Julie has been wonderful about calling me in to work at Parkview when she is able to do so, but the hours are limited and I need to be doing more.  As always, prayers and good vibes are appreciated! :)

It's almost unheard of for me to be swayed by actors doing interviews to make me want to see a movie, but that's the case after seeing this Unscripted interview with Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman from Hancock!  I was lukewarm about the movie; I thought I might go see it if someone else wanted to check it out but probably wouldn't make a particular effort on my own, but I love the exchanges between these guys and their obvious affection for each other and for the movie.  If they have half as much fun onscreen as they did here, I will be pleased.  And I liked Jason Bateman when he did Arrested Development, but even more so now, I totally relate to his sense of humor.

Had some people over for the July 4th holiday; I was kind of worried because I was really tired during the day, but I rested up and it went quite well!  Megan (and Scott) originally proposed having a cookout over at their house, then coming over to check out the fireworks at IPFW, since we live within walking distance.  I suggested we all just meet here instead, so I ended up hosting a little pizza party, and we played some Bocce Ball, walked over to the Ivy Tech lawn, and then got in a few rounds of midnight Hillbilly Golf.  Chad & Lesa brought their kids over, so as you can imagine, adorableness ensued.  Seriously, little Miela is about to kill me with her overwhelming cuteness in this bigger pic!  I'm glad I was able to have some folks over and have some fun with them, hope everybody enjoyed the holiday!

Dedicated to squealnakedcatj, silentknight, psychogryphon, and schnibbles...

Goodness gracious me!  I don't know if it is because I have a thing for chicks with swords or what, but Kherington in that "matadoress" outfit really turned me on!  Craziness.  Good routines, I enjoyed the show this week.  I know Courtney and Gev's hip-hop routine won't go down as one of the greats in SYTYCD history, but the choreography to the lyrics --
-- is among my personal all-time favorite 5 seconds of dance on the show.  Hee, hee!  I wish poor Kourtni L. had had a better partner from the start; I thought Nigel was right on the money when he said later that Matt has never "grown" in the course of the show.  He stayed down and weighed her down in the process.  It is impossible to know if and how things would have been different, but I do wonder how she would have gotten along with Will or one of the other guys as a partner.  It's a shame, but I guess someone's gotta go home each week.  Also, I am really beginning to hate Thayne, he is just so fake and not nearly as versatile as most of the other dancers on the show.  He was really annoying me in the group routine, so I could not believe my ears when Mary Murphy complements him about "standing out" in said routine! *retches*  It was a toss-up between Matt and Thayne for me, I knew Gev wasn't going when it was only his first time in the Bottom 3 and he had a great solo.  It's funny, I am having a very hard time telling who is favored as an individual dancer, rather than as part of a couple.  They have such great chemistry this year that you have to wonder how they'll fare once they're all split up, the prime example from last year being when Kameron got booted the very first week he was no longer paired with Lacey!  Should be interesting, we shall see.


One other thing...

I had an odd dream last night in which I was in England, but everywhere I went, people were showing me their guns.  I get the sense it was some pre-apocalyptic era, people knew something bad was coming and had their firearms ready -- shotguns, handguns, you name it.  I assume I then transported into the somewhat distant future, but somewhere in Southwest America, because I saw a large group of hostile cavalry (yes, with horses) ambushed by two WWII-style machine guns in a deep valley.  Strange, but true.  Playing Civ too much on my own, perhaps?

I don't know how I downloaded it, but my computer has been running like crap lately, so I finally updated my spyware and quarantined a Trojan Horse.  Whee.  Ideally, I would probably need to wipe my computer, install more memory, and start over. *sigh*  Is that actually going to happen?  Probably not.

Going to Bible Study tonight over at the Potters' house, we had a cookout there last week and had a nice time.  So, that should be fun.  Some of us went out to B-Dubs after our second softball game on Thursday night to celebrate our victory, that is the first time in a long time that I have done that sort of thing.  The day before that (Wed), I went up to Auburn with Caleb and we did a short fencing demo for the Parks Dept up there, which went well.  I had hoped to go down to michaela080's birthday party in Indy on Friday, but was still kinda tired and sore after Thursday's events, and didn't make it down. :(  And, of course, earlier this month I celebrated Father's Day with my family and honored my dad.


Not a whole lot of news besides that, other than I am trying to continue to get my act together.  Prayers are appreciated, hopefully I will continue on a good track here.  All you Americans out there, have a wonderful July 4th!

SYTYCD has had some pretty awesome hip-hop routines this season, I like Tabitha and Napoleon (the choreographers for the second and third numbers) quite a bit.  Too bad their very first routine with Rayven and her partner was kind of "eh"; I liked her and wanted her to stick around a little longer.  Anyway, here are some very cool dances if you haven't seen them...

I honestly don't know why Dancing With the Stars gets such better ratings than SYTYCD because this show is da bomb, hands down the best "reality show" out there.  Why?  It requires actual skill.  Even on American Idol, a "winning personality" can get a contestant pretty far, but on here, they have to be able to back it all up on every single show with real talent.  The video below has the Season 4 audition for Phillip Chbeeb, who is freaking amazing at what he does.  Check it out and WATCH THE SHOW!!!

All things being equal, though, Scrubs was still a darn good show, especially compared to a lot of the crap out there.  I will miss it and I am sad it got a bit of "the boot" at the end, but I think it ended well.  What other show placed dancing on such a high comedic pedestal?  For that alone, it will always hold a special place in my heart.  And I'm glad to see Sarah Chalke continuing to act on another quirky little show that I enjoy called How I Met Your Mother.  Good times, I think I might buy the entire series of Scrubs if it comes out in a boxed set (and when I have some spare cash).

In other TV news, So You Think You Can Dance returns on May 22 -- woo-hoo!!!

In case anyone is interested...
This is a quick look at the Parkview library where I work, April 2008. Enjoy! :)

Truer words were never spoken...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREW!!!

Best wishes from Ft Wayne, from me and from my parents. *HUGS*

Ah, LiveJournal... my old friend.  How I've neglected you!  So it goes, so it goes.

• Recently bit the bullet and decided to start saving my pics online, you can see my images from now on at my Flickr account.
• Been leading the Sunday night Bible Study at Holy Cross and it's been going quite well.  It sounds like people are enjoying it and it seems like folks are learning every week.  They keep coming back, so I assume I'm doing something correctly!
• Went to Wright State University in Dayton a couple weeks ago for the Wright Challenge, I am thinking about going down to Indy for the Circle City Open this weekend.  If anyone down that way is free, I'd like to get together and hang out afterward!
• squealnakedcatj came up to Fort Wayne last Sunday to join our family for Easter worship and hang out for a while, which is always cool.  Too bad ticklemerisi wasn't feeling well, but at least she gave her husband her blessing to make the trip so we could spend time together.  We had lunch at LoneStar, played some video games, and had dinner with my family, so I think good times were had by all -- I know I certainly did!
  
• The Parks Dept recently cancelled their fencing classes, seemingly out of the blue, and we're not exactly sure why.  At this point, though, we are getting an influx of members and raising our profile a bit more, so I'm not complaining!  We have our next USFA tournament on April 19, so I am hoping that goes well! *crosses fingers*
• Popped in Star Wars the other day and then started watching The Empire Strikes Back.  Man, this reminds me again how much I love the original three and loathe the prequels.  I also just got Stargate: The Ark of Truth from Amazon (one of my very few splurges during this frugal time) and started watching it today while working out.  (Don't spoil it for me, I haven't finished it yet!)
• Been working some hours at Parkview, which is good.  Need... more... money!

Wow, a politician who actually wants to address issues -- what a concept!  I greatly appreciate the fact that Barack Obama does not try to dismiss people's concerns and acknowledges that they are based in reality, but that they also should not be excuses.  I also like the fact that he doesn't automatically denounce people who are suddenly inconvenient, but he actually explains why he associates with them and values them as individuals.  I already liked him, but I think this speech puts him over the top in my view.  It's 35 minutes long, but time well spent, if you ask me.

I actually like the new Terminator series that just wrapped up its first (and last?) season, but the thing has plotholes large enough to drive Skynet insane.  My biggest problem is the whole time-traveling device, it's becoming way overused.  If you go by the movies, you might think the power requirements for time traveling are so immense that they only do it by necessity.  Hence the reason Skynet only sends back two cyborgs (not counting T3 here since the TV series doesn't take it into account) to get rid of John Connor, and mankind manages to scrape enough power and tech together to counter it.  In the TV series, though, the pilot show has a time device stored in a bank in the present day!!!  WTF?  It seems time travel devices are as common as, say, Blu-Ray disc players: not everyone has one, but they're scattered around.  This means they could send back legions of Terminators, it's not an issue at all.  What's to stop Skynet from sending back a battalion of Arnold-style Terminators with a special squad of T-1000s thrown in for good measure?  If they just made it seem like time travel was a bit more of an effort, that it took a lot to send Cameron back to protect John, it wouldn't come across as so mundane.  Not only is she around, but now his uncle Derek is in the picture as well.  I wouldn't be entirely surprised if John Connor goes back in time himself at some point.  I don't know, that just gets my goat for some reason.

That said, seeing Cameron try to adjust to life here in the non-apocalyptic USA is rather amusing, kind of like Data on ST:TNG.  My favorite part of the series, hands down, is the killer robot being asked to the prom by a geeky friend of John's.  Ha, ha, ha, ha!  That's just good stuff.  Anyway, I don't know if they are going to try to meld it with T3's storyline or not, it seems like it would already be impossible.  The funny thing is that this show is going to be faithful to the movies and end really grimly, with Sarah dying and Judgment Day arriving, or totally blow the whole sense of "canon" and go off in a whole other direction, probably pissing off quite a few fans in the process.  Oh, well.  It's still better than Moment of Truth. *shudder*