Projecting.

When we had the house torn down to the studs, the hubs decided he wanted to install wiring for a projector system. There were a few hitches with the electrician (we only had to call him back about 4 times to get the job right...) and given the expense and the hassle, my husband was ready to throw in the towel an innumerable amount of times.

With my gentle encouragement ("..just order the f*cking thing already and get it done with.." were my exact words) the last few months he's been collecting the final components. On Saturday, the projector was finally installed.

And the last few cables showed up yesterday, and we were able to fire it up for the first time. It works!
We watched our first movie in our house last night- Gladiator. I'm happy to report that it's just as tearjerking 80" across as it is on a smaller television.

(btw, my apologies for not posting often or responding to comments. Moving and getting our condo ready for renting (not selling-decided to be a landlady!) has been sapping out my energy!)

Boom City!

Every year the husband and I end up at Boom City. I'm not sure how the tradition started, it's just been one of those things that we always end up doing. We always walk away feeling more alive than ever, and since we have never lived in a city together that allowed large fireworks, this is a great way to get the urge to blow sh*t up out of our system.

Boom City is on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. It is an expo for pyros- stall after stall full of fantastically colored fireworks at relatively inexpensive prices (bartering encouraged!). And if you're looking for some not so legal things (*cough* bombs and drugs *cough*) those can also be found. Although they're cracking down hard, for a good reason. Drugs in a place where you can light off explosives...? Yeah, not a great idea. This little slice of heaven is right along a monstrous field that is open to light off your newly purchased wares... it can become a bit of a war zone - children firing roman candles at each other, mortars (sometimes falling on their sides and shooting into the crowds- we see it at least twice whenever we go), and wind-blown fireworks that blow up too low to the ground, often next to someone's head (the first year it was me who this happened to... my ears rang for a week after).
This year they had a great staff of people who were wandering the area making sure nobody was getting too rowdy... and since we visited on the 2nd of July, less people were running around firing off stuff simultaneously... it felt like a much safer experience.

Can't picture it? Here's a video that nearly sums it up:

Need a bit of an adrenaline rush? Head out to Boom City just before sundown today, bring a lawn chair, dress warmly, and watch people blow up their money in celebration of our fine country. :) Hope you have a happy (and safe!) Fourth of July weekend!

Facebook

I love to hate Facebook.

I love that it allows me to keep in touch with a lot of people I would not normally keep in touch with. And I'm so socially awkward anyway that it truly provides me 95% of my daily dose of human interaction.

But I really don't like it when people get political, and/or spam my walls with "repost if you agree.." updates.

There is a lighter side to it though, and that's getting to read some of the silly and hilarious posts that people come up with. There's a site that is dedicated to such goofiness- it's called failbook (which isn't entirely fitting, as some of the posts are filled with win).

For example:




And my own wall is subject to questionable fun as well:


And so you have it. My quest for off-the-wall comments and their originating posts have become the highlight of my facebooking. I guess I'll keep my account after all!

Planning for Flight Boredom

On our entertainment list for 19 hours of flying:

Three TV Shows on iPod: two episodes of Castle and one of Madmen
Two books on Kindle: Naked Heat and Heat Wave (Yes, I AM a castle fan)
One DS game: Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar
And a journal.

Taiwan may be in our near future, too- Sometime between November and January. I guess I need to get over the whole "I'm going to die!" thing every time I step foot on a plane.

Tamagotchi?

Remember those irritating little egg shaped things that everyone had when you were 14? Well, guess what? They're still around!

I was looking for a tamagotchi-like application for my new Sidekick and discovered that the old school tamagotchis were still around. I convinced the hot programmer boyfriend to drive me to Target so I could have something to entertain myself with while he attacked the people at the Verizon store. Lo and behold- I picked one out (a green and purple one) and bought it.

Oh the shame.

I really don't know which is worse- the fact that I bought one in the first place, or that I actually enjoy it. The detail in the game has changed significantly- you are in charge of raising generation after generation of Tamagotchis, guiding their career paths, helping them earn money and perhapes even earning status with the King of Tamaland (seriously).

You even get an online code for tamaland.com, and you can play games, earn money, and meet computer run tamagotchi characters to help further your own tamagotchi's purpose.

Sounds a bit lame, I know... but it works. Cheap entertainment is always a good thing.