a very (almost) unemployed weekend

[garfield22]

so i spent 95% of my time this sacred columbus day weekend inside my apartment. how did i remember the great christopher columbus? let's take a look:

movies watched:

a history of violence - first half was amazing, second half not so good. one of those movies where the characters get set up really well, the acting is tight, and the directing is pristine, and then the plot just falls apart. monster's ball, i'm looking at you.

march of the penguins - enjoyable look at penguin life. would have been a run-of-the-mill pbs special were it not for morgan freeman's superb narration.

good morning vietnam - i know this isn't a new movie, but it was a netflix, and definitely the big surprise of the weekend. one of the best movies i've seen over the past few months. rent it if you haven't seen it.

red eye - despite all the good reviews, don't see this movie. wes craven, you need to stop making movies. 10 years ago.

i also watched a few episodes of "curb your enthusiasm" and i have to say i'm not a fan of the show. it's too awkward and unfunny to me. not sure what people see in it.

games played:

city of heroes - this was a no-brainer. i mean, what else have i been wasting my time on over the past few weeks?

freedom force - i never finished this game 3 years ago when i bought it, so i decided to start playing it again. i forgot how much fun it was and i may finish it this time around. i promise.

books read:

impossible cure - finally finished this fascinating look at the medical system of homeopathy. if you have any interest in homeopathy at all, this is the place to start.

mere christianity - just started this classic tonight. somehow i've missed out on a fantastic book all these years.

projects worked on:

www.beingjongraves.com - i claimed this site for my own saturday night and now i need to actually put some stuff up on the site. i plan to make it a dumping ground for projects, i'll probably start a tech blog of some sort, and maybe put some personal stuff up except i'm trying to work out the security of all that. don't want everything out in the open.

hercules - that's the (kinda dumb) codename for the calorie/exercise tracking software i'm planning on writing. i mostly did some initial planning and thoughts on that this weekend.

people seen (this is a short list, i promise):

family - traveled into philly saturday morning with my parents to pick up my brother and sister-in-law from the airport and to give them a ride to the shipyard. they're going on a cruise to bermuda all this week because my brother has tendonitis in his wrists and wants to give them time off to heal. it's a rough life, i guess.

the questionable maintenance guy - he came by to fix my toilet this afternoon and carried on conversation in a thick hispanic accent. the bits i understood were "i like philly", "i like to dance in philly", "i like to drink", "do you like beer", and i think i heard the phrase "gay friend" at one point. i'm glad he fixed my toilet and i'm glad he left without incident. things worked out alright, i think.

now that i wrote all that out it seems i had a fairly productive weekend in a jon graves sort of fashion. i want to thank mr. columbus for making all this possible.