Stuff and things
First update for a while. Weekend before last was System Override. 'Twas awesome, but I'll be posting more about it later.
Work has been largely rubbish recently, so the less said about it the better.
My teeth are slightly less fucked than before, since I've now had 4 of the 13 fillings done. There won't be any more work done on that till mid-Jan, to give my gums time to heal, which is a shame. I'd rather get it all over and done with now. On the downside, I've finally managed to get a specialist to look at my root canal in the tooth that broke, and its definitely got an infection down in the jawbone. It looks like we have the alternatives of attempting to redo the root canal (difficult, since the root has a tricky s-curve in it that is tough to get the drill around), have the tooth out completely, or refill current one and leave the infection, since it isn't actually causing any problems right now. Frankly, none of these options are too appealing.
Better health news - just had my 6 month checkup on my eyes, and they've settled down to 20/20! I officially have damn good eyesight! The dryness problems are almost sorted out, there is some glare, but its not a problem, and my nightsight is not significantly worse than it used to be (its impossible to judge any closer than that, given the difficulty of objective assessment). So I'm pretty damn pleased about that.
My car is still very poorly, but at least I now I've worked out what's wrong with the heater. It appears to be a built in response to the engine cooling issue. When the engine starts to overheat, the air blower heating element turns itself off, to avoid heating it further. This means that it runs ok for long enough to demist the car when starting off, but if you want to avoid misting up again, you have to keep it pumping out freezing cold air for the whole drive. I drove to Cambridge and back this weekend, and I had to wear a fleece, leather jacket and gloves to avoid freezing to death (and instead was merely very very cold).
Speaking of Cambridge, that was damn good. It was the next installment in our Stargate marathon, when Matt and I basically watch a whole series in one sitting. This one was slightly different, since we've now caught up with America, and the winter break means that they only got half way through the season 8 before stopping. However, the new Stargate: Atlantis series came to our rescue. Its being shown on Canadian TV, where they don't have silly winter breaks (stupid Americans!), so we had a total of 10 SG:1 and 15 SG:A eps to watch. I approached SG:A with some trepidation - some of the character bios and plot synopses for early episodes looked awfully derivative, and indeed identical to SG:1 series 1, but I was pleasantly suprised. Its actually a pretty damn good series. It has some of the weaknesses you'd expect in a new series, but not as many as you might think - for example, its much stronger than SG-1's first series. Its got a selection of interesting characters, with fairly deep characterisation, who mature and change with the passage of time. Its got plenty of action, its internally consistent, things that happened in earlier episodes are referred to and used in later ones, it looks like it is beginning to develop multiple antagonists with some depth to them (the wraiths, the main bad guys, are still looking worryingly one dimensional, though). All in all a promising start, and I can definitely reccomend the series to anyone who likes Stargate. SG:1 series 8 is also looking good. The characters are continuing to develop and change, there's loads going on in the universe, the replicators are back and looking more interesting than ever, and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series.
And then I got home to discover that everyone and their dog has seen rotk, usually as part of a 12 hour marathon, and I haven't!. *glows green* Dammit, I want my Lord of the Rings! But I'm getting it for Christmas, so I have to rely on someone else's copy. Hmmmm. Who can I steal one from....
Work has been largely rubbish recently, so the less said about it the better.
My teeth are slightly less fucked than before, since I've now had 4 of the 13 fillings done. There won't be any more work done on that till mid-Jan, to give my gums time to heal, which is a shame. I'd rather get it all over and done with now. On the downside, I've finally managed to get a specialist to look at my root canal in the tooth that broke, and its definitely got an infection down in the jawbone. It looks like we have the alternatives of attempting to redo the root canal (difficult, since the root has a tricky s-curve in it that is tough to get the drill around), have the tooth out completely, or refill current one and leave the infection, since it isn't actually causing any problems right now. Frankly, none of these options are too appealing.
Better health news - just had my 6 month checkup on my eyes, and they've settled down to 20/20! I officially have damn good eyesight! The dryness problems are almost sorted out, there is some glare, but its not a problem, and my nightsight is not significantly worse than it used to be (its impossible to judge any closer than that, given the difficulty of objective assessment). So I'm pretty damn pleased about that.
My car is still very poorly, but at least I now I've worked out what's wrong with the heater. It appears to be a built in response to the engine cooling issue. When the engine starts to overheat, the air blower heating element turns itself off, to avoid heating it further. This means that it runs ok for long enough to demist the car when starting off, but if you want to avoid misting up again, you have to keep it pumping out freezing cold air for the whole drive. I drove to Cambridge and back this weekend, and I had to wear a fleece, leather jacket and gloves to avoid freezing to death (and instead was merely very very cold).
Speaking of Cambridge, that was damn good. It was the next installment in our Stargate marathon, when Matt and I basically watch a whole series in one sitting. This one was slightly different, since we've now caught up with America, and the winter break means that they only got half way through the season 8 before stopping. However, the new Stargate: Atlantis series came to our rescue. Its being shown on Canadian TV, where they don't have silly winter breaks (stupid Americans!), so we had a total of 10 SG:1 and 15 SG:A eps to watch. I approached SG:A with some trepidation - some of the character bios and plot synopses for early episodes looked awfully derivative, and indeed identical to SG:1 series 1, but I was pleasantly suprised. Its actually a pretty damn good series. It has some of the weaknesses you'd expect in a new series, but not as many as you might think - for example, its much stronger than SG-1's first series. Its got a selection of interesting characters, with fairly deep characterisation, who mature and change with the passage of time. Its got plenty of action, its internally consistent, things that happened in earlier episodes are referred to and used in later ones, it looks like it is beginning to develop multiple antagonists with some depth to them (the wraiths, the main bad guys, are still looking worryingly one dimensional, though). All in all a promising start, and I can definitely reccomend the series to anyone who likes Stargate. SG:1 series 8 is also looking good. The characters are continuing to develop and change, there's loads going on in the universe, the replicators are back and looking more interesting than ever, and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series.
And then I got home to discover that everyone and their dog has seen rotk, usually as part of a 12 hour marathon, and I haven't!. *glows green* Dammit, I want my Lord of the Rings! But I'm getting it for Christmas, so I have to rely on someone else's copy. Hmmmm. Who can I steal one from....