well, while working, and avoiding working, I’ve been watching some DVDs and so forth, and it’s led me to a revelation. Firefly is awesome, I can’t believe it got cancelled. But I suppose all good shows do, that’s just the way of things. Interestingly, the guy who plays the captain on Firefly looks a bit like Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, another awesome, yet cancelled, show.

An interesting facet is that the characters will occasionally break into Mandarin Chinese, particularly when they are cursing. In terms of practicality, it provided the show’s writers with a way around network censors. The choice of Chinese is significant in that the dominant governing body, the Alliance, was formed between China and the United States - the last remaining superpowers from Earth-That-Was.

My favourite bit so far, Captain Reynolds has his enemy lying on the ground beneath him, a sword to his throat.
“It takes a truly great man to forgive.”
(stabs the man)
“I guess I’m just a good man.”
(stabs him again)
“Well … I’m alright …”

Hilarious. The movie Serenity apparently picks up where the series left off, but I’ve not seen the series quite long enough to tell.

In other news, Bek was in a dream I had last night, and we were fighting. I don’t know what it was about, but I woke up feeling guilty, so I guess I was in the wrong. Sorry babe!

Hello everybody! The main reason for this is to announce that Elbow are playing at the Tivoli on the 8th of March, and I am keen as mustard to go. Who else is coming?

Okay, so that’s that out of the way.

Life has just been pottering along. My car is working very well again, and I’ve been driving it plenty. I’ve been driving with the roof off every chance I get, but in the day time, it’s often too dam hot, so it’s mostly reserved for evenings.

Bryce came home for the weekend to go to his friend’s wedding, and I surprise picked him up in snoop. The beast lives.

I went and saw ‘The Bakery’ play at ric’s last night. The Bakery is an indie rock group that my mate Morgan plays lead guitar in. I had no idea how good a fried breakfast was when accompanied by beer. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Went flying on Saturday which is always good fun. Every so often we attract a small group of onlookers, but this time there were crowds gathering with picnic blankets and chairs and stuff. Then we heard talk of the Queen Mary (I think) being in port, and as we looked over the water we could see it on the horizon. So we watched it go out whilst eating fish and chips. Very decadent.

Work continues on its merry way. Help pay the bills. I’m loving the Tuesday - Saturday working hours. Working 9-12 on Saturday hardly feels like work, and then you’ve got the rest of Saturday to do stuff, PLUS you get Monday off. Works well for me
So who’s comin to Elbow?

It’s easy … great food. I had Apollo burger for brunch, then met Lisa and Daina for icecream around 3pm, and then for dinner I had Red Lobster’s whatever-you-call-it combo of crab legs, garlic prawns, coconut prawns, and lobster tail. Fantasitc day, all up.

I watched several comedies that are on TV Thursday nights, too … My Name is Earl, The Office and Scrubs. It was a peach of a day.

What else? It snowed last night, several inches. These several inches took some pushing to get off the car this morning so I could go out, let me tell you! Why did I go out? To buy a new jacket. I’ve got my nice big leather jacket, but it’s not 100% suitable for all trips, because it’s bulky and a little too big, so there’s a lot of breeze that can get in. The super-cheap hoodie I bought when I first arrived in SLC had been disintegrating due to holes that it got when it was caught on something, several times. I had three holes, all on the back. One hole over each kidney, and another long straight rip along the back of the shoulders. Eventually these tears became bigger than the jacket themself, and so it required replacing. Promptly, when one considers the snow factor.

Well, it’s Glenn’s birthday, and kinda mine, although technically my birthday is tomorrow, American-time. Happy Birthday Glenn, hope you have a great day … hope your decision as to how to spend it is an easy one.

I’ve been enjoying a few quiet beers and generally chilling … I bought some Miller Lite beer yesterday, incredibly cheap, but pretty low alchohol content, so I guess if you compare it with Australian light-midstrength I suppose that it’s about on par.

Also, I’ve been enjoying a few episodes of TV that I’ve missed over the past week. Criminal Intent, Lost, Studio 60, The Sarah Silvermann Program, and House. Maybe for tomorrow, I’ll have Heroes and 24.

I spoke with Lisa yesterday, and she’s doing well. Maybe she’ll be available for some kind of birthday meal tomorrow. If not, I can always hit up somewhere by myself I guess. Mum and Dad will be over here pretty soon, so I look forward to seeing them again. Had a good convo with them last night, which was nice.

Also, got a nice email from Bek, and an MSN message from Bryce. Spoke with Glenn on MSN as well this morning, wished him all the best, and he returned best wishes to me.

Hehe, have you guys been following the Britney Spears saga? Hilarious!

Well, I’m back in Salt Lake, and there’s two days (in american terms) until my birthday. Things are good, I’ve got a lot of work to do. And a lot of movies to watch.

It’s a shame I can’t do both.

well I stopped for lunch in a place that I noticed had “free wireless” so I decided to eat in, rather than driving onwards. I’ve got about 900km’s to go to get back to SLC … and it’s only lunchtime, so I may or may not go all the way.

I think I’m in North Platte, Nebraska for those playing Google Maps.

I’ve been thinking about when I get back, I want to start a no commitment required band. People who feel like it turn up once a month to rehearse. Would any regular readers be interested in that?

My car is so dirty right now. Only thing dirtier? Lara’s mind.

my meeting with the homos here in ohio didn’t go very well, but i had another meeting with a partner who proceeded to let me get them very drunk, and me too. not sure if i’ll be able to leave ohio tomorrow

When I checked out of my hotel in Newton, I said to the guy:
“Checking out of room 126.”
And he said: “We don’t have a room 126.”
And I got out my key that said “126″ on it, and handed it to him and said “Yes you do! Suprise!”

He then had a wierd look on his face and said: “No, I mean there’s noone IN room 126. Do you have a receipt?”

So I showed him my receipt, and he asked if he could take a photocopy of it. I said sure.

Turns out the guy who checked me in gave me the room for free and stole the cash.

How about that?

N 41.68601 W 92.88438

Dangerous piece of road, that. Made it to Ohio. It’s late, I’m tired.

Well, “accident” might be overstating it.

Today in Iowa, I came off the road when the road suddenly turned to ice.

I’m fine, and so is the car, but it’s about 5 metres off the road, up to it’s proverbial eyeballs in snow. I called Hertz, who couldn’t really help since I had no idea where I was in terms of roadmarkers, so they told me to call the police, and call them back. I called the police, and pretty soon a state trooper was on the scene.

He says: “Are you alone sir?” to which I reply “yes”.
He then says: “Please lock your vehicle and come with me.” and I’m thinking “oh battleships …”

I get in his car and he says “It’s too dangerous to get your vehicle out right now. I’m taking you to a motel and you can get it out in the morning. ”

I’m like: whoa, ok.

So he drops me at a local motel, where I am now, and I call Hertz. They say “Ok we’ll pick you up and tow it out tomorrow morning. Since the car came off a maintained road, there’s no charge for the towing, but you’ve got mega insurance anyway, so that doesn’t matter.”

And here I am. Waiting until tomorrow, when hopefully the roads are better.