thehowe_v7.1

I need to get this off my chest right now. I was just watching a show, Eureka, on SciFi, where they had to restart a man's heart. So, they break out the defibrillator. Okay, first of all: this is supposed to be set in a town full of crazy super-geniuses with ultra-high-tech toys. The best they have is a defibrillator? Please. Secondly - and this is what really gets me - after two shocks, they stop defibrillating, and start performing CPR. And then his heart starts beating again.

Hollywood, listen up. I'm sick and tired of seeing you get this wrong:

1. CPR can't restart a person's heart! All it does is keep the blood flowing until someone can do something more effective. (Like, oh, I don't know, use a defibrillator! Idiots.)
2. If you're really doing CPR correctly, you should be breaking ribs. This wussy bounce up and down on the guy's chest crap doesn't cut it. You want to pretend CPR is more effective than it is, for dramatic license? Fine. At least have the decency to break some bones while you're at it.

I swear, if I see one more medical drama, or cop show, or anything, where CPR restarts a person's heart, I'm going to write a letter. That's right, you heard me! Don't think I'm bluffing!

So, it occurred to me that I hadn't updated in awhile. I'd say I haven't done anything, but that wouldn't be strictly true. Last weekend my parents flew into town for the weekend to visit. On Saturday we drove about two hours north to a little port called Anacortes or something like that, and took a ferry out onto one of the islands off the coast and did a 5-hour sea kayaking excursion. It was a lot of fun - perfect weather, saw lots of wildlife (harbor seals, various starfish and jellyfish, even some orcas in the distance), and it was a hell of a lot easier than canoing.

After we drove back Saturday night, we got up Sunday morning and went on a 4+ hour hike at Tiger Mountain just outside of Seattle. It was a beautiful hike - awesome forest, a pretty damn rough hike. We gained roughly 2500 feet of elevation in about 2.4 miles - but over half of that (1300 feet) was in the last approx. 0.8 miles. Needless to say, it was pretty damn steep. We had some great views of the city and the surrounding mountains at the top, after which we took a slightly easier (but longer) trail down. My legs were sore as hell at the end, but it was worth it.

After the hike we came back to the apartment, showered, went out to dinner, and then went and saw Batman Begins at the local theatre. It was the best Batman movie ever. The villain wasn't the coolest (nobody beats Jack Nicholson as Joker), but it was the best representation of Batman I've ever seen on screen. I may even go see it again this weekend - we'll see.

What else... not too much going on this week. My project at work is progressing nicely, and it's been getting more satisfying as I get deeper into it. We've got an Intern rafting trip this Friday, so that should be fun. In about two weeks, on the 6th, Ashley is flying out to visit for a few days, so that should be a blast. I'll have to figure out what we're going to do, though. Going up in the Space Needle is a given, but beyond that there doesn't seem to be too much to do in Seattle. Ah well, I'm sure I'll think of something.

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, I added a PhotoAlbum to the site, which is updated with what few pictures I've taken this summer. Enjoy.

Well, it's been a long week. I finally got a start on my project for the summer, but it's going slow. I've basically got to learn how to do something that nobody else on my team knows how to do, then do it. Needless to say, it's been kind of hard to get going on it. Nevertheless, I'm making progress, so I should (hopefully) get rolling on it soon.

I saw Episode III yesterday. It was so great, it was practically hemorrhaging awesomeness. Needless to say, a huge improvement over episodes I and II. What was even better was that Amazon payed - they bought tickets for my entire department. Sure it was a 7:30 AM show, but it was worth it. I was so jazzed after watching it, I went out and bought the original trilogy on DVD. I'm planning on a marathon session tomorrow.

I think that's it. I do have pictures to post - I'll probably get around to that next weekend. Maybe.

Well, I went out and saw Sin City tonight. It was gory, disturbing, messed up shit. I loved every bit of it. Usually I don't really like those mega-violence type movies (if you haven't seen it, think Kill Bill and you'll be close), but for some reason I really enjoyed this one. Maybe it was the color thing, maybe it was the cheesy one-liners, I don't know, but it was awesome. Plus, I think watching all that violence helped vent some of the pent-up rage that always accumulates this time of year due to the utter imbeciles that live in Ann Arbor. I was so worked up after the movie that I played an hour of Halo. It was great.

To sum up the experience: cathartic.

Not much new, on account of my life being extremely boring. Plans are starting to get finalized for this summer - the flights should be booked in the next week or so, and I'll be getting the final details on where I'll be living soon after that. Today is Easter, which I didn't realize until Friday. The highlight of my day was getting my Easter candy from my mom.

"Bronzium! The metal is Bronzium!"

"I guess you'd call it an implosive/explosive sub-molecular device! Or, a nuclear bomb! Yes, I like that - it's catchy!"

Sorry about that. I'm watching The Shadow on SciFi right now. It's such a cheesy movie, I love it. Anyways, I thought I'd be working until 10 tonight finishing the latest databases project, but we got done a lot earlier than I expected, so that was a nice treat. What else... My birthday's coming up in two weeks, so that's exciting. I'm hoping to get some good presents - I am turning 21 after all. Plus, my parents owe me for carting Troy around all spring break.

I am currently watching - and this is completely true - a movie about a killer pinata. I love late-night cable TV.

I had this whole thing written earlier, but then I had some technical difficulties. Since I'm too lazy to write the whole thing over again, here's the condensed version:

• Break = too short
• Xmas = good; got shirts, Live, book, DVDs
• Had dinner w/Tom & Killer, ate "garbage" burger with guacamole = better than it sounds
• Had lunch with Ashley; yummy yummy homemade lasagna and chocolate cake that tasted like cherry. Tons of fun, as always.
• Saw lots of movies (Blade 3, Life Aquatic, Unfortunate Events), none of which I would see again.

I just finished watching Donnie Darko on the residence hall movie channel. That was some messed-up shit.

You know, I just realized something. I've never been to a movie that wasn't better once I put 3D glasses on. So from now on, I'm going to take a pair of 3D glasses to every movie I see.

Editor's note: Travis was still quite groggy from just waking up when he wrote this. Also, the only movies he has ever been to with 3D glasses are the ones that require you to wear them. That's why they always looked better to him with the glasses one. Also, this is still Travis typing. He's just writing in the 3rd person to make it sound like he actually cares enough to have somebody else edit this site.

Well, I just got back from seeing Matrix: Reloaded for the first time a few hours ago. Overall, I'd say it was good. My friend Tom likened it to The Empire Strikes Back, and I'd say that's a good analogy. A decent movie by itself, but not great by any stretch of the word until it's combined with the rest of the trilogy. Anyways, I've got some theories on something which happens at the end of the movie.

About the part at the end where Neo knocks out the sentinels. I've spent the last few hours reading some discussions on the topic over at the OverClocked Remix forums, and I've noticed a definite polarization into two camps. Camp #1 says that this is evidence that the "real" world is in fact merely another part or layer of the matrix, and that Neo realizes this when he stops the sentinels at the end. Camp #2 says that Neo's powers as the one somehow extend into the real world as well, possibly one of the ways in which he is different from the ones of the past. Personally, I'm hoping for some derivation of Camp #2's explanation, because #1 is just too cliched for me. It's been done too many times in too many books and movies.

I'm really hoping that the third matrix movie takes us somewhere we've never been before, and blows my mind like the first one did.