High Fructose Corn Syrup

My wife and I watched Collateral on DVD last nite.  I had been wanting to see the movie for some time as it appeared to be a similar ride to Phone Booth.  Thankfully, the movie didn't disappoint when it came to action.  The ending, however, was a bit weak and I thought Tom Cruise's character, Vincent, was not fleshed out enough beyond being a mean jerk.  He was a bad ass type of guy, but there wasn't really a reason why he was angry at the world.  Let me know if there was and I just missed it. 

The holidays are upon us like bird droppings splattered on a newly washed car.  Unfortunately, for me, there is no snow on the ground to make this actually feel like X-mas season.  My love for snow has been well documented and the absence of it this December is quite sad.  I'm sure January and February will more than make up for it...with record lows during our move into our new home. 

For the past few years I have had to purchase X-mas presents for many more people than before.  It is a daunting task that is sure to disappoint many.  I pledge every year to begin the buying spree far in advance as to limit the amount of time spent dodging grumpy shoppers and maniac drivers.  Despite this promise, the fact that paychecks only come every two weeks keeps the shopping chore trailing them like children to an ice cream truck.  Undoubtedly, one of my New Year's resolutions will be to save money and start holiday shopping well in advance of X-mas.  Whether or not it actually happens remains to be seen... 

Here's a great holiday gift for cartoon lovers: Gargoyles: Season 1 Gargoyles was created by Disney and was aired along the side of other afternoon cartoons like Ducktails, Darkwing Duck, Talespin, and Rescue Rangers.  This show was much darker and really was much more of an adult cartoon at a time when toons were still only for kids (1994).  Following the adventures of a half-dozen living Gargoyles (who turn to stone during the day), this series takes you through their journey from 994AD Scotland to 1994 New York as they learn to live in a new time and find new friends and enemies along the way.  Gargoyles only lasted 3 seasons but is still popular enough to inspire its own convention.  Besides being an enjoyable show, the DVD set is only $20.  Hopefully, enough people will purchase them as to persuade Disney to release the 2nd and 3rd seasons. 

I'm typing this post on my employer's laptop.  I don't mind using laptops and I guess they have the avantage of mobility but I still prefer to do my "computing" on a desktop computer.  My wife, whose website is painfully empty, uses an old, slow IBM Thinkpad (with a dead battery) rather than my bitchin' AMD something-or-other.  She says she likes being able to type and stuff in bed or in other places (despite the laptop being chained to the nearest outlet).  Her eyes don't like my 6 year old, 19" Sony Trinitron monitor either...and unfortunately it is starting to take a long time to get back into focus when woken up by my son slapping the mouse around.  For me, however, I prefer to have a desk, printer, and CDs near by to work on/with.  I have a iPaq PDA, which I've been getting used to, but I wouldn't mind trying out one of those tablet PCs as I still think today's laptops are too cumbersome to drag around.