So the 5? months of gym work has started to show some real results. I can kinda pick out muscle tone in my legs, and when I flex it’s very pronounced.

Which is good cause last weekend I helped work on the biggest automotive project I have ever done. I actually helped install a 4″ lift kit into a Jeep. The jeep belongs to a friend of mine who I shall call James. Neither of us had ever attempted a project like that, but thanks to 2 Jeep manuals and some on-line instructions we got it done. It took 2 days and my hands are finally recovering from the knuckle busting. I discovered many things during the project. 1. Installing control arms sucks, 2. you will need a major alignment when done, 3. I can actually lift an axle with my bare hands and 4, if ever tackling a project like this again I am buying mechanics gloves.

The downside is that now I have been emboldened to replace many many of the crappy factory parts on my own jeep. I think I am going to start under the hood.

On the movie viewing front, we saw National Treasure, or as I commented: “Disney’s tour of landmarks they don’t own yet.” It was a healthy 2.5 hours of movie, where the bad guy was defeated because he didn’t know US History. Which is fine, but he sounded British and the history in particular involved the British, so shame on him. It was definitely enjoyable but it sadly had a Disney ending. Go see it, might encourage your kids to pay attention in history class, just make sure they don’t want to dig up monuments afterwords.

So I am now going to mention where some of my coin and most of my extra time has gone. First, there was the expansion pack to Call of Duty. The same week Star Wars Battlegrounds came out. Then it was Sims2. Already I have moved on to Vampire: Masquerade - Bloodlines. On the horizon is the new Sid Meyer’s Pirates. (yea yea bad pun)

So far I have both subjugated and liberated that far far away galaxy; almost liberated Kurst; made my first piece of clothes, reached the top of the career, got married and had an affair with the maid. Now I am beating up gang bangers, looking into the issues of angst-ridden surfer dudes and breaking into a blood bank. This is definitely going to be a busy holiday season.

But wait, it gets worse. After talking with old college gaming friend of mine the other day, it now appears I may get roped into City of Heroes. There is even talk of my trying to bring back my old character, and it would be a good way to interact with them again.

In a move that seems darn near brillant, Melissa and I went to see the new SpongeBob Square pants movie. We chose the late show on Sunday night, and were meet by a small crowd of adult fans on only one well behaved child. As for the movie itself was hysterical. From the pirate opening to the climatic ending and the bizzaro David Hasselhoff cameo. More that a few jokes for the grownups.

And thanks to the hardworking people at the US state department I now have my second Passport.(My first was issued when I was only a couple of weeks old) So I am free to travel the world. Not sure where I am going first, its either going to be somewhere in South America or India.

Well the NY TImes(You may need to register to see this article) had another article this morning about a flight attendant who had a blog talking about all of her experiences and travel tips. The problem was that she used a photo of herself in her uniform, with a button undone and her skirt hiked to show a little thigh. Well the airline she worked for fired her for “inappropriate photos in a Delta uniform”

I can see both sides of this issue. Delta is concerned with its brand name and reputation, (People who pose for Playboy with work gear often have the same problem) However these photos in my opinion were pretty harmless.

Well now law suits aplenty are being filed. So I am will once again remain vigil not to mention where I draw a paycheck.

Well the procedure I had done last Friday, that someone recently described as “a capital expense project to reduce ongoing business costs and mitigate future risks”, is still a bit tender and now showing some creepy bruises. I have discovered that all Vicodin does for me, is make me feel like I am drunk, but it does nothing for my pain and I am still very much aware of it. So it looks like I will be sticking to Advil. I am starting to see improvement, so hopefully I should be back to normal soon.

On an unrelated note Melissa and I saw “The Incredibles” and my theory on how to really defeat superheroes was proven. Take them to court. The movie was great. Pixar is now at their stage in life where they can sit back and show off. hair, water, clouds, and even fat effects are pretty impressive. It got a bit more of an adult air to it(parents being frisky, explosions, death and a pretty creepy skeleton. We enjoyed it and classify that movie as a buy the DVD when it comes out.
Two observations outside the movie. 1. We saw the trailer for the new Star Wars movie and I still say heh. 2. There weren’t any of pixar’s famous outakes, I guess they are saving them for the re-release or the dvd.

So Friday I took the day off and had some elective work done. It was one of those things that I am been wanting to do for a while and I finally had a break in my schedule to get it done. Was a bit sore and tender friday, today I am just uncomfortable if I move wrong, or sit for too long.

Ripper and Dhoffryn are starting to spend more time together. It is taking longer before they started figting. They seem to like hopping in each others cage. The last scuffle cased Ripper to loose a little fur, but for only 3 months old he is holding his own. Since Ripper is already Dhoffryn size I sense th fights will either dimish or turn in favor of Ripper.

In an effort to avoid the election night hoopla, Melissa and I went out and saw “Shawn of the Dead” Its been a while since I laughed that hard at a movie. err wait hold that, I laughed pretty hard at “Team America: World Police” but I am pretty sure that there is something wrong with me.

I go to say that while some of the jokes you can see coming(zombies don’t move that fast) I was still laughing. The tribute to Raimi Cam was priceless, especially when used to do such mundane tasks as making a dinner reservation. Definatly a go see and own the dvd.

“You lost today kid, that doesn’t mean you have to like it” Ok so maybe not a wise man, just an actor in the third Indiana Jones movie. But I definately like the sentiment. I am not going to rant or carry on about the election results. Since eternal vigillance is the price of freedom, I shall now go on watch, in an effort to protect those who were to blind or ignorant to see the consequences. I have always considered myself a champion behind the scenes, fixing what was broken and making others look goods so now I must for my country. I will not stand by idly and watch our rights and freedoms, for which so many have sacirficed, be stolen from us under the guise of national safety.

As a traveler abroad this year I will do my best to protray America in the best light possible. To show people from other cultures that we are an open minded and receiptive country through my actions.

Well roll out of bed and get down to our local polling place at 6:15am. The polls open at 6:30 and there is already a healthy line. By a little over 7:30am I am the 106th person to stick my ballot in the scanner machine.
No secret ballot box, hell I did not even get to stand in a voting booth, just sat down at a table and made my mark just like the rest of the people sitting at my table.(I am sure if someone gets wind of this they will scream fraud and call the thing off)

So now all there is left to do is wait for the results. Part of me is to scared to watch, and the rest is too tired to watch.

On a plus side, thanks to a drawn out discussion on one of my company’s email list I think I solved the spam problem with our comments. So for now comments are back on. We shall see how well it works. Props go out to the MT-Blacklist