For the most part I’ve rated these 5 stars on netflix for a combination of their quality and repeated watchability. I’m a little generous here and there, I think. But for the most part I think these are my favorite movies I’ve seen come up on netflix for me to rate.
12 Angry Men (1957)
1941 (1979)
The Addams Family (1991)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (1984)
Aliens: Collector’s Edition (1986)
Almost Famous (2000)
Amelie (2001)
Amistad (1997)
And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
Better Off Dead (1985)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blazing Saddles: Special Edition (1974)
Brazil (1985)
A Bug’s Life (1998)
Casablanca (1942)
Chicken Run (2000)
Crimson Tide (1995)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Die Hard (1988)
Duck Soup (1933)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Firefly (4-Disc Series) (2002)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
The General (Silent) (1927)
Gilda (1946)
Gone with the Wind: Collector’s Edition (1939)
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
Harvey (1950)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Hero (2002)
High Fidelity (2000)
Hopscotch (1980)
Horse Feathers (1932)
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
Hudson Hawk (1991)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Incredible Adventures of Wallace & Gromit (2001)
The Incredibles (2004)
Key Largo (1948)
Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
The Lady Eve (1941)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Led Zeppelin (2-Disc Series) (2003)
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Lost in Translation (2003) Top 100
Love Potion #9 (1991)
The Matrix (1999)
The Matrix: Reloaded (2003)
The Matrix: Revolutions (2003)
Memento (2000)
Midnight Run (1988)
Midnight Run (1988)
Monkey Business (1931)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Monty Python’s Flying Circus (14-Disc Series) (1969)
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
Moonstruck (1987)
North by Northwest (1959)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
The Odd Couple (1968)
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1974)
Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon (2003)
Powaqqatsi (1988)
The Professional (1994)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Real Genius (1985)
Red (1994)
Trois Couleurs: Rouge
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Serenity (2005)
The Shawshank Redemption: Special Edition (1994)
The Simpsons: Season 4 (4-Disc Series) (1992)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Strange Brew (1983)
The Terminator (1984)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
Thunderball (1965)
To Have and Have Not (1944)
To Live (1994)
Toy Story (1995)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
V for Vendetta (2006)
Wallace & Gromit: Three Amazing Adventures (2001)
Young Frankenstein (1974)

So last night Debbie stayed up late with me and we watched Casablanca, probably my favorite movie. Sounds cliche’d, but it is. And as the habit isn’t new yet, I went to bed afterward and didn’t think to write. Today we started out with plans for a couple short errands and then we were going to come down to Mt. Pleasant. The errands took a bit longer than we’d planned and my back ended up hurting real bad. We decided that it wouldn’t hurt us if we didn’t spend the weekend together for the first time since we’d started going out (I believe it would have been) as we’d had Monday to shop for Abby’s dress, and Thursday for the CHPC Christmas party. But in the end we decided to let Debbie drive me down and I could lounge my pain around her house and she’ll bring me back Monday morning for work and she can finish some stuff up in Salt Lake before going back. It’s kind of odd driving the full Salt Lake to Mt. Pleasant trip. We had to think hard to figure out we had actually done it once before, on Thanksgiving, because it seems we’ve each done it so many times alone on the way to the other’s house.

So tonight we had dinner at the Porcupine Grill for the CHPC office party and Debbie made a special trip up to go with me. I haven’t ever taken somone with me to the office party, so it was a real nice change. The food was pretty good, but I made the mistake of taking some advice from some of the people and went with the surf and turf option because the ahi tasted very nice. I can’t really complain about the filet, however. It was very nicely done. Debbie did hijack my choice of desserts, though, and I ended up with the porcupine– a chocolate encrusted chocolate cake/chocolate moose concoction shaped like a porcupine and served with ice and whipped creams. On that choice, though, it turned out to be the right one.

So I have started lots of entries that haven’t gone anywhere explaining lots of things. Maybe I’ll finish them, but maybe I won’t. In any case, I’m getting married one month from today, and I’m going to try to post something every day until then. Even if it’s just a picture. Today I came back, as has been my routine lately, starting with a 5:30 a.m. drive from Mt. Pleasant. This time I brought the three kittens with me to try to find a home for them before they stop being cute. They’ve been playing and napping all day in my room, much to the displeasure of shino, the resident cat. He’s still upset in his hidey-hole behind the amps under my desk. I’m not sure how I’m going find them homes, but maybe I’ll have a Christmas Miracle.
Then I’ll have something to write about.

So with Labor Day Weekend upon me I figured I’d document my summer reading list, just to show I did do something with the summer.

By Terry Pratchett:
Discworld 01 – The Colour of Magic
Discworld 02 – The Light Fantastic
Discworld 03 – Equal Rites
Discworld 04 – Mort
Discworld 05 – Sourcery
Discworld 06 – Wyrd Sisters
Discworld 07 – Pyramids
Discworld 08 – Guards! Guards!
Discworld 09 – Eric
Discworld 10 – Moving Pictures
Discworld 11 – Reaper Man
Discworld 12 – Witches Abroad
Discworld 13 – Small Gods
Discworld 14 – Lords And Ladies
Discworld 15 – Men at Arms
Discworld 16 – Soul Music
Discworld 17 – Interesting Times
Discworld 18 – Maskerade
Discworld 20 – Hogfather
Making Movies by Sidney Lumet (see, some variety)
And then the old standby Favorites:
Illusions by Richard Bach (reread)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein (reread)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinliein (reread)
I’d recommend any of them to anybody who likes to read.

Friday evening I met Jared, his wife Jamie, and his dad Wayne up at the Albion Basin to go backpacking. I’d kind of gone nuts and got a new tent because I didn’t have a good one for backpacking. While I was at it, the boy scout motto, long dormant, flared up and I ended up with a decent first aid kit, new sleeping pad, headlamp and various other items I thought I might need.
We got up to the parking lot and headed out just after 6:00 p.m. for the pass between Sugarloaf and Devils Castle. We had a lot of fun along the way joking about the out-of-shape city dwellers attempting to scale mountains. Surprisingly, I was almost able to keep up, despite carrying all that unacustomed gear and on a swollen ankle that probably should have kept me from going. Around sunset we made the saddle and were rewarded with quite a view. Unfortunately this view included a line of lightning laced storm coming right towards us from the Timpanoges side. We debated the situation for a few minutes and decided that it was probably wiser to not camp on the peak in a lightning storm, a solution not often reached if you watch the local news often enough. So after a few blessed minutes of packlessness we hitched back up and started for lower ground. We made it back down in less than a third of the time it took us to make the ascent with the judicious use of flashlights.
By the time I got to the bottom my ankle had really had it. I didn’t notice till we turned around and started up the road at the campsites, but decided I’d probably not be able to make the same trip up the next morning, even with leaving most of my kit at the campsite. If there had been someplace to camp readily available, I’d have probably endured the weather just to give all my new toys a try and stuck it out, but I knew I couldn’t go farther, so I bailed and came back. I was sitting back in my chair by 10:30, so it was quite the adventure.
I did have my gps with me but I can’t seem to locate the cord that connects it to the computer, but when I find it or get the new one I’ll have to update this entry for statistical content. I also hope to get a little video, or some pictures from Jared to add too.

Well, I tried to get the kayak out again yesterday, but the weather didn’t cooperate so I just took the kayak for a ride. I had thought it was a great idea to head up to the Uintahs, but evidently so did about another hundred-thousand people. Just before we got to Washington Lake we saw the remains of a really bad car wreck with one car upside down and another that looked like it had been hit head on at high speed. I’ve looked at the news and havn’t seen any reports, but I can’t imagine everyone survived it.
When we got to Washington it was wall to wall people in the campgrounds, so we backtracked to Trial Lake and the shore was lined with people fishing. It had been really hot when we were loading up the truck but by the time we got to the lake it was pretty cold and windy. We hiked around across the dam and just down from the cabin where I always fish when I go to trial and just left the kayak in the truck. I was dressed for warm wet kayaking and not for rain, but it wasn’t too bad. We did get rained on a bit, but not bad enough that I wanted to get my jacket out of the truck.
We took chance along, but the lightning was really scaring him, so he kept trying to climb under Kirk every time there was any thunder.
Kirk caught the first fish on some powerbait, but it wasn’t quite big enough to keep so he let it go. I was having a good time laughing at the little fingerlings trying to take my hooks that were bigger than their mouthes every time my line came within a couple feet of the shore. I ended up hooking a couple tiny fish with flies. I landed a really pretty brook trout that had some really funky markings, and one rainbow that was… er not so pretty

A couple more pictires of the lake…

Well, I finally got out on the water with the kayak today. I still need to name her, but havn’t come up with anything good yet. We had decided to go to huntington reservoir to do a little fishing and get a taste of what I’m going to need to do to get better. I guess I need to work out some on shoulders because I’m pretty tight tonight after just a couple hours on the water. It was worth it, though, I shouldn’t have waited so long to get into this. I kept telling Kirk that it was so much better than sitting here in front of the computer. I struck out across to the opposite side and came back and decided that purist philosophy aside, the rudder is a valuable addition, without it I have quite a time getting turned around. I’d read that this kayak was a really stable one, and I only had a few bobbles at the start where I almost took on water, but I’ve found out that I can’t turn my head to look behind me without almost capsising.
This was the first fishing trip I’ve ever gone on where I forgot my fishing pole. I had everything out before kirk got up, and it took some finding, as I havn’t been fishing in over a year. I laid everything out on my bed and started getting the car loaded up. When I finally got the kayak and everything in, I hadn’t realized that I’d left the fishing pole leaning against my bed. Kirk caught one little fish and let it go, but I wasn’t too disappointed that I didn’t get to fish, I had enough fun just fooling around.
When I was getting the kayak loaded up I had put a tiedown around the kayak and was tightening up one of the tiedowns and it came loose and I got hit in the bridge of the nose with the metal clamp. I have a pretty good cut, and it is really sore, so I guess I’ll get a good scar out of it. I tried to take a picture of it, but man, I’m looking old, so I’m not posting it.
After a few hours out the clouds started looking really threatening and the thunder started to roll, so we headed back to the beach. While we were trying to decide if we should wait it out, or see if it looked like it was going to get serious, it suddenly got serious. It started to pour rain and we started getting everything packed up. While I was tieing down the Kayak the rain got really cold and turned to hail. We got drenched within a few minutes to where my shirt wouldn’t hold more water.
Kirk wants to try to go up to the Uintahs and maybe fish Washington Lake or Trial next saturday. I may try to go up to somewhere close during the week, but I’m not sure how easy it will be to get the kayak in and out of the car. I may have to build some sort of assistance device this week. I also need to come up with an anchor device, and probably create one for kirk’s pontoon boat too.

     I decided to take Thursday and Friday off work for a four-day weekend and thought I’d get out a bit and try to get over the miserable last couple of weeks I’ve had.
     I went to lunch with Jack and after we came back to my house I showed him the fishtank I brought home from work on saturday. I’d had it at work for a couple years, ever since Stickboy brought it back after it made the rounds of his family. The tank has a long history. It started out as an advertisment in a Chinese take out place for Oceans realm, a pet store owned by, my brother and me. It’s changed hands several times, ruining a tv in an apartment below it along the way. I had (and have, when you really think about it) nowhere to put it, so I took it to work. Only I didn’t like maintianing it at work and it got to be a real drag to have around. Kirk fixed it up really nice on saturday and filled it with fish. He mostly got South American Cichlids and some tiger barbs as dither fish, and I still had 2 Marleri, 1 Lelupi and a pictus cat from work.
     After we had taken in the fish we went and took a quick look at my metal cutting bandsaw that I’d been having trouble setting up. Jack quickly spotted the loose set screw that was keeping the blade from turning efficiently and now I’m on my way to being able to finish the kayak rack for my truck… assuming I can get the gumption to work on it more. As we were heading back out I told Jack he ought to see the 4 Kentucky Coffee Trees I’m getting set up to play Bonsai, I purposefully stepped off the deck’s 2 foot drop to the ground, but somehow my toes got the instruction to roll over and play dead on the way down. I fell forward and knew I’d crunched my ankle really bad. Now that I think about it, it has been a year without crutches, and I only get one of them in a row, so after a $75 worthless visit to the emergency room I know I have a sprained ankle. I’d already had Jack pull the crutches out of the basement before we went, so I was pretty much set up. I should have had him get my old air splint so I would have had everything I needed. I guess I ought to know that unless it’s a compound fracture I should just bag going to the hospital to save me the money, because unless it’s a compound fracture it really doesn’t make a difference. I say this because of the last part of the radiologists comment:

… No significant tibiotalar joint effusion is present however anterior soft tissue swelling is apparent as well. A bone island is noted in the posterior aspect of the calcaneus.

     So I have a broken off hunk of bone in my OTHER ankle now too. They don’t know when it happened and were puzzled that I wasn’t aware of the break. I told them the only other time I was aware of breaking my left ankle it was, I believe, a tiny crack down inside one of the tarcels.

     Anyway, I’m down for a few days and then have the long rehabilitation to get it working right again. I guess I’ll be lucky to get the Kayak out before autumn.

So yesterday morning I wake up to a call from Chuck saying his work plans had fallen through and he wanted to know if I wanted to knock down my garage. It was a couple weeks earlier than expected but welcome, so we got right to it. Moving all the garbage out of the garage and into the backyard took far less time than I had expected. I had hoped to have moved the Hallman’s swingset, trampoline and other stuff I’ve been holding for them while they redo their yard so I could keep my junk off to one side and allow for construction area in the back. I’d also hoped to mow the lawn, but you can’t put off good help when the help can come. I’m sure Chuck would have helped me organize and get ready, but I just jump into things a lot.
And speaking of jumping into things, we found out quite soon that the celing had an odd build. Every roof joist had it’s own set of boards nailed between the joists, so there was constant joint across every joist the whole width of the roof. Which explains why it was falling apart, but it made it really easy to knock down. Chuck pretty much just knocked out the crossbars on the celing and then jumped on the roof till it caved in. One of the reasons the roof was falling apart is it had several layers of shingels on it, but the layers weren’t consistant across it. Some places had many layers, then it would drop off to just one. I hadn’t noticed that a strip of the tar paper shingle roll had blown off two winters ago till I tried to discover where all the black wet junk on the floor of the garage was coming from last spring. Turns out the east side of the garage (which I never see) had lost a roll in a big wind storm or something and I had gone at least part of the winter with just tar paper to cover the boards. I didn’t decide what to do before the first snow fell last october or november, so I just covered the east side of the roof with visquine. Now that I have the refi money in hand I’m going to build a little workshop so I can take the welding and some of the other fabrication tools out of my basement. Maybe then I’ll spend a little more time working on fun stuff and less time moving tools to make room to make fun stuff.