Stardust, Falcon's and cars

You mean I have to take two days off before the end of March or else I lose those? Ok, if you insist... I’ll just have to sacrifice myself. So, in other words: I’m liking working for the government.

I heard David 4.9 rustling in his bed this morning around 5:30 and couldn’t get myself back to sleep after that. This literal wake-up call acted as a reminder NOT to put big toys by his bed when he goes down for the evening, since the plastic on his Millennium Falcon takes on amazingly loud characteristics in the early morning throughout the house. It very much sounded like he was conducting a thorough search for contraband spices on the Falcon, and I wasn’t very interested in his findings that early in the morning. Needless to say, today feels a bit off.

The search for a used car continues. I had the opportunity to test drive a 1995 Elantra over the weekend that someone was trying to sell, and even though the car handled pretty well, there were patches of ruse on it that were worrisome. The price ($1200) was extremely modest, but I didn’t see the point of being a vehicle that could possibly be beyond repair if anything happened. Essentially, upon opening the hood, you could see a few holes being poked through where the shock support is. Eventually, you’d probably hit a pot hole the wrong way and the shock absorber could very well possibly come right through the hood: not a good situation to be in with little recourse in repairing the vehicle. So, we’re still looking for that second car.

Lastly, my wife and I watched ‘Stardust’ last night. It captured the feel of Neil Gaiman’s book very well and was a very cute movie. I had heard it compared to ‘The Princess Bride’, and really the only thing it shares with that movie is a whimsical fantasy setting and some well done humour. I don’t think it will become a classic such as the aforementioned Princess Bride, but it was entertaining none the less. We actually rented it through Xbox Live and went for the HD version, which did look markedly better than a standard DVD: the colors were gorgeous and certain details seemed to ‘pop’ more. Of course, the movie was just shy of 6 gigs to download, so it definitely took a few hours to get the whole film, but if you plan a few hours ahead, I found the experience very convenient. Obviously, the film must be heavily compressed in order to fit under the 6 gig mark, since I believe HD-DVD’s and Blu Ray movies take up a heck of a lot more space. I’d be interested to compare the downloaded film quality and the physical disc based version... Maybe I’ll google that later today.