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61.904761904761905% of me is a huge nerd! How about you?

I have returned.

So, here I am, back with my laptop. It took them much longer than I anticipated, since the one part needed to fix it was on backorder. Ah well. Here's what I've been doing in absence of a laptop:

• Last weekend, robertliguori and tadakimacun came to Charlottesville to visit and exchange X-Mas presents. tadakimacun got me Guards! Guards! and Mort (both by Terry Pratchett). robertliguori got me some Heinlein books, the titles of which I don't have handy since I left those books in robertliguori's car by mistake. Whoops. Anyway, we all went to Red Robin (a decent restaurant at the mall) for lunch and saw Monticello, something I hadn't done for years. We then went around C-Ville looking for something to do. Frankly, there wasn't much to do in Charlottesville, and I felt bad about dragging the two of them over here for nothing.
• I've also been watching movies. In the theater, after two weekends of waiting, I saw RoTK. Easily the best of the three, and one of the best movies I've ever seen. The closest I've ever come to tears watching a movie. If this doesn't win the Oscar for Best Picture or Best Director, I could easily see someone -- perhaps myself -- going down to the Academy with a dwarven axe and a flagon of ale and having some fun. Video-wise, I've also seen Ladyhawke and Blade Runner. Ladyhawke was good -- light-hearted, with dialogue that didn't have me giggling or snickering at faux period speech (although half the score sucked). Blade Runner was decent -- not particularly mind-blowing.
• Been reading books, also. Finished Dune, which I thought was good overall. Now reading Guards! Guards! V. funny. Am beginning to suspect that Terry Pratchett is Clint Eastwood fan. Thanks to tadakimacun for getting me hooked.
• Mom's been getting v. touchy of late. Complains that I don't spend much time with her like I used to -- in truth, I've been spending the same amount of time with her as I did in the past, but I think that the cat's weird behavior as of late (likes to rub against us at every opportunity, meows more, generally gets in the way constantly) coupled with her odd work schedule (on-and-off night shift) has attributed to this hiccup of personality. Not sure what I should do -- I'm hoping it'll right itself with Mom's normal work schedule next week.

It's been a nastily exhausting week at work. It just keeps piling on. Frankly, I'll be glad to get back to Blacksburg. While I haven't done nearly as much as I'd hoped to do (server is still not ready for prime time -- no wireless drivers, no webpage content, and no wireless router) -- I'm looking forward to the Spring, and to seeing friends again, and to Technicon, etc.

Now, I'm off to get textbook thingies and webpage stuff.

Amusing bits of the last couple of weeks...

IMDB: If you liked Ladyhawke, you'll also like: Army of Darkness

Hospital PA system: "Your attention, please: Please ignore the emergency bongs. Thank you."