>Movies

Posted on January 6, 2009 by Steve Picray

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Happy New Year! Well, the kids are back in school, and I got a $25 gift certificate from my Secret Santa at work. It is for a local movie theater, and today I took my wife to see “Bedtime Story.” It was pretty funny, and I think the kids will enjoy it when it comes to DVD. Plus, since we went during the day, we only paid matinee prices. When did those prices go up? I remember paying only $4 or $5 for matinee, and $9 for nighttime. Now it’s $7.50 for matinee and $12.50 for nighttime. Aaack! With the advent of Redbox (do you have this where you are? If so, I HIGHLY recommend it, very easy, and it’s only $1 a day for the movies. If you want obscure movies, join Netflix. I think the movie theaters and video stores have got some serious work to do if they are going to retain customers. Last time I went to Blockbuster, I paid $8 for two movies for two nights each. If I had gone to a Redbox (which I didn’t know about at the time) I would have been able to get four movies for the same price for two days.

Bedtime Story was a funny movie about a man who has to baby-sit his niece and nephew for a week, and each night he tells them a bedtime story (hence the title). The day after his first story, some of the things in his story start coming true. This continues throughout the movie. I recommend the movie if you want some light comedy that is safe for kids (unlike Mr. Sanders last piece of trash “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” which had him “relating” to the elderly throughout the movie, if you know what I mean.).

While I was waiting for the movie to start, something happened that has never happened to me. They showed previews for upcoming features, and I was interested in seeing every one of them. The first preview was for “Monsters vs Aliens,” which is an animated movie (from the makers of Shrek) where earth is invaded by aliens, and a group of B-movie monsters (the 50-foot woman, the blob, etc) are thrust forward to stop the aliens. It looked funny (especially the scene when the blob is “putting the moves” on a molded jello, complete with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On”).

The second movie preview was for “Inkheart” where Brendan Frasier (wait…where are you going? Get back here. I know it’s Brendan Fraiser but…hey! Stop leaving!) and his friend (?) read a book out loud and the things in the book come true in real life (sound anything like Bedtime Story?). But then they get sucked into the book’s world, and have to fight their way out through all these different characters (I saw a couple of characters from The Wizard of Oz, some Nazis, a unicorn, a minotaur, Arabs a la Ali Baba). It looked like a good adventure movie. Andy Serkis is the bad guy (he played Gollum in the LOTR movies). Also starring are Helen Mirren and Paul Bettany.

The third preview was for a silly movie, “Paul Blart, Mall Cop” starring Kevin James as a rent-a-cop guy who wants to be a police officer but can’t seem to pass the academy entrance exam or something, so he is stuck working at a local mall. This is not very fulfilling, until some bad guys show up to rob the mall (or whatever). Then it’s bad guys vs. Kevin James. It looked pretty silly, but it’s still on my list, if only because I enjoy seeing the fat guy win in the end.

Movie #4 was “Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian.” My family loved the first movie, and this looks to be more of the same. Nuff said.

The final preview was for “Race to Witch Mountain.” I don’t remember much about the old Disney live-action “Escape to Witch Mountain,” which I saw as a child, but this looks to be a special-effects laden updated version. Lots of action sequences and chase scenes. Pretty cool sci-fi stuff with kids doing magicky-type stuff. You know, “special powers” and all. Best line from the preview? Duane “the Rock” Johnson is the kid’s taxi driver to Witch Mountain, and they mention the spacecraft to him. “Do you even know how to fly that thing?” The girl says (basically), “Duh, who do you think flew it here.” So Duane responds with, “Well you DID crash, didn’t you?” LOL!

So my wife points out to me (after I typed all of the above) that there was also a preview for a movie called “Earth”, narrated by James Earl Jones. I think I could enjoy a movie about nature (like “March of the Penguins”) so long as they are not shoving global warming or some other environmentalist wacko nonsense at me. I think I’ll Redbox this one, that way, I’m only out a buck if it’s garbage. But getting to listen to Darth Vader talk about animals should be worth a buck.

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>Winter Riding

Posted on December 30, 2008 by Steve Picray

>I rode my motorcycle to work Saturday night, December 27th. Yes, you read that right. Of course, the temperature was in the mid-60’s Saturday evening, so it was no big deal. My co-workers didn’t even blink when they found out I rode in instead of driving the car. The big deal came Sunday morning when I got off work.

You see, the temperature dropped over thirty degrees overnight, and it had rained heavily. It was now hovering around 32 degrees, and parts of the road were still wet. There were wind gusts of 30mph. I needed to ride to church Sunday morning directly from work. So I got dressed: white socks and wool hunting socks, boots, long underwear, jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt, ski overalls, coat, gloves, balaclava, and helmet.

What did I learn from this ride? Riding in the wind was not a big problem. My clothing worked great, except that I need gloves that are windproof/waterproof, and a new, better helmet. Also, some anti-fogging stuff for my faceshield. Once I get those things in place, Winter riding should be no problem, as long as the roads aren’t icy. I read about some anti-fog stuff I can use called “Cat Crap” (forgive the name, but supposedly it really works, and it has never been inside a cat).
People kept asking me, “Weren’t you cold?” “I don’t know why people assume that you must be cold on a bike, when people do all kinds of winter sports outside without getting dangerously cold. Dress appropriately, that’s the ticket.
I read on one website about getting “electric clothing” like gloves, long underwear, etc. The day I put on electric underwear you can put me in the psych ward, because you will know I have lost my mind. I might do the “gloves”, but that’s as far as it goes.

So, other than snow and ice, my motorcycle is now a 4 season vehicle. Vroom, vroom.

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>Global Warming my foot

Posted on December 18, 2008 by Steve Picray

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Here’s the story at this link:

LAS VEGAS — A rare snowfall blanketed Las Vegas on Wednesday, canceling flights, snarling traffic and dusting palm trees and marquees along the Las Vegas Strip with accumulations that were expected to reach 3 inches overnight.
Other locations were forecast to receive as much as 8 inches of snow in the second winter storm this week to drop snow on the desert city.
Snow piled up around the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign on the south end of the Strip, as visitors parked and posed for pictures wearing hooded jackets. In other parts of the Las Vegas valley, snowfall toppled trees, blanketed rooftops and delighted residents who rarely get to see winter weather.
“Sometimes you have to travel to the mountains to see the snow, and now you don’t have to,” said Jose Villeda, 38, as he stuck his tongue out to catch snowflakes outside of Lavo, a restaurant and nightclub at the Palazzo hotel-casino.
Snowfall is common in nearby mountains hills, but not on the Strip or surrounding neighborhoods.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Andrew Gorelow said 3 inches of accumulation on the Strip would break the December record of two inches set in 1967, but wouldn’t match the Las Vegas winter record of nine inches set in 1974.
Gorelow said up to 10 inches could fall in the suburbs in the western foothills of the Spring Mountains. A powerful wet Pacific storm with an Arctic chill was to blame for the conditions that left parts of Las Vegas looking more like Wisconsin than a desert vacation destination.
The Federal Aviation Administration barred flights bound for Las Vegas from departing from airports nationwide. McCarran International Airport did not immediately close, although many flights had been diverted and delayed.
KLAS-TV reported Southwest Airlines had canceled all flights.
“The issue is visibility,” Airport spokeswoman Elaine Sanchez said. The airport has no deicing equipment.
The Nevada Highway Patrol and Las Vegas police reported fender-benders as drivers unaccustomed to snow found themselves spinning crazily out of control. No serious injuries were immediately reported.
U.S. 95 between Las Vegas and Hoover Dam was closed at Railroad Pass, as well as the Interstate 15 between Primm and Baker, Calif., closing the road connecting Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Route 160, the road to Pahrump, also was closed.
The near whiteout conditions had school officials considering a snow day for Las Vegas students.
Clark County School District spokesman Craig Kadlub said the district was watching the developments closely would announce any cancellations early Thursday morning
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>State Farm versus the Bank

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Steve Picray

>For all of you who are wondering about our vehicle situation:We had one loan for both of our vehicles (van and car). In addition to full coverage on both vehicles, we also carried gap insurance on the van, since we owed the bank more than what it was worth.

Nov 30th: The van was involved in an accident
Dec 1st: I called the bank and State Farm to tell them about the accident.
Dec 4th: State Farm informs me at 4pm that the van is a total loss.
Dec 5th: Kim and I drive to State Farm to sign everything so State Farm can send a check to our bank for the value of the van. I mail all the appropriate paperwork to the bank, minus the check, which State Farm says they have to send directly to the lienholder.
Dec 8th: I call the bank to see if they got my paperwork. They did. Just waiting on the check now. At this point, the bank informs me that it could take up to two months for the gap insurance to clear and pay off the remainder of the van.
Dec 15th: I decide to call the bank and ask if they got the check from State Farm, and how is the gap insurance processing going. They said they haven’t gotten the check from State Farm yet. They can’t file the gap insurance claim until they get the check. I called State Farm, and they said, “according to our file, we are waiting on a guarantee of title from your lienholder.” So my bank is waiting for a check, that the insurance company won’t send because they are waiting for a document from the bank. Does anybody see a problem here? While I was still on the phone with State Farm, they called the bank to try and get this resolved. I had to give my account number to three different people at the bank, and the last person we spoke with wasn’t even the right person, he just said he would make sure it got done. The State Farm guy told me that he will “stay on top of this” and call me when they get the fax.

We have owned two vehicles for the past five years, but it is just a convenience at this point, and we feel that it is a good time to reduce down to one vehicle. Given the fact that there are five of us, we think that a minivan is the right one for us. But we have this car, and we need to get rid of it first. We can’t sell it until we know how much we still owe on it (which we won’t know until after the gap insurance pays off). But that means that we are stuck with five people in a car that seats four comfortably.

Here is the timeline of events then:
1. State Farm finally mails a check to the bank.
2. The bank files a gap claim
3. The gap insurance company pays on the van.
4. We buy a (new to us) van, trading in the car.

#1 hopefully will happen today. #2 should happen in a few days. Unfortunately #3 will take between 1 and 2 months, or so the bank says (and given the bank’s track record, I’m guessing closer to 2mos). So we are thankful that we have transportation, and we will be thankful when, in February, we are able to get a bigger vehicle.

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