Random thought that may be useful to me later: "It's a web, web, web, web world."

Here's a list of the movies I've seen recently, as a reminder to myself to comment on them: Tombstone (neat), Dead Again (sweet), Being John Malkovich (challenging), Arlington Road (distressing).



I had an amusing realization while discussing M:I-2 with Jon. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) puts together the perfect D&D adventuring party. He's the Fighter: unimpeachable morals, extreme physical dexterity, cute as a button. The girl is the Thief (no duh). Then he's got the computer whiz, dressed in impractical clothing and kept far from the skirmishes, yet absolutely essential for clearing away the opposition to let the hero in: The Mage. Finally, the cute Australian guy, who is a reasonable fighter but is mostly used for his disguises and tracking skills, is clearly the Ranger. Some formulae work, ya know? (But I lost count of the rip-the-mask-off-to-reveal-I'm-the-bad-guy bits and couldn't help thinking, "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids.")

On Sunday, I performed the most effective rain-summoning ritual I have ever witnessed.



We scrubbed my car with tar and bug remover (made by Gunk), packed up the hoses and such, and went inside to let it dry so I could then wax it. Within ten minutes--ten minutes--it started to pour.



And to think, Austin officials put restrictions against washing your car in drier months.

I made a cup of coffee in the break room at the end of the hall. I then walked the entire length of the hallway, back to my desk, over 100 paces, with a full cup of coffee, trying desperately not to sneeze.



Oh, the adventurous life I lead.

The sky is much more salient in my life now (as is traffic, but never mind that).

And speaking of Martha Stewart [pillow-bomf on the head from Jon], I went to a scrapbooking party (like a tupperware party) last night. I'm totally ashamed of myself, but I thought it was really fun. I bought some of the simpler supplies (I've been wanting a photo-safe album for many years) and went to town. I took photos of Tameka's wedding out of the stupid Wal-Mart sleeves I had them in, trimmed here and cropped there, and created a beautiful page that showcases the photos and includes a long essay on my part in the wedding and my feelings about my best friend. Ten years from now, I'm gonna sit down with her, and we'll laugh and cry over it all over again. And sixty years from now...



I'm totally hooked on this new hobby.

Have you ever had one of those semi-dreams, just as you're falling asleep, that you're falling, so you jerk your body to catch yourself, waking yourself up? (Just-falling-asleep dreams are hypnagogic hallucinations.) I had one last night, but instead of falling, I dreamt I was slammed in the face with something really heavy, like a wrecking ball. That triggered the hit-in-the-face reflex of jerking backward, which I did with no small amount of force. Good thing Jon wasn't spooning too close. Yikes.

Aunt Joanne put me onto the idea of a family website. I'm psyched. Ideas I've had so far are:


  • password-protected page of real-world contact info

  • links for email and personal websites

  • posting of Granddad's monthly newsletter

  • weblog for which we are all members

  • photo album

  • gift registry application, if I can get database access from somewhere (Dad?)

  • space to host individuals' pages under the cichelli.net domain name


I intend to get an account or use part of my 300Mb with ev1.net, which is $10/month (good service, gang! Quick response on tech support, too.). And I also plan to register www.cichelli.net through www.DomainMonger.com for $17/year (less if you sign up for more years). (I think I'll snag one for myself, too.)



I'm so pumped. This is neat. I should be able to make some headway on this on Saturday, after I book travel reservations for the reunion.

No, no. September, 2001. We'll get hitched then. This way, I can get all the friends (from all over the dang world, these days) there I want. And we have time to rent the zoot-suit tuxedo from the tux shop on Pleasant Valley. Yay!