Oh, the Zumanity!

We went to see Zumanity tonight at the New York New York Casino.  It was good, although perhaps not as impressive as other Cirque de Soleil shows, as far as amazing stunts go.  It had something else to enjoy, namely, nekkid ladies.  (Just topless, actually.)  We had pretty good seats; close enough to see everything but far enough away to have no risk of being part of the audience interation (they take lots of people onto the stage).

Best birthday present since sliced bread

Laurel got me a breadmaker for my birthday (along with an underwater housing for my camera and a first-class trip to Vegas this weekend).  I've already made (and nearly eaten) my first loaf of custom bread, "Dave's Cracked Wheat," which involved emptying a box of mix into the machine, adding a cup of water, and hitting "start."  Delicious!!!

Oh yeah? Just watch me!

I've been living watch-less for weeks, as my beloved Tissot T-Touch was zapped by a magnet and (seemingly) no longer able to tell the correct time.  I had replaced it for a while with an old SPOT watch, but it stopped SPOTting and the band broke.  Laurel was unimpressed with the super-large GPS watch I was about to start wearing, but I've been going nuts not knowing the time.  I even tried to get the Tissot fixed, but there is only one repair center, in New Jersey, that wouldn't return my emails. But leave it to the internet -- during a search tonight for a totally new watch, I found a reference to "out of sync hands on a Tissot," which was exactly my problem.  A couple of minutes later, I had the full repair manual downloaded and the watch was fixed!  Saved me $500 and I have my favorite watch back!

Black Friday, indeed

Unlike every other day of the year, Laurel and I do NOT buy stuff on Black Friday (this might have to do with her past life in bookselling, when the day after Thanksgiving was a nightmare).  So instead, I get to do chores.  Here is what I did so far:

• Clean the gutters
• Do the recycling
• Fix a toilet that wouldn't flush (first fix: make it so it always flushes AND leaks; second fix: actually fix it)
• Change almost every fire alarm battery in the house (one would chirp; I'd fix it and run the self-test; the self-test would drain another alarm's battery; repeat)
• Clean my bathroom

None of this was a very big deal as I am super-powered by last night's Thanksgiving feast of homemade sweet potatoes and green bean casserole (all thanks to Laurel).

Rock Band Hint: How to store your drumsticks

I'm loving Rock Band!  One helpful hint I learned by accident by watching the credit videos in the game ... there was a scene where people are yappin' about something, and in the background, they show the drumset with the drumsticks sitting nicely on top of it.  I thought, "You can't do that on the actual drumset," but you can!  Just pull out the little plastic tabs on the top front of the yellow and blue pads.  Voila, drumstick holder! As for actual gameplay, I've comleted "easy" level on drums and have started "medium."  I didn't even bother with easy on guitar, as it is far too easy, so I'm starting with medium there. Laurel and I have played together as a band with her on vocals and guitar and me on drums, but she doesn't like many of the songs so we can't play too much variety.

Keep on rockin'!

DSC02670.JPG
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

We got the XBOX360 game Rock Band today ... it is awesome. It comes with a drum set, a guitar, and a microphone (you have to supply a second guitar controller to play bass, but fortunately you can use an existing guitar from Guitar Hero). Last night, we played over at our friend Beth's house (pictured). I'm having way too much fun playing the drums, even though I'm terrible at it so far.

Electronics books -- No Hitchhiker's Guide, quite yet

I was an early adopter of Sony's Reader product -- an "electronic book" with a really great screen and long battery life.  It had a few technical problems (slow page turning, the buttons were all in pretty much the worst possible position, no light for night reading), but mostly it suffered from the same problems as all e-book readers: Lack of content. So now we have the new Amazon Kindle, which is more expensive, bigger, and clunkier than the Sony (and by the way, there is a new Sony Reader that has the buttons in the right places and is even thinner and lighter than the original, but still no light).  Amazon's Kindle also has no light, but it does have high-speed, always-on wireless access (that you don't have to pay a monthly fee for, so that makes up for some of the device's high initial price), so basically, it might succeed in the content wars, giving you easy access to always-up-to-date newspapers, blogs, and even Wikipedia ... which isn't quite the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but with this device, we're stepping in the right direction! But come on, Amazon, have you even SEEN an iPod, or the new Sony Reader for that matter?  The Kindle is about as appealing visually as a pile of actual kindling (and in the end, will probably be less useful).   Still, if someone wants to get me one, I'll put it on my wishlist and if I get it, I'll be putting my Sony Reader on ebay.

'tis my season

For anyone who was planning on buying me gifts for my birthday or Xmas, here are my wishlists:

• 
• Harley Davidson

I also wouldn't mind the new Nikon D3 (not the D300; well, I wouldn't sneeze at that, either), although it is probably going to be wait-listed, not to mention that it will cost more than $5000, so I think I'll just gift this to myself next year!

The Most Serious Place on Earth

Space Cadets
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

Look how serious Laurel and I are about saving the universe from battery thieves on the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney World.

Baby, I'm a star!

While I was away in Boston, I received a great honor from my team at MS -- a Dev Team Star award. This included a $100 gift card to the Palace Kitchen (awesome!) and a really cool (and heavy) glass award. But mostly, it was a great recognition from my peers on the Virtual Earth team, many of whom deserve it far more than I do (but regardless, I got it, so I'm keepin' it).

So you can read it twice as fast, I guess

Scott Heim's next book, We Disappear, is available for pre-order on Amazon. He asked me to tell everyone I know (and I guess that includes you, dear Dave's Stuff reader) to buy two copies.

A new podcast, buddy!

Jay and Jack of "The Lost Podcast," "Jay and Jack's RambleCast," and "The Married Man Podcast" have yet another new podcast out, this one called "The BuddyTV Podcast." Check it out!

Charity Boys

College kids
Originally uploaded by Seattle Dave.

(Pictured: Scott Heim, author of "Mysterious Skin" and "In Awe" poses in front of awesome Marriott hotel artwork with me, holding Michael Lowenthal's book "Charity Girl")

I got to go out to dinner tonight with my college friend Scott Heim, who now lives in Boston with his boyfriend Michael Lowenthal. Michael signed my copy of "Charity Girl." Because it was pouring rain and super windy out, we didn't have many choices of restaurants, and ended up going to the closest place we could find without getting wet ... Cheesecake Factory. We waited about an hour and a half, but finally got in and had a fun dinner eating way too much food and telling way too many old school tales.

We could be Heroes

My college girlfriend Jill (meaning she was my girlfriend when we were in college, not that she is my current girlfriend who is in college now -- I'm a married man, get your mind out of the gutter!) has a podcast with her husband, Ian, and another University of Kansas friend, Kevin, called "Hero Worship." It is about, predictably (but only because I already told you the title), the TV show "Heroes." And I have to say, it is quite entertaining! Look for it on iTunes and give it a listen if you're a Heroes fan.

Laurel's Bonus Audio

Check out this audio from the WDW Today Podcast, featuring Laurel (the clip is just Laurel's interview, not the whole podcast).