i swear we aren't dead

Couple's Cruise! To Mars!

Some millionaire is suggesting NASA send a married pair of astronauts on a roundtrip flyby of Mars 5 years from now. First off... if you're going to send people that far out, you might as well land them, otherwise it's just a Sunday drive. Sure, a Sunday drive that lasts over 2 years, but still...

But what if Rubi and I were the married couple taking this trip? Five hundred days alone together in a very small space, with no sunlight for Rubi to bask in. Our youngest daughter would only be 16 years old, and we've already traumatized her enough... leaving her at that age for almost 2 years would just be awful, or maybe as a teenager she'd love it - or we would! Who knows.

Here's how I see most of the days going on the trip: I spend most of my time reading, napping, and longing for pizza. Rubi spends most of her time reading and tweeting to her fans.

So pretty much like most days around here anyway - only without our kids, cats, jobs, etc.

We'll be married for 25 years in 2018, so it could be a second honeymoon for us. A honeymars? I'm not sure how Rubi would feel about that.

Everyone should write the company in support of me and Rubi being their honeymarsers!

Couple's Cruise! To Mars!

On being an American

My sister just wrote a great post about family and being an American.

Here's an excerpt:

We, the rank and file of Americans, are still here. We work, we live, we laugh. We Vote. We walk picket lines, we give to charity, we believe in God. We shop at local stores, we support our neighbors, we help where we can. Do not discount us. Do not forget us, or think we are worthless, for we are Americans.

On being an American

Rubi and Guild Wars

Coinkydinkly, on the same day Guys Lit Wire published my review of the Guild Wars 2 novel Ghosts of Ascalon, two interviews with Rubi hit the interwebs. Part of my wife's job is to write about the game Guild Wars.

One interview is at incgamers and kind of focuses on her new webcast: Guildcast TV which debuted last night (Thursday December 15, 2012). The other interview is at GuildMag and was just published today, but was actually done back in May of 2012.

Check `em out to learn more about what Rubi does! (And visit Guys Lit Wire!)

Rubi and Guild Wars

Need a Recommendation for a book to read?

Join me at Custom Reads. There you can search for recommendations, or make your recommendations for others to see. It's a nice way to get personalized book suggestions.

Custom Reads is a new community-based service with the goal of cutting down on the time it takes to find a new book to read. Recommendations come from real people and base suggestions for you on your member profile and feedback you give on the recommendations.

It's still in beta, and is a growing site. You could help it grow! Or you can get recommendations for yourself. Or both.

I'm not affiliated in any way with Custom Reads, beyond signing up to make recommend books. It's also another method of shameless self-promotion for Sporadic Reviews.

Need a Recommendation for a book to read?

Top Ten TV Themes

On a recent episode of the Scaper Chronicles, I mentioned that I didn't like the theme music to the Farscape TV show and that the Doctor Who theme music took awhile to grow on me. That got me to thinking: what TV show themes do I like?

Here's a list of what I'll call my Top Ten (kind of in order):

10: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
 9: Airwolf
 8: Justice League (DCAU)
 7: Battlestar Galactica (the original)
 6: Stargate Atlantis
 5: Angel
 4: Transformers Prime
 3: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 4 and beyond)
 2: Firefly
 1: Stargate SG-1

These are genre TV shows: science fiction, cartoons, etc; normal TV shows is another post. A note to my Browncoat friends, please don't hate me because I didn't put Firefly as Number One.

(cross-posted at SporadicReviews.com)

Top Ten TV Themes

Where Does The Time Go?

Image via WikipediaI looked at the calendar today. Did you know it's already October?! I can't believe this year is almost done and gone. One sign the year-end is getting close is the annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival here. We're taking the kiddos out tonight for rides and junk food.

Another sign the year-end is getting close is that I start planning my vacation time for next year. The year 2012 is almost upon us and, while I don't believe the world will end on December 21, 2012 like some people think the Mayans predicted, I do believe because of that prediction others could use it to stir up trouble in a big way. I'll be planning to take that week off from work!

I'll probably have to plan some vacation time around Rubi's work trips too. I'm hoping to have a new schedule at work starting Jnauary 1st that could make having a real-life a little easier than my current schedule allows. I'll have to take that into account when planning my days off too.

One other sign the end of the year is close: I'm just about out of unscheduled time off (Vacation, Personal Days, Sick Days) at work. I could use another vacation!

Where Does The Time Go?