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Author: NiteMayr

Before:

Kevin was born on the mossy hills of Scotland and lived for a while in West Lothian before the mores of pre-Thatcher and REALLY pre-Oasis Great Britain sent his family across the ocean to North America. They moved here and there and Kevin did the same when he was old enough. Now he lives in London with his family and a Dog.

Kevin Wardrop is an amateur writer, amateur photographer and professional pain in the ass. He has worked in the PC support business for most of his adult life and has been accustomed to simply answering technical questions as a matter of fiat, it was his career choice after all. Now he herds cats and puppies for a living as well as babysitting the web enterprises at the heart of western industry.

Sopranos Finale * Spoilers *

Published by NiteMayr on June 10, 2007

So, yeah.  It’s over.
85 episodes, some good, some bad, some great.

I was hooked by Tony Soprano way back when, and now I’m just left wondering.
The Sopranos ended for me, like it began, in the middle of something.  I caught something with Christopher in some early episode, and got hooked on it.  Tony swaggered into Dr. Melfi’s office and I didn’t stop watching.  The Drama surrounding Tony’s Mother reminded me about the troubles my Family had with my Gret-Grandmother as senile-dimentia took over her mind.  AJs constant struggle for approval in Tony’s eyes, and their strained relationship reminded me how hard it has been in the past to connect with my own Dad, which I think we’ve done.

I watched the Sopranos because they were a family, a family with Drama beyond my own, but a microcosm of all the Drama around me, sometimes exaggerated, sometime eerily close to the bone.

There was fraternity and honor.  Something we all respect, in proper context.

There was loyalty and laughter, which we all could use.

Then there was the crime.

We all indulge in little crimes, sometimes without meaning to.    When we see Tony reap the rewards of large and (sometimes) bloodless crime, especially against a larger institution, we got a thrill.

Now it’s over.

And all we are left with is a long cut to black.

Perhaps that was for the best.

EDIT: A more succinct statement on the ending

Sopranos Finale * Spoilers *

Published by NiteMayr on June 10, 2007

So, yeah.  It’s over.
85 episodes, some good, some bad, some great.

I was hooked by Tony Soprano way back when, and now I’m just left wondering.
The Sopranos ended for me, like it began, in the middle of something.  I caught something with Christopher in some early episode, and got hooked on it.  Tony swaggered into Dr. Melfi’s office and I didn’t stop watching.  The Drama surrounding Tony’s Mother reminded me about the troubles my Family had with my Gret-Grandmother as senile-dimentia took over her mind.  AJs constant struggle for approval in Tony’s eyes, and their strained relationship reminded me how hard it has been in the past to connect with my own Dad, which I think we’ve done.

I watched the Sopranos because they were a family, a family with Drama beyond my own, but a microcosm of all the Drama around me, sometimes exaggerated, sometime eerily close to the bone.

There was fraternity and honor.  Something we all respect, in proper context.

There was loyalty and laughter, which we all could use.

Then there was the crime.

We all indulge in little crimes, sometimes without meaning to.    When we see Tony reap the rewards of large and (sometimes) bloodless crime, especially against a larger institution, we got a thrill.

Now it’s over.

And all we are left with is a long cut to black.

Perhaps that was for the best.

EDIT: A more succinct statement on the ending

Crossposted from: http://blog.nitemayr.com/2007/06/10/sopranos-finale-spoilers/

Garage Sale Post-Script

Published by NiteMayr on June 9, 2007

Hippies Suck.
Rain Sucks.
The DVD Store ripped us off
The Book Store Loves my Graphic Novels
I am still about 200 dollars short.

That is all.

Yep, rain. As predicted.

I nearly called off even going out there (I wish I did, as it would have saved us a ton of effort moving all that crap around)

It started raining before we went out, I asked them to move the damn sale into the gym.  Everyone’s stuff got wet.

I sold all the DVDs and Books, and m,ade around 300 bucks for it. I should have made 500, but I couldn’t get a fair price for my dvds.

Jen and I fought a bit over her driving, but I think I was just frustrated and lashing out.

Oh well.

Garage Sale Post-Script

Published by NiteMayr on June 9, 2007

Hippies Suck.
Rain Sucks.
The DVD Store ripped us off
The Book Store Loves my Graphic Novels
I am still about 200 dollars short.

That is all.

Yep, rain. As predicted.

I nearly called off even going out there (I wish I did, as it would have saved us a ton of effort moving all that crap around)

It started raining before we went out, I asked them to move the damn sale into the gym.  Everyone’s stuff got wet.

I sold all the DVDs and Books, and m,ade around 300 bucks for it. I should have made 500, but I couldn’t get a fair price for my dvds.

Jen and I fought a bit over her driving, but I think I was just frustrated and lashing out.

Oh well.

Crossposted from: http://blog.nitemayr.com/2007/06/09/garage-sale-post-script/

Garage Sale Ad

Published by NiteMayr on June 8, 2007

On Saturday June 9, we will be taking part in the community Garage Sale at River Terrace Apartments in Eugene, we;’ll have a ton of toys, comics, electronics and various stuff for sale.  These things would be staying in the house if it was practical to ship it home to Canada, so take this opportunity to come on by and pick up some former treasures.

See you on Saturday, barbecue at 11AM!

Yes, we are selling even more stuff tomorrow, A tivo and all… sigh.

Crossposted from: http://blog.nitemayr.com/2007/06/08/garage-sale-ad/

Birthday Party at Splash

Published by NiteMayr on June 3, 2007

We took NiteCat to her classmates birthday party out in Springfield today. It was at splash, a water park type deal. Thankfully they let me wear a shirt into the pool, no one needs to see my fish-belly gut.

We also attempted to surmount spencers butte again, we got about a mile up this time, I really want to get to the summit before I leave the states.

Birthday Party at Splash

Published by NiteMayr on June 3, 2007

We took NiteCat to her classmates birthday party out in Springfield today. It was at splash, a water park type deal. Thankfully they let me wear a shirt into the pool, no one needs to see my fish-belly gut.

We also attempted to surmount spencers butte again, we got about a mile up this time, I really want to get to the summit before I leave the states.

Crossposted from: http://blog.nitemayr.com/2007/06/03/birthday-party-at-splash/

Up and Down Again

Published by NiteMayr on May 28, 2007

NiteCat, NiteGirl and I went up Skinner’s Butte today.  No Mean feat.  Well, not really, it’s a short walk but NiteGirl and I are pretty out of shape, so it was good exercise either way.  This was yet another excuse to take pictures and generally gawk at Eugene as we will be leaving ever so soon.

I reward your patience with a picture:

Water can be Goopy
Water can be Goopy

This was taken at the water fountain at the top of the Butte, where the water is apparently the only chlorinated water in the whole city.   It tasted awful, but it takes a nice picture nonetheless.

Additionally, here is a nice picture from Alton Baker park, taken the day before:

Profile
Profile

Taken amongst a crowd of goslings,  awwww.

Anyway, if you are interested here’s the skinny on my Car “The Batmobile”  (Which is nicer than the Fatmobile)

NiteGirl, NiteCat and I were leaving the theater after the ignominious “Third Movie” when we realized that the car felt a bit odd on the passenger side.  Looking at the wheel, we confirmed that it was a little low on air and we proceeded to fill it up, at which point I noted that the metal from the inside of the tire was coming through; but on the INNER edge of the tire quell surprise.

So, off to Firestone we go.  Look, I’m aware of the issues they have had in the past, so I make the same assumption there that I make at Jack in the Box; due to their past bad press they HAD to clean up their act.  Also, they were close and I have done business with them in the past.

After their initial inspection they also found that the passenger-front ball-joint and Driver-Rear wheel cylinder needed work.  I assented to the work and they proceeded to perform these and OTHER repairs *for free* on top of the aforementioned tire replacements (4) and wheel alignments (lacking a lifetime guarantee, but I may never see another Firestone) and for good measure an oil change with the extra fancy high-mileage stuff.

I’m going to  be scrambling to pay the Credit Card bill that comes along with this, but I can’t argue with the results.  I was planning on getting this work done before the big move anyway, the power steering needs work and it needs a tune up; but an annoying squeak that I have been hearing for about two years is now gone and I feel more confident in the wheels (as they used to feel a bit, um, loose).

So there it is, the skinny on the Bat mobile.  We also had a nice lunch at Red Robin, who still make crappy fries.

Movie: Arr the third one's okay

Published by NiteMayr on May 26, 2007

I wanted to record this earlier; but car troubles prevented it.

Anyway we went to see the third Pirates of the Carribean film today. My expectations were pretty low after the second one put me to sleep, twice. I’m happy to say that I did not catch up on any missed sleep during this episode.

The plot of this installment is as deep as you might imagine and the fight scenes are as racaus as one could hope for when magic squid men and drunken pirates are in the fray. It could have used more ninjas, but I digress.

Jack sparrow doesn’t come off as drunken as he did in the first movie; which makes the film more the poorer as his drunken antics added to the excitement. My point is that Jack came off ‘planned’ which kills his uniqueness.  The lack of the kind of random success that made Jack so charming really hurt the film.

Other than that the movie was okay; excepting the conclusion which sucked, and besrs no discussion.