Yes, I remember the first time I saw Akira.  I was in my 20s, working for State and living in DC.  The official release date seems to have been 1988, and it probably wasn’t too long after that that I saw it.  I had a VHS copy, then stumbled on the books and started picking them up when I could find them here and there.  I don’t remember the genre being big in DC at the time, but it might have just been my sheltered existence.  When the opportunity arose it was one of the first VHS tapes I replaced with a DVD, which was a damn good thing because that old tape was getting mighty worn. I still try and fill in gaps in the book collection when I find them, because the movie only went so far, and the continuing story just kept getting better.  And yes, I feel old.

Just a little something I saw and had to share.  Love to do some philosophical thing about how words can hurt, and words turned loose in the abstract can have unintended consequences, but it’s too early and I need more coffee, so I’ll let the video stand on it’s own.  More or less.

[via Andy Towle]

The downside to the San Diego Police Department’s decision to disband their horse unit is that there will be no more pictures like this one, and my fantasy of someday seeing one of those horses trample the Westboro Baptist crowd will never come to pass.

Let’s face it: software is never as easy to install as it should be, and food never tastes as good coming back up as it did going down.  But at the end of the weekend I lost a couple pounds and have Windows 7 up and running on the desktop.  Wish I could have worked a swim in there somewhere, but it just didn’t happen.  Still, I think the scales for the weekend balanced out pretty well in the end.

Rain stopped for the weekend, and for the first time in too long neither Spinner nor I had any outside commitments.  We started the weekend on Friday night with Killer Pizza and (500) days of Summer, bumped it up with dinner and martinis at 333 Pacific on Saturday night.  Said martinis led to a nighttime walk on the Oceanside Pier admiring the monster surf and committing a few PDAs.  Headed up to Disneyland for a few pre-crowd E-ticket rides on Sunday morning, and then just chilled our way into a new workweek.  Life as it should be.

Ignoring for the moment the substance of a certain new Supreme Court decision issued this morning, I’m going to be talking law to Spinner’s 5th graders tomorrow, and wondering if I should try to make them Venn diagram this:

KENNEDY, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS,
C. J., and SCALIA and ALITO, JJ., joined, in which THOMAS, J., joined as to all but Part IV, and in which STEVENS, GINSBURG, BREYER, and SO-TOMAYOR, JJ., joined as to Part IV. ROBERTS, C. J., filed a concurring opinion, in which ALITO, J., joined. SCALIA, J., filed a concurring opin-ion, in which ALITO, J., joined, and in which THOMAS, J., joined in part. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part,in which GINSBURG, BREYER, and SOTOMAYOR, JJ., joined. THOMAS, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I’m taking the ’scared straight’ approach to their exposure to the world of law. Just say no, kiddies.

Stumbled on this N.Y. Times video this evening brought a bit of a flashback.  I visited that ski lodge on Chacaltaya at least three times while assigned to Bolivia from 1991-1993.  The world’s highest ski resort was a tourist attraction, and it was cool to take visitors on an easy trip up to the 17,ooo+ foot peak for bragging rights.  My little Ford Escort could easily drive from La Paz to the lodge, and the hike to the peak could be made in tennis shoes as long as you had the lung capacity to survive the walk.  Have admit that beer was a particularly cost-effective buzz at that altitude as well, as I learned on a hash with the local Hash House Harriers, at least as long as it didn’t completely foam away.

Sad to see the glacier’s gone.  I know there was also an astronomy site nearby.  Hopefully people can still get up to the lodge for a good time and a drinkee even without the glacier to ski on.

Just kinda drifting here.  Work (billable hours) and coding (unbillable hours for a good cause) and waiting for the washing machine to get repaired (the personal gratification of clean undies).  Can you guess which is highest in my priority list?

It would be too easy to just say 2009 sucked and be done with it.  It brought a lot of stress and heartache, and gutted my business, but there were some plusses, even if I had to browse the archives here to remember some of them.

January: Our third Penguin Plunge together, a quick trip to Pismo Beach and Morro Bay, and the arrival of the magic Roku box.

February: Cal Rugby.

March: Turned 45.

April: Las Vegas and La Reve.

May: Still married, despite the best efforts of the H8ers.  Baseball.

June: Pismo Beach (again) and the  San Luis Obispo farmers’ market. First anniversary of our marriage.

July: Comic-Con.  New car.

August: Body surfing championships in Oceanside.

September: Triton Invitational water polo.

October: Disneyland, and the decision to become annual passholders.

November: Thanksgiving in Las Vegas with the in-laws and my little brother.

December: Christmas and a new laptop from Santa.

Sure it had some rough spots, but despite whatever else I can say, 2009 certainly wasn’t all bad.

Made it back to the pool this morning for the first post-Christmas-gluttony swim.  Minor panic attack when I pulled into the parking lot, but fortunately all the New Year’s Resolutionists were staying in the dry areas of the  gym.  Either they’re committed non-swimmers or they haven’t resolved enough of their body issues to be seen in swimwear yet.  Either way I won – I had a lane to myself for the entire workout.

We’ll see if the effort pays off on Friday.  Weather permitting, at 11ish we’ll plunge into the ocean like little penguins with 300 or so of our closest friends to celebrate the New Year.  Most of our friends normally wince at the thought of going, with the imagery of icebergs and hypothermia shivering up their private bits just as surely as the cold water itself would.  Still fun though, and free coffee, doughnuts and certificates always make for excellent motivators.  See you there?  This will be the 24th annual plunge, and our fourth together.