Saturday, December 28, 2002

The SQ (strange quotient) around here is getting pretty high. Eastern KY has always been a slightly off-center place (with slightly off-center people), but lately things are weirder than usual. First there's the big Powerball lottery winner. Granted, he's from WV, but the winning ticket was bought only 20 miles away from our home in KY. Like it or not, there's no difference between the folks on one side of the river versus the other. It's odd that such a big prize would be won here in sparsely-populated Appalachia. It's also odd that this is a repeat of sorts, as in the summer of 2001 when an ex-con 10 miles away from this same home won one-third of another $300M pot. His story deserves special mention, as he bought the ticket in the same convenience store he once held up at gunpoint. Figures. The next contributor to the SQ, another instance in which Boyd County makes the national news, is the much-covered fight over the high school's gay club. Sadly, this was my high school, so I feel some guilt over their amazingly dumb handling of the whole thing. Currently, the school board has decided to ban all formal and informal sponsored clubs, just so they won't have to deal with the gay student issue. No beta club, no FFA, no chess club...nada. Perfect. A solution that hurts everyone, not just a few. Democracy in action. So as BCHS squirms in the national spotlight, I'm amazed at how such a small place could spawn such newsworthy happenings. 6:33:46 AM

Three Movie Reviews Being the holidays, and being an unrepentent couch potato during them, we've watched more than a few movies this week. Here are some opinions on them. We Were Soldiers - I thought that another Vietnam war movie would be redundant, but it's not. It's a powerful movie. Mel Gibson plays a Patton-esque Army colonel, without Patton's character flaws. He's a leader any man would follow and die for, and many do. This is the story of the US Army's first major encounter with the North Vietnamese army in 1965, when we still didn't know what to expect. I don't know if it's a true story, or if it's even based on a kernel of truth, but it's a powerful story nonetheless. In the first hour of the story you see these soldiers as nice people, even great people, and later as they're mowed down you get a sense of the real tragedy of war. If you're going to war, there better be a GOOD reason (are you listening, George W?). I also think it's interesting that Mel plays pretty much the same part he played in Braveheart, with pretty much the same plot - just in a different era and place. WWS was written and produced by the same guy as Braveheart, Randall Wallace. Bottom line, if you like war movies, see this. LOTR, The Two Towers - Another good movie, in fact amazingly good considering the hype and the difficulty LOTR presents in translation from book to screen. I liked it, but I fear the power and the detail of the effects suffered form our viewing in a mediocre theater. I'll have to see it again somewhere with bigger screen and better sound before rendering a final opinion. Robin Williams Live on Broadway - We bought it for the bit on golf, but the rest of the two hours (!) was great as well. Great, hilarious, and raunchy. RW is a truly unique person. If you're not offended easily, watch this. 6:02:58 AM

California town sells online for $1.78m. A "fixer-upper" town fetches more than twice its reserve on the online auction site eBay after strong Christmas bidding. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition] What can I say? I think someone got a real bargain. In our part of Socal, tract homes a mere 10 feet apart are going for $1M. For your $1M you get granite countertops and bare dirt on your 5000 square foot lot (~ one eighth acre). These folks got 82 acres and some riverfront property, not to mention their own zip code. And the legend of eBay grows... 5:48:32 AM

Life is getting back to normal, and I think that's good. First, we're no longer guests in someone else's home. That's always tough for me. While it's nice being treated politely and even graciously, there's nothing like the freedom you feel when you're inside your own domicile. Freedom to eat, sleep, veg out, listen to irritating music - whatever. Second, I'm getting used to the new computing tools. Moving to the Mac continues to be a journey. I haven't switched, I'm switching. It may take all year before I feel comfortable and competent in the new environment. Add to that the evil email problem I've had for the last two weeks, and just using the computer has been a struggle. So even though it's cold outside in KY, and I'm on dial access, I'm grateful that these are problems I expected to have. It's the unexpected ones that push you over the edge.   5:42:33 AM

© Copyright 2003 Jeff Nichols.