Anybody else remember those cheesy ads from way back, like over a decade ago? If so, you can probably guess where I went on the way home from work today.

I've spent the past 3 nights being more or less a couch potato. Tuesday was Buffy night, of course. A very entertainingly wacky episode, featuring the dual plotlines of Buffy and Spike's newfound "relationship" (Salon had a great article about it), and of course, Willow's descent into the addictive world of black magic and the tragic effects thereof. Nooooooo, not Willow. Anyone but Willow!

As my vacation draws to a close, it is time to take a look back at the events of the past week and a half, but always with an eye toward the future which lies ahead. It is at times like these that we must somberly reflect on the true meaning of life, the essence of these moments, and look for guidance from the Great Penguin who lives within all of us.

After much inspiration of the Mountain Dew incited variety, a few hours of gimping, and a night of retrofitting code (read: ugly hack upon ugly hack), the new cover page is online. Some may love it. Others may hate it. I personally think it's pretty slick. And if you're still a stone age Netscape 4.x user, you probably don't even know what any of this fuss is about.

Or is it lairing in the Lounge? Lounging at the outpost? Castling from the Compound? (That almost sounds like a chess game or something.) Memoiring in the hideout? Oh, nevermind.

Hmmmmm... I suppose this one qualifies as "wierd". It has some interesting characteristics.

I once read a review which stated that this film would only hold appeal for two types of people: Aspiring film students, and emotional masochists. Which category do I fall into? Another review (I think it was actually reprinted on the insert) stated that if America really wants to get serious about keeping kids away from drugs, then this film should be required viewing for all high school students.

Noooooo, not another homonym! I'm not even going to try to define this one.

...and the food was good.

As a way of kicking off the Feast Fest that may or may not be referred to as a Phest, the assembled computer scifi geeks held a momentous viewing of this well renowned classic from scifi film lore.

All festers are invited to attend Feast Fest 2001 at Bitscape's Castle Lair. The Lair will be ready to begin receiving festers whenever Bitscape returns from Thanksgiving dinner, probably between 1900 and 2100. An announcement will be posted to Content Solutions when the definite time is determined.

That title will make more sense a litle later.

Predictably, I slept in this morning. Immediately upon getting out of bed at around 0930, on an impluse, I experimented with some impromptu adjustments to the collective's map code, which had nothing to do with the planned "Phase 2 Enhancements", but I liked them so much that I'm going to include them anyway. Depending on how things go, I'll likely be ready to commit and ship Phase 2 either late tonight or tomorrow.

Monday, the first day that involves actually taking time off from work. Monday morning, I figured out why my 2.4 boot floppy had absolutely refused to work no matter how many tricks I tried or how diligently I followed the HOWTO instructions. To save time, I had been using an image from one of the newer Debian kernel packages, thinking I would build my own later. When I looked a little closer, I finally realized the mistake: The image I had been using had no IDE drivers whatsoever. Doh!

I believe the the correct technical term is "futon".

Right now, I, Bitscape, am sitting in the living room at the console of Dagobah, the ancient K5-133 with the spray painted case, the LED on the front which reads "1011", and a fresh new 40 gig hard drive. Much needs to be done before everything will be tailored to my liking, but this is definitely a start.

Having been tempted by the haunting call of new hardware all day today, I arrived home from work with one resolution: Pay ALL the bills first (at least the ones that have arrived so far), even if I know that there will be enough money to spare. Then, look at the balance in the magical gnucash machine, and decide upon a course of action.

So today I got a tip from a coworker about a little computer store called PC City. Supposed to be a good place to buy hardware and stuff. It turns out that it's like a block from my lair, so I swing by on the way home to check it out.

Yes, I admit it. I am crazy. A lunatic. A madman. This being the third viewing, I have probably spent more money seeing this movie in theaters than it will cost to buy the dvd. But you see, I had to watch it again. After reading more stuff about it, plus that Ebert article Shadowkiller linked on Content Solutions, I just had to. The movie where finding out who matches up with what identity is not readily obvious. Besides, I needed to test the theory I put forth in my last log entry to see if such an interpretation would hold up consistently.

Just a little, since I haven't posted much of anything since Sunday night. Ancient history now.

My weekend comes to a close, and I wish it could be just a little longer, but isn't that always the case?

Once again, Pixar makes a fun filled, beautifully animated film. I enjoyed it much, and hope you do too.

K-PAX is an interesting fusion between the genres of psychological drama and scifi story. Although at times it seems like aspects of the plot are left underexplored, while other sections drag a bit long, I like the way the movie stays true to itself to the very end.

With each passing day, this set of rooms which I occupy feels more and more like "home". Now begins the first weekend spent here in the Castle Lair (official title: "Bitscape's Castle Lair") during which I don't have to worry about going back to the Louisville Compound to clean up trash, pack or unpack large volumes of crap, or wade through masses of junk on the floor just to get to my bed.

So this morning I got up and donned what must have passed for a Halloween costume. After a good smothering of thickly caked face paint makeup purchased at Wal Mart the night before, I looked at myself in the mirror, and decided I resembled something from TOS. I couldn't decide on exactly what, but definitely the spirit of TOS.