Dream of a Talking Cat

I had the strangest dream amongst a bunch of vaguely interconnected ones last night. I was walking around a residential neighborhood and came to a dead end. All of a sudden a cat (kind of large cat: maybe a large bobcat) appears and says something about not to go in that direction. My memory is kind of fuzzy, but then a man appears and the cat says something and turns the man into a very small monkey. Later, some FBI guy or someone similar keeps me from leaving the place I'm in and going to the airport. After a while, he let's me go. On a TV screen, I see something about a fight at the airport involving a cat and a monkey. Normally, I have dreams that are pretty grounded in reality. Exceptions are the occasional vampires, zombies, and super powers. Occasionally (pretty rare nowadays), I'll be in a cartoon or some television show or movie. But from what I can recall, I have never, ever, had a realistic dream that involved a talking animal. The only thing that was a little different about last night is that I was paged at around 4:30am. I think this dream occurred after I went back to sleep.

Dawn of the Dead

Last night, I watched the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead on DVD. There is an interesting extra called "Special Report: Zombie Invasion". The news anchor is Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin from Babylon 5) in probably his has last screen role before he died. Also, the voice of the president is none other than Bruce Boxlightner (President/Captain John Sheridan from Babylon 5).

JibJab's Second Term

There is a new animation out from JibJab called "Second Term!". This follows "This Land", "Good to be in D.C.", and "Santa Claus!" (aka "Grumpy Santa").

House of Flying Daggers

I went to see House of Flying Daggers. I think it's better paced than Hero, but the ending seemed too open ended.

Mac mini

The Mac mini looks really interesting. A bunch of them would probably make a nice little server farm. I see a couple negative things about it:

• It has an external power brick which appears to be about 1/3 the size of the mini.

• There is only one memory slot. It appears that Apple does not recommend users upgrade memory themselves (it could be that it's difficult to get the case opened up). From the picture on the design page of the Mac mini site, it doesn't appear that upgrading the memory would be difficult once the case is opened.
  

Chattanooga and Atlanta

I went to Chattanooga and Atlanta yesterday and today with my parents. The World of Coca-Cola was quite interesting. There were unlimited free samples of various Coca-Cola drinks from around the world (including lychee and a very strong ginger ale) that are not sold in the United States.

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House

On the way back to San Diego from Las Vegas, my parents and I stopped at the Din Tai Fung Dumpling House for some very good dumplings (juicy pork and crab, etc...).

Home theater seats have arrived

My Berkline 093 home theater seats have arrived!

Moving Day

I moved in to my new place on Friday (October 15, 2004). Thanks to Mark, Ty, Amy, and Vivian for their help loading and unloading the U-Haul.

Home Theater Subwoofer

I decided to purchase the STF-2 from HSU Research.

Bose speakers are bad

The average consumer probably considers Bose one of the better speaker manufacturers in the market. In reality, they're cheaply made, audibly inaccurate, and expensive considering what you're paying for. Read more here. For a list of alternative speakers to Bose that are much better, yet are priced about the same or less, go here.

Infernal Affairs

Miramax just put out a trailer for Infernal Affairs on Apple's QuickTime Trailer Site. As usual, Miramax messes up (the two moles are not friends). Hopefully, they haven't messed with the content for the U.S. release because the movie is really good. I've already seen the trilogy on DVD. It can sort of be compared to a Chinese version of The Godfather trilogy.

A typical day of college football

As is usually the case, San Diego State comes close to beating a ranked opponent (Michigan), but ends up losing. And Vanderbilt looks like they might actually beat a SEC team on the road, and ends up losing as well.

Home theater seats

I'm planning on buying some home theater seats for the living room in my new house. Right now my top choice is a set of Berkline 088's. I'm looking to get a pair connected together (with an armrest in between). I think I want them in black leather (or leather match which is leather on the front and armrests and vinyl on the sides and back). Depending on the price, I'd probably like to get them with PowerRecline. There is a spec sheet here.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui

According to this book, I'm not compatible with my townhouse. On the positive side, the important parts of the house (the front door, living room, master bed room, and kitchen) are all in favorable locations (according to the house's trigram). So hopefully all of this balances out. ;-)

House closing date change

The closing date for the townhouse I'm purchasing is being moved from October 14th to September 30th. The date of possesion is still October 15th or before.

Hero

Hero was #1 in the U.S. box office this past weekend. It was initially released in Asia at the end of 2002. Miramax, unfortunately, obtained the U.S. rights to it and sat on it until now. Lucky for me, I was able to purchase this excellent movie on DVD back in September of 2003.

House Purchase

I decided to buy a townhouse. Here's a picture from the MLS:

It's 1660 square feet and located in the Davidson County part of Brentwood. Closing is on October 14.

First Post

This is a test.