dtstratovarius (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} dtstratovarius) wrote,@ 2008-04-12 17:08:00 |
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The flight back...and Matt's weekend home...so far.
Hey all,
Well, I'm back, and I'm not in California now either. Needless to say, our 2 week work trip to California, in which we were supposed to be at the airport at 4am, was cancelled on Thursday (a local LA team had a project of theirs cancelled, and they were shifted to the two stores we were supposed to do).
Let's start from Thursday in the morning....Racheal and I (w/Mike's help) were able to talk Jon (the Milwaukee FDM) into letting us go a day earlier, because of the impending snowstorm AND what little was left to do there. So, Rach and I made our way back to Minneapolis, with a quick stop at the Hudson, WI Target (nearly picking up a Minnesota Wild CCM jersey for Danielle). Then, Rach & I hit the Mall of America, which was a good thing, as I was able to snag Danielle a surprise or two, plus two more b-day presents (so she's shopped completely for now). Meanwhile, Racheal dropped a good $107 on anime DVDs at FYE.
Anywho...around 2pm, after chatting w/Danielle online (while she was at work) for awhile, I crashed...until I was woke up at 9 pm by a cell phone call. Needless to say, it was Danielle in near-hysterics, because she called me RIGHT AFTER her accident, where her silver Cavalier was hit by a hit-and-run driver, who was going 70 mph, and just KEPT going. Pretty much, if Dani didn't see the guy and pretty much STOMP on the gas....her car would've been T-boned, and her mom would probably be dead.
So, flying back, we had a nice-sized line in the United Airlines line, because of all the Airlines w/issues sending people their way. So, we thankfully got in, and waited, left on-time, arrived in Chicago about 10 minutes early. However, leaving Chicago/O'Hare wasn't...we were delayed 20-25 minutes, because the door on the small ass EMP-145 was closed, but the instruments weren't reading it as closed. So, got into St. Louis, and had to wait for Dad, because 70 West was log-jammed, bumper-to-bumper due to a huge accident. Got home, dropped off the bags, and had to get ready, as I promised Danielle I'd help her out with her car issues.
Around noon, we met at Progressive Insurance's place in Earth City. The damage to her car wasn't as terrible as I thought it was, BUT....we found out later (from Progressive's technicians) that the speed of the hit-and-run guy plowing into the car really caused a lot of internal damage. So, she has to wait 2-3 weeks before she gets it back fully-repaired. So, Progressive gave her a replacement rental car, while hers is fixed, in a 2008 Dodge Charger. So, she drove her mom to her work (then home, when mom's work sent her home), while I waited around Crestwood to meet up with Danielle.
Being bored after already walking around the GameStop at Sunset Hills, Harbor Freight Tools (where I got cut off twice by the same old asshole for a parking spot), Best Buy, and Gordman's...I went into Schnuck's to get something to eat. Unfortunately I forgot that they don't do toasted ravioli in their hot food area anymore. Dammit, so I settled for their new ham'n'swiss wrap. YUM! :) Danielle finally got there, and I joined up with her in the Charger, and we went out. First stop, we hit CD Warehouse, where they were having a Buy 3, Get 1 Free sale on DVDs and Games....thankfully I didn't find anything. Danielle wanted to hit GameStop, so we went to Fenton where they've been really cleared out, nothing there. We hit the Target nearby, and nothing (losing track of time there, as Dani showed me the swimsuit she's going to eventually get). So, we missed the 4pm-ish movie times, so we went to South County Mall and stopped at the GameStop first. Danielle found some things, and debated, while I snagged three volumes of "Zoids: Chaotic Century" I was missing. Danielle debated to a point where she drove home (to ask mom about the two series she thought about getting), and what should've been a few minutes, took 15 mins. I was bored out of my mind in the car, playing with the radio. Dani finally returned, and I found out her mom broke down inside after Dani told her a bit about what she found out from the insurance guys/repair place. Then, we went back to the GameStop where Danielle snagged all 3 seasons of "Rescue Me," the first two seasons of "Medium," the WWE "Best of Raw" 3 disc set for her mom, Metallica's S&M concert DVD boxset, and the ESPN "Playmakers" series. Pretty good deal for $71. :)
After that, we went over to the movie theater, where I decided we should see "Jumper," which kind of shocked me that it was at the dollar show already.
Movie Review - "Jumper"
While many people will rip this just for the fact that it stars Hayden Christensen ("Star Wars: Episodes II & III"), but this movie had a pretty interesting storyline.
David Rice (Christensen) is a loner in his school, but has had a crush with his childhood friend, Millie Harris (played by a very cute Rachel Bilson; "The O.C."). When he goes to give her a present of a snow globe of the Eiffel Tower, the school's bully grabs it and tosses it into the frozen-over creek, river, or lake (they don't say what). David goes to get it, and falls in, the current below forcing him further down ice, where he struggles and young Millie (Annasophia Robb, "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory") looks on in terror. Suddenly, POOF! David and a lot of water pops up out of nowhere in the middle of the Ann Arbor Library. David realizes that he has a teleportation power. After dealing with his semi-abusive father (a brief, but good spot by veteran Michael Rooker; "Cliffhanger" & "Days of Thunder"), David decides to get away from it all and goes to New York City, using his power to accumulate money by robbing a bank. Investigating this robbery is the mysterious Roland (played with perfect evil by everyone's favorite Samuel L [MF'ing] Jackson) and his mysterious "Paladins."
Then, about 5 years later, we go to present day, where David teleports around his luxurious apartment. Finally, Roland confronts David, and David is able to escape, not knowing WTF is going on. However, David teleported back home...homesickness abounds, but he still leaves his dad in the dark. So, David goes to the only thing at home he truly misses, Millie, who happens to be a bartender. She spots him immediately, but he doesn't say anything until he decides to leave to have the same school bully annoy him and pick a fight with him. David teleports him back to the bank and leaves him there. He returns to Millie and asks her to go on a trip to Rome with him. Love starts w/the two, and Roland goes after 'em. Finally, fellow "Jumper" Griffin (played with great gusto by Jamie Bell, "King Kong" & "Billy Elliot") saves David from two of Roland's paladins and finally clues him into WTF is going on.
Surprisingly, this was actually a pretty good movie with great acting all around. My only true gripe with the movie was that they left it WAY WAY WAY TOO open-ended (ie. easily able to do a sequel). Adapted from a book by veteran scribe David S. Goyer (the Blade movies) and directed by Doug Liman ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "The Bourne Identity"), it was a solid movie, and after looking it up on IMDB....they're back for a "Jumper 2" sequel scheduled for release in 2011.
GRADE: B, a very solid movie and was pretty enjoyable.
BACK TO BLOG:
However, the "jumping" in the car weaving through traffic in Tokyo wasn't good for Danielle who didn't need that bit o'shock. It also didn't help that on the way back to Crestwood...she nearly hit a black cat on Rock Hill Road between Gravois and Watson. We pulled over to the apartment complex behind the Ellica's Pizza place, where I had to drive the Charger back to verify if Dani hit the cat or not. Thankfully, she didn't hit the cat, or she would've broken completely down there. She was breaking down after she thought she did hit the cat. So, rest of the night, I had to drive until she dropped me off at my car at the end. We swung by the mall, where we briefly looked in GameStop, where they kicked us out as the mall was closing...I looked at my watch and told the guy, "So, you're closing the store TEN MINUTES before the mall is scheduled to close. I told the guy (who I didn't recognize, as I'm familiar w/most of the store managers of the GameStops that Dani and I frequent), "Way to generate business, hope your district manager feels the same way." We left, and I got a look in, and the guy was visibly freaked out by that threat. But honestly....TEN MINUTES before scheduled close, and he's kicking 5 other people out, other than Dani & me. Hope I had the other 5 guys/gals thinking the same thing. 'Course, KNOWING their DM (since I interviewed with him for a position years ago), he probably wouldn't do a thing anyway.
We crossed the street and walked around Best Buy for awhile, as I showed Danielle the Dynex webcam I eyed for the last week, as my travel webcam (it's cheap, but it's on pretty good par with my Phillips webcam I have here). She wants one now. :) Waved at Phil (former Project Team member) who was doing his thing in computers, and we looked around. Danielle continued her b-day suggestions (which I was like, "Um...I finished your shopping."), and priced to see if the "21" movie tickets at work dropped in price yet. We left, and Dani & I talked in the Charger before I left.
On the way home, I nearly nodded off a handful of times, having to slap myself occasionally to stay awake. Nearly nodded off on 370, but made it home, went to the bathroom, and then for 10 minutes tried to get upstairs to crash, but mom/dad wouldn't let me. GRRRR! Crashola, and I was out 'til 10am.
Today so far has been laundry day, and waiting for Danielle, as she hasn't called me back. *shrug*
Anyway, hope you guys are having a good weekend,
Matt
Hey all,
Well, I'm back, and I'm not in California now either. Needless to say, our 2 week work trip to California, in which we were supposed to be at the airport at 4am, was cancelled on Thursday (a local LA team had a project of theirs cancelled, and they were shifted to the two stores we were supposed to do).
Let's start from Thursday in the morning....Racheal and I (w/Mike's help) were able to talk Jon (the Milwaukee FDM) into letting us go a day earlier, because of the impending snowstorm AND what little was left to do there. So, Rach and I made our way back to Minneapolis, with a quick stop at the Hudson, WI Target (nearly picking up a Minnesota Wild CCM jersey for Danielle). Then, Rach & I hit the Mall of America, which was a good thing, as I was able to snag Danielle a surprise or two, plus two more b-day presents (so she's shopped completely for now). Meanwhile, Racheal dropped a good $107 on anime DVDs at FYE.
Anywho...around 2pm, after chatting w/Danielle online (while she was at work) for awhile, I crashed...until I was woke up at 9 pm by a cell phone call. Needless to say, it was Danielle in near-hysterics, because she called me RIGHT AFTER her accident, where her silver Cavalier was hit by a hit-and-run driver, who was going 70 mph, and just KEPT going. Pretty much, if Dani didn't see the guy and pretty much STOMP on the gas....her car would've been T-boned, and her mom would probably be dead.
So, flying back, we had a nice-sized line in the United Airlines line, because of all the Airlines w/issues sending people their way. So, we thankfully got in, and waited, left on-time, arrived in Chicago about 10 minutes early. However, leaving Chicago/O'Hare wasn't...we were delayed 20-25 minutes, because the door on the small ass EMP-145 was closed, but the instruments weren't reading it as closed. So, got into St. Louis, and had to wait for Dad, because 70 West was log-jammed, bumper-to-bumper due to a huge accident. Got home, dropped off the bags, and had to get ready, as I promised Danielle I'd help her out with her car issues.
Around noon, we met at Progressive Insurance's place in Earth City. The damage to her car wasn't as terrible as I thought it was, BUT....we found out later (from Progressive's technicians) that the speed of the hit-and-run guy plowing into the car really caused a lot of internal damage. So, she has to wait 2-3 weeks before she gets it back fully-repaired. So, Progressive gave her a replacement rental car, while hers is fixed, in a 2008 Dodge Charger. So, she drove her mom to her work (then home, when mom's work sent her home), while I waited around Crestwood to meet up with Danielle.
Being bored after already walking around the GameStop at Sunset Hills, Harbor Freight Tools (where I got cut off twice by the same old asshole for a parking spot), Best Buy, and Gordman's...I went into Schnuck's to get something to eat. Unfortunately I forgot that they don't do toasted ravioli in their hot food area anymore. Dammit, so I settled for their new ham'n'swiss wrap. YUM! :) Danielle finally got there, and I joined up with her in the Charger, and we went out. First stop, we hit CD Warehouse, where they were having a Buy 3, Get 1 Free sale on DVDs and Games....thankfully I didn't find anything. Danielle wanted to hit GameStop, so we went to Fenton where they've been really cleared out, nothing there. We hit the Target nearby, and nothing (losing track of time there, as Dani showed me the swimsuit she's going to eventually get). So, we missed the 4pm-ish movie times, so we went to South County Mall and stopped at the GameStop first. Danielle found some things, and debated, while I snagged three volumes of "Zoids: Chaotic Century" I was missing. Danielle debated to a point where she drove home (to ask mom about the two series she thought about getting), and what should've been a few minutes, took 15 mins. I was bored out of my mind in the car, playing with the radio. Dani finally returned, and I found out her mom broke down inside after Dani told her a bit about what she found out from the insurance guys/repair place. Then, we went back to the GameStop where Danielle snagged all 3 seasons of "Rescue Me," the first two seasons of "Medium," the WWE "Best of Raw" 3 disc set for her mom, Metallica's S&M concert DVD boxset, and the ESPN "Playmakers" series. Pretty good deal for $71. :)
After that, we went over to the movie theater, where I decided we should see "Jumper," which kind of shocked me that it was at the dollar show already.
Movie Review - "Jumper"
While many people will rip this just for the fact that it stars Hayden Christensen ("Star Wars: Episodes II & III"), but this movie had a pretty interesting storyline.
David Rice (Christensen) is a loner in his school, but has had a crush with his childhood friend, Millie Harris (played by a very cute Rachel Bilson; "The O.C."). When he goes to give her a present of a snow globe of the Eiffel Tower, the school's bully grabs it and tosses it into the frozen-over creek, river, or lake (they don't say what). David goes to get it, and falls in, the current below forcing him further down ice, where he struggles and young Millie (Annasophia Robb, "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory") looks on in terror. Suddenly, POOF! David and a lot of water pops up out of nowhere in the middle of the Ann Arbor Library. David realizes that he has a teleportation power. After dealing with his semi-abusive father (a brief, but good spot by veteran Michael Rooker; "Cliffhanger" & "Days of Thunder"), David decides to get away from it all and goes to New York City, using his power to accumulate money by robbing a bank. Investigating this robbery is the mysterious Roland (played with perfect evil by everyone's favorite Samuel L [MF'ing] Jackson) and his mysterious "Paladins."
Then, about 5 years later, we go to present day, where David teleports around his luxurious apartment. Finally, Roland confronts David, and David is able to escape, not knowing WTF is going on. However, David teleported back home...homesickness abounds, but he still leaves his dad in the dark. So, David goes to the only thing at home he truly misses, Millie, who happens to be a bartender. She spots him immediately, but he doesn't say anything until he decides to leave to have the same school bully annoy him and pick a fight with him. David teleports him back to the bank and leaves him there. He returns to Millie and asks her to go on a trip to Rome with him. Love starts w/the two, and Roland goes after 'em. Finally, fellow "Jumper" Griffin (played with great gusto by Jamie Bell, "King Kong" & "Billy Elliot") saves David from two of Roland's paladins and finally clues him into WTF is going on.
Surprisingly, this was actually a pretty good movie with great acting all around. My only true gripe with the movie was that they left it WAY WAY WAY TOO open-ended (ie. easily able to do a sequel). Adapted from a book by veteran scribe David S. Goyer (the Blade movies) and directed by Doug Liman ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "The Bourne Identity"), it was a solid movie, and after looking it up on IMDB....they're back for a "Jumper 2" sequel scheduled for release in 2011.
GRADE: B, a very solid movie and was pretty enjoyable.
BACK TO BLOG:
However, the "jumping" in the car weaving through traffic in Tokyo wasn't good for Danielle who didn't need that bit o'shock. It also didn't help that on the way back to Crestwood...she nearly hit a black cat on Rock Hill Road between Gravois and Watson. We pulled over to the apartment complex behind the Ellica's Pizza place, where I had to drive the Charger back to verify if Dani hit the cat or not. Thankfully, she didn't hit the cat, or she would've broken completely down there. She was breaking down after she thought she did hit the cat. So, rest of the night, I had to drive until she dropped me off at my car at the end. We swung by the mall, where we briefly looked in GameStop, where they kicked us out as the mall was closing...I looked at my watch and told the guy, "So, you're closing the store TEN MINUTES before the mall is scheduled to close. I told the guy (who I didn't recognize, as I'm familiar w/most of the store managers of the GameStops that Dani and I frequent), "Way to generate business, hope your district manager feels the same way." We left, and I got a look in, and the guy was visibly freaked out by that threat. But honestly....TEN MINUTES before scheduled close, and he's kicking 5 other people out, other than Dani & me. Hope I had the other 5 guys/gals thinking the same thing. 'Course, KNOWING their DM (since I interviewed with him for a position years ago), he probably wouldn't do a thing anyway.
We crossed the street and walked around Best Buy for awhile, as I showed Danielle the Dynex webcam I eyed for the last week, as my travel webcam (it's cheap, but it's on pretty good par with my Phillips webcam I have here). She wants one now. :) Waved at Phil (former Project Team member) who was doing his thing in computers, and we looked around. Danielle continued her b-day suggestions (which I was like, "Um...I finished your shopping."), and priced to see if the "21" movie tickets at work dropped in price yet. We left, and Dani & I talked in the Charger before I left.
On the way home, I nearly nodded off a handful of times, having to slap myself occasionally to stay awake. Nearly nodded off on 370, but made it home, went to the bathroom, and then for 10 minutes tried to get upstairs to crash, but mom/dad wouldn't let me. GRRRR! Crashola, and I was out 'til 10am.
Today so far has been laundry day, and waiting for Danielle, as she hasn't called me back. *shrug*
Anyway, hope you guys are having a good weekend,
Matt
