Oh, by the way...

WE GOT THE HOUSE!

Yep, today we got official word that we've been accepted as the new tenants of that huge duplex we wanted!

Moving will start on Monday!

Jon

Who Wants to be a Superhero? Or for that matter, disagree with Stan?

So, it's now down to three finalists on Who Wants to be a Superhero...

But let's start at the beginning... or more or less at the beginning. Better yet, let me discuss each of the characters in turn:

Creature

While Jessi says she liked Creature, I never really cared much for her... maybe because I never had any feel for what she was supposed to be about (did she ever even say anything about the environment before this episode?). She got eliminated tonight, and I can't say I'll miss her, obviously. Her faux pas? Jaywalking. I knew Stan wouldn't let that go!

Lemuria

OK, she's a very attractive woman, and fills out the gold lamé very nicely... but you know, if you're going to use the spelling "Lemuria" for your hero ID name, shouldn't you at least have something to do with what Lemuria is? The name's pronounced like it should be spelled "Lumeria," which would make much more sense.

Anyway, she was the second elimination this episode, because she failed the challenge this week (which involved interacting with some "convicts" -- although I honestly have my doubts that any of them were really convicts -- the large red-haired woman looked awfully familiar to me, and the heroes have never been put in real danger at all).

That leaves us with the trio who are left...

Fat Mamma

This week, it's revealed that she had been on several diets prior to deciding that she was okay with her weight. Since episode one, she's been saying that she's there to show that it's okay to be fat.

Now, this has bugged me from the beginning. Maybe it's because I had my own weight loss on Weight Watchers, and was very successful, and found it was much easier than I imagined. Maybe it's also because I don't see that a person should be going around saying it's okay to be fat -- because, you know, it isn't. It's unhealthy, it puts an unnatural strain on your heart and other organs, and it can put you in dire risk of being diagnosed with diabetes, among other things. We're always hearing reports about how fat Americans are for the most part, and how bad that is... so what's up with this?

Personally, I think there are a lot of people who are overweight who don't seem to have a problem with their weight. Are they role models? I don't think so.

I'm not saying that all women have to have figures like, oh, say, Lemuria (or even that all men have to have bodies like Major Victory), but there's a difference between that and being at a healthy weight.

Anyway... she's also been annoying me lately because since Tyveculous (or whatever his name was) got booted off last week, she's been acting very two-faced -- in front of her fellow heroes, she's all sweetness and light, we're all one big family, I respect you all kind of thing... but when she's alone, it's complete b*tch, "I'm going to get those guys." Very unheroic, if you ask me.

Major Victory

He and the other remaining contestant are my favorites, and I think one of them will win. This week, Stan really got on his case about his removing parts of his costume, because he used to be a stripper.

I have to disagree with Stan on this one. The first time MV removed part of his costume was to put his cape over a puddle so these old ladies could walk over it without messing up their shoes. The second time was when they were meeting the "convicts" (they had to each perform some specific secret task), and he said something like, "I bet you find it difficult to talk to someone wearing a cape," and proceeded to pull off the cape, as well as his gloves. Doing this seemed to put the convict more at ease (especially with his comment "I do look ridiculous!"), so I think in context, both instances were definitely forgivable.

However... what's not quite so forgiveable was when Stan had called him on the carpet again about him being a former stripper, he could've justified his past (and Creature could've done the same) if he had only said to Stan, "I take inspiration from Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, whom you wrote, and were all originally villains, but overcame their pasts to become great heroes."

Feedback

Yeah, I like him, too -- and now, I relate to him much more after the video interview with his wife, in which she showed that his office at home was very, very messy (wow, just like mine! Well, at least, it can be when everything's not in boxes in the garage). And then, when he said that his wife said he could have one room in the house that could be messy (again, just like me!), I had to relate to him even more!

Unlike him, however, my father is still alive and well. When Feedback was talking to the convict, and learned the convict's father had killed himself, and FB said his father was dead, too, I first thought it was a complete lie -- but later on, we learned that was true, and also that he considered Stan the father he never knew, thanks to Stan's influence on him in The Amazing Spider-Man comics!

So, I hope Feedback or Major Victory win... and I'm rooting more for Feedback right now.

Final Gripe

Didn't anyone at the Sci-Fi channel realize that there's a freakin' hyphen in Spider-Man? It's put on the credits at the beginning of every episode, when talking about the characters Stan created, and there's no hyphen!

HEY! Unless you're talking about the 1960s animated series, there's supposed to be a hyphen!

Jon

Mid-Week Wrap-Up (moving edition)

The Search for a Home:

Well, it may be slightly premature to announce this, but I'll throw caution to the wind and say...

WE FOUND A HOUSE!

It's the one we saw the other day that we liked so much, with 400 more sq. ft. than this place, for $100 less a month. The only possible thing that could ruin this for us would be if the current property management company for this house decide to lie to our proposed new landlord about how good we are at paying the rent on time.

So, by the end of this weekend, we should have the lease signed, keys in hand, and we can start moving stuff over there on Monday! This may mean spotty posting next week, but so it goes. A week from Saturday will be the big moving day, and we're already starting to contact friends and family (notably those who own trucks) about a moving party, and after we get stuff moved over to the new house, we'll have a barbeque to thank those who helped! (so, if you live in the Olympia, Washington area, and want to help out, shoot me an email at waffyjon at comcast.net!)

The Packing:

So my office is more or less packed up... the computer stuff will be packed probably te night before the big moving day at the earliest. I started packing up the extra bedroom, which is mostly Jessi's collection of children's books, but ran out of boxes for that (as well as for the videos and DVDs in the living room, which means Thursday I'll have to get more boxes).

And that's about it for the news!

Jon

So, What's Going On Lately? (i.e., it's This 'n That Time Again!)

The House-Hunting:

So, we took a look at two different places to rent today... one of which is represented by the same people we're renting this place from, and one represented by its owners.

The first one is a cottage-style home, only two bedrooms and a small fenced yard with a deck. It would work for us if necessary... it's cheaper than this place, and we'd have to put a lot of stuff into storage, but we could make it work if we had to. It won't be available until September 1st, though.

The second one we like much, much better -- it's a duplex (like the place we looked at the other day), but it's at least a few hundred square feet larger than this house, which means the kitchen is bigger (with even more cupboards and drawers, which I love), and the bedrooms are larger overall (including what would be my office, and I also love that -- this one is a bit small!).

The only problem with the second place? There's several people who have looked at it, and we may not know until Monday if we'll get it or not. We're going to follow up with the owners on Friday, just to see what's going on.

We're also figuring that if we don't have definite word on Friday, we'll pick up the paper this weekend to look at new house rental listings.

In the meantime, we're starting our preparations to move... I spent most of the day today (when we weren't looking at houses or while I wasn't watching this week's Red Dwarf reruns from PBS, or the first half or so of Battle For The Planet of the Apes) packing up stuff in my off I won't need. That packing is nearly complete -- I think there's only another two or three boxes left to pack.

Next up, Jessi's extra room, which is used mostly for storage of kids' stuff that we keep on hand for when friends are over. That may not take that long to do, and that'll probably all be done tomorrow, after which I can start packing up the second bathroom stuff (pretty much everything in it but TP), and some stuff in the living room (mostly video tapes and DVDs).

All these boxes are being stored in the garage for now... in convenient-sized boxes that once we have the keys to our next place, we can start loading up our cars and running things over.

Current Reading:

So my latest re-reading is the TPB of AVENGERS FOREVER... Kurt Busiek's brilliant maxi-series of about five years ago or so (geez, has it really been that long?). This miniseries gives me hope for Hawkeye eventually being brought back to life in Marvel comics (for all I know, he's already been resurrected -- the only Marvel book I pick up these days is the occasional Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius one-shot), given that the Avengers members from the future don't make any comment upon seeing Hawkeye in there about him being dead in their time.

Prior to that, I'd been re-reading the issues of Marvel Knights: 4 and Fantastic Four that I had purchased before I cut way, way back on my comics buying.

Once I finish reading AF, I'll likely not be doing much reading at all until after we've moved to wherever we'll end up moving to, as everything else is already packed up.

Any Other News?

Nope. Enjoy the new template I'm using!

Jon

This 'n That (Delayed Weekend Wrap-Up Edition)

So, it's Monday night... time to play some catch-up!

The Camping Trip:

So, as I said in my last entry, Saturday morning, Jessi and I (with the dogs) left on an overnight camping trip... my first since about 1983 or 1984, and Jessi's first ever. We went with a couple we know, Tifney and Mark, who gave us a tent and two extra-long sleeping bags as a wedding present.

Our destination was Port Townsend, Washington, up on the eastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula. What I didn't realize until we were halfway up there is that I'd been there before... on a camping trip, no less... for one of the things we were going to do while there was to visit Fort Worden State Park, which has these old army bunkers from World War I or so that you could wander through.

I'd been there twice before, but never connected in my head Port Townsend with it... Fort Worden was always the destination.

Anyway, I was concerned about getting a camp site leaving on a Saturday (previous camping trips always started on a Friday, usually with someone getting there early to secure a spot), and my concern got even greater when we got into Port Townsend and found that this was the weekend of the Jefferson County Fair -- Mark's original idea had been that we would camp at the fairgrounds. We ended up going to Old Port Townsend State Park, where we did find a campsite available, and got the tents set up.

After that, we headed for Fort Worden, where we took the dogs on a very long walk up to the bunkers, had lunch looking over the water, and then went to the beach for the rest of the afternoon and to have dinner. Jessi and Tifney went on the lighthouse tour while Mark and I watched the dogs. That evening, we went into Port Townsend so Mark could do a bit of fishing while the women and I walked up and down the main street, looking at interesting stores that were mostly closed. Oh, we also had Brian, who's married to Tifney's daughter, along for the day, although he went back home Saturday night.

Sleeping in the tent was an interesting experience... we did have an air mattress, so that was comfortable enough... but we decided to put the mattress against one wall of the tent -- I think we should've centered it, because during the night, the dogs got on the mattress on Jessi's side (I was against the wall) and pushed her towards me. But still, we slept fine, and Sunday morning, after breakfast, we packed up, and made a few other stops along the way home.

Overall, an enjoyable trip... but I can't help but think we could've had a bit more relaxing time just sticking around the campground for the most part. There were lots of walking trails we didn't have time to explore, for example. But so it goes, and we can always make a return trip there someday!

The House-Hunting Saga Continues:

As I said in a previous post, we're looking for a new place to live, because the house we're renting is going to be put up for sale. Jessi and I were wondering about the possibilities of buying a house -- maybe even this one -- but it seems that in another year, we'll be in a much better position to do so, so we are looking to rent a different place.

We were supposed to look at one place today -- a much smaller place, but much, much cheaper -- but the rental agent didn't bring the right keys with him. This was a little duplex, with only two bedrooms, and no garage or storage space to speak of. This was one of two places the rental management company who's managing the place we rent (as well as the place I had by myself before Jessi and I moved in together). The second one, which we're supposed to be looking at Tuesday around 3, is basically a cottage-style home, again with two bedrooms and no storage that we're aware of, but unlike the duplex, it has a small fenced backyard, so we could let the dogs out to do their business.

Those were what the people we're dealing with could find for us.

But what we've found ourselves seems much nicer. Like our current place, it's a three-bedroom house with a garage, as well as a fenced back yard. Unlike our current place, it has about 400 more square feet or so... and maybe has a den (we're not 100% sure, to be honest). We'll be looking at that place Tuesday at 4. It's currently being cleaned up, because the previous tenants left it pretty trashed, and the owner is apparently really wanting to get some decent tenants into it sometime.

We, of course, are very decent tenants. We did explain our situation to him, and how we would have a hard time coming up with deposits as well as first and last month's rent (the first month's rent isn't a problem), and he said we shouldn't let that stop us from applying. We did drive by that place earlier today, but couldn't see much of the inside, naturally, but we are leaning more towards that house -- bigger, $100 less a month than our current place, and it's got much more shade to it, so next summer would be cooler!

So, we'll see how that goes!

Latest Arrivals in the Mail:

Today saw the arrival of the latest two Twomorrows mags in my mail, Back Issue (a super-heroine special) as well as Write Now! I'm about 3/4 of the way through the Back Issue, and it's a crackling good read! Michael Eury, the editor of that mag, does a bang-up job of it!

Wrap-Up:

So, I'm on vacation this week, so I should be able to post at least once a day... but we'll likely need to start preparatory packing soon, so things could get sparse around here... but I'll try to keep you posted as to what's happening!

Jon