It was an experience I'll not forget for a good, long time.
That sums up my thoughts after going to San Francisco with fellow SoN-ers Thom and Matt to see the final U.S. show of Porcupine Tree's Arriving Somewhere... live DVD release tour.
Read on for details of the show, pictures, and the associated adventures.
Here's an interesting story I ran across in the Daily Mail. I also saw that the Washington Post is also running a condensed version of the story as well. Reading this stuff has put me in a semi-ranting mood.
The story is about Hollywood Superstarlet Scarlett Johannson claiming she's "not promiscuous" but that she makes bi-annual trips to the doctor for HIV tests.
I don't want to come off sounding like a radical ultra-right-wing evangelical nut job preacher, but doesn't this perfectly illustrate the flaws and the hypocrisy of Hollywood secularism?
From the Daily Mail story:
In an interview with US magazine Allure, Johansson agrees with fellow actress Sienna Miller that when it comes to sex humans are very much like animals. Miller said last week that monogamy was a "weird virtue".
She said: "It's an overrated virtue, because, let's face it, we're f***ing animals."
Johansson was less graphic in her terms but told Allure magazine:"I do think on some basic level we are animals, and by instinct we kind of breed accordingly.
Christianity teaches us -- Well, wait a second, just about any belief in God teaches us that we are God's children and that we are better than animals. Biologically, yeah, we are similar to animals, but we have some things your average "f***cking animal" does't have: superior intellect and a sense of morality.
It's easy to be an animal and serve only your flesh, Ms. Johannson. It's more difficult to be human and serve your intellect and spirituality.
She's young. Maybe she'll clue in. In the meantime, she's your kids' role model!
Iodynamics is, for a lack of better words, in a pickle.
A few weeks ago, we finally found our technical salesperson whom we had been searching for since May. We found a gentleman who had substantial experience in technical sales and, while not that knowledgable about open source software and Linux, knew enough about the kinds of I.T. problems companies face in today's world he could sell our products and services after taking some time to become familiar with our edge over traditional (AKA "Microsoft") approaches to problems.
We found out a couple days ago that our new salesman is quitting. Apparently, a company he'd been courting long before we talked to him, offered him an opportunity he couldn't turn away from.
I understand his decision and wish the guy the best, but it really does put us in a pickle.
Up until now, Iodynamics has managed to grow (quite well) without any dedicated sales personnel. Most of our business has come through word-of-mouth and referrals and such business contacts seem to remain loyal.
We decided in order to take our company to "the next level," we would need to start doing serious sales and marketing. Our first step was hiring a salesperson who would work with Chadd, Mike, and Dave (the partners with marketing background) to develop a sales and marketing thrust that would generate more business.
We realized in order to do this, we'd need some capital to fund our marketing efforts and pay a salesperson while they got up to speed and started making commissions. To accomplish this, we set up some business financing.
Once our salesperson was hired, we started dipping into that financing. Now we've got a balance on that debt and nothing to show for it. It's depressing and it kind of sours me on the whole idea of a hiring another sales person.
As a young kid (we're talking around 1978 when I was six years old), I looked forward to Sunday evenings at my grandma's house because I would watch episodes of Battlestar Galactica there while my dad and my grandma would visit.
The only sci-fi I had been exposed to at that point was Star Trek re-runs, which I was very fond of. I hadn't seen Star Wars which had come out a couple years before and I wouldn't be introduced to the Star Wars universe until The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980.
While some people had speculated that BSG was simply an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Star Wars, it was the first time I had seen a space drama that was dark, dirty, and full of mysticism.
When the BSG franchise was reborn in 2004, I watched with fear and excitement. Would they butcher the series I had liked so much as a kid? Would they do it justice?
Ron Moore and co. did something I didn't expect. They recreated the universe and the background while still giving fans of the old series plenty to appreciate.
Season Three premiered this last Friday night. A major plot twist in the last couple of episodes of S2 left the story in a very weird place the original series never got close to. It really was unknown what S3 was going to be like.
Having seen the S3 premiere, I have to say I'm shocked and dismayed with what they're doing. I will probably watch a couple more episodes just to find out if what they're doing with the story is just temporary, but if they don't break out of this downright stupid plotline, I'm going to have to turn the TV off.
Potential spoilers here...
