Mixed Bag

Well, today's update (wow! 2 days in a row!) will be a bit of a mixed bag.
First let me get the sad news out of the way.  The father of the guy I dated almost all through high school passed away yesterday.  A week ago Saturday he had a major stroke and went into a coma.  I'm not sure if they ever did get the bleeding to totally stop.  It saddens me.  Ray Sr. was a good man.  A bit rough around the edges and could really be a bear to deal with, but over all, he was a good man.  I'm going to try and attend the funeral if at all possible, as I still feel bad for blowing Ray off last summer for a birthday party he was hosting while I was extra cranky with Joan.  (But that's not the only reason, like I said, I respected Ray Sr. and he was a good man, so I'd like to pay my final respects...)

On to brighter news.  Last night was the first night of my "Aquasize" class.  Oh, wow!  I'm in even worse shape than I thought.  I had a lot of fun though.  I'm either the youngest or second youngest in the bunch.  There are about 10 people in the class, including two men, most of them in the "under 50" crowd.  Most of them have either known our instructor from other classes or been taking this class for a while.  But, I was made welcome by everyone.  Our instructor is Erica... and in many ways she's not too different from Erin, Mom's instructor.  I think there's something about chlorine fumes that does that to a person after a while.  Right now the pool is a little on the cool side, because of swim team.  (You see, there is really only one HUGE pool at my Y and so, one temperature suits all...)  Supposedly they're going to make it warmer again once the swim season is over, which is soon.  That'll be nice.  I have to tell you though, this is definitely NOT my mom's swim class.  There is a large cardio portion in the beginning and she pushes you hard.  I really enjoyed it, even if I tried to drown myself a couple of times.  There was no staying dry, at least for me, last night.  Now I'm even more excited to take Boo to his first class on Saturday.

And now for a random rant.  The one I had in the works the other day.  Below is a picture I snapped at Target when we were there over the weekend.  Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

Why, oh why, do boys get to be the "Best at Everything" and girls are expected to "Be a Goddess"?  I mean, not knocking goddesses or anything, as I believe that every woman is a goddess in her own right, but please!  And the back of the pink book is even worse.  I mean, it was like a train wreck.  It has tips for "how to host your own fashion show" and other "girl appropriate" activities.  Can I gag now?  And people wonder what's wrong with girls these days... why they "can't" succeed and have self-image problems.  And don't get me started on the "girl video games", especially the series for the DS... Imagine "fashion designer" "babysitter" or
"wedding designer" just to name a few.  Sure, they have "teacher, field trip", "family doctor" and "animal doctor" amongst the titles, but most of them are the same stereotypical, image-centric fluff that is "expected".  It drives me nuts!  If we ever have a daughter, games like that will be banned just as much as the heavy shooters and other "M" rated games will be for Boo until he's much older.  (I'm not banning them outright and forever, just until he's old enough to know it's a game.) (Oh, and don't read any of the reviews on those games either... they'll just make you mad... or at least they make me mad...)
All I can say to that is ugh and shake my head.  Oh well.

Well, now that I'm late for work, I'd better get my butt in gear and out the door.  Off to work, then laundry tonight after picking Boo up and before picking Gak up and then home for dinner.  Busy day ahead!

Peace to all and may your classes be fun, your media images realistic and your family healthy.

Puzzles and Games

Yesterday was two very different days.

The work day was very rough. The evening was a lot of fun.

I knew work was going to be a tough haul when I get in at 7 (my normal start time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and it took me an hour to get connected to the network because they had to reboot some servers and I had to reboot about 4 or 5 times. Also, I've been working with a very nice customer on a very tricky problem because there just aren't that many sites like his. And I can't figure out what's wrong. And there's all kinds of pressure from above to get this right because they're parent company has threatened to go with other software. And did I mention I can't figure out where things are wrong?

Oh, and they're adding a new door to the outside world in the break room (so no one will have to walk through the shop when they come in or leave) and that means I can't refill my water, use the fridge or anything? Nothing major, just very annoying. Especially since the estimated downtime will be about 2 weeks. Ugh.

On the upside though, I had a very nice evening over at Bob and Linda's. Mom, Boo, Mel and I all headed over there shortly after I got off work. We had a very nice dinner and some nice conversation. After dinner, Boo was quite happy to play by himself on the floor (there were all kinds of things to explore...) and the rest of us played two games of Rummikub. I hadn't played in ages, but I remembered fairly quick. Mel was a pretty quick study too. I won the first round and mom won the second.

It felt right. Here it was, a nice summer evening and we were with family and friends playing games out on the porch. (Actually, their "porch" has been turned into a very nice, very large sun room... perfect for gatherings.) In some ways it was a bitter-sweet moment. So many memories of my Gram (and even Mum Mum) were made on the porch playing games. It was wonderful to remember, but sad because she wasn't there to play with us.

She's been on my mind a lot lately. When I first got home yesterday Mom asked me where a recipe was. I told her it was probably on the table. But I got out the box from Gram. Gram hated to cook, but she loved collecting recipes. I inherited a whole box full for my wedding present. Mind you, this is just one card box full out of at least 3 or 4 that she had. She only ever made a handful of things from any of the recipes. Some of them are just scary. Anyhow; Mel, Mom and I had a good time laughing over some of them while I was looking for one of the recipes. (I couldn't find that card, but it was in the family cookbook that was put together for our wedding.)

So, yeah, Gram's been on my mind a lot. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I have been talking to Dorothy (Bobbie's daughter) about using the beach house at the end of September. Maybe it's because of all the tough things I've had to fight through with work and such lately. Maybe because it's summer and that's when we got to spend the most time together and were able to have the most fun.

I don't know, but I do know that I miss her horribly. Every day.

Anyhow, it's almost 7 and I'd better get my butt in gear if I want to make it to work by 8 like I'm supposed to. Here's hoping the network works and I can finally figure out what the heck is wrong at the site.

Peace to all and may your work days go easy and your evenings be full of laughter.

Catchup

Sorry for the lack of both photo and written updates. It's been a busy weekend around here.

Friday and Saturday our friends Chris and Diane were having a yard sale and everyone was welcome to bring stuff to sell. Gak and I didn't get anything together, mostly because I can't get into the closet right now because of a mattress we've got shoved in there. That and my brain hurt too much to try and figure out what to get rid of.

Boo and I did go over and hang out for a good part of the day with Chris and Scott on Friday. Boo slept most of the morning, which was good. He'd done a three-wakeup night and I was a little tired. The weather was beautiful. Boo just hung out in his car seat with a blankie under the tarp. There was a nice breeze and it wasn't too hot or humid and the sun wasn't in his eyes. It was a nice morning for everyone.

Friday night we went out with Chris, Diane and Stu. There was a little baby girl at the next table over that was less than a week older than Boo. Boo discovered her when Diane took him so Gak could finish his supper. He couldn't tear his eyes off her. Of course, since we came home from the hospital, he really hasn't seen any other babies, just us old people. It was cute.

Saturday was a long day for Boo as well. We've started playing Magic in a "league" setting with Chris, Diane, Scott and Stu. We all started out with a starter pack and a couple of boosters. There was a new expansion last week so we got to add cards from that. We did it in the form of a "draft" Saturday morning from 4 boosters that we picked up Friday evening. That was fun. (Yes, I thought I'd gotten away from the cards years ago, but Chris was itching to play again and well... it's a hard game to give up totally... and we're having fun with this...).

I also went down to Skipack to the good yarn store. I was exchanging a ball of yarn I'd purchased for a different color and they were having their supper summer sale. I scored 7 balls of this pretty blue mostly cotton yarn that normally would have been about $50 for $10. I couldn't resist. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but... how could I turn a deal like that down? (I've been trying very hard not to just randomly buy yarn... especially since there just isn't that much money in the budget for it...)

We spent Saturday evening playing Magic with our friends and eating pizza. It was weird to be doing that again. Fun, but weird.

Today GrammaSue came up. We went and did laundry while Gak stayed home with Boo. This was the first time he'd done that for any length of time. It went well for the most part. Boo did cry for about the first hour, but then settled down, ate a good bit and had a good snuggle with his Poppa. Overall, not a bad time, but Boo will have to get used to spending his mornings with Gak and his afternoons without either of us. It'll take a little time, but we'll all adjust. (But, of course my heart breaks a little each time I think about it... especially if he's asleep in my arms at the time...)

We braved the thunder storm and went to Target and Friendlys this afternoon. Overall, it was a good day. Boo slept the night through Friday night, so of course that meant that last night was an "up every 2 hours" night. Oh well. Boo did get a lot of good Poppa time today. Although, I do feel quite guilty for handing Boo off to Gak so much today and yesterday evening. Gak didn't get a lot of time with him this week, so I'm sure he didn't mind too much, but I still feel like a bit of a slacker for it. (I know... I need time for me too... but... it's complicated with the heart-strings...)

That was a totally random paragraph. I'd best get to bed. Boo went to sleep at almost 9 exactly. Hopefully this means he won't be up before 3, maybe even 4 or 5 (but I'm not holding my breath...). This just means I've been up about a half-hour past my own bedtime and should get some sleep while I can.

Peace to all and may you have many fun adventures.

Monday Morning

Well, we made it through another weekend. And now I'm back at work.
Ugh.
I'm so glad there's a 3-day weekend coming up. I could use it!
I do have pictures to post, but I haven't downloaded them from the camera yet. Hopefully I'll get that done tonight so I can share them tomorrow.
Friday we were supposed to go to the movies after Gak got off work. Well, we didn't. There wasn't a good time for us to go see Prince Caspian up at the new theater, which is very nice, and when we drove past the one in town, it was so crowded that the time we wanted was probably sold out. We had dinner at the Broadway Cafe two doors over from the apartment instead. (Great little place. Good and simple food, cheep prices, neat decor and right under the dance studio and friendly owner.)
Saturday I sent Gak in to work by himself again. I really should try and do laundry on Saturday instead of Sunday, but I just wasn't having any of it this weekend. Besides, Saturday was the "Art's Alive" festival thing and the street was blocked off. I'd have had to carry the laundry a block or two, and neither of us wanted to do that...
I did wander around the artists on Saturday. I spent too much money though. I bought a few small things and then spent more than I planned on one thing in particular. It's a wooden jigsaw puzzle in the shape of a rampant baby dragon. It was too cute to pass up. It's not that big. It's something that Boo will grow into, but until then, I can enjoy.
After Gak got home from work we took a lap around the vendors and he got something to eat. He actually got a decent BBQ biscuit sandwich. I, however, splurged and got an ice cream. We were very lucky that the day turned out so nice. It was very windy, but the sun was out the whole day. After the weather Friday, I was worried it would be rained out.
After our little jaunt around the block, we decided to go see Prince Caspian. The theater wasn't too crowded this time. I now also remember why we try and see all the movies we can up at the other theater. The one in town is less than 10 years old, but it is really showing it's age. The totally digital projection and sound at the other theater and the much better seating really have spoiled us.
The movie was OK. If you haven't seen it, I'd suggest waiting for it on DVD. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as the first one. They took some important set-up scenes from the book out of the movie and I think they made a couple of scenes up out of whole cloth. The acting was good, but it just didn't make me go "wow" like Iron Man did or the first Narnia movie.
Speaking of movies, we have a date with some of our friends to go see the new Indiana Jones movie on Friday. I can't wait for that one!
Yesterday was mostly good. Kat, Scott and Stu came over. We spent quite a bit of time waiting for Stu to finish up his RIFTS character. (I seriously think a cattle prod needs to be applied to his backside some days....) The game itself looks like it might be interesting. My character is a little more surly than I intended her to be, but I think that was my general mood seeping out again. All I know is it got the right reaction out of Scott... it annoyed the snot out of him. I enjoy doing that. He needs to be kept on his toes. Of course, I think I made Stu pretty mad at my character, but come on... the race I'm playing doesn't trust anyone and he was touching my stuff without even talking to me after he just appeared out of nowhere through a rift. Of course I'm gonna yell at him!
Of course, I wanted to yell at him for real about 7:00. Kat and Scott left around 6 to go pickup Zoe. Stu didn't get the idea that maybe Gak and I would want some time together or that I just wasn't up to having people over any longer that day. Gak finally got him to leave around 9. (Around 6:30, I excused myself to the bedroom to go read. Of course, by about 8 I was a bit bored and frustrated because Stu was on my computer because Gak was showing him EQII so therefore I couldn't do anything on it...)
Anyhow, it is Monday now. I've got to get my butt in gear and get the last minute things done for the training the rest of the week. I've also got to get some other training crap done and out of the way. I just don't feel like being yelled at by my boss, and I'm sure I will. I closed about 3 things in total last week and it wasn't my most productive of weeks. I did get a good bit of training stuff done, but not everything that needs to be done. He can just deal. There's only so much energy you're going to get out of me in a given day for the next few weeks and I'll do the best with it that I can.

Oh, random thought before I finish this. Saturday morning I got a call from BabiesRUs. The glider is in! I'm picking it up this evening! I can now breathe a sigh of relief. I'll admit I was worried. It wouldn't have been the end of the world if it didn't get here in time, but it is much nicer that it is here.

Peace to all and I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Goodbye Gygax

I got some sad news today. Gary Gygax, creator of D&D, forfather of all modern RPGs, failed his saving throw. Gary has left this world for the next. Anyone who enjoys RPGs of any description, owes him a moment of thought at the least. Without him, there would have been no D&D. Without D&D, there wouldn't be any of the other "pen and paper" games. Without D&D, the MUDs, MUSHs, MOOs and MMORPGs computer gamers have come to know and love (and hate) over the last decade or so wouldn't exist. (I guess it's not all good... I mean, you can trace WoW back to Gygax.... hmm....)
Good luck and God speed Gary Gygax. The gaming world is deminished without your light.

In other news, my class this week is going well. We've got 9 people all told for the first half. It seems to be a good group and things are going well. They're learning a lot from eachother as well as from me.
Tomorrow Gak and I start our "prepared birthing" classes. I have no idea how useful they will be or if they're really worth it. Some people have told me they're a waste, others thing they're a good idea, even if I end up having to have a C. I guess we won't know until it's all been said and done. We will see.
Well, I'm tired and mostly just wanted to say something about Gygax's passing.
Peace to all and may your dice be good to you in this life and the next.

Totally Random

Well, this is going to be a bit of a chaotic post. I've got several things I've been meaning to post about, but just keep forgetting to or haven't gotten to yet or whatever. I'll try and keep it in some kind of coherent order, but no promises.
I'll start with this picture at the top. I've been lax in introducing you to two new members of the bear clan. The one on the left is DD. She came to us the week of Thanksgiving. You see, DD was given to my great-grandmother, Mum Mum, by a close friend over 20 years ago now. The friend's name was Dot Davis, therefore, the bear was named DD. A few years after DD came into her life, Mum Mum passed away. Therefore, Miss. DD stayed with Gram. DD enjoyed her status as only child. Sure, Jon and I spent a lot of time there over the summers with our own zoo of friends. But mostly she's been content to be the shoulder for a couple of older women. When we were down in Maryland visiting Gram the week of Thanksgiving, she asked Gak if he would adopt DD. She said that DD needed a good male role model, as she's never had one of any sort. Of course, Gak couldn't say no. I was planning on bringing her home with us eventually anyhow. She's adapting well. Having lived a quiet life, living with Mum Mum and Gram. She's not used to being one of several, especially some young rambunctious ones. She spends most of her time hanging out with AT and Sally.
The other little girl in this picture is Angel. She came to us the day that Gram left us. She's a very sweet little girl and has been a wonderful addition to our family. She loves coloring and playing all kinds of games. She is, however, very good at getting into all kinds of trouble with Scout leading the way. Usually this involves them ganging up against poor Sam. Well, he does deserve it, as he is the big brother and all. She's really been a bright spot around here since she came to us.

I got some, in my opinion, sad mail the other day. I found out that my advisor, former head of the biology department and head of the faculty at LVC, Dr. Paul Wolf is retiring at the end of the year. I learned a lot from this man and he's touched the minds and hearts of many, many students over the years. He even taught the son of one the biology teachers at my high school. He has a really gruff exterior, but inside, he's a real softy and cares a lot about his students. Most of us referred to him as Big Wolf, not usually to his face though even though he knew we called him that and I'm sure secretly enjoyed it. You see, there were two Wolves at LVC in the biology department. Big Wolf and Little Wolfe. Big Wolf is just that, a big man with a big presence. He was a marine in Korea and some of that drill Sargent-ness still hangs about him. Like I said, he is a real softy and cares a lot about the students though. Then there was Little Wolfe. He is a much smaller man in stature, not a whole lot taller than me, and a little scrawny. He's about the same age as Big Wolf I'm guessing. Little Wolfe is a much more soft-spoken, academic kind of person. He rules his class and lab with a quiet efficiency. Very different professors, but both very good at what they do. LVC is loosing one of it's best to retirement. I just hope that, in the far future, Big Wolf gets his wish... that he just keels over while working out in the salt marsh and they just leave him there. I'm sure they won't just leave him there, but that's what he wants. I know this because I took two semesters of Ecology with him and both semesters we did a marsh study. That and I did an independent project with him in the Delaware marshes. Hopefully now he'll have time to fiddle in his garden, hang out in his beloved marsh poking and prodding at things. I wonder if he's completely given up working with U of Delaware as well. Anyhow, I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to go out to school for his retirement party in the beginning of April. It's only 1.5 hours from here and it would give me a chance to see what all they've done to the Neidig-Garber science center. I'll let ya know.

Man, this is getting to be a long post and I've still got stuff to talk about.

Anyhow, Friday Gak picked up a used X-Box 360. A lot of the guys from work have one and play online with each other. We'd talked about it several weeks ago and told him then, not yet, there are other things that need done first. Well, he didn't eat as many lunches out and didn't buy any Warhammer stuff, so he had enough discretionary funds left over to pick one up this week. It's quite funny to watch him try and play it. Especially since the one game that the guys from the office play is a shooter, Call of Duty 4. He, quite frankly, stinks. He always has at these kinds of games. (I'm even worse, so we won't go there...) He did pick up a really cool game by Bioware, Mass Effect. It's an RPG and man, the graphics and the story line both blow me out of the water. It's great. Hopefully I'll be able to master all the million buttons on the silly controller so I'll have a chance. The one big thing I hate about the X-Box is that it isn't wireless. I'm spoiled by the Wii. The controllers are wireless. It connects to the network wirelessly and it comes that way. (I think he payed almost as much for a stripped down X-Box without a hard drive as we did for the Wii... He got a free hard drive from a coworker.) The X-Box does have wireless controllers, but they're extra. You can also get something to connect to the wireless network, but that's extra too. Hopefully Gak'll remember to pick up an extra long Internet cable today so he won't have to keep unplugging it after he's done, since the router and the X-Box are across the room from each other.

Well, I was going to share some crafty stuff I've been up to and pictures of the dining room, but I think I'll save those for tomorrow.
Mom is coming over today and I should probably get a few things done before then. Peace to all and may you have good weekends, even if they are a little random at times.

Wii

This has been a good weekend. Yesterday there was a "fall festival" here in town. There were a few community things and some bands playing. I could hear a bit of it from our apartment. The coolest part, however, was the classic cars. Most of them were pretty cool, but not overly outstanding. There was one real antique with a kick butt paint job.

Gak had to work yesterday. He called me on his way home to see if I was showered and dressed. I was. He said he wanted to take me out to dinner. We went to Texas Road House down near the mall. Of course, this means we stop at Best Buy and look around. Gak picked up the Superman Doomsday DVD. We watched it. It was pretty good. I really enjoyed the "behind the scenes" of the whole creation of the comic arc. It had lots of neat info.
We then stopped in the Game Stop right beside the Best Buy. They had just gotten a used Wii in. Gak had set aside enough from this pay check to get one. So we did. We got the used Wii (it still had it's box and all the paperwork and everything!) and picked up Paper Mario as well. We also picked up a second controller and today Gak picked up a used copy of Wii sports. Man is it fun!
Today Ed, Buffie, Katie and Nik came over for dinner. It was good. Katie's birthday is tomorrow, so I made cupcakes and a lasagna casserole. After dinner we played on the Wii a bit. Katie really needs to learn patience. Hopefully it will come in time, but Ed is her dad... Actually, he has a lot of patience, when he needs to. It was an enjoyable evening. Hopefully in the next week or two we'll get together again to play Killer Bunnies. Buffie wants to play this time, which is really cool. I really do enjoy being able to have my friends over and relax. And man, Nik is getting HUGE! I mean, he is almost a year old now, but geeze.
I'm not looking forward to this week 100%, but that's because I've got the sales team coming in for training. At least I am not responsible for all of it. Also, Gak's got to work most evenings this week, so I'm on my own pretty much all week for dinners. Nothing new there, except for the fact that I'm at home. I'm not sure I mentioned it earlier this week, but a few days ago, he was informed he was changing stores. Luckily this one is still close to the house, but far enough away, that walking is out of the question. I guess we'll have to break down and get a second car soon.
Well, peace to all and I hope you all have had good weekends.

More than Meets the Eye

(This image is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobot)

This has been an interesting weekend. I guess I should catch you up on Gram first. They were originally going to release her from the hospital and transport her by ambulance back to Frederick on Friday. Well, they got everything all set up and her discharged, when they realized it was a 'long distance' transport and there weren't any ambulances free for that until Saturday. Oops. Mom had stayed again Thursday night, but after getting Gram re-dmited to the hospital Friday, went home. Gram went home Saturday and arrived safe and sound. The big problem is that she's got to go back to Baltimore on Wednesday for a doctor's appointment. Well, there's no way mom can transport her by herself. I will be out of town in California again next week. (ugh!) Luckily Gak could get off on Wednesday. This means that Tuesday evening Mom will drive up here, pick Gak up and then they'll go down to MD. Wednesday they'll play shuttle Gram and then after taking her back home, come home themselves. The biggest problem is that it'll be an extra couple of hours on either end of the trip for Mom, since we live about 45 minutes away and she'll have to both pick up and drop off Gak. I wish I could come up with an easier solution... but there just isn't one.
Yesterday was supposed to be a do-nothing kind of afternoon. Well, just as I was about to head out to pick up Gak, Kat calls and asks if she could stop by quick to wash the ice cream out of Zoe's shorts. OK. No problem, stop on by. Well, we then end up at her place for supper and then try to go to the Kutztown Fair. Well, unbeknownst to us, the fair closed at 7 or 8 this year instead of 10 like in years past. We missed it. We make the best of it and stop at Outback so Scott can get food and the rest of us can have snacks of some kind. It turned out well, other than the fact that we got back into town right as all the traffic from the fireworks was trying to get out of town. Luckily, I know how to get around a lot of it, once I realized things just weren't going to move at all.
Today Gak started a new D&D campaign. There were originally going to be about 4 of us, but it turned into 7. That's OK, Gak's pretty good at adjusting on the fly. There were some really annoying and trying moments, but we got through them. I can't say how the game is going, we've only had one fight sequence and haven't really done anything or learned anything yet about where we are and what's going on.
I did get to go run in the woods this morning. Kat was supposed to go with me, but it was a loooong night for her and she just wasn't up to it. We were at French Creek, and one of the parts I like better. I only did a yellow course, but that was OK. I was beat by the time I was done. There wasn't any water on my course, which really made me grumpy. It was about 90/90 today (heat/humidity). It was a little rough. I wasted about 10 minutes on the first control, but saw my friends Rick and Uday get there. (I didn't get a chance to catch up with them as they weren't back yet when I finished and I had to get home for the game....) I still finished in about 100 minutes or there abouts. This means I won't have the slowest time, but not the fastest by a long shot either. I like the length of yellow courses, but some days they just aren't challenging enough. (There were only about 3 controls that I'd really call yellow controls today, the other 7 were really pretty easy and right on or just off the trail...) I like the challenge of orange, but I just can't seem to do the extra 1 or 2 Km that they often are. (Mind you, that's the as-mapped distance, the real-world distance is probably a good bit more...) I'm happy with my time and glad I got a chance to go out. I'll have to check the schedule again, but with everything that's planned for the next few weekends, I'm not sure if it'll happen. Oh well, I'll live.

Now for the part about the title. Gak was feeling pretty frustrated after today's game. He asked if we could go kill things. I said, OK, but I was thinking about trying to catch Transformers. His eyes lit up and we were out the door faster than you can blink. I must say, I didn't watch the cartoon much as a kid. (I wasn't really allowed to watch many cartoons and didn't really know what I was missing until I hit college and had no clue what people were talking about...) I did steal my brother's Transformers on several occasions. They're really cool and their epic struggles really catch the imagination. I've seen enough reruns to know that this movie was not the 80's cartoon. I think if it had been, it would have been chalked up as cheesy by today's teens/young adults who grew up after that and it wouldn't have had the spark it did. It did keep very true to the original characters. I really think they did a great job of updating the story and characters for today's world. I really enjoyed it. Yes, they spent 90 bajilion dollars on special efects and CGI. If they hadn't, it wouldn't have worked. Yes, most of it is either a chace scene or a giant battle. Well, that's what the theme of the whole franchise is, good vs. evil and earth caught in the middle. It is very much a summer action flick. But, it's got enough nostalgia and enough of a story line to make it worth watching. Most of you know, I'm not a "chick flick" kind of person, that I enjoy action/adventure movies much more. This is definitely not a chick flick. This is an action/adventure. They got great people involved, including some of the original voices and some well known actors from other things. Go, see it. It's a nice escape for 2.5 hours. It's fun, and for some of us, it's a walk down memory lane.
Well, it's way past my bedtime now, and I've got to wind down and get some sleep. I have to go into the office tomorrow. I leave for California Tuesday morning. I'll be back Thursday. Another whirlwind trip. Just what I've always wanted..... (yes, that was sarcasm....)
Peace to all and may your childhood memories be fond and the remakes good.