Archive for July, 2009
Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch - Letterman
I love “Panic Switch” by Silversun Pickups and this is an amazing performance of the song from “The Late Show with David Letterman” earlier this week. I’m not even a drummer and I could watch their drummer all day. He’s on fire throughout the whole song and the way he hits the high cymbal is incredible. Stick around and watch the end of the video, too, as there are a few funny moments between Dave and the band.
The Kiss of Serenity
I’m a big fan of “Firefly” and “Serenity”, the TV show/movie combo that is Joss Whedon’s vision of a future where space really does become a frontier. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a sci-fi space western. I love it. The show has also introduced me to an incredible actor, Nathan Fillion. Fillion played Malcolm Reynolds, the captain of Serenity and her rag-tag crew.
In addition to eight other incredible actors that made up her crew, Serenity herself was practically the tenth cast member. I loved the “I Think I Can, I Think I Can” look and feel of the ship. When a small collectible of her was released, I quickly picked up two so that I could have one on my desk at home and one at the office. To my surprise, a much larger, light-up with working engines version of Serenity was announced about 18 months ago. I subscribed to their RSS feed and devoured every bit of news about the model. I couldn’t wait until the day came when I could put my name in and order one.
That day came during the recently ended San Diego Comic-Com 2009. A prototype was shown and the announcement was made that the waiting list for this very limited edition collectible was now open. I was not at San Diego Comic-Con. By the time I was aware of the waiting list, it was already known that they had exceeded the number of Serenity replicas that were going to be for sale. They were continuing to take names in the event that people were unwilling to pay the price once it was announced, but it’s not looking good for me.
I’m upset that I’m probably not going to be able to get the one collectible I’ve been really looking forward to. I also feel let down by the company, as I, a faithful follower of their blog since the beginning, did not have a chance at the waiting list before the Comic-Con attendees did. I’m still going to try to get one, but I’m resigned to the fact that it’s likely not going to happen.
The picture above is of Nathan Fillion, Captain Reynolds himself, enjoying a moment with the prototype of Serenity at Comic-Con. At least something good came out of the announcement being at Comic-Con.
Original photo, as well as additional photos, can be found here.
Haiku - Immediately
‘Immediately’
has many syllables. It’s
not fit for haiku.
Feel the Prius
The Prius is back home and is running quite well. It had all of it’s 90,000 mile and 100,000 mile checks done to it and is now set to go for nothing but oil changes for another 20,000 miles or so. While it was in there, they also took a look at a pesky “Check Engine” light issue that I was having. It would turn on, stay on for a day or so, and then go off for a day or so. The service center didn’t think it was too big of an issue because it kept clearing itself, but investigated the problem anyway. Turned out there was a flow control thing-a-ma-bob for the engine coolant that was failing from time to time. Not too serious because it was only an occasional fail, but very serious if the thing decided to fail completely. That part was swapped out at the same time and now the Prius is in tip-top shape, but dirty. Wow, that thing needs a good hand-scrubbing. Automated car washes just aren’t cutting it.
I was talking with my girlfriend yesterday as I was driving the Prius home from the service center and she asked how it was doing. I told her it was great and it felt smooth. We both laughed at that as she said I probably meant that it drove more smoothly, not that it actually felt smooth. Her version makes more sense and is grammatically correct. Honestly, it’s what I meant to say, but my slip-up ended up being quite funny. Can you imagine taking your car in to the shop only to have it returned to you smoother? Almost as if it went in for a shave? “Here’s your freshly tuned up Prius, J.R. Now smooth as a baby’s bottom.”
Sick Prius
Today I’m posting a picture of my Toyota Prius. This photo was taken on the day that I brought it home from the dealership back in 2005 when it had about 32 miles on it. It’s in for it’s 100,000 mile tune-up today and they found a problem with the engine cooling system. Not a huge deal, but it needs to be fixed right away. That leaves me without my “ride” until tomorrow evening. Anyway, having the Prius “sick” at the “doctor” seemed like a good enough excuse to post a picture of it.

The Twittering of @jrswantz
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