The Zombieslayer

Been busy with personal things, very busy.  It’s a good thing, but bad for my blog.

Yes, I’m still here and hopefully this week I should have some time to visit everyone’s blogs.

A lot to say but I’ll keep it all short.  Several things I’ve learned in life.  Probably most importantly, the most important thing you have is your health and the health of your loved ones.  If you have both, be thankful.  Everything else is replaceable.  Yes, that includes your house, your car, all your belongings.  They’re just stuff.  People aren’t replaceable and neither if your health.

Another thing, British Petroleum should get a lifetime ban from anywhere that can affect the US of A.  It’s absolutely sickening to see all those animals coming up dead.  My heart goes out to the families and friends of the people killed in the accident.  And yes, BP hasn’t been doing enough.  I don’t care what the CEO says.  He’s a moron.

In politics, the Republicans are blaming Obama and the Democrats are blaming the Republicans.  Both are wrong.  The blame needs to go to British Petroleum.

The Gulf is already polluted.  It’s just getting worse.  We need to do something about our energy policies.  I’ve written about alternative solutions several times in the past so I’m not just one of those people who bitch but have no answers.

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I’ve been reading fiction books again (besides Harry Potter).  The author I like now is Jim Butcher.  I’m on book 5 of his Harry Dresden series.  Harry Dresden if you’ve never heard of him is a wizard in modern day Chicago.  The books are not easy reads as they will emotionally drain you to the point that I have to take a break between reading each book.

I’m so glad to read fiction again as I realized I must have been turning dry reading nothing but history, politics, and economics.  Those all are good for the mind, don’t get me wrong.  Fiction though is good for the soul.

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And yes, still no TV.  It’s great.  You get so much more done if you don’t watch TV.

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Although we still watch movies at friends’ houses.  The other night, we went over to my real estate agent’s house and watched Taken.  I’ve seen it before and said this before, thank goodness for Liam Neeson as the recent James Bond movies are downright lame.  Nice to have an action hero that’s good.  If you haven’t seen Taken and you like action movies, go out and rent it.

So after the movie, I turned to my real estate agent and said “man, France was probably a pretty nice country before all those fucking Albanians moved in.”

Anyone make ‘em?

Mine was to watch more sunsets with Mrs. Z.

Got back from vacation in Santa Barbara.  Most people don’t realize just how big California is.  San Francisco is about 340 miles from Santa Barbara.  That’s farther than New York City to Portland, Maine, and you’re crossing several states doing that trip.

We did all the tourist stuff, like hit several beaches, a really nice park on top of a hill, visited family and friends (I used to live down there), dinner on the Santa Barbara pier, etc.  We also hit two museums.  The latter one allows you to take pictures as long as you don’t use your flash.

Here are a pair or Roman statues.  I was unimpressed by the Greek ones for as good as the Greeks were with other aspects of art, their sculpture paled in comparison to the Romans.

The next 3 are French statues done in the 19th century. I thought these ones were excellent. The first two pics are Diana and the last one was something about a vanquished warrior. An angel carries away a dead dude. Pretty cool stuff.

Next are two Japanese guardians. I thought these were cool.

And lastly, I’ve always had a thing for Ancient Egyptian stuff. The first one represents a Horus falcon . The second one is a carving in stone. What’s really amazing is that these things are over 3000 years old and still in pretty good condition.

After writing a few doomsday pieces on overpopulation, I was thinking I need to mention some stuff I like.

The Slow Food movement. Although not a formal member, I follow a lot of the philosophy of it. Eat organic, heirloom foods. Eat traditional and local food. Don’t eat fast food.

Walking everywhere. If it’s not raining or snowing, why drive to the supermarket if you can walk there? I have no problem walking home carrying a gallon of milk in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. Neither does my wife or my son. There’s a reason we’re in good shape, and it has nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with our attitudes about wasting resources.

Donald Driver, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Kampman, and Charles Woodson - my favorite Packers. Driver because of his commitment to excellence (no, the Raiders can’t use that any more because they’re a joke and it has become just as stupid as certain corporate slogans). Rodgers because he has been humble through the whole Brett Favre thing and proved it with his abilities instead of his mouth. Kampman because he simply works harder than anyone else. And Woodson because he’s like Deion Sanders but without the ego. Yes, I still root for Favre to succeed, unless he’s playing the Packers.*

Nightwish and Opeth - the two most talented bands out there today. Both from Scandinavia (by the four country, not three country definition). I’m thinking when it comes to music right now, Scandinavia is where it’s at. Most of my fave bands now are from there.

I’m currently reading Watership Down. Loved the movie. Now finally bought the book.

Our apartment.  We live downtown so we can walk everywhere.  I religiously go to the Farmers’ Market every Sunday morning and stock up on fruits and veggies.  Instead of centering the food around meat, it’s pretty even now.

One of the things I’m really loving are heirloom tomatoes.  I love slicing them up and salting the slices.  Very few things taste better than fresh heirloom tomatoes and salt.

We even go vegetarian one or two days a week.  With apartment living, our costs are way down.  Meat is expensive and cutting it out one or two days a week saves a lot.  Plus, we have yet to break $50 for our electric bill.  Yet another thing to love about living in a small apartment instead of a big house.

So tell me, what are you liking now?

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* I got money on both the Packers and the Vikings to win it all.

People complain about Favre being a prima donna. So what? So was General Patton, one of my other heroes. As a Sound Engineer (recording only), I’ve worked with musicians who never even released a CD and still had bigger egos than Brett Favre.

Prima donnas and divas don’t bother me as long as they treat me with respect. If they don’t, I simply refuse to work with them.

I’m going to see the Harry Potter 6 movie today and will link the review to this post when I get back.  In the meantime, I’m a Slytherin.

Why? No, I’m not a bad guy.  I’m a good guy.  But let’s look at the four houses…

From Wikipedia, Gryffindor values courage, bravery, daring, nerve and chivalry.  I don’t value courage and bravery.  Those will get you killed.  Yes, if someone I loved was in trouble, I’d risk my life to help them.  But that’s a given.  So would just about anyone else.

Realistically, being scared keeps you alive.  I have fear because I want to live.  I don’t want to die until I’m in my 90s (or unless I lose my brain, then I’d want to die earlier).

Hufflepuff, values hard work, loyalty, tolerance, and fair play.  OK, I like this house.  I value hard work, loyalty, and fair play.  Tolerance? No.  I’m a very intolerant person.  Some people piss me off and I have no time for their bullshit, and I’ll call a spade a spade.  So that’s three for four.  Almost a Hufflepuff, but not quite.

Ravenclaw values intelligence, creativity, wit, and wisdom.  I’m almost a Ravenclaw.  Intelligence, I got plenty of that.  Creativity and wit, yup.  That’s me.  Extremely on both parts.  Wisdom? Nope.  I got none of that.  If it wasn’t for my wife, I’d probably be either dead, in jail, or homeless.  So that scratches me from Ravenclaw.

Slytherin house values ambition, cunning, and resourcefulness.  Bingo.  That’s me exactly.  I’m a Slytherin.

It’s just an unfortunate coincidence that to be a successful bad guy, you have to be ambitious and cunning (and resourceful).

Now as proof that not all Slytherins are bad, the most brave wizard of all is a Slytherin.  He sacrificed a heck of a lot more than anyone else did, and that’s really saying something because so many of them sacrificed a lot.  (NOTE: I had his name in there but realized it’s a spoiler so took it out).

Slughorn and Andromeda Tonks are both from there, and Ms. Tonks raised one of my favorite characters (Nymphadora).  More proof that Andromeda is cool is she was Sirius’ favorite cousin, and disowned by the Black family (which is a good thing).  Sirius Black as you probably already know is my favorite Harry Potter character.

Anyways, movie starts in four hours.  I got to buy tickets as soon as those dorks open their ticket window.  Have a Happy Wednesday.

UPDATE - My review is up here.  Don’t worry, I was careful not to give anything away.