... our internet problems seem to be over. Everything seems to be working once again, page loads are back to the speed one would expect with a 3Mbps connection, and I'm pulling out of my withdrawal shakes.
We braved the matinee crowds once again today to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The theater was closer to full today than when I poked my head in yesterday, but still not bad. We didn't get there early enough for the "cool" seats, but we were in the row right behind them, so it still wasn't bad. Lots of younger kids in the theater, but only one had to be carried out by Daddy when things got scary and there wasn't the normal "ambient noise level" that one would expect at a a matinee showing of a PG film. The only real annoyance was the adult in the row behind us that had to have gotten up and left then came back in a half-dozen times during the movie and managed to kick the back of our seats on every trip.
The movie itself was pretty much what it has been hyped up to be. The secondary story was all about pairing off and "snogging" as the Brits say, which pretty much followed the book and is basically the primary concern of all sixteen-year-old's, even those fighting to save the world from evil. The special effects were spectacular and were the dominant feature of the movie, really. Like the book, this is a bridge piece setting up the big final battle (which annoyingly-but-understandably will be cut in two), complete with cliffhanger ending. If you're into Harry Potter, this is a must see and it is worth seeing on the big screen.
Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Between sleeping away half the day and fighting connectivity issues, I didn't get a chance to say anything, so here it is late for the party and all.
I was four at the time of the landing and don't remember much other than I was allowed to stay up way past bedtime to see some blurry, burned-out pictures on the TV which seemed to be showing a whole lot of nothing going on. Hey; I was four. It's not like I appreciated the whole "eyes of history" thing at the time. The first missions I clearly remember were the later rover missions (Apollo 15, 16 and 17), but by then everyone else had written the whole thing off. I guess for me, given the sorry state of the US space program, all the anniversary celebrating is bittersweet; I can't get myself worked up about it the way some people are. Yes, when Neil Armstrong stepped off the foot pad onto the lunar surface, that marked a defining moment in our history; the first human step somewhere other than earth. But then we turned into a nation of cowards who can barely get a few people to low earth orbit twice a year (and in a matter of months, we won't even be able to do that). Sorry if I'm being the killjoy of the party, but I just can't be happy about the fact that 40 years after men walked on the moon, we are incapable of doing it again, and too cowardly to try in any case.
OK; I'm done.
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