Tag Archives ⇒ nerdy

Thanksgiving 2016 (Part 2)

· Lauren

On Friday we decided to honor REI’s Opt Outside campaign, which emphasizes outdoor activities over shopping on Black Friday. Our first stop was Mission San Luis, a living history museum of that shows the interaction between native Apalachee Indians and Spanish settlers in the Tallahassee area. It’s a fascinating place and I can’t believe I’ve never been there before. After that we drove down to Wakulla Springs, a favorite childhood summer getaway, in the hopes of seeing some manatees in the springs. Unfortunately all of the boat tours in the near future were full by the time we got there so we only walked around for about an hour, but it was still fun to visit. There was even some beautiful fall color in the trees (not something that usually happens in North Florida), as you can see in the above panorama I took. The reason we couldn’t stay at Wakulla Springs and take a later boat tour was because we had tickets to see “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” at 6 PM. I was skeptical of the movie when it started out slow, but once it hit its stride I really enjoyed the film. I’m excited for the other Harry Potter universe movies that are coming in the next few years.

On Saturday morning I got up early again (doesn’t everyone do that on vacation?) because I needed to run 12 miles. I slept later than I planned, and I was worried that it was going to be too warm for my run, but luckily the weather was lovely. I always forget that the tall pine trees in North Florida provide very accommodating shade! Once again we had McDonald’s Egg McMuffins as a post-run meal, which was perfect for me. My mom and I did a little shopping afterwards, but except for purchasing a few things at Old Navy we were less successful than on Wednesday. Our time was limited because we had to get home and prepare for the UF vs. FSU football game that night. We had some leftover spaghetti for an early dinner, and then I set up the Roku streaming stick that I bought my parents as an early Christmas present. Inexplicably, neither their smart TV nor Blu-ray player had the capability to connect to the Amazon Prime Video app so I covertly ordered the Roku streaming stick so we could watch “The Grand Tour” while I was in town. We only had enough time to watch half of the first episode before leaving for the football game, though. My dad got some amazing sky box tickets for the game so we got to watch in luxury with catered food and spacious seating. It was a fantastic experience except for the fact that the Gators lost badly. Florida lost both of the football games I attended this year – I guess I was a jinx! We managed to get out of the stadium a little early after realizing that the Seminoles were going to prevail, and we got home around midnight.

My alarm went off at 4 AM on Sunday morning so that I could get ready to go to the airport for my 6:12 AM flight. It was rough only getting a few hours of sleep, but the trade-off was arriving back in Los Angeles in the early afternoon. In spite of the serious sleep deprivation I would have survived the trip unscathed except for the fact that I caught a cold on my flight home. (Luckily it turned out to be fairly mild, and I am feeling 100% better now.) It was a rough end to my Thanksgiving trip to Florida, but I had a great time. Now it’s time to put up my Christmas tree and prepare for Christmas!

Kickstarter rewards #1

· Lauren

I planned to use some of my free time after the Avengers Half Marathon today to write a comprehensive blog post about my weekend, but my brain just wasn’t up to it. After exhausting my body running this morning all I wanted to do was watch TV and zone out on the couch. So that’s what I did! But in order to continue fulfilling my NaBloPoMo commitment I need to write at least a little something today. Here it is!

When I got home from Anaheim this morning there was a package on my doorstep. I wasn’t expecting anything so I was intrigued. When I sliced open the envelope two t-shirts fell out and I was pleasantly surprised. They were my backer reward shirts for supporting the RiffTrax Live MST3K Reunion Show Kickstarter campaign! The campaign was launched in March and given my love of both RiffTrax and MST3K I couldn’t resist pledging some money. The reunion show itself was in theaters back in July and I attended it with a good friend. It was a lot of fun. But before I discovered those t-shirts on my porch this morning I had completely forgotten that I was owed them! That’s what happens when it takes four months after the actual event is over for the merchandise to arrive. I won’t complain about awesome new shirts, though! I wore one of them to see “Doctor Strange” tonight. (Great movie! I highly recommend it!) Now I’m just waiting for my backer reward shirt from the Bring Back Mystery Science Theater Kickstarter that I contributed to last Thanksgiving. Believe it or not, it’s been almost a year! But if this is the price I have to pay for new MST3K shows I’ll gladly accept it!

Cutting back

· Lauren

“I was fooling myself if I thought I could easily abandon anything superhero-related.”
10/16/16 webpage post

Right now I’m sitting on my couch watching an episode of “Arrow” that’s been languishing on my DVR for almost a month. And I started the evening with an equally ancient episode of “The Flash.” It’s safe to say that despite what I wrote last month I haven’t been keeping up with all the superhero shows I record each week. None of the others either, come to think of it. I haven’t even watched “Once Upon A Time” in three weeks and it’s my favorite! Between work and my strict exercise regimen I just don’t have time to devote to television these days. As much as I’d like to veg out sometimes. This probably explains why my DVR was almost full when I got back from Arkansas on Monday. I needed to take drastic action! The first show on the chopping block was “Supergirl.” Even though it is part of the suite of superhero programming on the CW I haven’t even caught up on season 1 on Netflix yet. And barring something that sidelines me for a while, like a week-long illness, I have no chance of being ready to watch the current season’s episodes anytime soon. So “Supergirl” is toast. Next up was “Elementary.” I’m a huge fan of everything related to Sherlock Holmes, but this is one of the shows at the bottom of my priority list. I figured that with all of the other programs out there to entertain myself I wouldn’t even miss my weekly dose of the British detective. I’d much rather wait for the return of “Sherlock” on PBS in January anyway! So that’s two shows stricken from the record. After that I realized I had freed up a decent amount of space on my DVR so further cuts weren’t necessary. Yet. We’ll see how far behind on my TV watching I get over the holidays. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to watch an episode of “Legends of Tomorrow” before I go to bed!

Fall television

· Lauren

“I’ve been under a lot of pressure at work lately and watching TV when I get home each evening helps me unwind. Unfortunately it also keeps me from getting an optimal number of chores done around the house, but it’s a small price to pay for stress relief.”
11/17/15 webpage post

It’s no secret that I love television. (Over just the past year I’ve written posts about X-Files, MST:3K, Doctor Who, and Once Upon A Time. It’s enough to make me think I need to pick up another hobby.) But after the spring finales of my favorite shows earlier this year I didn’t have much to watch. That turned out to be a good thing. I was running several times a week and going to the gym just as often so there wasn’t a lot of time left over for zoning out in front of the TV. In the evenings I often turned on episodes of the Simpsons on FXX, but even then I was busy doing other things around the house at the same time. There was very little parking myself on the couch and focusing all of my attention on some show or another. And it was a great summer because of that. I just didn’t know what was going to happen when the fall premieres rolled around. At first I was determined to reduce the number of shows that I record and watch every week. Without a new season of Doctor Who until next spring (except the Christmas special which I am anxiously awaiting), I have very few must-watch programs. In fact, Once Upon A Time is just about the only one. Weeknights always seem so short so it’s nice to not feel like I don’t have any more demands on my time and energy. So my first thought as the fall season started was to stop recording all of the CW DC Comics shows – all four of them! It’s not like I’m all that invested in any of the story lines, and freeing up four hours per week was a nice bonus. Too bad I never followed through. So far I’ve been saving the new episodes of Flash, Arrow, Supergirl (I’m still catching up on season 1 on Netflix), and Legends of Tomorrow for weekend viewing. They are the perfect entertainment while I’m recuperating from a long run, like the Long Beach half marathon last weekend or Surf City 10 this morning. I was fooling myself if I thought I could easily abandon anything superhero-related. I’d like to respectfully request that none of the networks launch any new shows in that genre any time soon. I know it’s wishful thinking given the popularity these days, but I don’t need to watch any more TV than I already do!

X-Files is back!

· Lauren

“Pretty much anything in the X-Files universe is fine by me. And besides just crossing all of my fingers and toes to help this effort, I wrote a tweet with the #XFiles2015 hashtag tonight. New X-Files must happen!”
1/25/15 webpage post

One year ago today I posted the following on Twitter – “#XFiles2015 must happen!!!” It was such an exciting prospect that one of my all-time favorite television shows might be back on the air and I wanted to do everything I could to help make it happen. (Granted, I didn’t quite go to the extreme of contribute to a Kickstarter like I did for Mystery Science Theater 3000, but at the time tweeting was all I really could do.) And somehow, with an enormous wave of popular support that started from a single podcast, Fox decided to make all of our nerdiest dreams come true. Mulder and Scully were coming back to the small screen! Rejoice! It’s just for six episodes, more like a mini-series, but I’ll take what I can get. Finally, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, the premiere of this monumental event aired last night. Due to my own craziness, I DVRed it while I was out running and didn’t get to watch it before I went to bed. Much to my despair, I had read some unfavorable reviews of the first episode, and some of my co-workers weren’t all that fond of it either. But I watched it when I got home from work tonight and I thought it was awesome! I’m not sure what all the complaining was about. I’m a big fan already and I can’t wait to see more!

Feeling famous

· Lauren

I missed the birthday party of my friend’s adorable daughter last Sunday because I was dead tired after the Star Wars half marathon. I felt pretty guilty about that, but my legs were like jelly after running 19.3 miles in two days. Luckily I brought home more than just my three race medals from Anaheim. The previous Friday my friend asked me to find a particular birthday present for her daughter – a BB-8 sippy cup from Disneyland. This was perfect since I was going to be spending the whole weekend there. So on Saturday I ate a big breakfast at Carnation Café after the Star Wars 10K, and then I walked over to Tomorrowland and bought a BB-8 sippy cup from Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port. Isn’t he just too cute? As I was toting him around Disneyland that day, sipping Cherry Coke out of the top of his head, I realized that all of the folks around me were looking at, pointing at, and talking about BB-8. It was crazy! I couldn’t believe how much attention he was getting from absolutely everyone. It was a $12 drink container, and unless Mickey Mouse himself appeared, easily the most popular thing in the parks. After a while I started carrying BB-8 with pride and enjoying all of the attention I was garnering on his behalf. I figured this experience was a little like being a celebrity. I felt famous! I don’t always leave Disneyland with such a memorable story so I wanted to share this one because it was so funny. Now I want my own BB-8 sippy cup!

Potluck Day 2015

· Lauren

Our annual holiday potluck at work was on Tuesday, and it was incredible, as usual. I look forward to the potluck all year, but unfortunately this particular incarnation fell on a very busy day. I had an important meeting at 1:30 PM that afternoon so I had to dress up for work. At 5 AM I rolled out of bed, threw on a dress and cardigan (and my favorite Christmas pin), and dragged all of the necessary items for the potluck to work. I needed to get there by 6 AM to start the Crockpot hot chocolate so that it would be ready for breakfast. My first batch, at least. I used the same recipe as last year because so many people loved it. Until breakfast started I prepared for my afternoon meeting, stirring the hot chocolate every 30 minutes. Do you really need to ask what I had for breakfast at the potluck? Scones, of course! I anticipate those little slices of heaven all year, and they never disappoint. This year was no different. I limited myself to two scones that morning because I wanted to have an appetite at lunchtime, but I hoarded quite a few others for future consumption (dessert, snacks, and breakfast the next day). By 9:30 AM it was obvious that I needed to start a second batch of hot chocolate. Some of my co-workers are serious hot chocolate vultures! Luckily I anticipated this and brought enough ingredients to make another batch that would be ready for lunch.

Lunch started at 11:30 AM. Unfortunately I had to grab a plate of food and eat it at my desk because I was still scrambling to get ready for my meeting. While poring over my charts I feasted on a delicious combination of chicken salad, meatballs, and manicotti. My co-workers are amazing cooks. I made a batch of chili to share, and this time I combined last year’s bacon chili recipe and this year’s Cincinnati style chili recipe. I didn’t get to taste it myself, but it sure smelled good when it was cooking. I got some good feedback too, but one person told me he liked the regular bacon chili better. I’ll remember that for the chili cook-off next year. My afternoon meeting was really difficult because I was sleepy after stuffing myself silly all day. And being the last presenter at the end of 2.5 hours wasn’t ideal either, but I got through it and everyone seemed happy at the conclusion. Personally, I was thrilled to go home after 11 hours at work and put on some comfortable clothes! I didn’t get to relax too much, though, because I was meeting a friend at the movies that night. For the last two years I’ve been going to Rifftrax’s Christmas show by myself so I was excited when my friend expressed interest in joining me this year. And we had so much fun. This year’s movie was “Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny” which practically asks to be made fun of. I haven’t laughed that much in a long time. Rifftrax has definitely become one of my holiday traditions. So after the potluck, the meeting, and the movie I had a very long Tuesday, but it was worth it. I love the holidays!

#BringBackMST3K

· Lauren

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is one of my all-time favorite TV shows. When I was in college I used to get up early on Saturdays and watch the new episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel (now called SyFy) while my sorority sisters were sleeping off their hangovers. (This was when we had only two communal cable-equipped TVs in the house. The demand for screen time was basically nonexistent on weekend mornings.) I was so disappointed when MST3K was cancelled in 1999, but the reruns kept me laughing every weekend through graduation. The good news is that these days just about every episode is available on YouTube. There’s even a website that will tell you exactly where to find all of them – MST3K A Day. It certainly saves me a lot of money on DVDs! Not that I need to watch any more television than I already do, but sometimes only an episode of Mystery Science Theater is just what the doctor ordered.

On November 10th Joel Hodgson started a Kickstarter campaign called Bring Back MST3K. I discovered it a few days later and immediately made a small pledge. I had no idea if the project would get any traction, but I was willing to help out if there was any chance to get new episodes. Then on Thanksgiving as I was binge watching Mystery Science Theater online during the Turkey Day Marathon I saw just how popular the campaign was becoming. So many people love the show and want to see it return. So I decided that this year my Christmas present to myself was going to be contributing to the Bring Back MST3K Kickstarter. I increased my pledge quite a bit because what could be a better gift than new episodes of one of my favorite TV shows? Luckily a lot of other people felt the same way because as of the deadline last night the campaign raised more than enough money to fund 14 new episodes! It turned out to be more than $6 million. Wow! I’ll have to wait until sometime next year for Santa to deliver this particular present, but it will be worth the wait.