The Dow Is Up!

When I started working at LAF, I was told about a volunteer opportunity that was coming up in early June (which turns out to be tomorrow). Unfortunately, the deadline passed. I threw my name in the ring anyway, but was told that I wouldn't be able to volunteer because they were fully booked. I guess that's a good sign that so many people wanted to volunteer that they ran out of things for them to do. The only problem was that it was "highly encouraged" that we participate. And I wanted to get out of a day or work.

Well, my wishes came true this week. They found some other projects for us "wait-listed" people to participate in. I requested being involved with my group's project, which involves collecting shoes. Instead, I got stuck cleaning and painting some building. What the f? I don't want to clean and paint at MY house. Why on earth would I want to do it elsewhere? In fact, I'm thinking of volunteering my house for this event next year. "Yeah, there's a family out in the suburbs that desperately needs someone to clean their toilets."

The nice thing, though, is that I don't have to be at work until 9:30. And I get to wear jeans and a t-shirt. Furthermore, my bus should be back by about 3:00, so I'll actually get home early. That's a refreshing change. What's also nice is that I really don't have any work right now. So I was basically going to sit at my desk all day and pray that I found something to entertain me all day. Now it looks like I've found something. Even if it's something that I abhor, like cleaning.

Sunday night, The Wife and I went to dinner after seeing X-Men III. We decided to try out one of those new-fangled Brazilian steakhouses. I'd never been to one, but I'd heard good things. The basic idea is that servers walk around with big hunks of meat. When you want a piece, you signal him and he'll slice you off a bit. And you keep going until you just can't take anymore. So basically, it's a meat buffet where you don't even have to stand in line. How exactly is this Brazillian? Isn't this the ideal American meal? That might explain the popularity of these places.

I ended up eating WAY too much food at the churrascaria. It was inevitable though. For one thing, the food is just delicious. I can't even explain how great it is. It's quite spicy too, which is a positive for me. Not hot-spicy like Mexican or Indian food either. Just spicy, almost like it's too salty even. Of course, the spiciness depends on what particular slice of meat you get.

Another factor that made me eat way too much was that they give you tiny servings, only a couple of ounces. I'm guessing that I had anywhere from 10 to 20 pieces of meat. They should really keep a scorecard there so you can keep track. I think that I might have stopped myself at 10 had I known I ate that many. Instead, I just kept shoveling it in.

And it didn't help that they had all these different varieties of meat. I had filet wrapped in bacon, chicken wrapped in back, pork loin, top sirloan, flank steak, parmesan chicken, brazillian sausage, garlic filet, and lamb. And I'm probably forgetting some stuff. But every time something new came out, I thought, "That looks yummy. Gimme!"

The biggest problem though was the price of the meal itself. Dinner was $43 a person. I guess that's not completely outrageous given the food they're serving you. But if I'm going to pay that much money for dinner, damn it, I'm going to get my money's worth. (It shocked me to see how many families came in to eat. I can't imagine dropping that much money on my worthless family. Not until my kids are teenagers anyway. That way, I'll be SURE they'll eat their fill. Of course, my kids will probably be vegetarians. But that's an issue for another day.)

Anyway, I as I said, I ate WAY too much. I was actually at the point where I felt like if I saw another gaucho come around with meat, I was going to punch him in the face and scream at the top of my lungs, "Go away, meat pusher!" I've never been so sicked by the thought of meat before. This must be how Lisa Simpson always feels. What a bitch.

It took me awhile to recover from the meat orgy. It wasn't until Monday afternoon, a full 24 hours later, that I was starting to feel better. So when I went home, I found (and this is no joke) that The Wife had cooked meatballs for dinner. Nothing else. Just meatballs. So I punched her in the face and told her, "Go away, meat pusher."

Yesterday, The Wife and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and decided to go see a movie, X-Men III: The Last Stand. It was a pretty good movie, but it really paled in comparison to the other two. What's really annoying, though, is that's exactly what I read going into the movie. Most of the time, I completely dismiss the critics. "They're all just old farts who don't know anything," I tell myself. And that's when I realized, on my 31st birthday, that I too am an old fart who doesn't know anything. And that's why I wasn't a big fan of X-Men III.

The basic premise of the movie is that they've developed a cure for mutants that will turn them back into humans. It's a cool idea that brings up all sort of moral and ethical issues. Which X-Men III mostly glosses over. Instead, this movie focuses the moral and ethical issues of special effects. Like can a movie possibly have too many special effects? And do we really need to see Dr. Frasier Crane covered in blue fur? (The answer to both questions is, surprisingly, yes.)

The problems I have with the movie are that it takes things a bit too far. For example, when Magneto hears about the "mutant cure," he decides to do the most rational thing he can think of. Start a war and destroy all humans. Okay. This war ends up taking place on Alcatraz. And Magneto brings his army there by picking up the Golden Gate Bridge and plopping it onto Alcatraz so his army can have easy access to it from the mainland. Hey, Magneto, how about using a couple of boats instead? It should be a lot easier on you. It might not show up as well on screen, of course. But that brings me to my next problem.

One of the stars of the movie is Famke Janssen, who plays Jean Gray. In X-2, Jean Gray supposedly dies, but she comes back to life as The Phoenix. Which, if you read the comics, is a really great story about how powerful she is and how she literally destroys whole planets. And X-3 focuses on the issue of her power. No problem there. The problem? When Jean gets all powerful, they make her INCREDIBLY ugly. What the hell are they doing that for? Famke is quite hot. And they're focusing almost the entire movie on her and then making her hideously ugly? That's just plain insane. And for that reason alone, I downgrade X-Men III to 2 stars.

Today I had my weekly productivity meeting at LAF. We get together and talk about who has time available over the next 4 weeks so that the managers can plan project staffing appropriately. It's one of the things I really like about LAF. They know how busy you are and will steer projects your way if you have time available. Me likey!

Anyway, in today's meeting I got REALLY confused. This one woman was talking about her available time and someone addressed her as "Scott." Huh? I thought for sure that it must be a mistake. But people kept calling her either Scott or Scottie. I stared at her and tried to decide if she was really a man in woman's clothing. It didn't look likely. So now I'm really confused. Who on earth would name their daughter "Scott"? Is this like "A Boy Named Sue" in reverse? Is there a nationality out there where "Scott" is a traditional female name? Could someone please shed some light on this situation?