Truely Gruelly

I finished doing my taxes today. That does not make for a fun time. It makes for a pain in my ass. I hadn't kept up with putting my receipts into my database so I had to do year's worth. I caught up for this year too. Now I have to send the government a check. Not a fun day all around.

I had some fun watching a few of movies this week. They were a varied bunch of films and they were all okay. I saw "Shanghai Kiss" which was an odd little love story. A twenty something year old guy who is drifting aimlessly through life meets a teenager who has a crush on him. He's a bit of a loser and can't figure out why this girl would like him. They're just friends because of her age. Then the guy goes to Shanghai where a relative has died and left him a house. He decides to stay there a while and gets an age appropriate Shanghai girlfriend. Soon he decides to go back to the States to see his young hottie. Not your usual romance. It was strange, quiet, and unpredictable. I enjoyed it.

I also saw the black and white director's cut of "Mist". It's yet another Steven King book adapted for the screen. Most of those aren't very good but I liked this one. A storm sweeps through a small town and leaves this mist behind. Turns out there are monsters in the mist and a bunch of people have to hide in a grocery store and figure out what to do. Try and find help or stay put. Some cool monsters, people acting monstrous, and gruesome deaths. One of the better King adaptations that I've seen.

"Cherry Crush" was the third movie I watched this week. It was the weakest of the three but still okay. A prep school kid with a talent for photography gets involved with a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Intrigue, introspection, and murder happens and that prep school kid has to figure out what to do. It had a kind of film noir quality to it. Not the visuals but the attitude. An okay distraction after tax day.

I don't know what happened to my spam filters this week. A lot of spam seems to be getting through. Strangely it's coming through in twos. Two pieces of mail from the same place with two different subjects. Or sometimes the same subject. Kind of weird. I wonder if the spammers came up with some new trick to get their stuff through. It's been annoying. Seven hundred pieces of spam in my box today. Only about 25 of them got through the filter but that's way more than usual.

I ordered a part for my stationary bike five weeks ago. It's the V belt that makes the wheel go around. It takes the place of the chain on a real bike. It took them two weeks to get me the wrong part, promised to get me the right one two weeks ago, and now they promise me the right part next week. We'll see. I've started getting outside on my road bike in those five weeks but it's still cold out there and my strength and stamina aren't anywhere near they were at the end of last fall. I always have to start small again in the springtime. All the world's a circle.

I'm a water drinker. Right from the tap usually (don't believe the hype of companies that want to sell you water in a bottle). For some reason I don't like anything sweet to drink. Or anything carbonated. Usually it's just water and occasionally milk. I was in Manhattan last week and as I was catching the bus home I was thirsty and wanted a drink. Being nowhere near a water fountain (yes they still have those) I decided to buy something to drink. I hate buying bottled water so I decided to get one of the flavored waters (aren't all soft drinks flavored water?). I bought the Dasanti raspberry one and was surprised that I liked it. It wasn't sweet at all and had a mild raspberry flavor. The next time I was at my local super market I checked for it. The stuff is about $3.50 and change for a six pack of bottles. Gasoline is cheaper. No wonder companies spend so much money convincing people to buy bottled water from them. I'll stick to tap water thank you.

Now that I've paid last years taxes I have to start saving for a new computer. Oh, what fun. My tower is from 2002 and is a bit long in the tooth. Some really complicated Illustrator files have been testing it's limits lately and I want to crunch some video so it's about time for a new one. A new tower will run me about three grand. Maybe this summer I can swing it. Now you know why I don't buy bottled water.

Speaking of buying things I need a new coat for the spring. I like a good sports coat but they aren't cheap. Well they are if you get them off of Ebay. I got my last one there for $20. It's adequate but not magnificent. That coat has never been a favorite of mine. I bought it on a whim when I was really broke. My favorite I wore for years and the lining is shot. I wonder if I can get that lining replaced? I'd like a nice linen coat but I'm tired of the rumpled look. I never liked that look much despite having a linen sport coat for years. Ah well, that's what's been going on around here.