I don't know why I do it, but often when I hear a sound I feel compelled to mimic it.  More often than not I mimic it badly.  Perhaps if I did it well Paula would find it less annoying... but I don't do it well.

Here's what life is usually like:

Getting into an elevator:

Elevator: "Ding!"
Reeves: "Ding!"
Paula: "Stop it"

Paula walking around wearing flip-flops:

Flip-flops: "Snap, snap, snap.."
Reeves: "Snap, snap, snap.."
Paula: "Stop it"

When a bass-happy import car drives by:

Car: "Ooots, oots, oots..."
Reeves: "Ooots, oots, oots..."
Paula: "Stop it"

And just yesterday, pouring wine:

Wine bottle: "Glug, glug, glug..."
Paula: "Glug, glug, glug..."
Reeves: "That's my job"
Paula: "It's been thirteen years... something is bound to rub off"

I'm so proud of her. 

SciFi Channel: you owe me an hour.

Here's the elevator pitch: take the cheerleader from Heroes, stick her in a shadowy government agency like Sydney from Alias and have them hunt super bad guys like Buffy from... well... Buffy.

I really wanted to like Painkiller Jane... a hero who heals rapidly, bad guys with mind control powers and a group of bad-ass G-men protecting the world.  Combine that with some cool music and stylish cinematography and you can't loose.

You know there's a "but" coming don't you?  Here's the thing: they hired creative writing students from the local community college to write the scripts.  I guess they needed to make sure there was money left over to hire someone to write little mini games for their web site.

Look on the bright side, remember how you were trying to figure out if you should record the new SciFi channel show starring the sexy female terminator from T3 or a rerun of Myth Busters?  Problem solved. 

In case you were snoozing (I sure was) Mercedes-Benz mixed tape 16 is out.

The clever folks at the Cumbria board of tourism have come up with a novel plan to get "the YouTube generation" connect with the Poetry of William Wordsworth.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Wordsworth's poem "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud ", a work apparently inspired by the beauty of the Cumbria Lake District.  To honor the anniversary the board of tourism has graciously given the poem a dust-off.. "to help the next generation of Lake District visitors connect with his work."

And just how do you help the next generation connect with Wordsworth poetry?  Well, it's plainly obvious, you turn it into a rap... performed by a guy in a squirrel suit.

You have to give them points for creativity... but marketing acumen? I'm not convinced your average Barney fan is really going to be making travel plans.

Still trying to wrap my head around being back to work (jet lag sucks).  Since I am unable to formulate an intelligent thought, I'll just share this nifty video with you (thanks Jason!):

Our family takes an annual spring break to somewhere warm... but this is the first year we've really looked forward to the warmth as well as simply a vacation.  We look forward to our spring break every year, but when we used to live in California it was never quite as much of a contrast as it was this year (it snowed in Dublin the Sunday before we left).

We flew from Dublin to Cancun on Friday, stayed at a hotel not far from the airport, then headed to Akumal on Saturday.  We made a quick stop at Wal*Mart for groceries before making it to our rental house on Half-Moon Bay in Akumal.

I had a bit of jet lag the first day, but waking up early can be nice.  Since Akumal faces east the only way to get a colorful picture of the sun over the ocean is to get up at dawn.

Saint Patrick's day weekend is a three day weekend here in Ireland (hey, we don't get president's day), combine that with Paula still being sick and we had plenty of time to just vegge in front of the boob-tube. All we needed to do was find a good batch of entertainment.

We bought Revenge of the Sith about six months ago but we never got around to watching it.  We couldn't, of course, just start with episode III, we had to start at the "beginning", episode I (as painful as that would be to sit through).

Watching the whole series in the space of 5 days brought up a few of questions. 

1. When Obi-Wan dies he vanishes, leaving just his cloak.  When Yoda dies, he vanishes leaving no clothes at all.  When Darth dies, he leaves everything behind, clothes, meat-sack and all.
2. Why did Leia set out to bring Obi-Wan and the death star plans to Alderaan?  The rebel base was on Tatooine.  You're going to great lengths to find this guy, why send him on a wild goose chase?
3. At the end of episode VI when glowing Obi-Wan, Yoda and Anakin show up to watch the end party, why is Obi-Wan all old and Anakin all young?  Sure, George had to make his re-edits... but that one is just dumb.
4. If Obi-Wan and the rebels were going to such great lengths to hide Luke from his father why didn't they change his name to something other than Skywalker?  Combine that with stashing him on Darth Vader's home planet with Darth's step-brother and it makes me wonder how many brain cells Anakin had left functioning after being given the oven-baked ham treatment.

I guess it doesn't take a genius to poke holes in George Lucas's writing.  But honestly now, how were the Jedi able to keep peace in the galaxy when all it takes to defeat them is persistent taunting?

Jedi: "Stop you fiend! Put down those stolen power converters!"

Thief: "Oh no! The Jedi! Say, how's your mother?  She still mad that I dumped her and dating your sister?"

Jedi: "Oh!!! Why you! Grrr!! .... Aw nuts.  Let me help you carry those."

Thief: "Thanks"

Saint Patrick's day for most of the US (except for perhaps, Boston and New York) is much like Saint Valentine's day: serious stuff... provided you work at Hallmark.  It was, however, a bit surreal for Paula and me... being our first year living in Dublin, Ireland.

 There were a bunch of events going on in downtown Dublin this weekend, but since Paula is still recovering from being sick we decided to just go to the St. Patrick's day parade.  There were a ton of people downtown and it was fun to check out the scene.  Talking to my Irish co-workers it was interesting to find out that many in Ireland view Saint Patrick's day as a minor, artificial holiday.  That said, the Irish people are a social lot and love an excuse to get together (which also explains the third-floor party with a chicken and cow... sort of).

Given the crowds, we couldn't really see the parade all that well... but we're both a fan of people watching, so that provided a ton of entertainment in its own right.  Here's an interesting fact: the first Saint Patrick's day parade wasn't in Ireland, but in America (in New York or Boston, depending on whom you choose to believe).  I suppose that explains why the majority of people in silly leprechaun hats didn't have Irish accents and hotels which normally charge 90 Euro a night were charging 300 this weekend.  Moichandising!

Food Note:

When we got done with the crowds we were having trouble picking out where to grab some lunch.  I have a weakness for good pie (especially blueberry) and so when I saw the restaurant "Delish", which billed itself as a "pie cafe & juice bar" I had to drag Paula in to check it out.

Turns out that "pie" means "pot pie"... and I also love a good meat pie.  Paula had the beef and cheese pie while I ordered the chicken, ham and leek pie.  Toss in a side of mash (mashed potatoes) with gravy and you've got some serious comfort food.  It was also seriously tasty.  I recommend it if you're in downtown Dublin and looking for a bit of nosh to warm your belly.