ROAD TRIP!!! Today, I packed up the wife and dog and drove to Bellingham, Washington where Lulu (the dog, not the wife) underwent eye surgery. It took us roughly two and a half hours to make the journey, half of it spent at the Peace Arch border waiting to cross into the U.S.. We killed time by playing Whoopi’s Worst, a fun game in which you and a friend (or friends) each select one of Whoopi Goldberg’s atrocious big screen outings to champion and then proceed to debate which one is, in fact, the worst. Today’s match: Sister Act 2 vs. Theodore Rex. Ding!Ding!
We took Lulu to Animal Eye Care in Bellingham because Dr. Terri McCalla is the best and, naturally, we wanted the best for Lulu. After a quick consultation that confirmed she did, in fact, need the surgery to rectify the prolapsed third lid, we gave the go-ahead and handed Lulu’s leash over to one of the assistants. We expected our little puppy to put up a fuss, maybe do a little crying as she was bundled up and off to the back. Instead, she allowed herself to be led away, happily trotting off without so much as a backwards glance.
Faced with three hours to while away, Fondy and I had a choice. We could drive to Seattle and immediately turn around and drive back, or we could take our chances in nearby historic Fairhaven‘s quaint nick-nack boutiques. We elected to go with the latter. Barely.
But first things first. Namely: lunch. Rather than hazard one of Fairhaven’s tourist restos, we decided to check out some American-Vietnamese fare at Pho 99: Vietnamese Noodle House. Hmmmm. The portions were very un-American. I was served the thinnest pork chop I’ve ever seen. My chicken was even less impressive.
We motored over to historic Fairhaven where we balanced out a middling to fair lunch with a fair to middling dessert at Colophon Café. Fondy had the cloying chocolate chunk cake while I did a little better with the peanut butter pie – which I had to wait for because the non gluten free variety had to be hand-delivered from the downstairs dining area. On principal, I couldn’t settle for the gluten-free version. “I’m on a non gluten-free diet,”I told the girl at the counter. Turns out what makes the gluten-free version gluten-free is the lack of pie crust which is, presumably, chock full of gluten. In retrospect, I suppose I could have gone gluten-free after all because I never did get around to eating the crust.
Anyway, after desserrt, we did a little shopping. I hit a bookstore and picked up Scalzi’s The Last Colony and A.E. Van Vogt’s Slan, and checked out a beautiful but heartbreaking photo book profiling a bunch of stray dogs who had survived Hurricane Katrina and were awaiting a hopefully better life at animal shelter. The book includes an afterword that updates the fate of the dogs pictured. Although most do end up adopted, it’s not a happy ending for all.
Well, suitably depressed, we headed over to the Public Market and eventually headed back to Colophon Café (you’d think we’d learned our lesson) for a salmon Ceasar (I shit you not) and a veggie melt that wasn’t fooling anyone.
Finally, it was back to Animal Eye Care where we picked up a surprisingly upbeat Lulu who will be sporting one of those crazy Elizabethan collars for the next month while her eye heals. Also, we’ve been advised to keep her as calm as possible (which, if you know Lulu, is Impossible).
Well, back home now and thought I’d address an issue that’s been on my mind for the past couple of days. I’m not sure if any of you have noticed, but it would seem that the first two episodes of season four have made their way onto the internet. That, my friends, is what I would call a bad case scenario. But not a worst case scenario. No. You know what a worst case scenario would be? If Sci Fi sent out the first two episodes of the season in their press kits and mistakenly included rough cuts instead of finished episodes. Yeah, that would be the worst of both worlds. Not only would the episodes be available for the fans to screen well before the premiere, but they would be half-finished episodes with temp visual effects and devoid of music and sound effects. Ho ho ho! Imagine if THAT happened? Anyway –
Today’s pic: ROAD TRIP!!!
Today’s video: Click on the date for your long overdue Hewlett fix.
Mailbag –
Caty writes: “I go to USF and was actually among the few people that went up to Auburn to watch our team kick butt!”
Answer: Congratulations although I don’t know about kicking butt. Your kicking game was a little, er, shaky.
Steph writes: “On a side note, who is your favorite person out of the cast, and favorite person out of the crew to critique food with?”
Answer: Food in general = Marty G. Our tastes are shockingly similar. Chocolate = the gals down on set (Linda-Lisa, Beverly, Leah, and Sheri).
JedI writes: “Will we ever get to see Sheppard use the stick fighting skills he’s acquired from Teyla, other then just sparring?” Answer: Not this year. So if there is a season 5 will we see it happen?”
Answer: Yes. Even though we haven’t given any real thought to stories beyond the season four finale, we do know that we absolutely must do a “Sheppard uses his stick fighting skills” episode. To that end, I have both Carl and Alan working on this high-priority idea and hope to have the makings of a two-parter (if not three-parter) built around the concept a.s.a.p.
Moose writes: “Is there any particular reason Martin Wood looks like he’s gonna cry in the last one?”
Answer: Yes. It’s because you haven’t updated your live journal since July 23rd.
Promogirl writes: “Was the shot taken on location or at Bridge Studios?”
Answer: Bridge Studio. Stage 2.
Mrs.B108 writes: “Will Ronon get to show more of himself than the warrior we all know?”
Answer: Yes. We’ll be glimpsing a softer side to Ronon this season.
Dede writes: “1) Does Teyla or Ronon ever get the ancient gene? 2)Your take on Yorkies? 3)Rieslings – what kind if you like them?”
Answers: 1) Nope. 2) Love ‘em. 3) Like them but not enough to have a preference.
Gracey writes: “Anyhow on another online community we were asked which four famous people alive would we have dinner with…”
Answer: Thank you for choosing me. When are we going and who is paying? If I was asked the same question, I would choose Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Jessica Alba, and Nicole Ritchie because I’m sure they’d let me eat their portions as well.
Sherwood Forest Maiden writes: “I have just finished Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy and honestly, I found the end of Amber Spyglass desperately disappointing. Any comments??”
Answer: Tried to get into the first book in the series years ago and couldn’t do it. I aim to give it another try later this year.
Wolfen writes: “I have an itch to do Utena art. Who and what would you want to see in an Utena drawing?”
Answer: Utena duels Kyouichi for Anthy.
Charles Schneider writes: “ What’s you favorite comic book character? “
Answer: Most any stylish villain. Dr. Doom comes to mind.
Sable writes: “I was wondering why the people on the Atlantis expedition drink from bottled water when they are in a city that is floating in a whole ocean of water?”
Answer: Pegasus water has a funny taste.
Twolly writes: “Props to Amanda Tapping for what looks like excellent ventriloquism, in your video.”
Answer: That’s actually Terry, our scrip supervisor, doing the play-by-play.
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