Yes, I’m alive!  Thanks for asking.  This morning, my laptop updated itself and then started running a scandisk.  Great, I thought.  It’ll fix whatever problems I’m experiencing and I’ll be back online in no time.  Well, 12 hours later, and it’s still chugging along, having completed 84% of its hard drive analysis.  I’m hoping it should be done by bedtime.   In the meantime, I’ve switched over to my back-up laptop, thus ensuring I won’t have to post today’s entry from my Blackberry. 

Tomorrow is my birthday and I’ve informed the gang at work that I will not be in the office if only because I want to avoid the  predictable Everyone Stands Around Awkwardly And Sings Happy Birthday After Which I’ll Feel Obligated To Eat A Piece Of Crappy Ice Cream Cake Or One Of Those Bakery Butter Cream And Edible Oil Monstrosities That Everyone In the Front Office Raves About That Actually Tastes Like (to borrow a quaint turn of phrase) Shite festivities.  Nope, sorry.  Not gonna do it.  Carl was quick to call me on it however: “But you love standing around making whoever’s birthday it is feel awkward and uncomfortable.”  Well, yes, Carl.  Of course it’s enjoyable when it’s somebody else on the receiving end of my “Speech!  Speeeech!” candle-blowing request.  But I’d just as sooner avoid the possibility altogether. 

Speaking of my birthday – thanks to Anais for the birthday card (J’ai recu vorte carte.  Merci, Anais!) and another thanks to Shirt’n’Tie for the framed picture of The Cliffs of Insanity that will soon adorn my office wall. 

Aha!  I’d love to stay and chat, but myother laptop is finally up and (sort of) running and I need to rescue my email address book before it goes down for the count!  

One more day to post your questions for author Paul Jessup!

104 thoughts on “October 15, 2009: Gotta Make This Quick!”

  4. Congratulations on being alive, doubly so for managing to post, and consider this a virtual “Happy birthday” song sung to you by moi. I think I’ll celebrate by calling into work and advising them I have to stay home in honor of your chronological advancement. Let you know how that works.
    As for Mr. Jessup, just a couple of questions. One, how did you approach Open your eyes? Did you start with the idea of the unique impregnation and let the story unfold, or from the ending and moving back? Who do you consider to be influential in your decision to become a writer? If not an author, what would you consider your ideal job to be? Thank you for your participation in Mr. M.’s blog.

    Reply

  5. Happy Birthday Joe!! As I fell a few days behind on your blog and didn’t get to do this the day you mentioned it, I must do this.

    WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

    Reply

  6. Happy Birthday, Joe! I hope you have a great day full of fun, laughter, lots of love and lots of good food.

    Reply

  8. Happy Birthday, Joe! Celebrate by buying yourself a MacBook Pro. I’ll even provide free tech support, like I do to my entire family. And I checked — MovieMagic Screenwriter has a Mac version, so you don’t even need to run Windoz on your Mac.

    Anyway, have a great day, topped off by big ratings in all the right demos.

    Reply

  11. Happy Birthday, Joe! Sending you virtual creme brulee – no fruit, no crappy oily cake. Although I do have a flourless chocolate cake recipe that would knock your socks off….

    Currently in Denver, watched the taping of a Food Network challenge today. I now have a whole new appreciation of what it must take to shoot a TV show, and cool pics of all the nifty gadgets they use. Tell Ivon he’s a rock star!!

    Lisa

    Reply

  13. I’ve just begun watching my way through the special features of Atlantis. LOVING all the actor commentaries on Season 1!!!

    Any word yet on whether we can look forward to actor commentaries on SGU??? I know that David Blue, Ming Na, and Brian Jacob Smith all expressed interest…

    @Joe HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Go into work and let Carl make you feel uncomfortable. It’s the least you can do! 😉

    @Narelle I’m quite jealous of your present. It’s awesome!

    BTW: We’ll be organizing our next search party via Twitter.

    Reply

  14. Birthday, eh? That’s great! But…oh no…well, I was kinda planning to stop by Bridge Studios (staying on the other side of the fence for fear of being tazed, of course) and serenading you with the Happy Birthday song, proclaimed loudly by ways of some sweet woofers I got at some guy’s van; however, since you’re not gonna be there, I’ll just have to do it another way.

    So where do you live, exactly? What? Oh, no, I’m not asking you for any specific reason. Heh. Heh heh heh.

    Heh.

    In the meantime, I will wish you THE HAPPIEST OF HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!!! now, in case I don’t get the chance tomorrow; a new episode of SGU is airing, after all, and I’ll be no doubt entwined in all the discussions associated with it!

    @ Narelle: Hahaha! Very cool and hilarious FAQ. Thanks to it, I was able to rediscover and re-enjoy Joe’s painful escapade with that Chinese Medicine in the Weird Food Purchase of the Day: Medicinal Edition video. Classic.

    Reply

  17. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Joe…thanks for all your hard work on this blog it is appreciated by us fans!

    ‘Speech, Speech!’

    Kriss 🙂

    Reply

  18. Happy Birthday Joe!! I hope you have a great day.
    Maybe someone will get you a new laptop for your b-day.

    Reply

  21. This is your birthday song!!!!!!!
    It isn’t very long!!!!!’n.
    .
    .
    .

    Happy birthday !!!

    Reply

  22. Happeee Birthday!!!!!
    Have a great day. I guess Fuel is the venue of choice for a birthday meal.

    Reply

  24. Happy Birthday Joe!!
    Glad you were able to surface long enough for your blog entry. A day without Joe is a day without meaning!
    We love you! Happy Happy and many many more.

    Reply

  29. Happy Birthday. I wish you a great day with a lot of fun! Also another year full of happiness:)

    Reply

  30. Happy Birthday Joe! I hope you have a great time.

    Coincidentally, I have the same birthday as you (22 this year), so if you can make it to England by about 8pm GMT you’re more than welcome to come along. 🙂

    Oh and if you don’t want that cake….

    Reply

  33. Hi Joe,

    Thought that I’d come out of lurkdom to wish you a Happy Birthday. Hope that you and Fondy have a great day of fun, and that you get spoilt rotten!

    Hopefully you won’t spend your day fixing those computer gremlins?

    Oh, and I totally sympathise with you on wanting to avoid the whole ‘birthday fuss’ at work, even though I’m sure Ashleigh, Lawren and co, will have their revenge, one way or the other!

    Have a great one!

    Reply

  34. Hi Mr M!

    You are more than welcome! I am honoured that it will adore the Mallozzi office walls! Will be sure to tell the girls, as they were instrumental in picking it out. They are also Princess Bride fans (courtesy of your recommendation).

    THanks again and best to all

    S’n’T

    Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY for tomorrow!

    Reply

  36. Happy Birthday to you!
    Happy Birthday to you!
    You write and produce SGU!
    Happy Biiiiiiiiirthday dear Jooooe!
    Happy Birthday to you! 😆

    Yes, short and totally lame. This is why I’m a mom and YOU are a writer. 😛

    Trish 😀

    Reply

  41. Happy Birthday Joe!!!

    Brian, Cooper and now you too??? Wow, my “birthday week” falls among some pretty heady company….Think I just geeked-out all over again.

    I am sending wishes for a birthday filled with much love and laughter. And an absolutely mind-blowing dinner!

    Have a great birthday Joe!

    Reply

  44. Many happy returns of the day to you.

    Of course, I think everyone in the office should just wait for you to get back to throw you that party.

    Or, better yet, look for a show that’s shooting with a particularly large group of extras and have them also fete you with the birthday song and cake. Make it extra special.

    Reply

  45. Hi Joe!

    Just wanted to join the hoardes and wish you a very Happy Birthday!

    Wow…your b-day and another ep of SGU…what a great day!

    Enjoy!

    SBS

    Reply

  47. Salut Joseph!!

    JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE!!! Et oui déja 1 ans de plus!!! c’est votre 3iem anniversaire que je vous souhaite et chaque année mes cartes s’améliores, quand j’aurai un travail je pourrai vous achetez de jolie cadeaux, mais il faudra encore patienté^^!

    je suis trés trés contente que ma carte vous plaise, vous l’avez reçu rapidement. =)

    Je n’ai pas arréter de penser à vous aujourd’hui…Hier dans mon devoir d’anglais j’ai même préciser que demain c’était votre anniversaire!!

    Lol…depuis le temp que j’attend ça…mais finalement je me retrouve tout de seul devant mon ordinateur, j’aurai tellement voulu vous le souhaitez en face à face….un jour peu être.

    Passez une trés bonne journée, profiter bien, j’espere que vous aurez pleins de beau cadeaux!

    Bisou=)
    A bientôt!

    Reply

  49. Happy Birthday Joe!!!! Good luck with the lap top and have an extra piece of (good) cake for me!!

    Reply

  51. Happy birthday Mr M

    For your computer woes. Maybe you should look into the possibility of cloning your hard drive data onto a new hard drive, then swap the new hard drive for the old one. New laptop hard drives retails for about 100 loonies (taxes incl) for 320GB capacity or 25 loonies more for 500GB capacity.

    Reply

  53. Happy Birthday Joe!
    I’ll be celebrating mine this evening with Dr Parnassus and the best burgers in Dublin. Yay. 🙂

    Have a good one!

    Reply

  54. Crap, I forgot your b-day was so soon. I would have gotten you something, I would have even gotten you a card, just something. Dang. Well, anyways, have a happy birthday.

    And heres to Darkness getting a 1.9 HH rating. That would definately be a great b-day present.. right?

    LOL

    Thanks so much,
    Major D. Davis

    Reply

  55. Happy Birthday, Joe.

    Hope you have a great day. I’m sure you’ll have a great culinary celebration at some place wonderful.

    The 16th is also my Dad’s B-Day – he turns 80 and is still going strong. He’s already planning his vegetable garden for next spring. He’s got a great attitude so hopefully he will be around for a lot longer. Cheers.

    Reply

  56. It’s the 16th! Happy Birthday! And look, a new SGU tonight! I’m using too many exclamation points!

    Reply

  57. Very happy birthday.
    Of course, you could order your OWN cake, have it delivered to work so at least you would have something you like. 🙂 Fussy boy. (((hugs)))

    Reply

  58. Narelle: Very sweet birthday present. I love the pictures! Animals are so photogenic.

    Mr M. I know you are probably tired of computer solutions but… My hubby always does a complete reinstall on his computers-once a year. Then he re-installs new drivers. However, sometimes it’s the hardware.
    He says when you have a lot of programs you take on and off. The computer doesn’t uninstall everything. He calls the left over programs “sludge” and it eventually slows down/interferes with your computer operations. Good luck with your new computer purchase (Mac or PC) and have a blast on your B-day!

    Tam

    Reply

  59. @JoeM
    Well Id wish you a happy Bday but you Shot that dwn so Happy day off! Lol

    Reply

  60. Happy Birthday Joe.

    I am wondering, though, since it is National Boss Day, too, (at least here in the US by declaration of Hallmark), if you had gone into the office, wouldn’t Ashleigh had to kiss your feet twice in 1 day?

    Reply

  67. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JM!!!!

    Here’s to a good birthday cake and the hope that someone sings the song to you! 😉

    S

    Reply

  68. Hello from Oregon! Well, ok, maybe not the entire state, but from me anyway. 😉 Just wanted to add my birthday wishes to the others here and hope that you have a wonderful day that is only the beginning of a fabulous year!

    All the best,
    Jennie in Oregon 🙂

    Reply

  72. Happy Birthday, Joe! Best wishes for many more to come. (That’s works for more SGU seasons, too!)

    Excited for tonights episode. Peter DeLuise behind the wheel. Welcome Back!

    @ Narelle: Thanks for the trip down memory lane! 🙂

    Reply

  78. Bonjour Joseph ! Tout mes excuses pour le message que je viens d’envoyer à l’instant, je me suis trompé de touche sur mon clavier.

    Je ne connait ni l’heure ni la date des USA, mais ici, en France, nous sommes en pleine soirée du 16 octobre. Hey, mais c’est votre anniversaire. Et oui Joseph, bon anniversaire, avec tout mes voeux de bonheur pour cette nouvelle année qui débute pour vous. Et surtout, offrez nous plein de jolies petits épisodes d’une certaine série de science-fiction avec un porte et un vaisseau spatial.

    Bonne journée à vous Joseph, et bon anniversaire.

    Reply

  79. Happy birthday to you.
    Happy birthday to you.
    Happy biiirthdaaaay, Mr. Mallozziiii!
    Happy birthday to you.

    Reply

  82. Waou…et bien tout pleins de gens vous aiment Joseph, je serai curieuse de savoir combient de fois dans le journée on vous à souhaitez votre anniversaire=)!

    J’espere voir demain sur votre blog des photos de cette journée…..enfin si vous trouvez un ordinateur qui fonctionne^^!

    Moi je dit pour le 16 super audience de sgu !! =P

    Bisou bisou
    A demain!

    Reply

  83. Happy Birthday Mr M. and many many more. !! I hope you got some chocolate at least for your birthday, it only seems fitting. Have a great day and weekend!

    Reply

  85. *delurks and shouts: Happy Birthday, Joe! Or as we say in the Netherlands:
    …Happy Birthday!

    (Ok, I lied, it’s ”Vrolijke Verjaardag”, but it looks *so* uncool. )

    Reply

  86. First of all Happy Birthday. As we say in Scotland “lang may your lum reek” – trust me it’s a good thing. And as someone who has to endure her 40th at work on 16 Nov – enjoy the day off without any awkward standees (unless they brought good chocolate – in our office it’s the birthday girl/guy who has to bring in cakes!!!!).

    Anyway, bit late but love SGU so far. Waited till I could see Air 1-3 in one go (hate “to be continued”s). As I’ve said before I haven’t read any ‘spoilers’ (other than yours) as I didn’t want any preconceptions and admittedly it’s not exactly what I expected. I knew that with the SG team of writers/producers it would have strong characters in the lead (and I know we’ll get more development on them and hopefully on some of the background guys) but it’s definitely hitting on subjects that are a lot deeper and more philosophical that I expected this early in the season. SG1 and SGA had plenty of thought provoking episodes but they tended to wait until later in the shows lives before they tackled them. Kudos to you guys for that.

    So I for one will keep watching and here’s to more ‘deep and thinky’ moments. But I have to say so far I don’t think I’ll be replacing my deep (and admittedly slightly sick and geeky) feelings for the wraith and Michael … although Col Young, mmm.

    Hope the dogs let you have a long lie for your birthday and that the chocolate fairy brings you lots of gifts.

    Meils

    Reply

  88. I’d like to dedicate this blog to Joe for his Birthday! There you go dude:) Happy Birthday. I shall now begin the celebrations with some yummy,gooey chocolate cake with double chocolate filling…a kinda genocide by chocolate.

    Reply

  89. I got this in e-mail and thought you might find it cute:

    Computer Care (Cleaning)
    You know that you should clean the outside of your computer screen every so often. However, did you know that you’re supposed to clean the inside of the screen, too? Not many people know this or how to do it. So, here’s a complimentary cleaning.

    http://www.raincitystory.com/flash/screenclean.swf

    Tam

    Reply

  90. Happy Birthday, hope have a brilliant day, enjoy Stargate Universe, (i hope u get surprised, like “woha, thanks” like surprised. Surprises are good.

    Have a good one

    Reply

  91. Herzliche Glückwünsche & Happy Birthday from Germany, Joe!
    I hope you celebrate the day in style, and with Michelin star studded food.

    Guess what? Even in my remote corner of the world, I got to see ‘Air’ today, thanks to some considerate friends in the UK who recorded it for me.

    This was like a birthday gift for me, although mine is still 40 days away. I never could work up much excitement previously, but now I have to admit: I love it. Robert Carlyle is perfect in that role, and the whole concept is most promising. Can’t wait for my British friends to send me the next episodes…

    You and all those guys do a great job there. (But I guess you knew that already.)

    Reply

  92. I understand that today is your 44th birthday. If this is true, then you know that you represent the tail end of the baby boomer generation. As someone born closer to the head end of that generation, I can attest that few labels make me feel older than “baby boomer.” So, happy birthday baby boomer, may you have many more and may they be always healthy and prosperous.

    Reply

  96. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU Joe! It’s Oct 16th where I am.

    So, what’s it today… 29 again? Yeah, been there, done that.
    .
    .
    .

    Hey! It’s STARGATE FRIDAY – oh, good, good, good….
    followed by another new Sanctuary…, goodness me, I may OD on scifi tonight. What a way to go!

    2cats
    from the Jersey Shore

    Reply

  97. I’ll add to the massive Happy posts…. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!!!

    Enjoy your Weekend!

    Cheers

    Patricia Lee

    Reply

  99. Okay, here’s a question for you: where in Vancouver can I find good cannoli? I mean Really Good Cannoli, with ricotta cheese filling, not the crappy “creme”-filled variety, or worse, the even crappier “chocolate creme”-filled variety.

    Your take on dreadful store-bought birthday cakes reminded me of my on-going quest for real cannoli in this town. It’s been going on pretty much since I moved here 3 years ago. Given your disdain for edible-oil monstrosities, I figure you might have a tip to guide my search.

    Reply

  101. Good luck with the computer issues! I’ve always found laptops to be notoriously picky. I’ve eschewed Windows entirely (in favor of Ubuntu–Linux) and am loving it so far.

    Question: You’ve talked a couple of times about the planet on which Icarus was based having a naquadria core. I thought we established previously (on Kelowna’s planet, Langara) that naquadria came from Goa’uld tinkering/experimentation? Does the extent of naquadria on the planet from which the 9th chevron was dialed indicate extensive previous Goa’uld occupation of the planet? Or was it’s occurrence just a freak happening?

    Reply

  102. Sorry I’m a day late with the happy happy joy joy! Happy happy joy joy to you!

    Hubby decided to bake his own cake because my back hurt so bad I couldn’t stand in the kitchen. Not bad, but he didn’t know to adjust for altitude. We ate it anyway, enough whipped cream covers many dessert sins. He had the day off yesterday and today too. Bad for the paycheck, kinda nice to have him home doing next to nothing.

    Reply

  104. Hope you have a happy birthday. OMG, I love buttercream frosting. It does not taste like you know what. Buy yourself a new computer for your birthday!

    Reply

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