The Incredibles

... is exactly that. Go see it. NOW!

It runs for 115 minutes, and there's never a lag where you're impatiently looking at your watch. I went in thinking it was going to be a quick Disneyed version of The Tick, but it turned out to be much better than that. Great asides in it, and great scenes like the poor Mr. Incredible working at an insurance office.

The theatre was proabably a bit over half full, and there was good energy from the crowd. Especially from this guy one row behind us and to the left. This guy was laughing his ass off, and even answering back to the screen when a character in the movie asked a question.

I bet he uses fabric softener.

Today I went looking for a place to rent. After spending some time looking in the West End (my preferred locale), I concluded that there was nothing suitable for me at this time. Because it was on the way back, took a look around the Brentwood area. I don't think I'll live there either, although it appears to be reasonably cheap.

Next time I go out, I'm going to look along the other arm of the SkyTrain - namely South Burnaby around Metrotown. Also not my preferred locale, but it'll do for now. I can fan out the search from there too - I can edge in towards East Vancouver around Commercial Drive, or I can go the opposite way towards New Westminister. I'm not a big fan of either of those areas, frankly. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed myself in both places, I just don't particularly want to live in either one of them. Ah well, we'll see.

Oh, I almost forgot - when I was coming out of the movie with Rickets and the Terrorist, there was a guy asking for change. My companions demurred, but I was willing. Except that I didn't actually have any change on me, having emptied my pockets at home that same night. But I offered him the pop bottle I finished off in the theatre (my first time having grape Crush in years).

But he didn't want it. He said, "Maybe if there was some water in it I'd take it...". Fine, suits me. I gave it to one of the can collectors a block down the road. I love those guys, they work their asses off and I've never met one yet that wasn't friendly.

Some people take vacations and don't really do anything. Meaning, who'd travel a long ways just to play in an arcade? (Well, Vegas does have some fun arcades...)

But I'm thinking more of people that just stay in the hotel, go to movies brought in from North America, eat the usual food, and don't experience anything of where they are. You can do that at home, you know.

That's why I'm so glad that someone (who until they post comment with a name they'd like to be called) who shall remain nameless is, after a somewhat slow start, is going to try to take advantage of their location and play tourist. I'm hoping for stories and pictures, but I'm betting those will be few and far between. So I'll settle for the occasional update, like "Went to Ayers Rock yesterday. It was pretty hot out. End of line." :P

I got woken up with a call from work on Tuesday - it was the office wanting to know if I would accept a "promotion", which is really just a different assignment. They asked if I wanted to join the mobile division, and the territory was going to be in Surrey. I asked if I could think about it (I'd just woken up, remember). She said sure, but that she was leaving in less than an hour and she wanted to know by then. Bah.

So I thought about it. Tried to call my S/S, but couldn't reach him. Bounced it off of a couple of people.

I finally decided against. I mean, I'm due for a raise of the same amount in December. And if I'm about to have an evaluation, how much better would it be to have it at the easy straightforward site I'm at now? Once I get past that, I'll start looking at what they have available in terms of "promotion", and act accordingly.

I'm pretty bored at my current site as it's very secure, and probably not worth the bother for most people to break into anyway. I work when the building is all but empty, and so there's very little in the way of mental stimulation. But those mobile guys have to work their asses off - they've got dozens of sites they have to check in their twelve hour shifts, plus respond to alarms at those and other sites without S/Os, plus provide backup to anybody that radios in for help, plus fetch and deliver people and equipment, all while doing their basic schedule, which is pretty full. Eep.

So... maybe after my evaluation (and after the New Year, since the holidays would be an awful time to start mobile :P) I'll take a different assignment. When I was taking the training for my license, my liason representative mentioned that the police had grabbed a bunch of our guys to do tabs on those who'd recently been paroled, to see if the probable reoffenders would return to their devious ways. I'd be up for doing surveilance, and whatever training came with that.

I'm aware that sitting on my ass watching the door of a guy's apartment isn't exactly a thrillride, but other aspects of it could be fun. I guess I'll see what comes up. I should probably also start exercising again. That's going to be hard with Half-Life 2 out, except for my mouse hand, but I think my strength is deteriorating to the point where I can no longer flip a car without using both hands. And it's just not a family picnic if you don't flip someone's car. ;)

For random history, today is the sixty sixth anniversary of Kristallnacht - Night of Broken Glass. It's a pretty word for such a negative thing. End of line. ;)