I think I just reached a part of my Netflix queue that I added when I first started getting into Netflix, and I was bored one day and started adding all of Roger Ebert's recommendations. I can't think of any other reason why it looks so random to me. So expect all sorts of variety in the future!

The Right Stuff was another I had heard of and always meant to get around to, and now that I have, I wonder why I never saw it earlier. The cast alone is so enticing, especially now, because it's so fun to see all of these famous people in their younger years. Starring Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, Kim Stanley, Veronica Cartwright (who I always like to think of as "the bad acting mom from Flight of the Navigator" but is wonderful here), Pamela Reed, and Mary Jo Deschanel - to name a few - this movie is the story of America's first astronauts. I'd just like to add that Ed Harris isn't an actor that I tend to enjoy, even though he is usually a very capable actor, but with his role as John Glenn, it was impossible to dislike his infectious performance.

Beginning with recruitment of pilots, the story takes us through tons of tests and competitions and leads to the first manned trips into orbit. It's such a comprehensive storyline and is so interesting that I certainly didn't mind that it was three-and-a-half hours long.

The movie is beautiful from start to finish, with great use of color, costume, sets, and direction. I really liked the combination of imagery and music as well. The scenes with the failed takeoffs were particularly effective to me.

I liked that this movie focused a lot on character development rather than just telling us the events as they happened. This is the story of people, and whether or not it's completely accurate, it's a complete movie because the script got into the details, such as the story of John Glenn's wife (especially when she turns down LBJ for an interview). There are also several scenes that show the solidarity of the astronauts. I really liked watching them learn that they had to like and stand up for each other in order to reach their common goals.

But even beyond the grandeur of the space race, the movie is framed and intersected often by the story of Chuck Yeager, who began where all of those pilots did, but stayed there when they moved on. The movie really focuses on what makes a hero and what makes a good pilot, and I loved that this story flushed out that theme. They don't do that type of thing often with big movies these days.

Well, as you might guess, I really liked this movie. It's got such an interesting subject, but it tells that story in a great way, and has far more of a sense of humor than I expected. Great flick!

Wow. I knew that Google had been working on Street View for their maps lately, but didn't realize it had finally extended to our area! It's a little bit creepy, but it's so useful for finding one's destination. My only disappointment was that my car wasn't parked on the street when they took photos of our old place. It would have been immortalized!

Anyway, I know I have been bad about posting photos of the new place, so I'm starting off with one straight from the amazing online map system. We now live in a condo complex of about 100 units. Our biggest fear would be that we would move in and realize we were in the ghetto, but actually it's been almost always completely quiet. I say almost because while I was out on Monday, Ric said our quiet (almost non-existent in my consciousness) neighbors had a massive argument and were screaming at each other and knocking over furniture. Whoah! But, after being here for three months, that instance was certainly out of the norm.

We have loved the location of our particular unit, because it's right next to the gate and right next to the trash. We don't have to drive through the complex and go over speed bumps to get to our carports, and our carports have direct access to our condo. The trash bin is right across from our carports too, so it doesn't seem like a very big hassle to take out the trash. In fact, it's actually a lot easier because I don't have to walk through Little Vietnam to put out the trash for pickup. Speaking of which, here's a great photo from our moving day:

That's another great thing about living in a condo - no yard work! While I enjoyed having a yard and took pride in working on it, it's actually nice to have my time free so that I can focus on the inside of our new place.

Another thing I like is that our condo is situated in such a way that we only have a window facing the north in our master bedroom. This means it's always cool in there, no matter what time of day. And so we can sleep or nap comfortably for the first time since we got married, since we're not miserable because of the heat like we were in our old apartment.

So that's an intro to where we live. I'll have to put together a slideshow in the future to show the progress we have been making inside. It's a battle of us vs. yellow, and we're finally winning!

I knew I forgot something yesterday. I am so glad I finally got to meet you, man. I hope you had a good birthday. You're an integral part of this community and your posts pretty much always bring a smile to my face. Here's to you!

Four nights ago my garden was dug up. I looked at it in the morning and all the seeds I had planted were mixed up and it was clear that a dog had been digging in my garden. It was probably looking for one of the many moles that roams my yard. I smoothed the dirt back out, but didn't replant anything. The next night it was dug up again. And the next night. So, I borrowed an outdoor light from my dad, set up my video camera in the window and installed some motion-sensor/recording software on Sara's MacBook (EvoCam). Once I found out which of the neighborhood dogs was destroying my work, I would be able to print off a picture and take it to the owner to ask that they keep their dog out of my yard. Well, my setup worked, but the culprit was not what I expected:

That looks like a fox to me. I live in the middle of a town of about 2,000. I've seen a fox wandering the streets in the last year, but I never was able to catch it on film. Now the mystery is solved, but I don't know what I can do about it. I wonder if the local animal control office has an email address.