Hall of Memories

Remake of the Black Hole

corstis — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:49:48 GMT

So, the rumors are flying about the remake of the Black Hole. I loved that movie. Still do. Watched it this week. For a movie that's now over 30 years old, it's still fairly decent. If they're keeping the same characters, there's some definite people I'd love to see in those roles.

Dr. Hans Reinhart: Sam Niell.
Cpt. Dan Holland: Nathan Fillion
Lt. Charles Pizer: Michael Angarano
Dr. Alex Durant: Brendan Hines
Kate McCray: Claudia Christian
Harry Booth: Joe Pantoliano
V.I.N.CENT: Paul Bettany
Old B.O.B.: Shaun Taub

Sam Niell plays an overconfident scientist very well. Just pulling from Event Horizon and Jurassic Park puts him as a great actor for that role. Nathan Fillion's portrayal of Mal from Firefly combined with the charismatic Castle could really shine in that role. For Pizer, it's a bit hard. I chose Michael Angarano because he's the right age, and played well in Sky High and Forbidden Kingdom as someone who wants to be more. That's the one character I just can't nail. Brendan Hines' character in Lie To Me as the understudy just really begs to take the role of Dr. Durant. For Claudia Christian, she's done very well as a "telepath" in Babylon 5, and I think she'd bring some real emotion to the character that just wasn't in the original film. Joe Pantoliano did so well in Matrix and Daredevil, and the parts he played in both fall right into the role of Harry Booth. The last two would just be voice actors, and Paul Bettany did very well as Jarvis in Iron Man, and Shaun Taub (again in Iron Man, as well as Last Airbender) does very well in a "mentor" positon. While Old B.O.B wasn't a mentor, the character should have been.

Of course, that's just my thoughts. Your thoughts?

Yearg.

corstis — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:11:05 GMT

Weekend was uneventful, overall. Friday night we went to see Despicable Me. It was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the funniest CGI I've seen. I haven't left a theater with a sore stomach from laughing since Rat Race. I may have to go see it again just to get a good laugh again.

Saturday, Selena had a girl party. I ran about getting things for that, and stayed scarce during the little shindig. Got some cleaning in the office done and played a little CoH.

Today, shopping, cleaning, cooking, and some CoH.

Tomorrow, work. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Update

corstis — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:21:05 GMT

Figured I'd take a moment to update.

The good:

The weekend before last, Tim took me to go see the Star Wars Concert. Anthony Daniels did the narration, which I have to say, having seen him once before discussing his role as C-3PO, he is a phenomenal orator. It was a real treat that I appreciate.

Last weekend, I took Selena to the Grand Floridian. On the way, I took her to the Cheesecake Factory. Tim suggested it the previous week after the concert, and it was the first time I'd gone there. Well, I should say to a full restaurant CF. The other one I had been to was just a desert stand in Disney's Disney Quest. The restaurant itself has way too many options. Their Shepherd's Pie is excellent. Moving on... Selena and I checked into the Grand Floridian. The following morning, we ate breakfast then went to pick up Becky. Upon returning, we chatted for a bit, grabbed lunch, then went to their salon to get hair done. The ladies both had similar haircuts, done up in curls. Very fetching. Our second destination was swedish massages. The ladies then were taken for manicures and pedicures while I waited in the lobby. We went back to the room, then went to Victoria and Alberts for dinner. Again, I can't stress enough how incredible their food is. At $125 a plate, it's still worth it at a higher price. We went back to the room afterwards, got into bathing suits, and spent a good nearly two hours soaking in the hot tub. We headed back to the room, talked for another hour or so, and called it a night come 3:30am. Next morning, we went to Amigo's for brunch, and stopped by PetSmart, dropped Becky back off, went to the Florida Mall, then headed home.

The bad:

We had a few repairs to do at home that were just updated. The rest of that will appear under the next section. I guess my biggest "bad" right now is just that I, overall, am discontent. I'm having more and more problem with my communication. Sometimes (like now) words are coming to me easily. Other times, I couldn't even find the word I'm looking for with a thesaurus because I can't think of any way to put the idea into language. It could be something as simple as a ruler, but I just couldn't think of what the name of it is. Couldn't say it's like a foot long tape measure. Couldn't say it's one of those things you measure with. Instead, I'm pantomiming like some idiot playing charades. It's caused me not to like talking to people, even though I'd somewhat want to. I'm not one to talk a whole lot in conversations, just throw in a few things here and there. I don't talk on the phone often. Here lately, I haven't much done anything with others because because I'm just too backed up on things I should be taking care of, but I'm running out of steam so fast that it's not getting done. I need to just do it, regardless. I think that's tonight's agenda.

The ugly:

We had a leak inside the walls. They went under the recently laid floors. Guess what all needs to be redone? Well, we got the plumbing and walls fixed. Now it's the floors and baseboards. Fun fun.

That's the most recent updates.

I really didn't want a day off this badly...

corstis — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:50:01 GMT

In the hospital. I had a TIA, and apparently had another stroke in the last year that I was unaware of.

I am here at the hospital at least until tomorrow, possibly longer.

Bottom line, I'm okay.

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Happy Birthday!

corstis — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:46:23 GMT

pokchop, have a very Happy Birthday!

Because I haven't posted in way too long...

corstis — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:05:03 GMT

Comment and I'll:
a) Tell you why I friended you.
b) Associate you with something -- a fandom, song, colour, photo, etc.
c) Tell you something I like about you.
d) Tell you a memory I have of you.
e) Ask you something I've wanted to know about you.
f) Tell you my favourite userpic from your list.
g) In return, you need to post this on your own journal

Update

corstis — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:50:33 GMT

TSO concert was awesome. Glad I got to see this one as they had the other troup in Florida. Glad to see casualmuse and ladyofdarkstar tonight before the concert. Looks like we'll have to get more than just the slats for the blinds, but that's just how it goes.

Oi. Tired. Excellent concert.

Happy Thanksgiving

corstis — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:36:56 GMT

May you have a happy thanksgiving, and end your day with something to be thankful for.

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There are just some things we don't need to see...

corstis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:03:54 GMT

Like this.

Sucktacular.

corstis — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:43:45 GMT

Over the weekend, we had to put our family pet down. The rabbit, Boomie, had either some sort of blockage or tumor in his intestines. He was, quite frankly, in too much pain for us to take him back home.

The worst part of it, for me, was having it trigger the memory of me holding Mom's hand as she died. I still haven't been able to properly greive that, either. We're still in moving hell, trying to get what was Mom's house to become mine.

Guess it's just one of*those* years.

So, I found a news burb...

corstis — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:40:44 GMT

The final product in the House, reflecting many of President Barack Obama's priorities, includes new requirements for employers to offer insurance to their workers or face penalties, fines on Americans who don't purchase coverage and subsidies to help lower-income people do so. Insurance companies would face new prohibitions against charging much more to older people or denying coverage to people with health conditions.

Let's break that down.

new requirements for employers to offer insurance to their workers or face penalties

That's okay. You don't have to buy the insurance, you just have to provide it. Let's keep that key point in mind.

fines on Americans who don't purchase coverage and subsidies to help lower-income people do so

So, if you can't afford what your work provides, you get to go without insurance, and pay for someone else's insurance.

Insurance companies would face new prohibitions against charging much more to older people

Okay, so that means that the younger people will have higher premiums to cover the difference. Again, they're charged more because they have more claims. Someone has to pay for it.

or denying coverage to people with health conditions

So, that again means higher premiums because often their claims exceed their premiums.

You wanted change? Can you afford it? Here's a good beginning to make a larger gap between the rich and the poor as once again the middle class will be taxed to extinction.

Less than four hours... and an Update!

corstis — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:31:35 GMT

Less than four hours I'm outta work and into my much anticipated weekend away.

Selena and I will be going to Disney. We'll be arriving (hopefully) about seven-ish to check into the Grand Floridian. 8:30 is our reservation to eat at Victoria and Alberts. Tomorrow, we'll be heading to the Magic Kingdom. We're planning on going around Downtown Disney that evening, and heading to Hollywood Studios. Those are somewhat loose plans. We'll do whatever damn well strikes us, otherwise.

The house is, for all intents and purposes, finished. Mike was out this morning going over the last few things that he should have done this afternoon. We've been sleeping there for the last few nights. Our waterbed sprung a leak, so we moved over there to sleep earlier than planned. We're pretty much moving forward now.

I'm elated. I'm also torn about it. The path that took me there will never go away, I'm sure. It was highly painful. Yes, we have a gorgeous house, but I'd rather be where I was, broke as hell and still have her well and with us. Nothing can change that, though. So, I've done what I can to restore her home. Dad looked at it, and felt she'd be proud of it, too.

I think that's all I've really go to put in at the moment. We've got the heavy stuff moved, with a few more heavy things to go. Next week is more housework, but it's housework at a house we're in. We still have a bit to move in small stuff (it's all still at the other house, so lots of little things to move).

Anyone want to buy a house?

Ignorance is stupidity. Really.

corstis — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:00:43 GMT

People are arguing over the health insurance reform. Some people have interesting views, and some people are just stupid. Seriously fucking stupid.

Let me introduce to you Insurance 101. Once you understand this very simple structure and how it works, perhaps you'll understand why premiums are structured the way they are.

Insurance is based, at it's core, on statistics. I'll break it down on a life insurance side because there's just one reason there's a claim on the insurance, and it's one that everyone would claim on at some point (their death).

Generally, there's three sets of criteria per person to see what group they belong to: Age, Gender, and tobacco use. I've seen them ignore tobacco use. I've seen them ignore gender. Age on the other hand is always a factor.

Insurance was, in it's earliest incarnation, a community pot. Everyone put a little in the pot, and when someone in the community died, the widow(er) would get the pot to help keep their home afloat without the household breadmaker. That's become an insurance contract now where the individual pays money to the insurance company, and when the insured dies, the company pays the beneficiary an amount.

Now, premiums are based on groups, like I said previously. It's based on a mortality table. That means that they find the statistics of people.

Let's say females, age 25 who don't smoke. Per 100 people, an average of 2 might die. So, if 100 females, age 25 whow don't smoke pay $100 a year. That's $100,000 of income, which would give about $50,000 per the two people who die that year.

Now, let's say that same amount applied to males age 75 who do smoke. Out of 100 of them, perhaps there may be 50 who die. Now the $100,000 would only cover $2,000 per person who passed.

Now, there's a lot more to it, such as the length of time the policy is paid on, other things that need to be paid (underwriting, basic housing, employee payroll, etc. etc. etc.) to make the premiums different, but in a nutshell, that's the point.

Recently, I read something where people are saying higher premiums for older people is discrimination and higher premiums based on gender is discrimination. Bullshit.

Men pay higher premiums on life insurance than women. They die more frequently. This isn't discrimination, it's statistics.

Women pay higher premiums on health insurance than men. They have maternity and more frequently see the doctors for health issues than men. This isn't discrimination, it's statistics.

It does not take the 40 hour course and unending continuing education courses to figure this basic premise out. Of course, it doesn't take a genius to know that if you tax a company to make it "equal" that they'll simply up the lesser cost to the higher cost to make it "equal". In other words, if you're a female age 25 who doesn't smoke, they'll charge you what it would be for a male age 25 who does.

Now who's being discriminated against?

End of rant.

Update

corstis — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:17:45 GMT

Alright. I think we're getting to the nitty gritty.

The lighting and fans upstairs is about all that's left there. Downstairs, pretty much the same thing. Hunter's closet has been finished (save painting). We need to finish putting Cassie's bed together. I need to talk to Mike tonight about fixing the other table. It just needs one wooden piece to be re-fabricated, and I think he (or William) could knock that out in less than a half hour.

I'm not sure where William is on putting up the last of the baseboards, trim and crown molding. Didn't see any additional work done from Tuesday night. Maybe that will be well ahead this afternoon.

Hopefully that means this weekend I'll be ready for the last of the heavy moving.

Yesterday, Selena and I went to Epcot for her birthday. We came back with a bunch of shopping done, and a wonderful cold. ;)

Victory?

corstis — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:48:10 GMT

Muahahaha!

Looks likevwe have final inspection tomorrow. We shall see.

Also, happy birthday tessmc

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Al---most----there----!

corstis — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:10:11 GMT

So, Sunday was another push day. Our workers did a bit on Saturday, and here's where we're at:

Upstairs:

Grouting in two places.
Remount three fans.
Replace one fan.
Finish mounting one chandelier.
Mount blinds.
Finish replacing power recepticles and switches.

Downstairs:

~~Finish tiling in the foyer.~~ Finish Grouting.
Finish mounting one fan.
Finish mounting one chandelier.
Stain and mount office door.
Replace pantry door.
Stain three ledges.
Replace one fan.
Finish replacing power recepticles and switches.
Replace one external door.
Finish putting the Laminate down for the stairs.
Finish baseboards.
Finish crown molding.

Within a week, providing Murphy doesn't show up.

House update

corstis — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:50:46 GMT

We're getting close. Mike thinks he'll be done by Wednesday. Providing there's no more major problems, we should see it done. The things we have left are...

Replace tile upstairs where the floor needed to be pulled up.
Replace tile in upstairs bathroom for last fixes to plumbing.
Tile the front entry way.
Finish replacing electric recepticles (plugs).
Finish mounting office fan.
Put up two fans in the upstairs living room.
Replace fan in master bedroom.
Finish baseboards in formal living room/dining room.
Finish baseboards in master bedroom.
Finish replacing closet hang mounts.
Finish closing the kitchen fan/light fixtures.
Put in two chandeliers.
Install dishwasher.
Finish final plumbing testing and repairing.
Finish painting.

That's it. There's two workers, and we're finishing the painting. It's moving along.

I set a "for sale" sign out in front of our house. Asking $239k for it. It's 2082sqft under air, 4 bedroom and 2 bathroom. Let's hope...

Update

corstis — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:20:27 GMT

House is coming along pretty well, but still just outside of movable.

We had a leak in the second floor floor/first floor ceiling. That's been resolved, now we have to close up the hole. The first floor floors are moving along in respect to the tiling. Painted the kitchen. Painted the unpainted ceilings. Painted a good portion of the front room.

Well, things are moving along. Hope to be able to move and get the other house ready to sell.

That's all for now.

Ouch...

corstis — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:46:52 GMT

For the first time in a while, I was able to get a lot of work done at the house. I don't mean pay someone, I mean step in and do a lot of painting. Did the kitchen, the entry way and the sitting/dining area, the ceilings in said areas and another closet, as well as the walls in the stairway. Tomorrow, I hope to go back and finish the areas the rollers couldn't reach.

My muscles have now officially called me a son of a bitch and are telling me they're on strike.

I still feel good. Owie, but a good hurt.

Quick update-type thing...

corstis — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:50:56 GMT

We're getting within eye-shot of the house being completed. This of course also means me being there more regularly for final questions and keeping money going to them to keep them in supplies, too.

Went and picked up the laminate for the stairs. I somehow managed to find a laminate nearly the exact same color as the banister. I'm grateful to have found that.

We are between a week and a week and a half to completion, if luck holds. Two weeks if things slow up.

What's left:

Baseboards and crown molding for most of the house. At the very least, the upstairs and downstairs living areas. William will be completing that, and should be out there today to get that finished up.

Mike, Brian and Willie (different guy) will be finishing the floors and painting. This includes tiling the bottom floor, and laminating the stairs.

Eddie will be finishing the last of the texturing inside, and putting stucco up around to seal wood and prepare for an outside paint.

Mike should finish up the electric stuff (lights, fans, etc.) afterwards, as well as the installation of four doors, and putting handles on the rest.

Then, one good final cleaning. We're within sight.

It's an emotional roller coaster. Sometimes I look at it and am elated that it's nearly there. Sometimes, I look at it and know what it took to get here, and feel drained. Most of the time, I just want it to be like it was, just to talk to her again.

Well, before I get off on a depression over that... A friend of ours was in the hospital. I'm glad to hear she's okay. The letters "ICU" scare the crap out of me now, and I'm glad she wasn't in ICU too long. I'm sure Selena and Candi will whisk her out to lunch sometime soon.

Personally, my health is up and down lately. Some days, my blood pressure is great, then through the roof for no particular reason that I can find. My sugars seem to be about the same, but I know why that is. When we're not constantly running around and getting some take out dinner after eight at night, I'm sure that will put things back to being a lot better. I'm constantly tired, and it's probably becuase I can't get any of my numbers where they should be, and I can't muster enough "give a shit" to make that happen. Give yesterday an example: In work from 8:30am to 5:00pm. Go home. Chuckie helped out immensely by keeping the kids while I get what we need for the house. Go to Office Depot. Pick up stuff for the office. Go to Home Depot. Find the laminate, guesstimate how much we need. Head over to Popeye's and get dinner for the kids and Chuckie. Head over to Bayside and drop off said laminate. Find out other things needed. Go to house, drop off food. Head back to Office Depot to pick up a few things. Head back home. Watch the kids until Selena and Candi returned. Take Candi back home. Head to bed at 1:30am, get up at 7:30am, over to Bayside to drop off the last of the things picked up previously, in to work by 8:30 to start today over again...

Not too bad, but again, it's been late nights, early mornings, and gopher patrol each day. I reinstated my World of Warcraft. You know what I've been doing there? Have I been completing quests? Occasionally. Have I been grinding? No. Have I been hunting down fearsom monsters and looking to loot treasue? No. I've been picking flowers. Seriously. Farming herbalism. Know why? It's relaxing...

So, back to work. Renewals came in, so I have a bunch of things to get done over the next two days at work. Thursday is my normal Friday. Friday I get my other eye a laser shot, and see how it all went from the last one.

Back to the grind.

TSO!

corstis — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:12:16 GMT

December 5th (a Saturday) at the Amway Arena (Orlando).

Anyone like to go too?

Another 80's remake....

corstis — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:25:06 GMT

Our childhood revisited.

A moment of TMI

corstis — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:56:15 GMT

I went to the opthomologist (SP?) to get some tests done. They injected a dye for those tests. Now, my urine is bright yellow and it smells like Crisco.

I'm vaguely amused by this.

Update.

corstis — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:01:21 GMT

Figured it was time to post a bit about some pent up things. It's seriously rare that I talk about them. I have a hard time talking about things that really bother me to people.

DISCLAIMER: This is in no way a 'pity me' thing as much as a statement of facts about the unpleasant things and taking a moment to just make it more public.

The Stroke.

The morning I had my stroke, it seemed like nothing really had happened. I got up to go to the bathroom and was just having a constitutional when Selena asked me something. I don't remember the conversation, I just remember Selena freeking out while I was just wanting to go back to bed. What I said made perfect sense to me, while Selena didn't understand a word I said. She went to call 911, and I took the phones away from her. She understood everything I said at the time, and I understood everything she said. Seemed to me like she was freaking out over a dream.

I went to the hospital to visit Mom. At the time she was in and out of conscious, be she kept squeezing my hand because she knew something was wrong. Dad was there, and when we left he asked questions. Simple ones. I couldn't answer because I could not think of the words, or really understand. He took me to the ER.

Many of you know that. Tim, Richard, Ritchie, Andrew, Buck, Chucky and others would come in and check up on me. It was touching, it really was. I couldn't tell you what happened when, though. The scary thing was I couldn't communicate efficiently. I began to write the word "Check" and began writing a "j". I seriously couldn't read for a bit. It progressed to me being able to read words, but couldn't hold their meaning long enough to read a simple sentence. Even now, on bad days, I sometimes have to read a sentence two or three times to grasp the idea being conveyed.

I've started reading books again, which has helped a lot. What's been explained to me sort of makes sense. The blockage in my brain killed a portion of the brain. It's the one part of the body which never regenerates. It builds new bridges to those areas past the dead ones. Some things, you just lose. I lost a lot of my communication skills, and now I'm having to relearn a lot of my vocabulary.

Even now, there are times I just can't focus. Things will slip through my mind, and I'll be out of sorts until the brain "reboots". They say recovery for it is from 9 months to 12 months. During that time, the brain is doing what it can to heal by reconnecting to areas that no longer have a direct pathway. I've been lucky. Very, very lucky. And frustrated to no end.

Mom.

She was only 58. I knew she wasn't going to make 60 with the way she wasn't taking care of herself, but I still thought she wouldn't have had this kind of problem. Clinically, she had diverticulitus. One of her diverticulum swelled to the point it burst, and her waste leaked out into her system. She waited three days before going to the hospital where they performed surgery there and then. This set two of the two major problems. Septis and abdominal trauma (surgery to the intestines) triggered ARDS. It shut down all of her major organs, one by one.

I went in to see her when the staff pulled me to the side and said there's nothing more they can do. Her lungs only produced any sort of oxygen due to a respirator. Her heart only beat from a drug. Her kidneys didn't respond well to dialysis. Her liver had shut down. Her GI had shut down. They got no brain response. She was already gone. The decision was left to me, and I followed her wishes. I signed the paperwork, and I held her hand as they removed the single drug that kept the body alive. I sat with her for about an hour as her body gave out, feeling her hands go cold. It was, oddly enough to say, peaceful.

There has been a lot of arguing and hard feelings during this time, but that's another thing.

There are two unexpected things that have hit me harder than anything else. I expected Mother's Day to be really hard, and it wasn't. I knew about it, I somewhat mentally prepared for it, it hurt, and it ended. Memorial Day rolled around, and it blindsided me. I was in the house, and the thought that we would normally be eating here and spending some time with her. Instead, I was watching the rebuilding of her home. It just hurt a lot. The second time was while I was at Boca for business. I was somewhat sick, and I was trying to get ready for the business meeting. There were some things I saw the night before and the thought "I need to tell Mom about that" happened. It took me a few seconds to realize I thought that.

House.

The house is coming along nicely, but it's so hard to see Mom's place turn into mine. It's joyous and painful. I don't know how else to explain it. However the things that have pissed me off have been how badly it was "taken care of".

I knew they weren't being taken care of properly, but the extent to it was shocking. We pulled up the carpets and linoleum to an extensive amount of mold. The walls had the same. The carpets were ruined from a botched roof repair tracking tar from the second floor to the first floor front door. A crack in the wall was claimed to insurance, but the person "taking care of it" didn't as much as spend $2 to put caulking into the crack. Checking her checkbook, guess who paid all of the bills. He lived there, opened a credit card in her name which had over $27,000 on it, didn't pay electric bills, cable bills, internet bills, phone bills, insurance bills or taxes. He did her taxes. He knew that she had no income, and he didn't pay a dime on the regular day to day bills. She did.

And the house has cost over $50,000 in repairs, plus another $30,000 to come. This is for the following: Repair of roof. Repair of sea wall. Repair of the molded/mildewed walls. Repair of flooring. Repair of plumbing. Repair of electric.

The only things we've "added" have been properly mounting the fans, painting, and adding crown molding. Everything else has been repairs.

I'm going to wrap it up here. It's stressful, but it's okay. Soon this will be in the past. Hopefully, that's sooner than later.

Busy day

corstis — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:08:38 GMT

We have the car in the shop, and ran everywhere to get Mom's car transfered and insured. May be back at the gym shortly as well. We also have the mattress taken care of.

Hopefully that means we'll have dinner shortly.

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