Back in 2004, there was a post on my blog entitled Rocky Mountain High for the Connecticut Guy. Now, I find myself making the inverse post. Yes, we're moving back.

We're still formulating plans, so I don't have a ton to share yet, but we're leaving Colorado on Tuesday the 15th to head to Kentucky and visit Linda's family for Christmas. I'll drop Linda and Lia off there and continue on to Connecticut for an interview in Hartford on the 18th, then return to Kentucky for Christmas. At the end of December, all three of us will drive back to Connecticut together. There, we'll stay with family until I secure a job and we find a rental.

Once we've got a place to live, we'll fly back to Colorado, rent a UHaul, load up all our stuff, and make the drive all over again. Since we'll have the UHaul and a car to drive cross-country, I'm seeing if anyone is potentially interested in accompanying us on this crazy trip. We figure it'd take maybe a Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday. I've already got 2 people who are potentially interested, which is fantastic.

So yeah - I'll be back in Connecticut as of the beginning of January. And while I'd be lying if I said that there was nothing about Colorado I'll miss, I try to focus more on the things I'm looking forward to about being back in Connecticut.

Obviously the number one thing is people. I'll be able to see my family and hang out with my brothers. Lia will be able to see her grandparents. I'll be able to hang out with Rich, Mark, and Paul - the good ole geek crew. I'll be able to go out dancing again and see all my dance friends.

Linda's family is scattered all over the country: Lexington, Buffalo, Bethlehem, Delray Beach. My family is all in Connecticut. While I'm happy that we'll be near my family, it's too bad that there's no way to be nearby everyone. At least Kentucky will now be only 14 hours away by car as opposed to 22 hours.

And aside from people, there are a million little things I'll be looking forward to. Now, we can take Lia to the ocean for a day and build sand castles. The wetter snow of New England will actually allow us to build snowmen. And although the roads will be icier and the winters colder, the snow generally won't be as deep. My Jetta can handle slush and ice as long as I drive slowly. It doesn't handle 14 inches of snow very well.

Good bagels. Autumn foliage. I won't need to use hand lotion daily. I'll be able to find basic sundries at the grocery store. (The store in Buena Vista doesn't carry Woolite or Pampers Cruisers) Once I get a full-time job, I'll have health and dental insurance and I can get to a dentist. And my stuff won't explode anymore.

The only problem is that the next week or so is going to be incredibly hectic as we rush to prep for our departure on the 15th.

Since the announcement that they were going to be making one of my favorite books, A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, into a movie, I've been following every tidbit of news about it with much enthusiasm. So many TV shows and movies based on books I've loved have turned out to be crap (The Time Traveler's Wife, Legend of the Seeker) that I'm hopeful for this one. Perhaps the HBO presentation of A Song of Ice and Fire can be as good an adaptation as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings was. Television really does seem like the right medium for this kind of drawn-out story.

With that in mind, I'd like to go over some of the casting, which I've got to say is truly excellent.

Beginning with the Stark family, core of the books, we've got the head of the family, Eddard Stark, being played by Sean Bean. You likely know him as Boromir from the Lord of the Rings movies. He's also one of the only two actors I know from the entire cast. Still, good choice I think.

Eddard's wife Catelyn will be played by Jennifer Ehle. Although I've never before heard of her, she's got a substantial resume. I think I actually prefer unknowns in programs like this.

Their eldest son Robb Stark is being played by Richard Madden, but there's still no word as to who'll be playing young Brandon Stark.

The bastard son Jon Snow will be played by Kit Harrington.

Lastly, the two Stark girls. Prissy Sansa Stark will be played by Sophie Turner, and her younger sister Arya, who incidentally is one of my favorite characters in the books, will be played by Maisie Williams. Looking at those faces, I'd say they've got the casting right on.

That's it for the Starks. I'm also a bit disappointed that there's no news as to who'll be playing Brienne of Tarth, the brutish female knight. She's really just an excellent character. Ditto Davos Seaworth, the Onion Knight.

Alfie Allen will be playing the role of Theon Greyjoy. I've never been a big fan of that character, but he's fairly central to the story.

Ser Jorah Mormont will be played by Iain Glen. Although I don't know him, he's got an excellent resume, and certainly looks the part.

The role of Robert Baratheon is an important one, as his death at the beginning of the story is what kicks the whole plot into motion. This picture of Mark Addy with a moustache is the only one I could find in which he looks roughly like what I'd pictured Robert Baratheon as. Obviously, they'll be making him up well for the show, but for now we've got to use our imaginations.

So how about the Targaryens? Heirs to the old king. They had to up the age of Daenerys Targaryen, or else they'd have had to cut the sex scenes. I'm fine with it. She's being played by Tamzin Merchant.

Her asshole brother Viserys is being played by Harry Lloyd.

And now for the bad guys. The Lannisters. Such great characters though. How can you not love the incestuous brother and sister pair intent on ruling and their deformed younger brother who has a penchant for prostitutes?

Jaime Lannister will be played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Cersei Lannister will be played by none other than Sarah Connor herself, Lena Headey. I've got to say - I absolutely love that casting choice. She was okay as Sarah Connor, but she'll be phenomenal as queen bitch Cersei.

Their son Joffrey Baratheon will be played by Jack Gleeson, who apparently appeared as a random boy in Batman Begins.

Still no word on who gets to play the king badass brute of all time, Gregor Clegane.

Finally, The Imp. Peter Dinklage gets to play the role of Tyrion Lannister, another absolutely fantastic flawed character.

After casting news like this, how can you not be excited for this show. If you haven't read the books, I highly recommend them.

If you've friended me on Facebook, you've likely been scratching your head at my recent updates. These include "Nerd Elf took his girlfriend to the ant riding rodeo", "A duck with lips is shedding. He removed my facial features. At night.", and "This skeevy guy has a crush on me, but I'm more concerned with the fact that MY HANDS ARE ON FIRE!!"

Let me explain. No no, there is too much. Let me sum up.

This past Saturday night, we visited our friends' house, and I laughed harder than I have in a long time. The kind of laugh where you can't breathe, and your stomach hurts afterwards. We were playing a game that a friend of ours brought. A game which to my knowledge doesn't even really have a name. It wasn't a boxed game, it was more like charades or hangman.

Here's the way the game works: you take sheets of paper and cut them in half the long way so you get long strips. Each person at the table (we had eight) gets one, and writes some random phrase at the top. Something like "He wears his heart on his sleeve" or "I like looking at the stars at night". Then the papers get passed around clockwise. Each person looks at the phrase that got written and draws a picture of that scene. After you draw the picture, you fold the paper so that the original phrase is hidden and pass it again clockwise. The person with the paper must write down, in words, what the picture is, then fold the paper so the picture is hidden before passing it on again. You see how it works - it's like visual telephone. You stop once the papers have gone around the table all the way. This is how we start with phrases like "He kissed his son goodnight" and end up with phrases like "A duck with lips is shedding. He removed my facial features. At night." When you've got bad artists (like me) at the table, it's even more hilarious.

So that's where all those bizarre phrases came from. I'm actually not insane. They were all generated as results of The Game.

It looks like the fall shows are starting up as of this coming Sunday. Thought I'd go through a rundown here of the TV shows we'll be watching at Chez Howley and the dates on which each starts.

First up, we've got Dexter, which starts up this coming Sunday the 16th. It's the only show that starts before September, but given that it used to be a summer program, it's way late rather than a little early.

Dexter's third season wasn't as mind-blowing as the first two, but I really liked it. It really hooks you. Dexter is without doubt one of my most looked-forward-to shows.

Fringe is probably my number one show right now. I hadn't expected much from it before we started watching, but Walter Bishop is one of my favorite television characters ever, and the plot has gotten decidedly more sci-fi as it's progressed. Leonard Nimoy's appearance in the season one finale was truly excellent as well. I cannot wait for season two, which starts on Thursday September 17th.

The very next day, Friday the 18, is the season premiere of Dollhouse. I was never a big Firefly fan, and I never even watched Buffy, but Dollhouse has totally got me. I love the show. I'm hoping that it changes as much from season to season as The 4400 did.

Monday the 21st brings us a new season of House. If you watch the show, you'll know that House ended up last season in an insane asylum because he was having hallucinations of his best friend's dead girlfriend. How wonky is that? It'll be interesting to see where this one goes.

Thursday the 24th is when we'll first get a look at the new show Flash Forward. Hard to say, but I'm really hoping that this one's good. I've got the novel on which the series is based sitting on my to-read shelf. If the show turns out to stink, maybe the novel will be good.

CSI starts on the same day as Flash Forward, but I don't watch CSI. I only mention it because Linda watches CSI. Hey Linda! Your show is on!

Lastly, the new V remake will be starting on November third. I've got high hopes for this one. My fingers are crossed.

Linda and I saw the two hour pilot of Warehouse 13 last night. After having looked forward to the show for so long, I've got to say that I'm a bit disappointed. I'd say that the show could best be described as a cross between The X-Files, Men in Black, Ghostbusters, and Scooby Doo, with just a hint of Fringe thrown in. When the goofy scientist guy made the grandiose announcement "This is America's attic." and the show cut to a black screen showing "WAREHOUSE 13" in red letters, I began to worry.

Hang in for a minute now while I totally spoil the basic premise of the show. Two federal agents who absolutely hate each other are assigned together to work at the super-secret Warehouse 13, and must start work without being given any real idea of what the warehouse is about. Although they're given a brief and unconvincing explanation, they're still far from believing that anything truly supernatural exists there. And although their involvement is ostensibly critical, no real effort is made to convince them that the stuff in the warehouse is all freaking magic.

So here we've got the token goofy scientist guy, who is a poor attempt at John Noble's character Walter Bishop. He manages and oversees a warehouse the size of Soho, in which are housed thousands of magical artifacts, many of which I would guess are capable of destroying the planet. And aside from its remote location, thick walls, and a single retinal scanner, there is no real security present.

The sheer size of the warehouse makes locating and reaching a specific item quite the challenge. But Mr. Goofy scientist has multiple modes of conveyance at his disposal. He's got the golf cart thing that has a max speed of 3.5 miles per hour, and when that's too slow, he's got a zip line probably about two miles long. Even with the double safety harness, it's somewhat surprising that he survives, given that the end of his trip down the zip line ends with him pulling a release and falling to the cement floor while he's likely travelling at least 30-40 miles per hour. After having taken this recklessly speedy trip, his return must be made on foot while carrying a large weighty painting, which I can only imagine takes a few hours. Couldn't such an important and well-funded government project have a better method available? A small truck perhaps?

The two new agents assigned to Warehouse 13 are given about four minutes of briefing before being sent off on their first mission. They obviously think that everything they've been told is bullshit. To me, this firstly says something about their level of professionalism, and secondly says something about the conscientiousness of their superiors who were so careless in their briefing.

The guy is mister intuition. This is beaten into the viewer relentlessly. Yes - he's got ESP-like intuition. And he's not even a woman! Oddly, he is very childish. While I laughed at his "Ooh! Cookie!" moment, his reckless over-enthusiastic inhibition-free inspection of everything in sight after entering the warehouse felt just a bit too childish.

Then there's the woman. She's uptight to the point of being a seriously annoying character. And her fight scene in the beginning was laughable. When a director takes a female actor who probably runs and throws like a girl and tries to put her into a fight scene against an obviously in-shape male, it just doesn't work. Gender equality notwithstanding, males are stronger than females, and generally not slower. In my amateur opinion, there are likely women in existence out there who are trained well enough in hand-to-hand combat to beat the average in-shape male opponent. There are likely even highly trained women who are good enough to beat trained men. But my guess is that they're very rare and when they make an appearance, a big deal is made of that skill. Such rare women would likely be best utilized where their superlative melee skills combined with their apparent vulnerability would make them an asset. Not on quests to find magical artifacts. And a woman with such combat skill that she could defeat a trained man so easily as we saw in the opening moments of Warehouse 13 would not move so awkwardly. She'd move more like this woman. I'd much rather see the type of confident and capable federal agent we see in Fringe's Olivia Dunham, who's not a melee expert, but knows when to pull a gun.

We'll likely watch the next episode of Warehouse 13 before giving up on the show entirely, but the outlook is not good.

I just heard about TV Fandex. The concept is brilliant: rate programs based on how discussed they are online. Although I can't speak specifically about WetPaint.com's methodology for gathering rating info, I can imagine how they might do it: routinely scan Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and search blogs and discussion forums for mention of current television programs. While this could prove to be a real challenge for programs with names like "24", it should in most cases give a very good snapshot of how discussed various shows are.

The problem comes as soon as a technique like this becomes a legitimitely valued ratings service. The system is way too easy to game. It's easy to imagine bots blogging and twittering about certain shows simply to game the system.

Still, it's interesting to visit the site and note that "House" is still the #2 show despite being off-air for months, and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is in tenth place despite having been cancelled. If the networks looked at charts like these, things would likely be very different.

It's been a long time since I've written anything here. I've been kind of busy. In the interest of making sure that this blog doesn't die entirely while I'm out living my life, I've decided to share three YouTube videos that are currently amongst my favorites. They're all wildly popular, so it's likely that you've seen all of them. If not, you should enjoy them.

While it does irk me that the video embedding code YouTube provides breaks my page validation, and that the fix I'd once found for this issue no longer works, I'm no longer such a stickler about having valid HTML on this particular site.

The first video is the most recent of them. I think Sarah Silverman was the person to first point it out to me in a tweet. It seems that this kid's mom cancelled his WoW account. He did not take it well.

I'll agree that it's possible that this is all staged, but that sure seems like genuine insane teen rage to me.

Next up, David after the dentist. It seems that the kid had some kind of dental procedure and needed a general anaesthetic. When he first woke up, boy was he out of it. There are more quotable lines from this kid in this video than I can remember all at once.

Lastly, an oldie but goodie. "Zombie Kid Likes Turtles".

Maybe I'll post again before another month goes by. Never know.

This is a little video I recorded today in which I walk through my office and point out all my stuff. I got the idea from Dan Trachtenberg in TRS 113.

Wow. Following @feliciaday's tweet, I just read Michael Lynton's article "Guard Rails for the Internet" over at the Huffington Post, in which he talks about how the internet has harmed content creators. He says a mouthful. Where should I begin?

This is a guy who actually said I'm a guy who sees nothing good having come from the Internet. Period. He admits that freely in his opening paragraphs. But while he goes on to qualify his statement with I am not an analogue guy living in a digital world, I simply see a man who has no interest in adapting. If he could snap his fingers and have the internet vanish forever into a cloud of fragrant potporri, he would. Sir, having the money to own an internet company does not a "digital guy" make.

At this point, before I dive into my rebuttal, I'd like to address something he mentions as an aside. He mentions that the FTC just announced an inquiry into the impact of new media on the newspaper industry. Are you serious? Taxpayer money going into a study which will only tell us that people are now going online much more for their news? And that while older folks read newspapers more, younger people probably go to the internet first, TV second, and the radio if they're in a car. Isn't this one a no-brainer?

Using the word "theft" when talking about intellectual property has always felt to me like incorrect word usage. I'll grant you that the content creator(s) are deprived of compensation for the work they've done when a pirate obtains and distributes their work, but only with IP can a thief "steal" something without removing it from the possession of its owner. The fact that amoral organizations like the RIAA have blown the problem so far out of proportion in the past only decreases my sympathy.

I fully understand and support going after people who are copying and selling other peoples' IP. Go after the guy in the New York subway who's got a blanket laid out with copies of movies that are in the theaters. Go after the syndicate in Brazil that copies and sells thousands of music CDs daily. But don't sue the college kid who downloaded a Coldplay album. Don't sue the parents of a 9-year-old who downloaded a torrent of Resident Evil 5 that he couldn't even get to work. The RIAA were suing the small fish because they couldn't get at the major out-of-country operators who comprise the vast bulk of their piracy figures.

One of the commentors on that article offers the following quote from Robert Heinlein:

There has grown in the minds of certain groups in this country the idea that just because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with guaranteeing such a profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is supported by neither statute or common law. Neither corporations or individuals have the right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.

I could never have said it better myself, and there is no lack of other retorts. What the CEO of Sony is really complaining about is his company's loss of profit from a changing business model. Ask folks like Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, and Felicia Day how the internet has affected their creative careers. Personally, I wouldn't mind if every major production house went out of business. I'm sure that if that happened we'd have to say goodbye to huge-budget movies and TV, at least for a short time, but perhaps we'd see more self-funded projects like Clerks, The Guild, and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. That I would not mind.

The problems you normally think of about living at altitude are things like thinner air and lower oxygen. Before actually coming here, you tend to never worry about things exploding.

Well, things explode.

Buena Vista is 7,965 feet above sea level. Linda and I have long since adjusted to the altitude, but items that are packaged elsewhere don't adjust well. When we first moved to Colorado, we found that tubes of hand lotion and toothpaste we'd brought here from New York would squirt out uncontrollably when opened. Lower air pressure will do that. Since the contents of the tube were sealed at a lower elevation where air pressure is higher, there's more pressure inside the tube. When you open said tube, the pressure is relieved, and whatever's inside squirts out uncontrollably.

I had a new air-pressure related issue this morning when I opened a large container of coffee creamer at work. It was one of those jumbo shopping club deals, and when I unscrewed the plastic lid, the cardboard seal didn't hold out. Bang! Coffee creamer everywhere. They heard it at the other end of the building. Higher pressure inside, apparently.