Thumbs up on 3-D

Last Saturday Carol and I made our way to the Cinemagic theater in Saco to watch Avatar in 3-D. This is the first 3-D movie I've ever gone to and it was definitely the right one to start with. I liked the story itself though I've heard and read some valid criticisms of it. The technology of making the movie was astounding to say the least. The use of the 3-D was well used, nothing hokey and very sharp imagery especially during the many action scenes. Of course we wore the special colored lens glasses which weren't the cheesy cellophane, paper board cutouts but a comfortable soft plastic frames and bows one piece with a dual-layer hard plastic lens. From what the preview of coming attractions showed and things I've read there is a slew of movies available in 3-D coming out soon and the last two Harry Potter movies as well. There's a remake of Alice in Wonderland that should be a great one for this type of showing. So if you have yet - get out and see Avatar in 3-D.

A good ending to the evening was stopping off at Chicago Dogs in Saco for our first visit there. Hot Italian sausage with green peppers and onions with a draft beer for me and Carol had the Chicago Cheese steak with fries. We also split a six piece wings basket, nice and crispy which made this an event itself.

Still snowing

What the heck, it's winter. Picked up another 3 or 4 inches today so I made a pass with the snowthrower around the yard and driveway. Maybe I'll do some tidying up shoveling tomorrow night if it doesn't snow much more overnight.

Ian texted me this morning that they got a bobcat. He's working a research project for a grad student. First one for him since joining the project team this week. He had been working on a rabbit project last week for another grad student. Here's the picture of Ian with the sedated bobcat.

37 lbs of wild feline. After box/cage trapping them, the team takes blood samples and other data about the animal then release it unharmed. I think that they might be collaring them with a locator transmitter also. Maybe Ian will comment to clarify what they do.

1 to 3 inches... ?!?

Ended up being about 8 inches of the white stuff here on Ledge Hill. All in all it's been a pretty decent winter. I did get a new Troy-Bilt snowblower to replace the worn down Craftsman, that's helped make managing the snow less of a struggle.

Aside from our first snowstorm of the season which finished off with some rain the three heavier snows since came without a lot of wind and it wasn't frightfully cold during cleanup. For a change I'm not getting down by it all as I usually have in the past. That's what a new snowblower will do for me. I'm trying to maintain a good attitude through to spring and having the snowstorms spaced out a little further apart will go a long ways to helping out on that.

Downtown Portland whist on my afternoon wander for a good cup of strong coffee.

Happy Birthday to Mrs. justalittleisenough

It's Carol's birthday today. With Ian home for dinner we celebrated last night and she opened her gifts after we ate. She liked her gifts but the best part was that Ian was able to be home for it. For today we've spent a generally quiet time taking care of some chores around the house and watching the football games. We did look up some RV camper websites, that's always fun.

Memories reviewed
Measured milestones of our lives
One's own day deserved

Cold is a good reason to stay inside

Was outside putting the trash out and playing with the dogs. Getting quite cold out there, the tips of my fingers were getting a bit numb so a few minutes on the keyboard should bring them back around. Suppose to drop to around zero degrees tonight, good night to throw an extra log on the fire. Not here though, propane hot water system, pretty comfy on it's own. Carol and I have talked about getting one of those roaring fireplace DVDs for the effect. We use to heat with wood - a masonry stove. Works like a Russian fireplace, has chambers that the heat and exhaust from a really hot fire pass through heating the masonry around it then I'd gradually close the damper as the fire burns out until the coals die down at the point of the damper being fully shut. Then throughout the night and the day that follows heat radiates back into the living area from the heated masonry. Simple and effective. The problem is that it's very interactive and must be maintained to keep the house warm and you don't want to be tending a burn all night if you weren't home early enough to be done with the process by your normal bedtime.

finger tips frosted
cold is the air that carries
then follows inside

Keep your stick on the ice

As a family Christmas gift Ian bought tickets to the January 9th UNH hockey game vs University of Massachusetts and took us out to dinner beforehand at "The Knott", a local brew pub. UNH won, 7 -2.

With Guinness and wine in hand we await the arrival of our meal. Carol had the fish & chips while Ian and I went with the bangers & mash.

A faceoff early in the game at the UNH Wildcat's end.

The Mom and Dad having a good time.

Likewise the Son and Mom.

The final score makes the evening complete.

Ian also gave us a tour of the campus apartment he shares with three roommates. Not too scary.

skaters fiercely fly
puck glides down glistening ice
five hole is the way

Book Bandit

I've made out like a bandit recently with my book acquisitions. One of the Christmas gifts I received from Lois and Jim was a gift card to Borders. Usually I'd take that to the store for an afternoon of browsing SciFi titles and drinking coffee but this time I had an email from Borders with a 30% discount for online purchases. Though the 30% was pretty well used up in shipping costs I was able to purchase a couple of titles I hadn't seen in the store while Christmas shopping for others there.

The books I bought were Alastair Reynolds' "Redemption Ark", a followup from the recently read "Revelation Space" that I enjoyed immensely. There is also a third book in the series that with any luck I'll find at Annie's Bookstop. I also bought "Ender in Exile" by Orson Scott Card, part of the Ender's Game series. There is a third book that hasn't shipped yet, The Reality Dysfunction: Emergence by Peter F. Hamilton. This one is the first of several books in a series that I have bought used and have been saving until I read this one. The bottom three in the photo are used books I bought after dropping in at Annie's, lo and behold I found three that I would read. Again one of them is part of a Hamilton's series, "The Naked God, Part 2: Faith", Chasm City by Reynolds and a bonus, a Mike Resnick book, Purgatory. Resnick is a great and prolific writer who I wouldn't be surprised if he had authored a million books - keeps the action moving. While researching a link for this book I see that there is a part one to it but could be read as a stand alone. With all that I have to read I should be able to acquire it's predecessor somewhere. Last but not least, over the last few years I've done an occasional search on the web for a book that may have been one of the first SciFi I'd ever read and never came across a clue about it... until now. "The Universe Between" by Alan E. Nourse M.D., which I had borrow from my junior high school library eons ago. The recent web search took me to half.com where I was able to buy it used for $2.50 (3.49 shipping). I'll be using the old wayback machine when I settle down to reread this one. I'm pretty sure that I'll have more than enough to read in 2010 though it wouldn't stop me from buying anymore treasures I come across.

blissful moments spent
worlds expanding far away
seen from comfort here

A Twenty-Ten tip of the cap to Twenty-O-Nine

Welcome to the new decade, 2010-2019. Seems so science fictioney as a follower of that genre of books, TV and movies. In 2009 Just a Little is Enough (JLE) blog had a historic high of 102 posts though the first year, 2005, the blog began in mid-March of that year which ended up at 100 posts. Regardless here are some of the blogs of note during JLE's 2009:

• The birth of nephew Mark and wife Megan's son Brock.
• The madness that is my science fiction book collection.
• Space Station spotting.
• Annual Campground and RV show.
• The passing of my godmother.
• Carol and her sisters take a trip to Texas.
• Finally rearranged that darn den.
• Short remembrance on my father's birthday.
• Me in a health club, hard to imagine - still going.
• My first, and so far my only YouTube Video.
• Kilts in the family.
• That first camping trip of the year.
• Never know where you'll find a Maverick.
• A wedding in the family.
• The beginning of the 2009 lake vacation.
• Ian begins his senior year at UNH.
• Labor Day weekend - first of three blogs.
• Watching the Highland hi-jinks.
• Can never get enough anniversaries.
• Swedish shopping in Massachusetts...
• ... and there will always be a Christmas blog or two.

Actually I hope to do a Christmas season roundup. Too many things happening, hard to concentrate. Also, adding haiku's to my blogs recently. Don't known how long that will continue but I like creating them.

Thanks for stopping by in Twenty-O-Nine and don't be a stranger in Twenty-Ten.

Calendar pages
Autumn leaves falling away
Drift in the wind