As I sit here writing this at 7:15 pm Eastern Standard Time, less than two hours remain until the start of the Battlestar Galactica series finale. It promises to be eventful, with so many loose ends waiting to be tied up. After all, the remnants of the human race are still adrift in space, running out of food and basic necessities, and no closer to finding a permanent home than when they started; the vast majority of the Cylons are still actively seeking to destroy them; the Galactica is falling apart at the seams; the child Hera, who holds the key to their salvation, is in enemy hands; and we still don’t know whether Kara Thrace is a human, Cylon, half-Cylon, or some other species as yet undetermined.

Plus, lots of people are a-gonna die. Here are my best guesses, which will no doubt be proven wildly wrong:

Will Die:

Laura Roslyn. Yeah, I know this is an easy one, because she’s dying of cancer already.
Bill Adama. He has seemed old and tired this entire season, and he wouldn’t want to go on living without Laura, anyway.
Lee Adama. I think the scene with the bird in last week’s episode was a foreshadow. Doves (and a pigeon is a type of dove) are often associated with death. Besides, every fan of the show wants he and Kara to finally end up together, which is more than enough reason for this show’s fiendish writers to do precisely the opposite.
Galen Tyrol. He will sacrifice himself to save Hera and atone for his part in letting her get captured by the Cylons.
Sharon Valeri (aka “Boomer.”) She’s switched sides in this conflict so many times that pretty much everybody on either side wants her dead, anyway. Hopefully she goes out heroically, saving Hera.

Won’t Die

Gaius Baltar. If there is one thing I am positively certain of, it’s this: Gaius will live. His one defining character trait over the past four years has been his selfishness and ability to survive anything. He always looks out for #1, right up until last week, when he desperately wanted to do the right thing and join the rescue mission, but just…couldn’t…force himself to do it. No one needs redemption more than Gaius, and that redemption will be earned by leading the remnants of humanity to safety after most of the other main characters die.
Kara Thrace. C’mon, she’s already died once! That’s enough.
Karl Agathon. He’s the most morally incorruptible character in the entire show, and he’ll need to be around to take care of his daughter after Athena dies. Unless she lives, in which case he dies.
Saul Tighe. Someone has to lead the military after both Adamas perish.

No Frakkin’ Idea if They WIll Die

Umm…all the other major characters.

Your thoughts? Theories?

Do you know what actuaries do? The predict when you’ll die, right? Ha! Not really. My elevator speech goes something like “actuaries use historical data to create risk models for insurance companies, so those companies know what to charge their customers.” In my mind that makes sense, though any actuary would tell that that’s only part of it, and the field is far more diverse and complex than my oversimplification.

Anyway, Dina got here ASA earlier this year, meaning she is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries–officially an actuary, with the ability to have professional opinions and officially consult, and all that. It wasn’t easy coming: about three years and five or six professional examinations and literally thousands of hours of studying.

Today we found out that Dina passed her first test on her to FSA designation–a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, which is the equivalent of a Ph.D in actuarial science. These tests get more and more difficult the more and more you pass, so this is no small feat. Dina is elated, and we’re going to celebrate tonight. So give her a shout out, if you’re privvy to the proper communications channels.

Ahoy, mates!

So, do tell:

Where’s the best place to live in Seattle? Which are the best schools (public or private (for the children under 18))? Is it really so very rainy or is that just an urban legend?

I have reason to believe this may be in my (relatively) distant future:

http://depts.washington.edu/bioe/programs/phd/phd.html

Kuiper Sophie Smith was born on 1/13 weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz. and standing 20 inches tall. She’s perfect and we’re all on a babymoon.

And for inquiring minds and their wanting to know…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt

Last Thursday night as I was driving home from the taco bus, my oil light went on and stayed on, blinking at me (yelling, really), causing mystomach acids to churn and my blood pressure to rise. We made it home and Dina, Hayward, and I checked the oil: empty. Completely dry. Since June, when I last changed my oil, all of it completely drained from my engine.

So I add a couple of quarts and took the car into the shop the next day, and they told me that it was leaking in three places and would cost over $400 to fix. I paid $750 for this damn thing 4 1/2 years ago, and just 10 months ago dropped $600 on a new alternator. These days I’m spending way more money on maintenance than the car warrants. So I decided to buy a new one.

Here’s what I got:

Of course, I didn’t really drive it to the beach, and our Washington beaches don’t look like that anyway (our beach bunnies wear waders and rain jackets). But I did buy a new red Prius. This morning on the way to work I averaged like 44MPG, or something ridiculously high for stop-and-go traffic, and a lot of people report >50MPG on longer trips, which kind of makes me look forward to my December drive to Portland. It’s surprisingly large and roomy, and you sit pretty high in it, so sometimes I feel like I’m driving a small SUV around, which makes me feel superior to other drivers.

First new car. First I’ve financed. Holy crap. I just spent soooo much money. I think I’m going to puke.

Well kids, I am happy to report that Saturday’s wedding went off without a hitch. The weather was perfect, the Special Lady Friend was gorgeous, I only fucked up one line during the ceremony (which wasn’t a crucial one, and made everyone laugh), the reception (a lighthouse cruise around Casco Bay) was awesome, we ordered so much extra food that I’ve been gorging myself on lobster rolls for three straight days, everybody made drunken idiots of themselves in the Old Port bars afterwards (of which much photographic evidence exists)…and a rookie pitcher for the Red Sox threw a no-hitter. The only thing that could’ve possibly made the evening better would be if the Yankees had also lost, but hey, nobody ever said the world was perfect.

“Bla bla bla, yadda yadda yadda,” you’re all saying. “Dude, what we really want to know is: how much metal did you sneak into the song mix for the reception?”

Alas, the answer to that question is “None.” As I put together the track list for the mix, I tried and tried to find some wedding-appropriate metal to stick in there, but nothing seemed to fit. So instead, I just stuck to a general theme of “Funk, With the Occasional Curveball.” Of course, the Special Lady Friend had to have her mellow folk-rock in there too, so she picked all the slow songs while I concentrated on the jams.

I used a couple of artists twice when I just couldn’t decide on one representative track, although frankly, Stevie Wonder could’ve been in the mix six or seven times and it still wouldn’t have been enough. My only regret is that I couldn’t justify more White Stripes tunes in the mix. Jack White may have catchy melodies and tasty riffs falling out of his ass, but their stuff just isn’t danceable. Ah, well.

Without further ado, the tracklist:

(more…)

Good news! As of today, I am once again gainfully employed; I was offered and have accepted a position at a public library here in the Portland area. The folks who work there all seem nice, it’s only a ten minute drive from home, the pay’s decent (for Maine, anyway) aaaand - best of all - there’s already a Tech Services Librarian on staff!

Oh, thank you Jeebus, Buddha, Allah, Krishna, Zoroaster, Confucius, the whole buncha ya. No more messing with domain servers and mail servers and file servers and firewalls; no more showing library staff how to cut and paste for the zillionth time; no more listening to people bitch when the internet connection goes down. IT’LL BE SOMEONE ELSE’S PROBLEM!!! AAAAAAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAA!!!

As of next Monday, I will be working again, and the money will once again be rolling in. I’m rich, beeatch! No more government cheese for me!

I get my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow at 9am. All four. I’m freaking out! Great I get to take happy pills. Great I’m going to lose 10 pounds in a week flat. Great I don’t have to go to work until next Monday of next week. BUT….I’m totally scared! My last surgery was when I was like 9 years old and had my tonsils removed. I still have nightmares about that day. “Look at the ducky Joey and fall asleep.” Then waking up alone in a scary hospital bed without my mom by my side (the moment I woke up she finally had left my side to go eat after several hours of waiting.) Why is that one of my limited childhood memories??? Damn you brain! Well…wish me luck everybody. And…..flowers are always nice =) Wink Wink Nudge Nudge! FLOWERS!!!

Update~

I went into surgery at 9am yesterday, very nervous. Things I remember: laying there waiting for them to start on me (a good 15-20 minutes). The Dr. coming in and hooking me up to the IV. I felt the drugs go into my arm (must be what taking steroids feels like. All warm and uncomfortable). The room started spinning and I told myself, “Well…here we go.” Waking up near the end of the surgery to “Bang Bang Bang CRACK.” That was the sound of my teeth being worked on. Thought to myself, “if you open your eyes more they will know you are awake, but if they know you are awake then they might stop. You don’t want them to stop. You want to get the hell out of here.” Then I remember getting up and stumbling to another room to meet my Chris.

The first day at home sucked! Trying to figure out the gauze, the pills, food. Ugh! At one point (DON’T read if you get sick easily) I projectile vomited all over the bathroom wall. It was like a fire hose. My best boy said “no problem”, put me back on to my “hospital couch” and cleaned up the bathroom.

Feeling OK this morning. Hopefully it’s all up hill from here. I must say that I have the best partner in the whole wide world. Chris has done everything for me. I love him very much and I am so lucky to have him in my life.

PS~ Here are the beautiful flowers I got from the gang yesterday =) THANK YOU!!!

So, I’m moving in about 2 weeks. Soon, I’ll be cohabitating with my very awesome lass..but

Ain’t there always a ‘but’?

I’ve never lived with anyone I was romantically involved with. So, if anyone has suggestions about…well, anything I guess, then the floor is open. Hopefully those suggestions involve making this process easier, not harder. But harder might be interesting to see as well.

You can also talk about how you’re the walking embodiment of awesome too, if that works. I’m easy.

Also, I have to figure out what the new internet/phone/tv situation will be. Suggestions about that would be welcome too.

Tomorrow the moving truck shows up, and we’re off to Springfield, IL. This marks a few important milestones:

-We’re moving into a house we own for the first time.
-I’m starting a job that doesn’t have an explicit expiration date.
-I’m moving to a new town for only the 5th time in my life (15 years in Richland, 3 in Kennewick, 6 in Bellingham, 7 in Columbus, 1 in Wooster).
-I’m leaving Ohio after eight years; I never would have imagined this back in 1999, but the buckeye state grew on me. I’m kind of sad to leave, but happy we’re staying in the midwest.
-For the first time in my life, I’m unreservedly, completely excited to move somewhere. It’s a great situation the peelio clan: Steady work, home ownership, cheap cost of living in a decently-sized town near bigger, cooler towns.

Y’all are welcome to visit anytime. We’ll go get a Cozy Dog, get our fill of Abe Lincoln, and retire to Mint Choco Manor for a dip in our pool. :]

If you happen to be in town on July 26th, you could even attend the world premiere of The Simpsons Movie with us (oh no you don’t, 13 other Springfields! That premiere is MINE!).