I’m finally back in Ohio after spending an exhausting two weeks up in Grand Rapids for work. I’m kind of feeling like a zombie today after getting in late last night and still coming in at my regular time today. It’s going to take me a little while to feel comfortable at my apartment again. Last night — because I didn’t unpack and basically just took a shower and went to bed — it still felt like I was at a hotel. But a much nicer hotel, with a queen-sized bed and comfortable pillows.

It wasn’t a bad time or anything, but whenever I go up there I don’t feel entirely comfortable. Like I’m just out of sorts. Last week I was up there by myself for sales training. I went out a couple of night with some guys from work, which was entertaining, and the rest I spent holed up in the hotel, drinking my two free allotted beers a night, or at the Panera down the road. This week, I went up with Mike and Steph. Mike drove, so my freedom of movement wasn’t greatly impacted. He went out with his bosses two nights, so he had to drive. Steph stayed in her room, drinking beer and talking on the phone. This left me without many options for entertainment. I ended up taking my laptop and walking the half-mile down the road to Panera. Tuesday night, I was hiking down the side of the dark road in the freezing cold, my shoulders hunched under my leather jacket, laptop slung over one shoulder. The occasional passing car would throw up a moment of gloomy lighting, and then I’d be alone again in the darkness. Idly, I started humming the theme from the Incredible Hulk like a yuppie Bruce Banner. It made me realize how glad I am that I don’t have to take the bus everywhere.

Let’s see, what else have I been up to?

I’d been reading WATCHMEN over the past week. I’ve tried to read it before, but couldn’t get into it and would abandon it fity pages in. This time I am actually enjoying it quite a bit. It’s a little dense, and I still can’t stand the way the books of the time were colored, but it tells a really cool story. Especially since it was really the first comic to deconstruct superheroes. TIME lists it as one of the top 100 English-language novels since 1923, which I think is a bit of a stretch. But it is good. Makes me actually look forward to the movie opening in January — that is, assuming it actually comes out.

FREAKS AND GEEKS has been in my laptop’s DVD player the past two weeks. I’ve only made it through the first three episodes, but it is damned entertaining. It stars pretty much every actor who has ever appeared in a Judd Apatow movie, which is fitting since he produced the show: Jason Siegel, Seth Rogan, James Franco, and a few others whom I recognize but can’t put a name to. The show occasionally wanders close to the “too awkward to watch” precipice, but never plunges over the side. On a whole, it’s funny as hell. I think a bunch of the same people were also in UNDECLARED which aired a year or two later, so maybe I’ll give that a shot too.

That’s pretty much it. Sarah is having a halloween party Saturday night, so tomorrow and Saturday morning I need to put the finishing touches on my costume. It’s a Heroes and Villains-themed gathering, so I am going as someone who suits me. I’ll put up some photos on Facebook/MySpace on Sunday.

JAB

Still here — alive and kicking, no less. Just been busy doing life-y type things. The Renaissance Festival, Detroit, Dave and Busters. That sort of stuff.

Am currently engaged (Make it so!) in the process of transferring everything from my desktop PC to my lappytop in an effort to make the latter my primary computer. The reasoning behind this is that I spend precious few hours at my apartment, and when I am using the computer, it’s generally the laptop My desktop is buried in my bedroom on a neat little workstation, but it always feels claustrophobic when I’m in there. Consequently, I spend little time using the desktop. But it contains all of my music and a whole host of useful programs that I miss when absorbed on the desktop.

The only downside to using the laptop exclusively is that it only has a 80 gig hard drive, so I think an external hard drive is to be had in the near future. One that can hold a terabyte or so of data. For all the porn, television shows and copied movies that make up my collection of illegally gotten material. An extralegal capitalist, I am.

Next year I might look into getting some kind of docking station for the lappy. That way I have something into which I can plug the 24″ LCD monitor I intend to buy. And a regular keyboard. Laptop keyboards are okay, but if you’re writing anything of extended length, a regular full-size keyboard is a godsend. Then should I want to emulate an actual desktop computer, I can do so.

I’m feeling poor right now, however, so none of these purchases will be made in the next six months. I am going to be tightening the checkbook I never ever use a little until next summer, save up some money. I’d also like to get a new car next year some time as well.

That’s pretty much it for me right now. How are you?

JAB