December 17, 2007

Hey, have you ever had it where you move into a new place and as you’re settling in you come across a bunch of unexpected little surprises like heated floors and a convection oven and then when you’re down in the basement looking around for more goodies one of the floorboards creaks and gives a little when you step on it and, open closer scrutiny, it turns out it’s loose so you pull it away and discover a vacuum-sealed body part hidden underneath? And the first thing to go through your mind isn’t “Oh my God how did that get there?!” or “Where the hell is the rest of the body?” or even “Wow, that foot is really nicely pedicured!” but “Boy, this has the potential to really make my life hell.” Well, that kind of happened to me. Except instead of a new home, it’s this new blogger site. And instead of the heated floors and the convection oven, it’s the cool background themes and the varied blog statistics. And instead of mysterious vacuum-sealed ears and toes, it’s widgets called Meebo, Meta, and Platial MapKit. The temptation to unearth these seeming treasures and make them public is great, but in doing so would I be opening myself up to all sorts of unforeseen problems? To be brutally honest, I haven’t the faintest idea what the heck these things are. I mean, wasn’t Meebo a shortlived series with that kid from Jerry Maguire? I’m sure there are far more internetically-inclined readers out there who would be able to enlighten me - and, while they’re at it, give me the lowdown on Box.net file sharing, Tag Cloud, and the delightful-sounding Sonific Songspot.

Well, I received an email from the gang at blogger informing me that they’d finally gotten around to unlocking my blog and that I could start posting messages the next time I logged in. I tested it out by posting the following:

“I’m back! But not here.

For the time being, I’m continuing my blogging activities over at -

josephmallozzi.wordpress.com

See you there!”

So now I have to decide: go back to blogger, stick with wordpress, or post on both? Let the voting begin!

My mother got in late last night. So late, in fact, that it was early this morning by the time her plane finally touched down. Originally scheduled to arrive at 8:30 p.m., she arrived at 3:30 a.m. (!) When we got in, Lulu and Bubba were the first to greet her. “This one’s Bubba and this one’s Max,“she guessed. “No, this one’s Lulu,”I corrected her. “Lulu?”she asked, staring down at the strange little dog, and then - “Did Max die?”. I assured her that Maximus was alive and well and ignoring her in the next room. “

Thankfully, she slept in today, allowing me to get in my work-out before we headed out for what turned out to be a surprisingly full day. We started off with lunch at Fuel where we ran into my fellow foodie Ena and her cousin. I had a great foie gras torchon and a garlicky good but tendon-laden pork schnitzel on a Portugese bun. Mom had the beetroot and butter lettuce salad with fireweed honey and home made ricotta, then followed up with the Jerusalem Artichoke Risotto with house smoked Polderside duck. She liked the risotto (although she felt the portion was small) and LOVED the smoked duck. She also really enjoyed her dessert - a Tahitian crème brulee. My dessert, the quince doughnuts, were outstanding!

Since she loved the smoked duck so much, I drove us over to Granville Island where I picked up some of Oyama’s exceptional duck prosciutto (and, since I was there, some beef cheek and prosciutto di Parma as well). Mom bought some ground beef/pork/veal, some short ribs, and a couple of cans of tomato sauce for whatever it is she‘s planning on making. While there, we ran into production manager George Horie just back from his vacation in Hawaii. Like Paul and Marty G., he experienced endless rain and a hurricane that knocked out power for three straight days.

We swung by a bookstore where mom looked for some books from her favorite authors - Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher. Alas, she’d read everything in stock. I suggested she could read some of the books I’d set aside for the holidays - a little Philip K. Dick, some of Asimov’s Foundation series. She picked up some garish-looking romance novel instead.

After dropping in on Fondy and receiving the five-star tour (well, four and a half stars as the complimentary cupcakes I was expecting never materialized), we headed back home where I finally got to blogging.

Which brings me here. I’ll field a few questions and then it’s dinner at Tojo’s. I wonder if I can convince my mother to try uni?

Finally, I’d like to dedicate this blog to Ivanaaa’s friend Doug.

Today’s mailbag -

Nigel, RAF writes: “Does Dr. Lam appear in Ark of Truth and Continuum? Do any of Earth’s ships feature in Continuum? Is it likely that Richard Dean Anderson will appear in future movies?”

Answers: 2) Er, Continuum does feature certain ships… 3) I will say this - Brad Wright would very much like to have Richard Dean Anderson appear in the future movie he has in mind.

Lizzyshoe writes: “I don’t suppose you’d like to share those elfed links with your fans?”

Answer: I wouldn’t and I’m sure Marty G. and Carl wouldn’t. As for Paul - I very much doubt it.

Thornyrose writes: “Wondering, so far on the season five storylines how many episodes does it look like you may be writing?”

Answer: Like last year, I suspect each of the writers will average about four scripts (give or take).

Elizabeth writes: “1). Is Jack in season five of Stargate Atlantis? 2). Will Janet Frasier be in Stargate Continuum? 3). Will Jacob Carter be in Stargate Continuum? 4) Is this description (cut and pasted below) of what happened in Unending somewhat accurate or not?”

Answers: 1) At present, he is not. 4) Yep.

Sarah L. writes: “Have you finished your christmas shopping? And what are some things you want for christmas?”

Answer: I’ve saved my Christmas shopping for the last minute so that I’d have one more thing to do with my mom when she gets into town. As for what I’d like for Christmas - anything food related.

Emily writes: “So, what did you think about the Survivor finale? Pleased with the results?”

Answer: I was. To be honest, I thought it was Amanda’s to lose but I think she seriously miscalculated by apologizing for past behaviors. Todd was refreshingly straightforward. That’s the way he played the game. Nothing personal and no apologies. In a way though, I was kind of hoping that Courtney would win. Although I found her incredibly annoying at first, she really grew on me near the end.

Jedi writes: “A group of us mailed you a card congratulating you all on S5, we were wondering if you received it yet?”

M4ndy writes: “I think I’ll finish A Clash of Kings…”

Answer: Let me know what you think. I loved it.

Susanthetartanturtle writes: “ When is your mother going home?”

Answer: Right after New Years.

Astrumporta writes: “Joe, you can adjust the times on your blog to reflect your local time…”

Answer: Done!

Kath in Baltimore writes: “Do you prefer the original subtitled versions over dubbed or does it matter to you?”

Answer: I Despise (note the capital D) dubbed movies and always prefer subtitled versions. Re: Jackie Chan. Yeah, I’m a big fan of his older HK stuff like the Police Story series that boasts some incredibly painful-looking outtakes.

Fargate One a ecrit: “ Vendredi soir dernier mon épouse et moi avons eu un accident d’automobile.”

Answer: J’espère que vous allez tous deux bien.

Michelle writes: “Please tell Carl he’d better be on the picket line this Friday morning! At least 2 SCBers will be there to present him with specially designed cookies in honor of Carl, the writers and, of course, Carson.”

Answer: I’ve already given him the heads-up. Are those cookies going to be anything like that month-old cupcake I made him eat last year? If so, then hilarity WILL ensue!

Clark’s Girl writes: “Oh yeah, I finally remembered my question, Teyla going through the gate, how has she not been taken off active duty?”

Answer: As her pregnancy progresses, this will become an issue.

Killdeer writes: “Can we hope for a return to more team mission episodes next year?”

Answer: More team episodes upcoming in the back half of season four.

Royal Nonesuch writes: “Ever watch Jericho?”

Answer: Fondy and I watched up to the “Library is on Fire” episode.