Spectre’s Sayings

I’ll be training on the software system at work for the rest of the week. I doubt I’ll have much time to blog until the weekend.

On the house front, I’ve gotten the OK from the village engineer to go ahead and dig, and the excavators are going out to the lot tomorrow.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Bookeen’s new third-generation Cybook electronic book reading device went on sale over the weekend. It uses e-ink technology, rather than an LCD screen. I want one, but I’m not sure how I’ll be able to cover the cost.

Story here.

Buy it here.

Update 10/30/07: Well, it appears Cybook demand is overwhelming the supply.

This depresses me.

According to narniafans.com, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has wrapped up filming, and in now in post-production. The theatrical release is slated for May 16, 2008. The first movie was really good. I’m looking foward to this sequal.

Update: Check out this video about the film, featuring Ben Barnes, who plays the title role.

A decent, if uninspiring, beer. It pours clear, light copper color with a decent head. Nice aroma and texture, if a bit bland. It has a sweet overtone that didn’t thrill me. Basically, a European version of a mega-brew.

The nearest Wal-mart to my house was closed down for two hours last night due to a bomb threat. What is wrong with people? The newspaper reports:

A bomb threat shut down Wal-Mart, 2760 N. Dirksen Parkway, for about two hours Sunday night.

Officers were called to the store shortly before 9 p.m. after employees received a threatening phone call indicating there was an explosive device in the building, police said.

The management decided to evacuate the building.

Police set up a perimeter and staging area and used canine units to search inside and outside the building with no results.

The nearby Culver’s restaurant stayed open to allow employees to wait inside as authorities investigated.

Employees reentered the store about 11 p.m.

From their website:

1. How do you rate the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President? Excellent, good, fair, or poor?
14% Excellent
17% Good
16% Fair
52% Poor
1% Not Sure

2. How do you rate the way that Rod Blagojevich is performing his role as Governor? Excellent, good, fair, or poor?
5% Excellent
11% Good
37% Fair
46% Poor
1% Not Sure

Let’s see. 31% Good or Excellent and 68% Fair to Poor for Bush, 16% Good or Excellent and 83% Fair to Poor for Blagojevich. I’d say the Rod Man is in some trouble. Note, please, that George Ryan’s disapproval rating bottomed out at 69%.

Michael J. Totten posted a really neat 20-minute video of a dismounted patrol in Ramadi in August. Go watch it.

Just a few days after I posted about Bella Trattoria, it was damaged by fire. *Sigh.* I’ve retyped the following from the “Police Beat” section of the print version of the SJ-R:

Fire badly damaged an old two-story building and a portion of the recently-opened Bella Trattoria cafe in Williamsville early Saturday morning.

The blaze was reported about 1:30 a.m. at 100 W. Main St. and continued burning for more than four hours.

Flames consumed the building, which is currently used for storage. At one time, it held an old movie theater in the upper story and a barbershop below.

The lounge area of Bella Trattoria was destroyed, but the adjacent cafe appeared to suffer mostly smoke damage.

The cause of the blaze wasn’t immediately known.

Fire crews from Athens, Sherman, Pleasant Plains, Riverton, and Springfield assisted Williamsville firefighters.

The American Red Cross responded to provide canteen support to the roughly 50 firefighters on-scene, a news release from the agency said.

The agency’s caseworkers are also assisting one person who was displaced by the fire.

We just can’t keep the restaurants I like, for some reason.

Update: Here’s a link to the online story.

This morning, a couple of gentlemen from the engineering firm came out to my lot with much high-tech equipment. They located the lot pins, and located the corners of the house and the property offset points, marking all such spots with lathes, topped with colored flags.

While they were still occupied with this task, a calf in the farm pasture that is behind my property noticed the flag on the lathe marking the lot pin, and decided to eat it. I watched, incredulously, as it devoured two of four ribbons (which were some sort of synthetic material, by the way). Then, as it began to stretch its neck and tongue toward the ribbons again, I decided to chase it away. I stalked toward it, waving my pad of paper at it, and telling it to shoo, and that the stick was mine. As I approached the animal, I realized that even though it was just a half-grown calf, it was still a large animal - easily twice my weight - and that it was just staring at me. So I decided to tell it to go away from a short distance - not getting too close. After I did that, I just walked away as if I expected to be obeyed. It stared dumbly at me for a while, and then lost interest, and went back to grazing on grass. The flags were still there an hour later when the job was done, and I went back home.

Andrew Cusack has a fascinating post about Newfoundland on his blog. I never knew very much about its history, until now.

Earlier this week I finished Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson. Fatal Revenant is the second book in “The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.” I enjoyed the first and second chronicles, and have thus far really enjoyed the Last Chronicles. Both Runes of the Earth and Fatal Revenant ended in cliffhangers, of which Donaldson has inexpicably become a master. It’s going to be difficult to wait the three years before book 3 comes out.

Last week, my aunt told me about a new restaurant that had impressed her greatly. I spread the word, and my parents and I decided to try it. It so impressed us that we decided that we’d have to return. And we did, earlier this evening.

Bella Trattoria is a tiny little restaurant located at 100 W. Main Street in Williamsville, Illinois. The interior is tastefully decorated to evoke a Mediterranean atmosphere, and the food is pure Italian heaven. The menu is rather simple, but in visiting with the proprietor this evening, I discovered that there is usually some special dish that he creates daily that does not appear on the menu.

Both times I visited, the restaurant quickly filled to capacity. Although the menu simply consists of a variety of appetizers, pizzas, sandwiches, pastas, and desserts, both the quantity and the quality of the food provide ample reasons for the lack of space. Quantity in that the portions are exceptionally generous, and quality in that the taste sensations are simply out-of-this-world, but that brings to mind my upbringing in an Italian extended family. Dining at this restaurant is also easy on the pocketbook.

Did I mention I liked this place?

Fuller’s 1845 pours a dark amber-brown with a robust head. The label refers to a “fruity” aroma, but the adjectives I’d use are “floral” and “creamy.” It has a smooth texture, an understated taste, and a subtle finish. It is very full-bodied, however - enough to give Dragon’s Milk a run for its money. There is a bit of an aftertaste, however.

They brewers used a 19th century recipe to create this beer in honor of the 150th anniversary of The Fuller, Smith & Turner partnership. (Hence the name. That anniversary was in 1995.) This award winning ale is bottle-conditioned, which helps explain the robustness of the head and the fresh flavor.

I’d say that this is a very nice beer.

I closed on the lot today. Yay! I’m in debt! The seller seemed pretty happy.

I also had a lesson on how to fill out the paperwork to make draws on the loan. That makes things simpler. Plus I opened a savings account at the bank where I got my loan, and I’ll be putting the down-payment in there until such time as the construction loan turns into a mortgage. And I opened a checking account there so that I can keep any construction expenses separate from my other expenses.