Todd Bradley’s Galaxy

Have you heard that putting the pit (seed) of a fresh avocado into a bowl of guacamole will help keep it fresher longer?  Well, it turns out to not be true.  It’s just an urban legend or old wives tale.  I couldn’t believe that, because I had done the same thing myself for years and thought it appeared to work.  So, I decided to put it to a test.  Here are the Flickr photos showing what happens to guacamole in three different states: uncovered, covered with plastic wrap, and in contact with an avocado pit.

I was just reconciling my latest Visa statement, and found a fraudulent charge for $4.99 from “Bestsmartstore Com Llc” from February 14.  I checked out the company’s website, and learned they are supposedly an “e-book” vendor but we haven’t bought any e-books from them.  I googled the company and found that the only hits were people talking about fraudulent credit card charges.  So I called our Visa company and disputed the charge.  Of course, they closed the account immediately, which means I will now have to change over all our automated billing (stuff like the monthly Netflix bill) to a new card.  Yuck.  The amount of time it’ll take to deal with the fallout will end up being worth way more than the five bucks of the fraud charge, but what can you do?

Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us | Environment | The Observer
The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.

I’ve been working on the script for a short sci-fi action movie with a friend of mine.  It’s set in a post-apocalyptic Boulder County, sort of like a “Road Warrior” type place.  The story’s explanation for why the world has plunged into such grimness is that Gulf War III escalated to nukes.  But this (purported) Pentagon report gives me a much more realistic idea.  I couldn’t have worded our story synopsis any better than the above paragraph from The Observer.

I’ve been getting into this new TV show with an unwieldy long name: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  I really didn’t want to like it, but I’ve been getting pulled in.  And then earlier today, while at home enjoying President’s Day off work, I watched last week’s episode on TiVo.  It was really good in a lot of different ways.  Now I can’t wait to watch tonight’s episode.

Sure, Summer Glau’s acting isn’t the greatest, and she can’t deliver the one-liners anywhere near Governor Arnold.  Some of John and Sarah’s interaction with their personal terminator bot is a far-fetched.  And the production is a bit too Hollywood.  But there are occasionally some really good action sequences, and a nicely unfolding plot arc with some of the minor characters.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out.

I just finished reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” for the first and last time.  I’d heard about it for years, and finally decided to read it to myself.  I can’t remember slogging through a more difficult book without just giving up.  It was a trial, but I actually finished it.

I considered writing a quick review on Amazon.com about the book, but I see there are 509 other reviews of it.  And I doubt I can think of something truly original to add if I’m number 510.  Suffice it to say that the book just didn’t speak to me.  Maybe if I knew more philosophy or grew up in the 40s, it would make more sense.  But as a travel story, it’s just depressing.  And as a text on metaphysics, it’s too impenetrable.

So this one will go back on the PaperbackSwap.com list pronto, I think.

My life partner and spouse, Beth, wrote a series of short stories a couple years ago.  They were intended to be published together as a book called “Price of Silence.”  However, she decided recently to do something a bit unusual.  She is posting them one by one to a blog under Creative Commons licensing.  The idea is that other writers can incorporate the stories into other works, or rewrite them, or pretty much anything they want, as long as they give proper attribution.  Who knows, maybe someone out there will enjoy one of them enough to make a film out of it – royalty free!

If you want to see the stories for yourself, go here:

http://priceofsilence.blogspot.com

We’ve pretty much given up on our cat Rufus ever coming home to us.  It’s been over a week now that he’s been gone.  When we got home two Saturday nights ago, he wanted to go out, so we put him out.  He often spends the night outside, and until now he’s always been fine in the morning – just a little hungry, sometimes.

Well, we never saw him the next day, which was strange.  And then on Monday, Beth heard from our neighbor that she found a “mess” in her back yard on Sunday.  The neighbor thought it was animal intestines and fur.  After I got home from work Monday, Beth and I went out in search of clues in the fading light.  We found a bunch of blood on some gravel in our xeriscaping next to the driveway, and some fur that looked like the color and length from Rufus’ white underbelly.  Then we went into the neighbor’s back yard, and found more fur back there.

So, we suspect that sometime early Sunday morning, one of our neighborhood coyotes or foxes had a rumble with Rufus, and Rufus lost.  We held out hope for a few days.  Maybe the blood was from some other fight.  Maybe the fur was from another animal.  Maybe the guts in the neighbor’s yard were from a squirrel.  But we pretty much gave up hope a few days ago.

Beth wants to keep our cool handcrafted metal cat sculpture that doubles as a food and water dish holder, for the benefit of a neighbor cat named Bailey who sometimes thinks he lives here.  Meanwhile, we put Rufus’ collars and the fur we found in a big plastic zip lock bag, as a memento, I guess.

Rest in peace, Rufus Poofus Underfoot.

Some basic updates on my life:

• Our cat Rufus is missing.  He went out last night and never came back.
• I finished editing the video of last summer’s Green River rafting trip, and screened it last night at a party.  It was a big hit.
• This morning I finished Mass Effect.  I thought it was pretty good, but I don’t think I’ll play through again.
• Osaka style sushi is pressed in a small box into a rectangle shape.  I just had it for the first time this evening for supper.
• I got lots of feedback yesterday from a public reading of a couple scenes from a possible upcoming film.  Now I’m working on a new draft of the script with a few things changed.
• Beth and I aren’t planning any diving trips this year.  Instead, I’m hoping to take her on a two week road trip through canyon country, including her first ever trip to the Grand Canyon.