Daily Report: Anergia

With Epril's help (poking my nose, tickling me, pouncing on me) I was up early... earlier... this morning. I got some blogging done.

Susan came to the house today and gave Epril her weekly cooking class. Today's meal was curry chicken. It was enjoyable, if unusual: Whole chicken legs in curry sauce with pineapple chunks. I think in Filipino cooking, pineapples come right after rice in the hierarchy of ingredients.

I took a nap after lunch (too much rice/starch does that to me), and then right as I was getting back to work, the power went out. We've been having electrical problems up here on the hill for the last week or so... before the floods even. This time around, the lights were out for an hour. Epril and I spent the time enjoying a Toblerone together. Then it was back to work when the power came on.

I've got a new boss at work. The old one quit at the end of the year. I wasn't sad to see her go. She wasn't very... there. Talking to her was like having a conversation with a rulebook. The new lady is from Albany, New York, where my father's family is from. We chatted for a bit by e-mail, and she seems friendly. She's a very-early-morning person, so we may get to chat on occasion, which will be nice.

For dinner, I had my fall-back ramenesque favorite: A package of alfredo noodles. You know: Those semi-instant noodles in a bag with a powdered sauce that you boil on the stove, and in 8 minutes is supposed to make a side dish for a proper dinner. Comfort food defined; I love it.

Epril and I have been re-watching Heroes, Season One on Blu Ray disc for the past week. Based only on this one program, I really wouldn't recommend buying any television series on Blu Ray. The picture isn't worth the extra money you pay for high-def, and the extra features aren't that great.

So far, really, the only things on Blu Ray I've found to be worth the purchase are (1) nature documentaries, and (2) animated movies and video games. Regular movies look great on Blu Ray but not great enough to offset the cost. Here in The Philippines, a pirated DVD costs $2 and an original DVD costs $6. A Blu Ray disc costs $40 or more here, or $20 plus the effort of getting it here if you buy it in America. If I were to grade it, I would say that a regular Blu Ray movie looks 20% sharper than DVD... and that's on my 60-inch television. It's just not worth it for all except the most cherished of movies.

Like I said though: The Discovery Channel and BBC documentaries really pop, and the Playstation 3 games and animated movies look fantastic. If you buy Blu Ray, that's where to focus your purchases.

Oh: And anybody who buys a Blu Ray player instead of a Playstation 3 is a doofus. For $400 you can either have a glorified DVD player, or for that same price, you can have a glorified DVD player, plus a Playstation 3, plus a living room internet terminal. (If anybody can name a single benefit of having a standalone Blu Ray player over a Playstation 3, I'd be interested in knowing.)

Anyway, it was off to bed at 10 p.m.