The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[Sam Cree]

I wanted to name my first born "Fletcher Xiphias," but my wife managed to prevent that. Just as well, on afterthought.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Oh, everyone knows, Lembas tastes like chicken.

[Overtaxed]

I know it is only old frog food....

[osagebowman]

SC: Actually sounds kind of cool; is there a story to go with the name?

Regarding natural disasters, think about what would happened if the New Madrid Earthquake had occured in 1912 instead of 1812. 100 years is a blink in geologic time, soo, we midwesterners dodged the bullet that time.

[HairOfTheDog]

he said "If PJ won't do it, I might."

SQ:Now, wouldn't THAT be fitting!?

HA! I wondered if anyone would pick up on that! - Ramius and I looked at each other when he said it and said... "Now... that would be really cool." In a few years, when he has got a few films behind him. Hope he keeps in touch with his Weta friends!

MBY, his film is great, and I had seen it before... He uses the size doubles from LoTR to show how people can use their talents to work together. If you haven't seen it, it is available here: The Long and Short of it (it is only about 5 min long, and downloadable in a couple resolutions)

Afterwards, I was impressed that many people asked him questions about it first, before getting right into LoTR questions. Some were there to see and appreciate what he was interested in, not just be LoTR fanatics!

Ramius and I actually left before the film was over, right as the preparations for battle were beginning.... It was 11:00 then, and we were tired. I am sure the movie got out after midnight. So even leaving when we did, we got home about 2:15 am!

Here is a report sent to TORN about it.... other than her not having any concept of time (He spoke much longer than 10 min before the short film! - more like 30 without exaggeration!), she wrote about a few interesting things that I didn't mention. Sean Astin Portland Screening Report!

[HairOfTheDog]

You didn't ask Sean if lembas tastes like cornbread?

I really couldn't think of a good question except, "tell me everything!" So I didn't ask any. I wish you had been there to suggest that question!

[Sam Cree]

Yes, that was the one. I am wrong though, death toll was around 400. I knew an old guy, great guy (in my fishing club) for awhile who lived in Miami at the time, had gone down to the Keys after the storm to help. He said there was bodies all around, decomposing. He lived to go through Andrew, but has passed on now.

You can read a brief description by Margorie Stoneham Douglas here

[Overtaxed]

Heh. I probably wouldn't have thought of it until today anyway. Wonder if he would get the "old frog food" reference.

[Sam Cree]

Not really so much of a story. I just had liked the sound of Fletcher at the time. Xiphias is the Latin name for swordfish, I was trying to catch one about then. In fact, the night that my son was due, I was out all night in my open boat drifting North in the Gulf Stream, fishing (unsuccessfully) for swordfish. I called in on the radio a couple times, intended to head for the dock if Jeanne went into labor.

Anyway, he wasn't born for a couple more weeks, we still hadn't picked a name yet. 2 days after his birth we were still trying to think of one. However that problem was suddenly solved as (major) Hurricane David came barreling out of the Carribean towards Miami and our son became "David."

[SuziQ]

That was a fascinating recount of the storm! I'll be interested to see how Sean's movie about the Galveston storm turns out!

[HairOfTheDog]

He is putting a love story in it.... Titanic meets Galviston storm!

[Sam Cree]

Everyone around here thinks Douglas was a hero(ine). I have a feeling I might not agree with her politics if I knew them, but still admire her and her writing.

This part kind of got to me:

The first doctor to get down in a boat to ravaged Camp Five was Dr. G. C. Franklin of Coconut Grove. He found the bodies of thirty-nine-men in a windrow, just as the last waves had left them. A man sat calmly against a broken wall with a piece of two-by-four run completely through him, under his ribs, out over the kidneys. He refused the shot of morphine the doctor offered him, before he pulled it out. The man said that when it was pulled out he would die. He asked for two beers, drank them and said, 'Now pull.'

Dr. Franklin pulled, and he died.

[HairOfTheDog]

Hair has to take a nap! - not enough sleep yet! - back later!

[Lil'freeper]

Wow, sounds like an awesome event. Thanks for the superb reportin'.

[Corin Stormhands]

Dudes! I'm typin' on a Dell! Got the new desktop all set up...well sort of. Here's my current troubles:

My Canon Multipass C5000 will not run on Windows XP. I've checked with Microsoft and with Canon. Can anybody recommend a good (and reasonably priced) printer?

I had assumed that when I set up Outlook Express that my email accounts would transfer over from Comcast. They didn't. I don't know if this is a Comcast problem or if I'm just stuck. I'm on the line with Comcast now. My guess is that it's a Comcast problem.

Can't find the game I ordered to come with the system. That's a call to Dell.

On top of that, Luke is napping, wife is at class at church and Jr. is calling every 10 minutes to get me to come pick him up....

[Sam Cree]

Hi Corin.

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh - I forgot to mention the TT viewing!

The audience was told to pipe down part way through TTT... what started out as cheering when each lead actor appeared for the first time descended into a lot of Rocky Horror picture show type banter that was a bit much. Everyone there was a very eager fan, if perhaps there were many that were just young and too vocal... The group that was calling out stuff said one thing that was really funny.

When Aragorn asks Eowyn (after "I fear neither pain nor death") "What do you fear my lady?" They yelled.... "ELVES!" HA!

The theater stopped the film and asked them to stop.... Enough people clapped that it appeared it was tickin most people off the way they carried on. I was just in "carnival watching mode"... It was really just a couple groups of kids behaving that way. Too much excitement and a gaggle of 14 year old girls is not a good thing.

2J.... I tempered some of the political judgment from my report (I don't want to put Sean in a box) and sent a version of my report to TORN.... we'll see after my nap!

[HairOfTheDog]

There are a lot of reasonable printers out there now... depending on what you want. I like HP personally.

Your Outlook just needs to be set up right... The Comcast people can walk you through how to set it up.

Dude! - Glad you got a Dell!

[JenB]

Sounds like you've got an interesting evening ahead of you. Hope you get the technical problems sorted out!

[HairOfTheDog]

One thing about printers... if you can get one that as a bottom feeding tray like an office printer, do. Those top-feeding trays make me crazy... if the printer isn't completely happy with the paper (not the right kind, too much paper, not enough paper, you name it!) I have seen the printer grab the whole dang stack of paper and jam up more times than I would want to count. My HP Printer with the bottom feed tray never jams, no matter what paper I put in it.