To start with a program note (cue the “announcement!” song from Boy Scout summer camp), I seem to have misplaced my mobile phone; I only realized I didn’t have it this morning, but thinking back, I haven’t used it since Friday evening – it’s probably in the car I’m not using, but in any case, if you called me after say 6pm Friday, that’s why I didn’t answer or call you back. The search continues, and I have great confidence in a postive outcome, but there it is.

The weekend, besides being pleasantly free of telephone calls, was kind of a mixed bag. Nobody was feeling that great for a variety of reasons, and we mostly just stuck close to home. We cleaned up a bit, did some laundry, stocked the larder, and caught up a bit on our television watching deficit (a “deficit” in the sense that my household watches less television than the typical American family). The viewing schedule included, among other things, the umpteenth living room screening of Hellboy (a movie, that seriously, never gets old for me), catching up on a couple of Doctor Who episodes that haven’t aired in the US yet (think about that for a second), and about 25% of the third season of The Muppet Show, including the cool Alice Cooper episode, and a bunch of appearances by this guy, who kind of freaked me out as a kid.

I made an attempt to get out to the movies to see The Incredible Hulk with the kids (while everyone else in America was seeing Wall*E), but misreported screening schedules and encroaching sinus headaches caused us to abort, with tentative plans to maybe try later in the week.

Finally, I dug deep into the video game drawer, and dug out my never-used copy of Final Fantasy VII, which I’ve had for years, with every intention to play, but never got around to it. I’m not particularly far along (the odd-by-modern-standards control scheme is to blame here); but I think I’m kind of enjoying it, despite the aged graphics and terrible localization, and am starting to get into the story that seems to have engaged so many people.

Oh, and if you like eclectic fluffy pop music at all, check out The Pipettes. Imagine what the offspring of an unholy orgiastic union between Phil Spector, The Go-Gos, Bananarama, The Spice Girls, and the White Stripes would sound like, and you’ll get an idea why I like it. It’s fluff, sure, but it’s quality fluff, and therein lies the appeal.