The Usual

I still haven't relocated to Murray yet because I had my plans disrupted by a possible job opening at USEC (United States Enrichment Corporation). It's high on the list of places I never pictured myself working at but also high on the list of places I'd want to work at. My cousin has worked there for several years and let me know they're hiring entry level positions and he could get my application pulled. Totally unfair but definitely worth going for. The only problem is the job currently isn't open and there's no time frame for when it will be. So I'm hesitant to move out and pick up some crap jobs and then have to drop everything to enter the hiring process. Tomorrow is my last foreseeable day at my current job, so I'm going to be needing to get some income going fairly soon. Unless the opening is sometime in the next week, I'll probably just move and see what happens.

I bought Rock Band a week ago and have spent a copious amount of time with it, the worst being 18 hours in one day. I've mainly been on the drums, which was what really attracted me to it in the first place and there's been no disappointment. The guitar is almost the same as Guitar Hero, but I can't do much on hard and I can't sing at all, so the drums are a good fit. Playing with a group is awesome, but solo play is pretty lame after you've gotten a band going with friends. Fortunately I've found plenty of willing participants. Everyone was ready for a break after the initial firestorm, so the Lords of Thunder and 88 Miles Per Hour are on sabbatical to explore India or something.

On the reading front, I haven't gotten into anything new. I checked out Brasyl from the library, a book that sounded pretty interesting, covering three different people in separate time periods, all in Brazil. Unfortunately, after the twentieth modern pop culture reference in the first thirty pages it went back to the drop box. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Comics-wise, I still haven't bought anything in months besides Criminal, which has literally become the 'if I could only buy one comic' scenario. It's my wonder drug. I've been re-reading stuff from the shelf I haven't been through in a while, including Hellboy Volume 1, both Whiteout stories, Seaguy and the first War Stories collection. All pretty good stuff that held up. I got more out of Seaguy the second time around and Hellboy was even better than I remembered it being. Makes me want more and to finally get caught up on all the BPRD books. I wish Mike Mignola was still drawing interiors. With the pamphlets I'm slogging through stuff while at work so I don't have to pay for it. Favorites at this point are Captain America, The Order, The Immortal Iron Fist, All-Star Superman, The Punisher, Lone Ranger and Umbrella Academy. Morrison's Batman continues to be deflated by horrible artwork and Daredevil is good but I can't really get excited about it.

I bought Band of Brothers for hardly nothing on Cyber Monday and finished it this week. I had previously seen it sporadically on the History Channel, and I'm not sure if I ever saw all the episodes or if they were even in the right order. It was thankfully easier to keep up with the fairly large cast watching it in chunks. Overall, it's a very good account of WWII from a unit that participated in many famous events across several countries. The Battle of the Bulge in particular is very well represented, as Easy Company held position in the freezing cold of Bastogne, Belgium while under constant shelling by German artillery, unable to do anything but constantly take cover. Most of the experiences are historically accurate, even though if you want to get into the details, there's plenty to nitpick about. The show was based on a book that chronicled events from WWII veterans of E Company. The show focuses on Richard Winters, who started out as a lieutenant in Easy and ended up a major by the end of the war. He's portrayed by all accounts very true to life, a caring and quiet leader who also was tactically very sound. I enjoyed the whole thing.