Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
tech

smarter

In anticipation of disconnecting our home phone later this summer (actually, I’m going to try to port it to Google Voice for voicemail purposes), Jake and I got smartphones (Brian already has one for work). While having a smartphone is more of a luxury than a necessity, I do really like it. In fact, it paid off for the first time yesterday while we were at family day at Boy Scout camp. Two of the people there had ridden motorcycles to the event (Brian being one of them). I checked the radar at one point only to find out that it was going to be storming soon (despite the fact that the forecast called for nice weather). It was decided to pack up camp and leave while the weather was still ok. So, it will definitely come in handy when we are on our bikes.

And, I’ve found that I fool around a lot less on the computer since I got the phone. I normally have my computer on at all times because I use TeuxDeux for my “to do” list and I’m constantly referring to it to find out what needs to be done next. Also, Google Calendar. Since the smartphone is less convenient for internet browsing, I tend to do the bare minimum on it and am not tempted by the internets as much.

movies

the debt

This was a nice little spy thriller. It was a little confusing at first and that was made even more complicated because I wasn’t totally paying attention–I actually had to go back to the beginning of the movie at one point because I didn’t know what was going on.

That said, the reason the movie was confusing was that it had two points in time going on (one from the 1990s and one 30 years prior). So, of course, there were different actors playing the same parts and the young actors didn’t really look anything like their older counterparts, hence the confusion.
Once you get that figured out, it was quite entertaining. A couple of nice twists, too.
motorcycles

thunder 2012

This year Brian wanted to spend more time riding and checking out the other venues, so we did just that. To start, we took off Thursday and Friday afternoons. On Thursday afternoon we went for a ride and then hit Wheels and Wings in Ebensburg in the evening. On Friday, we went downtown in the afternoon, went for a ride after supper and then went to Windber Rumbles later in the evening. Saturday we went for a ride (to the Humane Society of Somerset County‘s open house–nice country roads!) and then went downtown again in the evening. We were not able to partake in any Thunder-related events today due to a prior commitment, though we normally don’t do anything on Sunday, anyway (we might have tried to squeeze in a ride, though).

Wheels and Wings was ok. Ebensburg was packed and we had to stand in line forever to get some wings. Windber Rumbles seemed a little cliquey. Everyone was standing around talking to each other, but we didn’t run into anyone we knew, so we weren’t there too long as there wasn’t much else going on at that moment. Downtown was the same as always–not overly crowded during the day, but packed in the evening.
In retrospect, I would have rather spent more time downtown. Perhaps hitting just one of the other venues would’ve been enough. I guess there’s always next year…
books

world war z

I heard of this book and was intrigued, given my interest in zombies. When I heard that Brad Pitt was starring in the film (to be released in 2013), my interest was piqued further. I figured it would tide me over until the next season of The Walking Dead.

Unfortunately, I did not like this book at all. It was an interesting concept–it told the stories of various people who survived the zombie war. But, each story was just that–a single short story. None of the stories tied together. And, other than the narrator, there weren’t any recurring characters. The narrator was a UN employee who went around the world interviewing people after the conflict was over. The movie sounds a little more interesting in that the main character is going around the world trying to prevent the zombie apocalypse, so I’ll probably still check it out even though I did not enjoy the book. Plus, it has Brad Pitt.
movies

friends with benefits

This. This is what I want to see when I watch a comedy. This is the funniest movie I’ve seen since the 40 Year Old Virgin. And, to think that I almost didn’t watch it due to Justin Timberlake being one of the main characters (normally he annoys me, but he was great in this role). Sure, the movie had a couple of slow moments, but overall it was nonstop laughs. Brian even gave it his highest rating–two eyes open.