…Or maybe “doing nothing.”

It’s a slow day at the office today. I’m not complaining about that, because normally there’s so much going on that I can’t focus (which isn’t good - I can be doing something then just freeze and forget what I was in the middle of). Today, though, there’s not a lot, and that’s just fine. I’m sure it’s because folks are going places for the Thanksgiving holiday and aren’t in the office.

Next week’s going to be worse, since I only took Thanksgiving Thursday off and am in the office the rest of the week; the other guys in my department are out all next week for the most part. On Friday, I’m the only person scheduled to be in. That sort of means I’m going to have to answer the help desk phone… but it doesn’t mean that I actually have to help. Hey, man, I’m not desktop support - I just answer the phone, and only when I have to.

A while back I bought a soft dance pad for Dance Dance Revolution. I started playing, and I have to say, I have a lot of fun with it. I did find a few drawbacks to the soft pad, though - it scoots around on the carpet while you’re dancing; it’s not terribly sensitive (or it’s sensitive at the wrong time); and you can’t really feel the buttons, so your feet sort of “migrate” around on the pad and eventually you’re pressing the wrong buttons.

Well, I found a new pad that I need: The Dance Revolution Metal Evolution Pad. It’s a metal pad with the arcade dimensions (so it’s bigger than the pad I currently have, I think), weighs 35 pounds (so it won’t slide around) and is made of metal so it’s durable. It also costs $150, so I don’t think I’ll be ordering one instantly, but it’s something I’ll be thinking about. DDR’s a great workout and it’s a lot of fun. I’d like to think that the only reason I don’t play much lately is that I get frustrated with the pad.

On occasion I go look at YouBored.com, a local site that sometimes has contests where you can win passes to advance screenings of movies. A while back, I applied (in vain) to be their new movie reviewer. Since I didn’t get picked, I occasionally read the reviews published by the guy they did pick.

The guy they picked, I have decided, is a complete moron. He writes reviews like every other stupid critic out there - with no sensitivity to the entertainment that a movie provides. All that matters is the art, right?

His latest folly is his review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I’m not even going to link it up for you because it’s not worth the time to read. Basically, he gave it a “B-“ because - and I quote - “the story gets lost in the effects, and the script aims too low to hit even its target age group.”

Huh? Did the guy forget that it’s a kid’s movie based on a kid’s book? Or that it’s about magic, so the effects sort of have to be big? What’s he looking for?

To put it in context, he gave 8 Mile a “B,” whereas anyone I talk to who’s seen it says it sucks ass.

Okay, I’m done ranting about that.

I should probably get back to work. I’m reading this book about ASP.NET that is, uh… exciting. I think.