Last Thursday I had some drywall contractors in to fix my bathroom issues. They sanded, mudded, and retextured. They told me to wait 24 hours before painting.

Sunday morning I got up, masked everything off, and started painting. I took care of the high parts (near the ceiling) and Jenn got the middle and lower parts.

Jenn had almost finished when I heard, “Oh my God!”

That’s never good.

I went in to find that a baseball-sized chunk of texture had come clean off the wall and was stuck to the roller.

I guess it wasn’t fixed after all.

I called the drywall company who, of course, don’t have anyone in the office on the weekend, and left a message to have them call me. If I don’t hear from them by 11:00a or so, I’m calling them back. I won’t be beaten by drywall. I won’t. I’ll finish painting this bathroom if it kills me (which it probably will).

I won’t even get into the fact that we want to install crown molding in there, too. With bullnose corners, no less. I’ll have to measure the angles… here comes my high school geometry, back in action.

I went on Sunday to see the latest incarnation of Robert Ludlum’s master assassin, Jason Bourne, as played by Matt Damon, in The Bourne Supremacy.

The Bourne Supremacy is the second in the trilogy of Bourne books. We’ve seen two interpretations of the first book, The Bourne Identity, on screen; this is the first time anyone’s ventured past that.

I would say the first movie, also starring Matt Damon, only took the general premise of the book into account and then took liberties with the rest of the plot. The beginning started out like the book, but it slowly diverged from the book as it went along. I liked the movie, but I definitely liked the book better as it had some great psychological stuff in there that probably doesn’t translate well to film.

After watching the second movie, I’m really wondering now if the people who wrote the movie even read the book. I mean, did they even bother skimming the thing? Just read a few pages, guys. Here’s the description from the back of the book:

In a Kowloon Cabaret, scrawled in a pool of blood, is a name the world wanted to forget: Jason Bourne.

The Chinese vice-premier has been brutally slain by a legendary assassin. World leaders ask the same fearful questions: Why has Jason Bourne come back? Who is paying him? Who is the next to die? But U.S. officials know the shocking truth: There is no Jason Bourne. The name was created as cover for David Webb on his search for the notorious killer Carlos. Someone else has taken the Bourne identity–and unless he is stopped, the world will pay a devastating price. So Jason Bourne must live again. Once again, Webb must utilize his lethal skills–because once again, like a nightmare relived, the woman he loves is suddenly torn from his life. To find her, trap his own impostor, and uncover an explosive secret plan, Webb must lauch a desperate oddyssey into the espionage killing fields. But this time, survival will not be enough. This time Bourne must reign supreme.

Okay, now go see the movie. When no one ever even mentions China, you’ll start to wonder what’s up. Not to mention the constant pursuit of the ever-elusive “Carlos” character in the book, who was also in the first book, and who didn’t make it into either of the movies.

I’m not saying this is a bad movie. I liked it. I had a lot of fun with it. I’m saying it had zero to do with the book, aside from the fact the main characters are both named Jason Bourne. Watching the movie didn’t make me feel cheated, it made me feel like they should have named it something else… and then considered it “a new adventure for Jason Bourne.” Something like a “lost chapter” in the character’s history.

Of course, in the books Jason Bourne marries the Marie character (played in the movie by Franka Potente) and they stay together through the entire trilogy. In the movie, in the first five minutes, they kill Marie. What?! That definitely doesn’t happen in the books.

Again - I liked the movie, it just didn’t even remotely follow the book. Not even close.

Should you see it? That depends. If you are a die-hard fan of the books, you will probably be disappointed. Despite the great action and special effects, it will probably stick in your craw that the stuff on the screen has nothing in common with the Bourne universe you know and love. Of course, I loved the books, and I had a great time with the movie. Divorce yourself from the idea that the movie is “based on the novel” and pretend for an instant that it’s just a new adventure with a character you already know and love. Go into it like that, and you’ll have a good time with the movie.

It makes me curious now to see if they’re going to do the third book. No way they could even remain close with that - they’ve already diverged too far and have created their own mythos surrounding Bourne.

Might be cool, though.

I’m working at home today while the drywall contractors are here fixing my bathroom and my Tiny Cat is loving every minute of it. You’d think that all the sanding and vacuuming and noise would freak her out, but when she’s not sitting next to me on the couch trying to lay in the middle of the laptop keyboard, she’s over there poking around to see what sort of trouble she can get into.

Tiny Cat is weird. We kept her in the bathroom when she was very small (to get her used to the house, learn how to use the litter box, etc.) and now she has this connection with the bathroom that I can’t explain. She loves to be in there while you’re taking a dump. Loves it. She’ll cry and paw at the door if you don’t let her in. Once she’s in, she’ll walk around the base of the toilet and flop on her back expecting to be petted.

Of course, now the humans in the house expect her to be there, so if you’re going to the bathroom and she doesn’t show up, you leave the door open and yell “POOPINGCAT!” (long, like a yodel: “Poooooooopingcaaaaaaaaat!”) and she’ll come running. Seriously - you won’t have to wait more than a couple seconds. In fact, if you’re in a different room than her and yell “Poopingcat,” she’ll head to the closest bathroom to you because, well, that’s where the Poopingcat goes.

What a silly cat.

Jenn and I took a nice long (three-day) weekend in Seattle this past weekend, and I think it generally rocked.

Friday Jenn only worked a half day and we left by 2:00p for Seattle. Traffic sucked. It took an hour and a half to get to the Oregon/Washington border, and I only live like 40 minutes from the border. Terrible, terrible traffic.

We got to Tacoma, to my aunt and uncle’s house, at close to 6:00p. Dropped off our stuff and headed over to a different aunt and uncle’s house for a barbecue.

It turned out the barbecue was for all of the July birthdays in the family. My uncle George and I have the same birthday (July 23), and I have two cousins with July birthdays.

We ate barbecue food, took a boat ride (they live on a lake), and just took it easy. After all was said and done, we returned to the first aunt and uncle’s place in Tacoma to stay overnight.

Got up the next morning, went to breakfast at the clubhouse (they live on a golf course), and Jenn proceeded to get sick. I think the heat was starting to get to her (it was like 100 degrees the whole time we were up there) and her stomach was rumbly, too, not to mention a headache.

We returned to the house where my aunt rubbed some Tiger Balm on Jenn’s head. Apparently she has some sort of coworker who swears by Tiger Balm… I don’t know if I buy that, but Jenn’s headache did go away.

We left there and headed for the W Hotel in downtown Seattle. We found it, but it was too early for check-in, so we parked at Pike Place market and walked around there.

There is no shortage of stuff to see at the Pike Place market. From fish vendors to fresh flowers to donuts and handmade wares, if it exists, it’s probably at the market. We saw all sorts of crazy crap. The first Starbucks is there - that was neat.

After that we walked around downtown and looked at the Pioneer Square area. Again, lots of interesting stuff to see.

We got back to the hotel, shin splints and all, by around 3:00p. We checked in, but they didn’t have the room quite ready, so we waited for an hour sipping iced tea and enjoying the air conditioning.

When we got to the room, I have to admit, I was impressed.

Everything’s modern. The bathroom fixtures, the furniture, everything. It reminded me a lot of Pottery Barn, actually, mixed with Dania or Ikea. Normally I’m not into that, but it was cool.

The best part was the bed. I don’t like hard mattresses - we have one of those air mattress beds - but this thing was plush. I really dug it. I may just have to buy one.

The art was cool, too. Something about the sort of “fantasy” style of the art on the key cards and postcard and such… very neat. I’m having their concierge look up the name of the artist. I stole some of the art and threw it up here so you could see what I’m talking about. It’s photography, but done in a stylish and whimsical setting. Cool.

We had dinner at the “Earth and Ocean” - the restaurant in the hotel. It was really fancy and very good food, though I have to admit places like that where they wait on you hand and foot then charge you an arm and a leg are intimidating to me. Regardless, very tasty. I’d eat there again.

By the time that was over, it was late, we were full, and we were tired from walking all over, so we took our desserts up to the room with us. We couldn’t stand it, though, so we ate the desserts when we got there - raspberry parfaits (or, as it said on the menu, “She Wore a Raspberry Parfait”) - rather than saving them for later.

The next morning we got up and headed back to the Pike Place market to have some breakfast. We ate in a little French bakery (tasty!) and watched the early morning crowds. After that, we headed back to the hotel and checked ourselves out.

The drive home wasn’t nearly as bad as the drive up. We made it in about three hours, give or take, and had enough time to unpack and get stuff ready for Monday. We even went to see The Bourne Supremacy (which was good, but nothing like the book).

I had Monday off, but Jenn worked. Not that I didn’t work, mind you. Laundry, yard work, shopping, general clean up… I kept busy. I did find time to go get myself a couple of birthday presents (the Transformers PS2 game and La Femme Nikita season 2… which, as of this writing, says it’s “unavailable” at Amazon - that’s weird, because I found it just fine at the store).

All in all, not a bad way to spend one’s 28th birthday.

And now I’m back at work. I always realize when coming back from vacation how I’m not a big fan of the whole “work” thing, but I guess you gotta pay the bills.

Oh, and a minor note: I actually have a contractor coming in on Thursday to deal with my drywall issue. Woohoo!

Today is my birthday, so happy birthday to me! I’ve reached 28 which, as far as ages go, is neither here nor there. Not a bad place to be, mind you.

Woke up this morning (got yourself a gun?) around 6:00 because, while I have the day off, Jenn works. I got my presents from her (I like presents): The Best of James Taylor and a Harry Potter Lego set. Very cool.

Jenn’s working a half day, and when she gets home we’re going to head up to Seattle to visit family and do the tourist thing. I’m in the process of ripping the James Taylor album so we can listen to it on the iPod on the way up.

Aside from that, no real insight. Another year older and wiser, as they say. A lot’s happened, though (most of which I’m remembering from scanning through my site… it’s a good thing I keep this thing or I’d never remember anything). Let’s see…

• Saw Mamma Mia, Conjure One, Delerium, and Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría
• Took a lot of Microsoft training
• Started working on the product demo project at work (an incarnation of which I’m still working on)
• Tried and failed on the Atkins diet
• Fought with PS2 disc read errors
• Changed my host and started blogging with pMachine… lost a little data in that process
• Changed hosts - again - and lost a little data in that process
• Ripped all of my CDs into 256kbps AAC format
• Started - and finished - buying a house
• Got my MCSD.NET certification
• Got my MCDBA certification

Not bad for a year. I look forward to what’s in store for me this year. Stick around, folks. I think it’s gonna be a good one.