Is it just me or are they making it increasingly difficult for you to cash in your airmiles? Three years ago, I booked well in advance - in August actually - for a trip in November and was able to secure to first class tickets to Tokyo no problem. Last year, I booked in July and encountered a few minor headaches in attempting to book a similar trip to Tokyo and Hong Kong. This year, I tried to book in May for a trip to Asia. I left my itinerary pretty open ("Anytime between mid-November and late December,"I said) and am still trying to find a series of connecting flights that will eventually take me there and, hopefully, back home. Ah, good old dependably disinterested Air Canada.
Speaking of customer service, I finished getting the home theater installed downstairs and was awaiting some minor touch-ups (ie. sound calibration) when I learned that the owner of Accurate Sound and Video had decided to close up shop. I suppose I should consider myself fortunate since work on my system was almost complete, but there are other less fortunate customers who are understandably fuming. I suspect the owner will attempt to open up a similar business under another name. I can't wait...
I picked up the Pimsleur Level One: Cantonese 30 CD set. I completed the Pimsleur Japanese CD's, levels 1-3 and now am proudly possess the conversational skills of a three year old Japanese schoolboy. This may not seem impressive until you fully appreciate how difficult a language Japanese really is. Honto ni muzukashi desu yo! Tricky grammar and different levels of politeness make it a confusing language to learn. Cantonese, meanwhile, is difficult for a whole other reason. The grammar is fairly straightforward, but the differing tones of similar words make for frustrating/embarrassing moments. My awkard pronounciation is a constant source of amusement for my wife who is constantly correcting me.
Well, we closed the deal on the F-16's for Collateral Damage (if things don't work out with Air Canada, I may ask to borrow one for my trip to Hong Kong in November) and started prep on Ripple Effect (now this one is a confusing script. The concept meeting clocked in at a little over 3 hours!). Peter DeLuise is the perfect director for this particular episode.
Between cutting Fourth Horsemen I and finishing prep on Collateral Damage/starting prep on Ripple Effect, we found time to spin some stories and send everyone off with something to do. Paul's story has been renamed "The Tower" and we took a couple of hours on Friday to kick around a few ideas: the Ancient gene, the Medicis, scoring drones. Carl is off to write the soon to be re-titled "Charlie" story. We spun it out just before we left and I'm very excited about this one. Carl has done some terrific work on Atlantis this year and this script will be crowning cherry on his freshman year. Speaking of having a good year on Atlantis - Martin Gero wrote my fave script of season 2 "Duet". Then there's Siege III, Lost Boys, Grace Under Pressure and, of course, The Powers That Be which is, without a doubt, the best SG-1 script he has written to date. Cough.
I'm off to make ice cream for a dinner party. I'm so inspired that I've decided to invest in a dedicated mini-freezer for my various flavors. I'll let you know how the dark chocolate marzipan turns out.
Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi has been on the SG-1 writing
staff since Season Four. Along with writing partner Paul Mullie, Joe has
written such fan favorite episodes as "Window of Opportunity," "Summit,"
and "Lockdown." Joe lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. 
Air Canada is very sad. :(
F-16s? Cool, these seasons are gonna rock! :D
Is your wife Japanese?
Sean, Cantonese is a dialect of Chinese.
Joseph, the irony comes through much more in your announcement that this is Martin's best SG-1 script than it did when he said the same thing. He left me wondering what other ones he might have done. The cough really helped.
hai, nihongo wa totemo muzukashi desu. Demo, honto ni omoshiroi desu ne. ganbatte!
Yeah, being a japanese major I know all about the crazy grammar. Good luck and have fun.
I am half Japanese and I don't even know the language. I can write and read but I don't understand any of it.
Also, do you have any favorite places and things to do in Vancouver? I'm from California and didn't know the best places to see when I visit Vancouver in July.
I hope the miles thing works out. Be careful of connecting flights through different airports. On the way back from Spain my husband and I got detained at customs because we had flown out of NY and into Miami. Scared spitless but otherwise unharmed. Good luck.
Cool beans. Can't wait for the new season of Stargate!
I didn't know the production team used actual planes...
Can I begin to express my horror at contaminating the wonder that is chocolate with.... marizpan?!?! *gasp* ;-) aiiiieeee! Just steer clear of the lobster ice cream for all our sakes.... (encountered on a trip to Maine, they grow 'em weird up there :p ).
A good friend of mine here in New Zealand has a home movie theatre set up - of course my first impulse was to throw some SG on, dive into it big screen style! Looking forward to more eps - particularly Martin G's stuff, having had so much fun with him at the GW dinner in Vancouver - it's fascinating to put what I see on screen together with the person I chatted with. Certainly makes me appreciate the episodes on a whole deeper level. :-)
ii nihongo wo hanashimasu!
I know how it is with Japanese. Being a Japanese major (and geology heh...) i had an easy time with first year japanese learning the basics. However once i got into second year level japanese it got somewhat more complicated (honorifics confuse the living daylights with me) and third year well...i stumbled my way through knowing i wouldnt need to learn anymore language (i'm on the cultural track). I think i had the hardest time with the kanji though...
This august when school starts up i'm learning Korean (my mom's side of the family is korean) which is going to be difficult on its own as well.
Stupid Air Canada! They suck.
I work beside where you were shooting on Wednesday - whatever you were doing looked very cool. And when the F16's took off today my windows shook. THAT was awesome.
Nicole K
canto wa motto musukashii da i hope you can get the accent right. i hear its harder than mandarin. i wish you could come to Anime Evolution again.
Hey dude! You need to write in more Vala! She rocks! But I would get rid of Dr. Lam. She's annoying if you ask me. Oh why oh why did Janet have to die?