Here we are in April now. My plan of doing these things every two weeks at least rather than once a month is failing miserably.
Work Travel
Not one, but two work trips over the past few weeks.
Philadelphia, PA
I spent the second week of March up in Philadelphia along with my primary team at work to hang out and focus on an upcoming project. My employer has a house in center city that was just big enough, and available, so we stayed there.
Not too many excursions but we were fortunate enough to have one of the consultants we work with take us all out for a Philadelphia Union game. The night was frigid, but everyone still had a good time.
I'll be headed back to Philly in another few weeks for our departmental gathering.
Houston, TX
We typically have a few leadership conferences every year. Houston, TX was the location for this one. I haven't been to Houston since I was a kid so practically none of it was recognizable to me other than the heat and humidity.
These conferences entail getting to know other leaders in the business and learning more about being effective leaders and living our best lives.
We also get great guest speakers. This time we got a Q&A with Gary Vaynerchuk who's built quite the empire over the years. Then ended things with a private, hilarious, performance from comedian John Mulaney.
Why do I get to go to these? It's primarily because it's my fifteenth year with the company and I'm one of two Principal Developers who help guide our technology efforts.
Movies
- JUNG_E seems like would be more of an action movie, but it's got a bit more going on with it. Drags a bit in parts, but decent flick. Somewhat about cloning that's somewhat more comparable to how actors can get digitally added to films today. Imagine a future where a clone is programmed to follow the owner's commands. This film gets into how messed up that could end up being.
- Scream VI was fun. I didn't see the previous two Scream films but I don't think that hurt my enjoyment of this one very much. Seems like there may have been a setup for another film but feels like they are stretching things a bit thin.
- The School for Good and Evil is one of those films based on a long book where they tried to shove the entire thing into a few hours. I could feel some storylines just super rushed or just hinted at. Didn't read the book, so I can't say exactly what, but the book is on my reading list.
- Creed III was fine.
- The Big 4 has some nice action scenes in it.
- John Wick: Chapter 4 is wall-to-wall action with just enough of a story to string them all together. Truly spectacular action scenes.
Reelhouse Foundation Films
March is Women's History Month. To celebrate, all the films are directed by women!
- Tank Girl (1995), directed by Rachel Talalay, is a pretty fun, quirky film. I think it starts off awesome, but feels like it could have been a bit shorter.
- Strange Days (1995), directed by future Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow, is a really good film that starts a number of future stars like Ray Fiennes and Angela Bassett. A great early example of Bigelow's skill at crafting action scenes.
- Slumber Party Massacre (1982), directed by Amy Holden Jones, is a cookie-cutter slasher film that's got everything you'd expect from an early 80's horror flick, except the killer is pretty dumb. There was a franchise of these films that followed including a remake from a year or so ago, so gotta give Jones credit for creating a franchise, as well.
Beyond the Sun Board Game
We enjoyed this one enough that I'm positive we'll be playing it again. The goal is colonization and advancement of your civilization beyond the solar system.
Our first game showed us that there are a number of ways to win the game and I'm not sure if winning entails keeping a fine balance of things or going all out in one area. Fun game!
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