Frank Caico's Blog

Well, Alex's "Nerdfest" bachelor party was a big success this weekend.  The goal was to provide Alex with a weekend's worth of wholesome geek fun.

Among the nerdy and geekful milestones acheived this weekend:

• WizardWorld convention tickets purchased over the internet while at a Thruway rest stop
• Successfully got a Nintendo Wii working and playable in an automobile with no previous multimedia capabilities
• Attended WizardWorld's Philadelphia comic book convention
• Got Multiple autographs from and photographs with Heroes' Hayden Panettiere
• Used a wireless router in our hotel room in order to bypass the "two computers per hotel room" limitation imposed by our hotel
• Had a 4 node Duke Nukem 3D deathmatch in our network enabled hotel room while at the same time running a Wii AND watching a bootleg DVD of deleted scenes from the Star Wars movies
• Overclocked all manner of devices including, but not limited to the window of our hotel room

Pictures will be posted soon.

Due to an unexpected illness (are they ever really expected?), a friend of mine has an extra ticket to see "The Underpants" at Geva tonight.   He asked if I'd like the ticket, so I'm taking him up on it.  Sounds like it'll be fun!

Christmas at the Compound

Well everyone, here it is. Much later than I promised, but what can I say? I was very busy the last few weeks.

Of the three shots I took, this was the best. Everyone looks pretty natural (yes, that IS what Jerome really looks like) so this is the one you get!

Cheers, and look forward to seeing you all again soon!

This was indeed a great weekend of unseasonably warm weather for Rochester.  I spent a good deal of time in my workshop working on my latest project:  A krenov style Wooden Hand Plane.  Its coming along real well and I suspect I will finish the woodworking this week (if the weather report is correct).  Its a real cool project that has forced me to learn some new techniques.  The book I am using as a guide (Making and Mastering Wood Planes) is pretty amazing.  It goes into great detail on each and every step and really keeps your confidence up as it documents the possible pitfalls involved.

Mike had his annual X-Mas party this weekend. Good fun was had by all!  We even got to experience some actual Myrrh!  For those of you interested;

Myrrh is currently used in some liniments, healing salves that may be applied to abrasions and other minor skin ailments. It is also used in the production of Fernet Branca.

Look for the holiday group shot pictures to be posted within the next day or two.

Of course nobody's watching lost.  It won't reappear on network television until February!!!  In the meantime though, you have to check out this video's hilarious parody of a couple of serious Lost fans:

So I've been doing Physical Therapy for the tear in my right arm's biceps tendon and the tendonitis I got in my left arm (probably as a result of above said tear). They seem to be getting better, but its only been a week so I'm trying to be conservatively optimistic.

The end of the year is coming up pretty fast. I can't beleive its almost 2007! Time just seems to be accelerating. Hopefully this affect applies to winter too and not just the good times/weather.

Angela and I went to Art and Jess' games night this last weekend. I had a real good time - it was nice to just not worry about anything for a few hours. It gets harder and harder for me to just relax and not think of any and every thing that is going or could go wrong. I now understand why it always looked like the weight of the world was on my Dad's shoulders. I assume this would only be worse with an entire family depending on me.

Current CD:
Current DVD:
Current Book(s):
Currently Wishing for:

Fred (My boss) has been judged a finalist in a national photography contest sponsored by Canon Inc.   Here's the image he got in for:

If he wins, he gets a Canon Rebel XTI!   You can find a link to the competition where you can vote for his photo here.  Regardless of whether he wins or not, if you vote you could win!  Please don't try and vote multiple times as cheating could get him disqualified, but please do vote!  It would be great to see Fred take this thing.

I thank you, and Fred thanks you!

Had a nice relaxing weekend (all too short, as usual).  I finally got around to doing some much needed chores.  I also managed to do a little bit of woodworking.  Last week I put the final coats of polyeurethane on my Mitre Saw station, and on Saturday I took some photos of it.

Mitre Saw Station

I even got to use it on Saturday to make some picture frame moulding out of spalted cherry.  Its going to make a great addition to my shop.

Saw a few movies this weekend:
Friday I saw For Your Consideration.  I didn't think it was very good.  There were some funny moments, but all-in-all its kind of the same schtick that Christopher Guest and his gang have been doing reformed and revised yet again.  I think I could probably miss their next movie if its going to be more of the same. 

On Saturday we saw Borat, which unless you've been living under a rock you have already seen it or heard much about it.  I think this has to be the funniest movie I've seen in a very long time.  The hotel room scene had me howling. I can only imagine what kind of law suits this movie is generating for.  Purportedly, the police were called on Sacha Baron Cohen 91 times during the production of this film.

Sunday I saw Babel. This is the latest movie directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga.  Their previous works include 21 grams and Amores Perros.  The acting was quite good, and the characters were well-developed and sympathetic but the narrative didn't feel satisfying in the end.  It certainly seemed like it could have been edited down to much less than the current running 2 hours 26 minutes.  I'd say I liked it more than 21 grams, but less than Amores Perros.

Saturday, Angela, John and I went to The Black Pearl Cafe (used to be Dickies) to see what their food was like.  Pretty underwhelming.  I don't think I'm going to try their food again until business picks up (if it ever does).   We had originally tried to eat at Red Robin, a new gourmet burger chain that has come to Rochester. The 40 minute wait time scared us off.  Let me know if you have a burger there - I am curious to see if their burgers are worth the $10-$12 they are asking.

When Danny DeVito appeared drunk on The View this week, he was roundly criticized for it.  I believe Barabara Walters was angry enough that she demanded an apology from Mr. DeVito.   Apparently Danny was out partying all night with George Clooney (who had appeared on The Daily Show earlier that day).    I'm not sure why this is such a big issue for people (though he did criticize The President - and quite humorously I might add), but it certainly seems a bit overblown.   I thought he was personnable and amusing.  I certainly don't think he was being overly inappropriate considering the gravitas (or lack therof) of a show like The View.  Keith Olbermann had much to say on the subject.  He seems to think that much of the criticism aimed at Mr. DeVito is partisan.  You decide (I happen to agree).

As Christmas approaches, its getting to be the time of year when I start planning my New Years Eve party.  I was actually considering having a Festivus party this year. There would be the aluminum pole, the airing of the grievances, and everyone's favorite; the feats of strength.  What do you think?

I just saw this comic on pVp. 

I forgot about the whole amnesia-kiss thing from Superman 2. Interestingly enough, it seems that one can only interpret that plot element (and what it means for Superman Returns) in 2 ways: 

1. Lois Lane really didn't lose her memory, and was faking the whole thing to avoid any awkward situations with Clark in the office.
2. Lois Lane is a complete whore and didn't even know that the kid was Clark's.

So Lois Lane is a tramp and Superman isn't a terrific person either.  Maybe they do belong together.

Idunno, to be honest, I found the new Superman movie to be pretty underwhelming (if not downright bad).  

"Fort Lauderdale; The Weakest Fort in the Country"
- Demetri Martin

Even if the name isn't familiar, you've probably seen New York-based comedian Demetri Martin on The Daily Show.  He has an ongoing bit on that show called "Trendspotting.

Well, Demetri seems to have been payed by Bill Gates to do some viral advertising.  Its quite bizarre and pretty amusing.   Check it out!

Tell me there isn't a startling similarity!  Angela found this tea and showed it to me, she didn't even have to tell me who she thought it looked like before I noticed the remarkable likeness. 

Probably the last game I'll play on my Playstation 2, Final Fantasy sure is a good one.  I just started playing it but so far I'm finding the story as engaging as the one in Final Fantasy X (albiet a little less "personal" - more political) and the look and feel of the game certainly tops its predecessor.

One of the things I hate about Role Playing games is how group combat is tiring and time-consuming.  They added a pretty slick combat interface that allows you to almost completely automate combat.  How much you can automate combat increases as the game progresses (which is pretty cool since thats usually when you get more and more bored with it).

I may get a Playstation 3 when they come out just to play future Final Fantasy games (unless they are released for Xbox 360).  It will be interesting to see how Square Enix takes advantage of the new hardware platforms to make these games even better...

I hope everyone has a happy Holloween this year. It looks like the weather is going to cooperate nicely! Its warmer today than its been in weeks. Just to get you in the mood, here is a great collection of Holloween themed photos courtesy of my good friend Thomas Hawk.

Now if I can just remember to get some trick-or-treat candy for the lil' tykes before I get home...

After a long absence, Woody Dodge finally came out of hiding Saturday of this weekend. In an act of defiance against the beleaguered Bush administration, the vigilante rock band once again defied judicial edict and played for a standing room only crowd this last Saturday at Monty's Krown.

While Red Cross staff was on hand, the evening went without incident and no major injuries were reported.

Click here to see photos from the event.

Egg Loft 2006

My pictures from the 2006 edition of Egg Loft are available for viewing! on my flickr account. Enjoy!

Oh my god this is funny.

Dave Youngerman pointed this site out to me (and he got it from Tom Tomorrow's blog This Modern World. Basically it is a catalog of comic book covers of the various Superman titles showing just how much of a dick Superman really is.

As Tom Tomorrow put it: Time, Prepare to be wasted!

Super Dickery