Post-Christmas bliss

Well, after a few issues with Amazon/UPS getting me my Christmas gift, it finally arrived yesterday (just a few days later than they originally estimated, and an entirely separate order). Despite the fact that it was late, I have to give major props to Amazon. When I realized that it was overdue, I emailed their customer support on Saturday night. Monday morning, I got a reply stating that they were next-daying a second instance of my order. I had no expectations that the 'next day' would mean Christmas day, so I was expecting it to arrive on Wednesday. Lo and behold, around 3 in the afternoon there it was.

So, now I have a pretty 80 GB second-gen Zune on my desk, right next to the keyboard. I've been playing with its features, and even downloaded a video converter so I could convert some of my backlogged anime into a Zune compatible format. Well, my first attempt was using the native WMV format, and I'm less than pleased by the preliminary results (I've yet to watch a full episode, but the ten minutes I did watch kind of froze near the end). Tonight I think I'll convert them into the other supported format of DIVX and see what happens with that.

My other Christmas gifts involve the latest version of Blade Runner, a couple of pairs of pajamas and a few other odds an ends.

Plus, I'll soon be getting a glass front cabinet in which I can store a portion of my geek stuff. We're still not certain if that'll go in the living room proper or in the foyer, but I'll be happy to have my SW Legos and Unleashed figures out for viewing again.

The other news of note is that I bought Darth Bane: Rule of Two last night. I started it before I began playing with my Zune and am thrilled with what I've read so far. Expect a review once I get it read twice. Speaking of reviews, I'm also almost done with my second reading of Hal Spacejock: Second Course which means that its review will soon be begun.

Finally, I'll be going to see Alien versus Predator: Requiem tonight with the Mandalorians (the SW Fan group located here in the Jackson metro area). Expect a review of that either sometime Friday or maybe Saturday.