This morning I woke up to find this orange lightning bolt indicator on my laptop going nuts. My still half-asleep mind immediately began pondering its meaning:

Is my computer trying to summon the Flash? Does Freakazoid require my help battling Cybermen somewhere in the Internets? Did Windows download an automatic update that gives me advance thunderstorm warnings?!

Not really, of course -- it was pretty obvious that something was up with the battery -- which became even more apparent when the computer died as I went to check the connection to the adapter. So after I plugged it back in and lamented the loss of my Spider-Man and Transformers personality quiz results (I got Doc Ock and Trailbreaker, respectively), I turned the laptop back on -- whereupon Windows informed me that the battery was IRREVERSIBLY DECEASED (or something similarly distressing and in all capital letters). So yeah, my laptop battery is dead -- not that I ever used it all that much anyhow.

I'd still like to get a new one, though, if only so that I don't have this gaping hole in the bottom of the machine that oh-so-conveniently happens to include the area where one of the four rubber feet used to be and leaves the machine lightly balancing on three prongs. (Of course, I could rectify this problem by just leaving the dead battery in, but then I'd run the risk of the machine trying to eat my brAAAiNsssss. The constantly flashing thunderstorm warning was also pretty bloody annoying -- before I finally removed the blasted thing I took to covering it up with a package of chewing gum.) Unfortunately, in addition to costing $165.99, the only Dell battery available for my laptop has absolutely horrible reviews. Seriously, go look -- they're horrible. Shit, even the power adapter got horrible reviews. How do you even make a horrible power adapter? Seems like that should be a pretty straightforward product to me.

Ideally I'd buy a better third-party battery, except Dell doesn't recommend using any batteries other than Dell batteries. It doesn't necessarily mean that other batteries wouldn't work -- they probably would, and I wouldn't get one unless it mentioned my model anyway -- but it does mean that I couldn't bitch at Dell if it exploded in my face or something. Not that I'd necessarily be alive to bitch if it exploded in my face, but yeah. (Then again, if Nathan Petrelli can be at about ground zero when a WMD goes off and survive, who knows? 😛 ) There would also be the problem of the missing rubber foot, which I'm guessing only Dell batteries made for these laptop models have. There is absolutely no reason to have the goddamned rubber foot on the battery.

Dell is totally fucking with me.

Despite sincerely believing that I was satisfied with them before, I keep redoing the bases on the blasted Lego Daleks. Trying to decide which color I want is bad enough, but the base thing is really downright maddening. I mean, the one design (which is identical to the previous one from an outside perspective, but has been partially redone to increase sturdiness) is a bit blocky, which isn't ideal but is completely in keeping with the blockiness of the Lego Dalek body itself.

And then there's the all-new, sleeker base, which is appropriately less blocky but also leans towards the narrow side and largely fails to match the blockier aesthetic of the rest of the Lego Dalek. It's also roughly 50 cents cheaper -- at least before the addition of the extras -- which is a big plus in my book. Granted, the extras push it up another 80 cents, but since the other one can't support them it would be more economical to go with this one if I decided I could make due.

Read on...

So Transformers aren't the only toys I've been buying lately -- I've also been ordering the occasional Doctor Who figure from Who North America. I've had the 10th Doctor figure on the far right for a while, but the other Tenant and two Ecclestons are relatively recent acquisitions. I didn't really want all of them, mind you -- I would've been satisfied with just one Doctor -- but I ended up getting the other ones because Character Options just kept rereleasing and remaking Doctors. Bastards!

See, first I just wanted a Doctor -- any Doctor. Had the 9th Doctor been widely available at that point, I would've gotten him and called it a day -- but he wasn't, so I ended up with the trenchcoat-wearing 10th Doctor. But then they finally released the 9th Doctor figure, which up until that point had only been available in a limited-release "regeneration" two-pack and a fairly pricey remote-controlled Dalek battle set, on a single-card in the US. And while I intended to get that, I waited too long and Who NA sold out of it, so I hastily jumped on the concurrent US rerelease of the regeneration set in order to get a 9th Doctor. It left me with an extra Tennant -- which I certainly could've done without, considering that I really could've done without the first one -- but I was willing to put up with him for Eccleston. At the very least, given the decidedly darker outfit, I could use him in a sort of early Valeyard capacity.

Incidentally, a week and a half after I received the regeneration two-pack, Who NA received another shipment of the single-carded 9th Doctor figures. I scowled, but at least I had one now.

But looking at the picture of the regeneration figures, you might have noticed that while the 10th Doctor has a fair amount of articulation, the 9th Doctor is comparatively static. He's got shoulder movement, hinged elbows, a swiveling neck, and limited waist movement, but from the waist down he's a brick. Not ideal, but it was something I could live with... until, just a couple of weeks ago, Who NA received a shipment of another 9th Doctor figure -- this time with a heck of a lot more articulation. In fact, they pretty much stuck the head of the 9th Doctor onto the body of the regenerated 10th Doctor and threw in a couple of bicep swivels for good measure. And blast it, I had to get it.

So now I have two versions of both the 9th and 10th Doctors. And guess what else? Apparently starting in January 2008, Character Options will be releasing figures based on the classic "Doctor Who" series, including the fourth through sixth Doctors -- to say nothing of the upcoming "Torchwood" and "The Sarah Jane Adventures" merchandise. Suffice it to say that Who NA is pretty much guaranteed to get some of my business in the year to come! But luckily -- insofar as Character Options keeps rereleasing Daleks with stupid changes like missing slats and genetic handprints -- I won't be tempted to order the manifold Dalek variants as well.

In other news, I think I've finally perfected my Lego Dalek model (see previous versions here) -- or at least come as close as I'm going to get to it. I still haven't ordered the pieces to make one, namely because I've rightly assumed that I'd keep coming up with new improvements as I revisited the model over time. For example, in recent versions, I've embedded the eyestalk farther into the dome so it doesn't stick out quite so far and added some pieces to the front in order to improve the "slope" of the slats. I also completely redid the base so that it shows a lot fewer connecting pegs.

But by far, my favorite improvement is the use of hinged parts for the limb connectors, effectively giving the Dalek limited articulation. It also helps to fix the gun, as I'd been rather dissatisfied with the size and appearance of previous versions. I'm not all that keen on the new shade of grey -- the limited colors available for certain pieces in the Lego Digital Designer necessitated that I switch to a darker grey in order to pull it off (though, as you'll see, the piece is also available in red) -- and I'll likely switch the eye and the "ring" piece to white in keeping with the duller scheme of this Dalek, but that should do it... at least for this particular version.

Of course, there's also the problem of deciding which color scheme to order! The red one does look quite nice, but the darker grey one would be more in line with the Daleks' appearances in some of the classic black and white episodes. I definitely would've gone with the blue bumps before, but I don't think they quite work with the darker grey. Hmm.

Anyway, here are pictures of some of the other Lego Daleks that I've made -- holdovers from an old draft that I never posted.

I did this one for fun, but I'm totally tempted to order it too -- it's a special weapons Dalek as seen in "Remembrance of the Daleks". Same skirt design, but the torso and dome have been redone in keeping with the modified design of that Dalek. He's packing heavy-duty firepower.

This is the classic Dalek model that preceded the latest version. It has the redone base and the front slat changes, but I hadn't come up with the embedded eyestalk and new limb attachments yet. Actually, this was even before I decided to go with the classic torso rather than the newer one with the slats. I ultimately decided that even with the obvious simplifications to the design, the slat design just wasn't at all ideal for the Lego Daleks.

I was totally fooling around here -- I decided to make a Dalek with a McDonald's color scheme. I don't know what possessed me to do this, especially since I don't even particularly like McDonald's. In fact, every time that I've been there in the past few years has been way more frustrating than it needed to be, as it seems like roughly one in every four employees there speaks English now. (Incidentally, it was the same during my recent visit to Taco Bell -- which I found somewhat amusing since Taco Bell hardly qualifies as authentic Mexican food.) This means that at any given time there is only one English-speaking person handling all of the customers -- and since that person is almost always a manager, that person is frequently making trips to the back of the restaurant to deal with whatever happens back there as well.

That said, if Daleks came with Happy Meals, I'd be at McDonald's every other evening. Yo quiero Mickey-D's! 😀

Anyway, that's all for now! Next time (or not, but definitely at some point), I'll discuss my thoughts on television this season and whatnot. Until then, suffice it to say that I am not at all disappointed by the fact that the WGA strike has resulted in a truncated "Heroes" season! That show is sucking hardcore these days.

For some reason I was under the impression that the free taco giveaway at Taco Bell took place during the first week of November, but apparently it was on Tuesday, October 30. Not that that's particularly important -- I only mention it because if I'd realized that earlier I would've written about it first rather than Halloween. 🙂 Read on...

So I haven't posted since before Halloween -- here's hoping y'all had a happy one. Nothing much to report on my end, but my Halloween "costume" is pictured behind the cut. It's not so much a costume as me not cutting my hair or shaving and simply popping on a hat that came with a bottle of coconut rum, but yeah.

If all bottles of rum came with hats, rum would be my new drink of choice! As it is, I've been drinking tequila lately -- namely because in the aftermath of Halloween I picked up some discounted "skin and bones" (or some similar-sounding themed title; it is so named because it is a diet mixer) margarita mix. But while I use the term "drinking" loosely because I tend to have maybe one or two drinks a week -- if that! -- I have been overdosing on sugary sweetness since the night of October 31. I finished off the last of my candy stash today, though, and quite frankly I'm glad to be rid of it. I got sick of those caramel Reese's peanut butter cups roughly two days after I bought them -- caramel and chocolate and sweetened peanut butter is pretty much overkill. Remind me never to get those things again. 😛

I have more to write, but I think I'll go ahead and include it in another post for no significant reason at all. This is the 777th blog entry (at least according to the internal count), btw. 🙂