Boston saw the first snow of the season yesterday, and I was out in it. Trying to catch snow on your tongue is more difficult than it looks, probably like trying to catch a baseball (stay under it!), which I was never any good at, either.

The trees lining the office park's driveway have been gorgeous this last week, providing a nice end to my commute. I hope it lasts a bit longer.

• The phrase travel prohibited in breakdown lane doesn't include an implied except for when it's raining.
• Even when it's raining and people going in a different direction haven't entered the intersection yet, a red light means stop.

From an executive producer of The West Wing, featuring a former Bond Girl and a cast member of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and based on one of my all-time favorite video games, it's Doom, finally.

So of course I went to see it. Even managed to drag along a couple of friends in the process, one of whom couldn't stop giggling at one of the in-jokes in the movie.

So, in a spoiler-free way, to sum it up:

• crazy/evil Martian life forms
• military squad stuck in a face-off against Martian life forms
• some members of military squad are on drugs
• awesomely bad
• unapologetically violent

Yep, it's a lot like Ghosts of Mars. And John Carpenter's done better stuff.

Anyway, so long as you don't go in expecting more of a story than you got from the game, it's kind of fun.

I've worn eyeglasses since I was a child. They help my eyes focus, which is handy at work, because I work at a computer for most of the day. Sometimes I wonder if they're also focusing radiation which is being emitted from the monitor, and slowly frying my brain. Then I think "that's crazy — why did I think of that?"

The Austin City Limits Festival was fun. I saw more bands perform live than I had during the entire year previous, I think, and all within three days. Alan also got me hooked on Katamari Damacy, which others describe as "the most screwed up game ever — in a good way". (Hmm, I wonder if I could dress up as the King of All Cosmos for Halloween. There's a costume shop in Arlington which has some pretty cool stuff, but I don't think they have that.)

The only downside to the whole trip is that I'm pretty much out of vacation for the year now, so no Great Roller Coaster Odyssey this year.