This month I was actually pretty well on top of the whole blog writing thing. My review of Okami got pushed way back, but this post was done a couple of days ahead of time, allowing me to prepare some other stuff for this month's issue. Hopefully this will continue to be the case in the future.

Almost all the steel destined to go into the ceiling of Building 8 is done. The only parts that are not done are those blocked off by the existing structure inside the building. Most of what is now the Building 8 office will have to be demolished in order to gain access to these areas. Demolition of those areas is not likely to be very fun unless I can convince the Building 8 bigwigs to let me drive the backhoe or excavator during the demolition. I'm really crossing my fingers for the excavator. However, that is still a long ways off, so we shall see. We'll burn that bridge when we cross it. Anyway, I updated the Building 8 photo album, and started adding a bunch of pictures of non-steel stuff. Check it out here, on Google Picasa.

Also shown in the new photos in the album are some footings that have been dug out. A footing is a rebar cage, poured in concrete in the ground tying the building together underground. When this building was built, the columns were set in concrete almost a dozen feet deep, but the floor was poured in slabs with no rebar, and nothing joining the columns together along the ground. To update the building to modern structural code, we have to sawcut through the concrete and rip out huge sections between the columns, place a giant rebar cage 50 feet long connecting the columns. Once that is in place, new columns are suspended over the trench and concrete is poured, sealing in the rebar and supporting the new columns. I don't have pictures documenting the whole process, so I doodled a diagram for you to look at. Click here to see it.

This month I was allowed a trip to my family's home in Mississippi. It was kind of busy at first since the college my mom works for (which I used to attend) was having it's graduation while I was there. I ended up getting swept into the festivities since my mom needed help with a few things and several of my friends were graduating. I ended up wearing a suit (there is no proof of this) and going to a nice restaurant with the family of one of my friends. Now when I say nice, I mean my steak was $38, and the topping was another $8. Probably the meal altogether was about $70-80, not including the tip. It was easily the most amazing steak I'd ever had, and it was fortunately on someone else's tab.

After the graduation stuff was over, I spent the remaining time in Jackson just hanging out with my old college friends who were still stuck in town. I finally finished reading the complete Marvel Civil War with all the tie-ins, along with Cable and Deadpool and the introductory volumes of the Young Avengers. I highly recommend the Cable and Deadpool collection since it is awsome like you wouldn't believe, and for anyone whose interest was caught by the secret scene after the credits of Ironman, you should read the Marvel Civil War, since that is obviously what the Marvel movies are trying to build up to. Also, it kind of changes things in the Marvel universe, so just to know what's going on you might want to read it. Young Avengers is pretty good, but fairly standard as far as superhero stuff goes.

Overall my visit home was too short, but I had good fun anyway. I hope to go back soon, but travel is a bit expensive for that. Oh, well. At least I finally have my Akira comic book collection with me.

I saw a bunch of really good movies recently. I saw Ironman in the theater the Saturday after it came out. It was really good, and I look forward to the Incredible Hulk later this year. I also saw Shoot 'Em Up, which was hilarious. I absolutely loved this movie, but most of my friends were not as impressed. I think they suffered from the illusion that this might actually be a serious action movie. No. This was just crazy. It was so over the top that I could hardly stop laughing the entire time. The things the main character did were so ridiculous. A couple of good examples of what this movie was all about would be 1) the scene in which the main character guns down dozens of men in a gun warehouse using machine guns on strings operated from the security room, while aiming via the security cameras, and 2) the scene in which the main character jumps out of a plane to escape and a dozen paratroopers jump after him armed with machine guns and they shoot it out in the air while falling. It gets even crazier than that, but you should have an idea of what it's about by now.

You probably guessed this already, but the movie that impressed me the most was No Country for Old Men. This movie just blew me away with it's quiet power. I can't even describe it. I can only say that by the end of that movie I was left dumbfounded. Flabbergasted. Speechless. It was just incredible. I think this may be the best movie I have ever seen. I can't think of a single movie that even compares. Not one. It's just... wow.

Speaking of the best ever, I just discovered what is probably the best chewing gum ever. Stride Always Mandarin gum. This is Stride's newest flavor, and it is great. Previously my favorite gum was Stride Spearmint, and I would always keep a pack of it around to stave off the munchies. I started this habit in college when I figured out that it's probably healthier to chew some gum than eat a meal's worth of snacks and sit in front of my computer for hours. Anyway, Always Mandarin has ousted Spearmint, and now I chew it almost every time I log on. The flavor, as you might have guessed is orange. It's a little sweeter and less tart than a normal orange gum or candy, and it has a slightly minty taste to it as well. Though that sounds like it wouldn't be so great, it actually blends nicely. The result is an awsome orange taste and minty fresh breath. What's not to love?

So ends another monthly edition of The Awsome Blog. If you have any questions about me or my work at Building 8, please email me or post a comment. Also, if you have any photo requests, ask and ye shall receive. Now, before you ask, I'm not yet good enough to be doing art requests. Sorry, that will be quite a ways off. As always, I'd love to hear from you just to say hi, so post a comment, send me an email or gimme a call anytime. Until next month, I'm signing off.

-Mark 'The Sock Ninja'

Oh, and one more thing: If anyone you know is interested in the Building 8 MCC Project, you are welcome to point them here. I'm all for free advertising, so yeah, come one, come all.