dreams, bones, dremel, snow, cat

Had some funky dreams recently...

1. I was on vacation with my parents and had stayed up much later than they did. I noticed a bump on my fingertip that, when I squeezed it, released a spray of clear fluid and a huge chunk of what I first thought was nerve tissue but later decided was kelp. Another bump shot out a lump of tissue that must have taken up a sizable amount of matter within my finger, but like the kelp, didn't impact the size, shape, or mass at all. My dad walked past to go out and walk the dog - he asked if anything was wrong. It didn't hunt other than the initial pinch and it was too weird otherwise, so I just told him "no" and he went on his way.

2. I also dreamed that I was at a family reunion held in the stockrooms of a mall. We got locked in by some kidnappers and a few of us began to plot an escape plan that involved me faking a heart-attack. The idea was that I would be released to go to the hospital and I'd catch the kidnappers by surprise and attack - while also providing a distraction for the rest of my family to attack as well. While getting ready, my great-grandmother and were talking she wished she could be the one to fake the attack and go out and fight back. I joked that I wished I had my swords with me and that we could both go after them. She was really excited about that notion and gave me a big hug.

In other news... I started watching the series "Bones" on DVD at the recommendation of my sister and brother-in-law. Really good show - well written and a lot of fun. I especially like the main character of Bones with her almost super-human power of observation over a very narrow spectrum of the universe. Her phrase "I don't know what that means", delivered so matter-of-factly on the most mundane of topics, is a simple and powerful step inside her character. She is so amazing good at her job, but at a cost that for now, she's seems willing to pay. Only saw two episodes last night, but I'm planning on watching more soon.

And with my hand healed up, I fired up the dremel again yesterday. Made some more progress on the swords, but got tired of the noise. I've got another project in mind as well for today - if I've got the materials.

Oh, and I shoveled some snow off the drive way. the landlord is supposed to do that - along with cutting the grass in the summertime. Neither of those happen as frequently as we would like.

Finally, I noticed some odd animal tracks yesterday. Not an odd animal, I think it was a cat, but odd in placement. The tracks started with four together right outside the middle of the garage door. There was another set near the edge that lead in the garage. So, based on the placement and the timing, I think we had a cat in the garage overnight. While I don't really mind giving a bit of shelter to an animal, even inadvertently, I don't think I'd like them to make the transition from garage to apartment. So, I'll need to be a bit more vigilant, at least for the rest of the winter.

that's it for now...

walk, hand, invasion, sleep

After a weekend filled with video games, I decided to go for a walk on Sunday evening. I headed one way down my street and made a big loop around a bunch of side streets. Then headed back up the other way towards a main road and our local Target store - which also has a starbucks. I managed to keep my shoes clean right up until I took a slight shortcut to get into the parking lot. Fortunately, there was snow piled up along the side of the lot and I got most of the mud off my shoes on that before heading into the store. I got my Carmel Apple Cider and headed back home.

My hand is doing much better today - which is good since I plan on swimming and the band-aid wouldn't be sufficient. Still feel kinda stupid about it, but at least I learned a lesson.

Watched the movie Invasion last night - disappointing. The science was cool, the effects were good and the acting wasn't bad - but the story was weak and the ending was lame. Invasion of the Body Snatchers was far better - though it was nice to see Veronica Cartwright have a role in the new version.

Had trouble falling asleep last night and was a little late this morning. Work is fairly quiet today - looking forward to my swim and a reasonable day.

later...

swim, dremel, meeting, dinner, retire

On Friday, the pool was closed again for a meet - and I headed to the rec center. I was in the narrow lane for a while, but then switched over and really poured it on. I ended up doing 45 laps - 1.25 miles - which is not too bad. The student assistants that work for me were impressed, but they might have just been saying that.

As I sit here on a Saturday afternoon, I'm bleeding a bit. See, I decided to work on my swords today - the wooden one and the Plexiglas one - and I had a little accident earlier. Things were going along just fine, though the dremel bit was getting clogged up by hot plexiglas and was melting it a bit as it cut. Then it slipped out of my hand, twisted around, and skited across my palm before I managed to drop the damn thing. I shut it off and looked at my hand...

I had dremeled myself.

It was bleeding a bit, but I managed to get my tools straighted up and get my self to the bathroom before I bled on anything.
A lot of water, a little neosporin, and a big ass band-aid and I'm all doctored up. I think this is a sign that I should halt my projects for the day and get back to computer games.

We had a division wide meeting earlier this week - and it wasn't too bad. Lunch was provided and we got nice dress shirts for being the best IT team in the region - which is pretty cool. The reports that the directors presented were kinda on the dull side, but at least there were cookies.

On Friday, before I headed out, I stopped off at a retirement party for one of my colleagues. Got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while and got invited out to dinner with some co-workers.

A quick haircut and a stop at Target and I was headed out to dinner. We mostly chatted about work, but it was still interesting and fun. The food was pretty good and the server was funny. All in all, a good time.

Guess that's it for now, I don't want to pull the band-aid loose.

Later...

weekend, sofa, table, game, snow, hourglass

I went to visit my sister, brother-in-law, and my parents over the weekend for my sister's early birthday. My sister fixed a really good lunch, then we did a little shopping, then headed to dinner. The food was good there, but the server seemed a little distracted. We had to keep reminding him of things.

My sofa got delivered on Friday - its a little firmer than the one in the store - less butt-traffic I suspect. It looks great in the living room.

I also bought a small table/TV stand for the computer room. I assembled it last night and today I put the scanner and power strips on it. It tidies things up a bit, but it makes the upper part of the corner look bare. I've got some ideas, but some of those will need to wait until spring.

I got a demo of a game called "the Witcher" on a cd - but when it completed the install it automatically uninstalled itself. Umm... thoughtful?

It's been snowing all day and the campus closed early at 12:30. I went in at 6:30 this morning and was caught up at 12:15 when my boss gave the all clear for us to go when we were ready. So, I headed out and went home and did a little work online. I later saw a somewhat snide comment from one of the other bosses directed to the whole staff about "work ethic" and those that left early. Considering work has been making me cranky for a couple weeks solid now, this did nothing to improve my mood. I'm still a little torqued about it, but I'll get over it. And I'm still working on a couple of projects from here - though I'm really not enjoying it.

In other news... I bought myself an hourglass (or rather, a 1/2 hourglass) and it came in over the weekend. The sand is red and my room-mate keeps making flying monkey comments - but I think it's cool.

Well, I think I'm going to do a little more work and then wrap this up and play some video games - or maybe hit the elliptical first for a bit. Maybe being a bit more tired will improve my mood.

later...

swimming rant

So, to set the stage. There were no signs on the doors and no clear indication on the website that the pool was, indeed, closed. I got there and checked in, then asked if the pool was still open for lap swimming since there were a lot of high school kids around. The answer was no, but that I could go over to the rec center and swim even though I don't have a membership there.

Back out into the cold and over to the rec center. It takes me a minute or so to figure out where to check in, then I ask for clarification and directions to get to the locker room and pool. The directions aren't clear, but I get there anyway. Changed into my suit and then tried to find the exit to the pool. I wandered around for several minutes, looking like an idiot, until I finally found an unmarked hallway leading to an unmarked door that looked like a utility closet - and that turned out to be the exit to the pool. The rec center has only two lanes for lap swimming - and one was already taken. I asked the lifeguard the distance of the lanes and she replied with a sigh of disgust - "25". Which wasn't very helpful in that it could have been 25 meters or 25 yards - and that makes a difference when one is planning on swimming a mile.

I decided to do 36 laps - which is either just enough or slightly more than I needed to do to get my distance. I got in the pool and discovered another issue - the lanes were narrow. Very narrow. I'd guess about 3/4 as wide or less than I'm used to. The first few laps I was pretty much hitting the wall with either hands or feet (or both) on each stroke until I finally got my stroke modified. Still felt like I was swimming in a spaghetti box.

I also pushed off from the wall at one end and realized just how shallow it was. I scraped my nose and my chest on the bottom of the pool. I compensated for that as well, but it was still irksome.

When I was finally done, I got out, got a shower, got dressed, and got the hell out of there.

So, I got in my swim. Mostly uninjured. And at an indeterminate distance. I'll be glad when the ONAT is open again.

sofa, site, swim stuff, work site

The living room futon has seen better days and since a local furniture store was having a store closing liquidation - my room-mate and I decided to buy a new sofa. Took us a long time with all the testing - seated, slouching, and nap simulation - before we found one we could both agree on. It should be here Friday.

Worked on my personal website:

http://gozips.uakron.edu/~aws

and made some changes. I think it turned out pretty cool.

Stopped at Dick's sporting goods got a kickboard, leg float and some new trunks. My left knee is bothering me a bit, I think I need to focus more on the upper body workout for a while.

Did a little "work" work this evening - and made a site in about 25 minutes. It was fairly complex too - and had an impossible deadline. Should be ready for review and launch tomorrow. I was quite pleased with myself - but also a little irked that I keep having to work from home to meet deadlines.

That's about it for now. later...

party, basketball, swim, work, super bowl, game

Went out to dinner yesterday with a bunch of friends for a birthday party - the restaurant was called Bricco and it was by far the most trendy place I have ever been to. The conversation was great and the food was pretty good. And the dessert? Weapons grade cheesecake. Damn. It was really, really good. The person sitting next to me didn't finish theirs - and I could not allow such ambrosia to go to waste. Yes, it was really that good.

Yesterday morning I went to my FRM's son't basketball game. And for a 5 year old? He's got skills. On two occasions, he stole the ball and ran it down the court, and then made a basket. He was on fire. The funniest part of the whole game was when he had the ball as the ref started counting down the seconds to the half. At "one", the little dude turned threw the ball as hard as he could at the basket at the far end of the court. He was looking for the "buzzer-beater" but of course the ball didn't get much past mid-court. I laughed my ass off - it was really cool.

I was there at the invite of FRM's mother and former girlfriend - the basketball player's mom. FRM showed up, but didn't sit with us as he is still not talking to his mom. Or his other two sons, apparently. Sad - but also a little funny because it's so ridiculous.

Swam last week - did a mile on Friday. The pool was configured differently so it was 32 laps to the mile - making each lap just a little further than I'm used to. I was tired when done, but it was a good swim.

Work has been crazy busy - busy, busy, busy. And the toughest part is that no one is listening to me. Seriously. People keep coming up with all these plans and the come to me and I politely explain how everything they are doing will make things so much worse. And they just as politely tell me they are doing it their way anyway. Irksome.

I think the super bowl is on now - but I really think I'd rather blog than watch it. It's just so... ordinary. So much endless hype and so little substance. It's one think to watch the game in person and feel the excitement of the crowds, but on TV it seems kinda bland.

I've been playing a game called Dragon Quest 8 - standard RPG fare. Pretty good though and fun. The dialog is a little silly and so are the monsters, but I'm still enjoying. It's been a pretty quiet day today - mostly laundry and video games. Guess that's it for now...

lighting, game vs. work, elliptical

My room-mate decided he wanted to put in some dimmer switches on the dining room and upstairs bathroom lights. He was off yesterday and went to Lowe's to buy the dimmer switches and was working on the dinning room when I got home. He had trouble removing the old switch and accidentally broke off the wires in the switch - so, we really needed to get the new one installed and were running out of daylight.

I started helping and we read the instructions and tried several combinations. Either the dimmer didn't work, we got nothing, or the wires in the switch started to heat up and glow. I'm not an expert on this, but I'm pretty sure that's a problem.

Finally, about to give up, we looked at the packaging and realized that he had bought two different types of switches - and we were using the wrong type for the set up we had. So, we opened up the other switch, installed it according to the directions, and it worked perfectly.

A variety of lessons learned with that task. Mainly that I need to do a little more research on electrical wiring and perhaps review some first-aid training. Just in case...

I tried to get Overlord to play again last night - still no good. I was, however, able to install an old copy of dreamweaver so that I could do some work at home. Now, that's just wrong. I can't play games, but I can work? At home? Seems really unfair. I blame Vista.

I used the elliptical last night - first time since it had been fixed. Worked fine, though it seemed a little wobbly. I'll need to look into that I guess.

Anyway, that's it for now. Back to work and finally back to the pool today after my jury duty.

later...

swords, gift card, book, rap music, work, elliptical

With the long weekend upon me - I decided to be a little productive. So, I headed to Lowe's to get some materials to make a couple of swords. Granted, not the most usual of things to do - but I got a sword rack for Christmas and I don't have enough swords to fill it. The rack is hanging in the computer room and it really needs something. In two words... more swords.

The first is going to be carved out of wood and will mimic the sword used by the Darkstalker hunter Donovan Baine - a sword called: Dhylec. It's got a strangely curved end and an open mouth in the side of the blade - with teeth. Should be fun to do.

The second is going to be made of Plexiglas - several sheets layered together and shaped like a lighting bolt. I've made more progress on this one up to this point - the wooden one had some knot-flaws at a critical area. So, I looked around for my wood filler and couldn't find it - prompting my second trip of the day to the day.

A previous purchase of a washer and dryer netted me a couple of gift cards for Lowe's and I used part of one for my lumber purchase. I intended to use it again to get the wood filler, but ran into a problem.

At the checkout - the card wouldn't scan. And the clerk had trouble punching in the numbers. A lot of trouble. She tried several times and kept getting it wrong. The line behind me kept getting longer and she kept getting more frustrated. So, I bailed her out and offered to pay cash. She was apologetic, but I think grateful as well.

In other news... I finished up a Clive Barker book - Mister B. Gone. It didn't get good reviews as his previous works have done, but I think a large part of that was the first-person style in which it was told. Kind of a strange book, but I liked it - especially the end where the tone shifted a bit to his more fundamentally odd style.

I've also been listening to some music - Sara Barellis, Rilo Kiley, and a little Mary J. Blige. The first two are really excellent - though a little short - but the third is a little difficult to listen to. Not because I don't like MJB - because I do - but because of the occasional bit of rap music added in there. I'm not a fan of rap music, but I can usually tune it out and it doesn't ruin the song. After the jury duty - where some amateur violent gangster rap was introduced as evidence - I'm having more trouble tuning it out. I guess I'm a bit more sensitized to it and I find I like it less and less. I suspect that will fade and it will go back to being just 'music I don't like' - but for now, I've got the remote in hand and I'm skipping some songs.

I've got a bit of work to do today - still trying to get caught up. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, but it should be done.

Finally, since I'm off today, the repairman for the elliptical trainer is coming today. I'm hoping it's and easy fix and we can get that up and running. With me not having access to the pool last week or today - and the elliptical being down - I haven't got a lot of exercise recently.

That's about it for now. I think I'll play a bit of portal and then work on the sword until the repair dude arrives.

later...

basketball

I don't usually use names in my blog to protect the guilty and the innocent in my adventures - so, this post will be a little confusing since it involves a lot of people.

My former room-mate's (FRM) mom called me up last week and invited me to her grandson's basketball game. This is the 3rd child of my FRM - a 5-6 year old boy who takes after his dad in basketball and his mom - (the FRM's former girlfriend that I knew from that time and got along with pretty well) in everything else.

FRM's mom and I became pretty good friends while her son and I were living together and despite the falling out I had with him, she and I are still pretty close. So, it sounded like fun to me and I agreed to go.

This morning, I got to the location early - early enough that I was sitting by myself and starting to get the "creepy old man" vibes going. Then, I saw my FRM's second oldest child (from a long ago marriage that ended badly) arrive - and almost didn't recognise him. It had been along time since I'd seen him and he was now in college and slightly taller than me. Which felt damn odd.

I got a big hug from him and we sat down to wait and talked a little about what we were doing and about his dad and the falling out they had. In a few minutes, FRM arrived with his pregnant wife and the little basketball player. FRM came up to talk to me and said hello to his son - but it was little forced.

Just before the game was going to start, FRM's mom and grandmother arrived - along with his former girlfriend (the basketball player's mom), her mom, and her brother. The only people missing in this tableau were FRM's first wife (who had no connection to the basketball player) and FRM's oldest son (who generally doesn't get up before noon on the weekends unless he has to work).

So, the basketball player had a big cheering section and gave us a lot to cheer about - the little dude was on fire and made several baskets. He was good on defense too and could really move the ball down the court. Really a lot of fun to watch them all.

After the game, I got invited to next week's game as I said goodbye to FRM's mom. I talked briefly to FRM and his wife - and gave him my new phone number before I headed out.

It was good to see everyone - but a little odd since most of them weren't speaking to each other.

that's it for now... later...

jury duty part 4 - Deliberation and verdict

Friday morning we started at 9:30 and got into the court-room at 10:00. The judge read to us the laws that applied to the case and gave us notes along with the verdict forms. He then dismissed our #13 alternate juror and we headed back to the jury room and started our debate by choosing a foreman. One interesting note was the we had an ace in the hole. Despite not having any crime scene photos or even a good map - we still had a clear view of things since one of the jurors had lived in that area and knew a lot about gangs. He was an engineer and world traveler, but had his start in that same rough area of town. Very helpful to fill in some gaps.

First count - aggravated robbery. This was our most difficult one since the rest of the case pretty much hinged on this point. The defense tried to make us focus on the defendant having passed the gun to the actual robber and how suspect that action was, but we focused on the law and the complicity of his actions. I tried to demonstrate how the victim could have known about the passing of the gun without actually seeing it based on body language and movement, but ultimately it wasn't our focus. We voted the first time on this one and came up with 7 guilty, 2 not guilty and 3 undecided. After more discussion and focus on the law, the rest were convinced and we were unanimous on the second vote. There was a gun stipulation that was also a sticking point - we weren't sure if he actually had the gun to start with since there was only one witness. The law stated though that he merely needed close access to it. Which he had since he was in the same car and in the front seat - even if the victim hadn't seen the defendant with the gun it was pretty clear. Also, the defense hadn't ever tried to disprove his client having a gun - instead trying to focus on the "2-gun" theory.

We broke for lunch in there at some point and I headed back to campus for sweet and sour chicken again and got another fortune cookie.

"Soon you will be sitting on top of the world"

I stopped by work and talked to several people, the got back to the jury room with 15 minutes to spare. One of the jurors was late getting back and we speculated on what would happen since our alternate was gone. He showed up out of breath and apologized - and we got back into it.

The second count was for possession of a gun with disability - meaning that he had a conviction with a gun charge from before and wasn't allowed to have a gun again. The same gun rules applied from before and this time we did a hands up vote. There was some discussion on this again before the vote for clarity, but I thought it was pretty clear.

The final count was criminal gang activity. The prosecution really laid this out for us. They showed gang existence, activity, and membership in the gang - along with a direct tie to the defendant. It was the one area we were all very clear on even before we started the discussion - this guy was still in and an active member of a gang. The rest was his involvement in a criminal act - which we'd already covered.

So, we did out final vote and filled out and signed the verdict forms. We called for the bailiff and she checked on us and gave us some final instructions before she brought the court back together. After a bit, we headed back into the court room and gave the forms to the bailiff and then the judge to be read aloud. I didn't look at the defendant - thinking it would be a little too aggressive and rude - I also didn't want to be singled out for some kind of gang retribution. The judge thanked us and we headed out. On the way out, one of the other jurors said he looked at the defendant and saw an "oh well" eye-roll when the verdict was read. Which made me feel a little better. This guy had been in and out of jail and was guilty here and resigned to it. Even the defense didn't seem very surprised.

So, that was the jury experience. It was a tiring experience and stressful since we were deciding a person's fate. Everyone in the jury was cool - including a couple that initially disagree with the decision and brought a fresh perspective to things. The judge was pretty cool - and not as formal as I would have thought. The bailiff was awesome - really well organized and really sharp. She had a good sense of humor and really liked the origami jury I made while I was waiting.

The defense guy did as good of a job as he could - but it was clear from his body language and his approach to the case that he believed his client was guilty and tried to confuse the issue. The prosecution was really sharp and covered all the bases.

Next week I'll be back to work and excused from jury duty for the next 12 months. I'm glad I did my "civic duty" but also glad that I'm done with it for a while.

jury duty part 3 - more of the Prosecution's case and a surprise witness for the defense...

On Thursday morning, we walked into the jury room and there were doughnuts on the table. There were from the judge. :) So, that was kinda cool. We started with a witness for the prosecution - the "gang expert" - with maps and video clips of gang events/parties. They had some technical problems with the video that I think three of us in the jury could have fixed had we been asked. The officer had extensive knowledge about the defendant and his various past crimes. We broke for lunch and the defense cross examined him afterwards. There was another witness for the prosecution - then we were sent out of the room.

When we got back, the defense brought a witness out of order. So, this guy said he was the brother-in-law of the victim (the family relationship was more complex than that). His testimony conflicted with the victim - but matched up pretty well with the conflicting testimony of the booking officer. Suspiciously so. The Prosecution suggested that he had been brought in by a court spectator to corroborate that conflicting evidence and she pretty much ripped him apart. It was also clear he was working off of secondhand lies - he got his "facts" way wrong.

(there was a suggestion by the defense that two guns were present, instead of the defendant passing his gun to the actual robber. The witness suggested that he heard the victim say that the robber used two guns himself - which is clearly nonsense. How would you hold the "loot"? "Here, hold this gun while I take your wallet.")

After that, we were back to more damning evidence of past crimes. Arrest reports, information on graffiti and gang signs, etc. - it was exhaustive. There were a few extremely heated sidebars from both sides and lots of objections for various and sometimes unclear reasons. The prosecution finally rested - and the defense called no one and had no witnesses or evidence. Granted, the burden of proof was on the prosecution - but it was still telling that the defendant didn't take the stand on his own behalf. If I was claiming to be framed - you can believe I'd be testifying. As I said - it was very one-sided.

As a side note - I was expecting the bible and "so help me god" as part of the swearing in. Instead, no bible and 'under pains and penalty of perjury". Interesting.

With both sides rested, we came to closing arguments. The prosecution summed up their case, the defense did his, then the prosecution did a rebuttal. She was pissed off and nearly dumbfounded at the attempts of the defense to plant doubt.

And with that - we broke for the day. I had expected things to go longer, but the defense didn't really present anything so we were sort of done. Kind of a weird stopping point, but that was it.

jury duty part 2 - The Prosecution's case...

Wednesday morning I was there early again and sat on the bench outside - striking up a conversation with another juror about traffic and weather. We were all fairly early and were escorted into the jury room again to wait for the start. I think there was the very real fear of contempt of court to get us motivated in a timely fashion.

The case was essentially this:

The accused was charged in a robbery. There was also possession of a gun and of gang activity.

The defense claimed that the prosecution didn't have a case. The prosecution said they did. It was interesting - the defense was very focused on "innocent until proven guilty" and "burden of proof" through the whole trial. He had tried to teach us the law related to the case in his opening statement - which was the basis for many objections since that was the judge's job at the end of the case.

First witness for the prosecution was the victim - who placed the accused at the scene and was certain that he passed a gun to the actual robber. His story was this:

He was at a club with some friends and dropped them off at the front of a BP station on the way home. He tried to find a place to park and found a spot at the car wash behind the BP station. He parked, got out and started to walk to the entrance of the station. He came up diagonally behind and to the side of a car where the defendant was standing with an open door - and a gun. The defendant asked the victim who he was and the victim didn't say but just said he was looking for this friends. The defendant got into the car, passed the gun to the person in the driver's seat - who then promptly got out of the car and robbed the victim at gun point. He got away unhurt, filed a police report, and eventually got his stuff back.

It was kinda strange - like we were missing a big chunk of the trial. The actual robber was charged separately and wasn't part of this trial. So we had this other guy who may have done something wrong, but all we had was a potentially unreliable witness. The victim had convictions in his past but seemed to have put that behind him and was working long shifts to support his three children.

The prosecution called several police officers - and the defense objected to most of them since they generally testified on previous offenses that the accused had committed. Not really relevant to this case - but more for character - or, as it turned out, a connection to gang activity.

We broke for lunch and I headed to campus to grab some sweet & sour chicken - since the cafeteria seemed a little low end at the court house. I got a fortune cookie with the meal and it said:

"you will reach high levels of intelligence"

Not sure if that's a promise or a standard I have to live up to - and I'm not sure the time frame. In any case, I shared the fortune with my fellow jurors and we had a laugh about it.

Anyway, back in the court room and more witnesses. The first one - the victim - really got badgered since most of the case rested on his testimony, but the rest were officers and they weren't really as relevant to the actual incident. The victim has some discrepancies between his story and the original police report - but they seemed pretty minor to me. The defense tried to get him to break - but he didn't and maintained a viable and consistent story. This was something the prosecutor really focused on in her closing argument later - the strength of character for the victim and his story.

Another break and this time we were in the room past when it was time for us to go back - at least according to the time frame the judge gave us. So, we just lined up to get ready. We heard the judge say from the court room -since he could see us - "well, I guess the jury is ready."

Apparently, we were the first jury to line ourselves up - much to the amazement and delight of the judge and the bailiff. There was a bit more testimony on the prosecution's side and they were about to call their "gang expert" - but we ran out of time for the day. In the jury room before we left for the day, I said that I thought the judge should spring for doughnuts and we all laughed. We broke for the day at about 4:00 and I went on home. No stop into work for me - I was beat.

jury duty part 1 - The beginning...

I got a jury notice in the mail - but it was somewhat delayed since it was sent to my old address. I read it, noted the date and set it aside. The Saturday before I was on call - I got another notice since I hadn't filled out the form and returned it properly. I was a little worried about that, but figured I'd wing it. Sunday evening I called and checked the website for jury duty - and my group wasn't needed. The recording was a little too strident for my tastes and talked down to us a little bit, but at least it was clear.

Monday evening was a different story - my group was on call and I was to report to the courthouse on Tuesday morning. I tried to get things ready for my co-workers as much as I could for my absence and found out later that I prevented some problems with my preparedness. Which was cool - and a little ironic since I was really not prepared for jury duty. I got to the courthouse very early and though I was a little worried about my paperwork, there was no problem. I did a little folding while I waited and watched the room fill up. After a bit, the woman in charge of the area gave a little speech (she was the same one that did the voice recording) and has us watch part of a video - but only part since a bailiff came in and called a large group to go with her. A little more video and then another group was called for selection with a different bailiff - and I was #18. They were very insistent that we remember our number - but of course someone forgot it when it was needed later.

We went up several flights of stairs (some took the elevator if they couldn't handle the stairs) and waited for a bit in the jury room. We were then lined up by number and brought into the court room. 12 people went in the jury box and the rest of us sat towards the back.

Both sides asked a bunch of general questions, then based on those, they asked a few specific questions of people. One guy had an answer for pretty much every question - it was almost a given that he would be removed. Run ins with the law, medical and childcare, and relation to another judge. A few more got removed for other reasons - usually child care - but a few got removed and we later wondered why. They started to winnow down the jury and they pulled people out and then replaced them in order of the extras. I was #18 and I watched as they cleared out enough people to need me - reassigned to #9. Once the removals were done they had an extra person in reserve and that was it. We were a jury.

But a jury that didn't get to do anything right away. There was a scheduling conflict and we broke for the day at 12:00. We did get to hear the opening statements - and the comments by the defense prompted the prosecutor's office to object a couple times, so, that was kinda cool. They even did a sidebar - it was like a real court!

I stopped into work for a bit, then went home. I still did some work from home so I wouldn't get too far behind - but there were some things that I just couldn't do unless I was at work.

So, that was day one and I was hoping it would go quickly from there on out.

birthday, museum, overlord, bourne, jury

It was my birthday yesterday - 35 years old. So, on Saturday, my parents, my sister, and my brother-in-law came for a visit. We had lunch, then went to the akron art museum and the mall - then to dinner that evening at Macaroni Grill before cake and presents. They went back home that evening so it was kind of a whirlwind. I think everyone had a nice time and it was good seeing them.

The museum was good - though pricier ($10.00) than last time I was there (free). They were doing a Norman Rockwell thing and the line was massive to get into that section. So, we found an entrance to the main galleries (which I announced to the rest of the group as "Look! There's art in here!" and checked those out first. And then made our way into the Norman Rockwell area through another entrance. Which was pretty cool. I bought a book on fictional outhouses in the giftshop and we headed out.

One of my presents was the game Overlord for the computer - and it won't run on my brand new computer. I blame Vista - and to make it worse - the "error" message has no information. It just fails and that's it - with no way to diagnose. I guess I have to do some research on my own - or wait for an upgrade and hope it helps. Oh, well, at least I can still play Portal.

Watched the third Bourne movie yesterday - pretty good and fast paced. I had a little trouble with keeping the plot together since we got interrupted a few times with phone calls. I liked it and it had some really clever moments.

Well, no jury duty today. I checked the website and then called as well last evening. The voice recording on the phone was... less than stellar. The degree in which they spelled out the instructions was a little insulting and a little scary. If you need detailed instructions on determining your group number and the color of the paper you are holding, well, should you really be on a jury and deciding someone else's fate?

That's it for now - back to work...

35 soon, pool, portal, jury

I found an Aimee Mann song recently called "31 today". Kind of a sad song - most of hers are kinda sad - but interesting and it has a really good beat. Got me thinking a little about my birthday coming up - though I'll be a bit older than 31. Worth a look up on youtube if you're a fan.

Hit the pool today and once again they were reconfiguring the lanes. I ended up in the deep end swimming lenghwise instead of across the pool. So, 32 laps = 1 mile, which I did. I thought about making some kind of comment about swimming "uphill" to the lifeguard in reference to the sloped floor of the pool, but I didn't want to have to explain it.

I beat Portal last night - it was awesome. Great gameplay, cool challenges, awesome writing and story and a really nifty song at the end. I'm inspired to build my own Weighted Companion Cube now.

In other news... I may have jury duty next week. I'll have to call on Sunday night to see if I'm needed. It will be a bummer if that's the case.

That's it for now... back to work...

lightbox, heart, elliptical, chipotle, portal

Last evening, in perparation for a project for work, I made a light box. Based off of a diagram of a former student assistant, I made a box for taking photos of objects - in this case, origami. The box is just a cardboard box with holes cut in the top and sides. The holes have vellum over them to let in soft light and the front is open and covered with poster board to allow entry of the objects.

Took me a while to do, but it turned out great. The next step was to make some Origami hearts - which I did, including one made out of red vellum. I put them in the box and took pictures, then sent them to my work address.

A little resizing and I had a nice banner made for a valentine's day dance on campus - since I was doing the credit card application and they hadn't given me any graphics.

Notice I said "hadn't". As soon as I sent the sample page to the coordinators of the dance, they sent back an email with the graphics they wanted to use.

So, that was kind of a bummer. Still, I got the light box made and that will be helpful down the road.

In other news... I called about the elliptical yesterday. After I finally got though a person we diagnosed that the problem was the 'pivot tube' - and they were out of stock. So, should be in stock sometime next week and they will ship a new one to us. At which point we'll be able to make arrangements to have a technician come over to do the install. Annoying since we have to wait, but at least it's still under warranty.

Chipotle today for the traditional Thursday lunch. It was, as usual, excellent.

Played a few moments of portal last night without a crash - I'll try again tonight.

That's it for now... later...

portal, xmen, check

Played Portal last night and made my way around a tricky puzzle. But, wait! It's a trap! I slip past the trap and I'm in a new area, outside the bounds of the games standard testing environment. Working my way through this cool and somewhat grimy looking place - I get to a new challenge and just as I'm starting to figure out how to get through - the game crashes. Hard.

So, I fire up the game again and get a little further before it crashes again. Ummm... Microsoft? Any chance you're going to get your operating system fixed any time soon? Thanks.


Frustrated with that, I fire up the playstation Marvel Ultimate Alliance and move my team through Arcade's MurderWorld. We're making fairly good progress, though Iceman got killed by a doom-bot. I reach a carnival area and have Thor pick up a big hammer laying on the ground. It's kinda fun, but Thor already has a big hammer and I drop that weapon and move on. At the end of the area is a gate controlled by one of those strong-man mallet+pole+bell at the top things.

Which Thor's regular hammer can't handle.

So, I head back to where I dropped the hammer and it's not there. Nor has another one re-spawned in the game. I back out of the area and enter again - still no hammer. The only option - reload and start the level over. So, I'm pissed, but I do that. And I'm more careful when I pick up the hammer and how I use it. I make it through the level after rescuing Blade the Vampire hunter from a toy/crane game and then shooting Thor out of a cannon to trick a giant robot to hit himself in the head. Next up, I think we're headed to hell to fight some demons and rescue Ghost Rider.

Yesterday, I got a message from the Accounts Payable office about a check for my meals when I last traveled. They were calling to verify my address - and it was way wrong. Turns out they track us as "vendors" when they issue checks - instead of tying it into payroll and using my updated address. Annoying, but at least they called. I'm headed over there this afternoon to pick it up and update my address.

That's about it for now - time to get back to work...

mcdonald's, blood drive, sleep

I went to McDonald's to get a bite to eat before I gave blood yesterday. The food was pretty good - though how fries, nuggets and a drink I pour myself could be screwed up, I'm not really sure.

The rest was a mess. The kitchen area needed to be cleaned up, the clerks and cooks were haphazard, and the random beeping and noise would have made me go postal if I'd had to work there. It made me wonder... how did good tasting food come out of that environment? And more importantly, how did they win so many customer service awards? I'm guessing either low standards or amazing luck to get judged on the "good days" that I always seem to miss out on.

From there I headed to the blood drive. The "greeter" seemed annoyed to be drawn away from her book - but the rest of the staff was friendly. I even got recognised from a previous drive - which wasn't difficult since I was doing the same thing as last time - namely, folding paper. The history and exam person was funny and did a great job - and then had to get her paperwork reviewed and signed!? If she was a trainee, she's going to do a great job.

The donation went smoothly and I managed to fold a lily one-handed. Cookies, juice, and a red cross fleece blanket and I was on my way.

I got really tired later in the evening - took my shower early and went to bed. Slept pretty well and didn't want to get out of bed. Still, did my situps, got ready for work, stopped to get gas and still made it to work on time.

And I should get back to it. later...

swim

Last Friday, I had a couple of meetings that filling up my day. So, I was a bit rushed with my swim - getting a late start and then having to be back quicker than usual. I hit the pool and swam fast, trying to get my laps in quickly. Final results - 32 laps in 37 minutes. Which is not too shabby.

Today I was back to my regular schedule and did 36 lap (1 mile) in however long it took me.

There was something else I meant to cover, but I can't remember now what it was. Must not have been important.

later...

elliptical, car, portal, lights, hair, blood drive.

I think I may have broken the elliptical trainer on Saturday. Or rather, been on it when it broke. My room-mate and I have noticed the occasional squeak from the machine but disregarded it. I started noticing the squeaking increase, along with a squeal that did not sound normal and called my room-mate downstairs to listen. He got a flashlight as well and tried to see where it was coming from. A few more slow revolutions and we noticed a grinding sound. We switched and I looked while he slowly rotated the pedals. Until he couldn't. It locked up and refused to budge. I suspect there may be some issue with the brakes - which I haven't even used yet. So, we're going to call customer support and get it fixed. It's only slightly older than a month and already broken.

Got my eCheck done - took only a few minutes and no longer costs anything. Went to the BMV to get my tags renewed and there was no line. The process only took a few minutes there too - I was lucky.

Played more Portal this weekend. Kicked some serious ass. The levels I'm in have automated gun turrets deal with a twisted sense of humor, timed buttons across acid pits, and essentially jumping off a cliff to hit a portal at high speeds to fly straight up out of another portal to reach a higher level. Crazy vertigo.

I took down the Christmas lights in record time this year. The weather was nice(ish) and they came down pretty easily - far easier than when my room-mate put them up before Christmas.

Found some additional missed long hairs on my head - that barber did a real hack job. Looks like I need to find yet another place or buy myself a flowbee.

Blood drive this afternoon. They've had a couple people calling me and trying to schedule me for an appointment. I've made one, then got a follow up reminder call. These people are way serious.

Well, got a couple of meetings today - better get to it. later...

fable, elliptical, html

I played a little more Fable last evening - trying out some new things. I bought a house again this time around and I'm spending money on fixing it up. Other villagers are complimenting me on it frequently. I'm also having my character flirt with pretty much everyone in every village that he comes across. Making a lot of "friends" that way, including one that just handed me a huge freaking sword - pretty much just for being nice to them. As a consequence, I'm using that way powerful sword to kick a lot of ass. I'm also doing a bit more fishing and may enter a fishing contest. One thing that still annoys me is the stupid villagers that get in my way when I'm fighting a Balverine or something. I've accidentally killed several people just on the backswing. Good game overall though.

I used the elliptical again last night, trying to get back into the swing of things. 15 mintues - 1.40 miles. Not great - but not bad either. Felt pretty good afterwards too.

Got an email from my sister with an HTML question. That was kinda cool putting the notes together for her on how to set it up - but Vista wouldn't let me get to my site as a web folder to let me upload a sample.

well, my meetings are stacking up today, better get back to it. later...

legend, pizza, better mood, swim, game

I saw "I Am Legend" on the 1st - pretty good film, but there were some plot holes and it got a little weak toward the end. Mostly good effects and good acting - CGI was a little disappointing. I'm going to re-read the book again - see how it compares.

I also watched the movie SkinWalkers on DVD. Ugh. Pointless, lame, and not scary.

My room-mate and I tried to get pizza that evening - but the phone at pizza hut just rang and rang. We thought they were just really busy, it being the first of the year and all, but after further investigation we found that the store had been closed. Another pizza hut in the area took up the delivery for our area and we got our pizza - eventually.

I'm in a little bit better mood today - I guess I got caught up on my sleep finally.

Went swimming yesterday and once again the pool was almost filled with a high school swim team. I think they were doing conditioning or something - in any case, those kids were fast. Really fast. I was feeling pretty good about my 'slightly over a minute per lap' - but even two lanes away I was getting tossed about by their wake.

I re-downloaded Portal on my new computer last night and fired it up. The extra power and processing speed really ramped up the game and added a lot to it. I got caught up to where I had been before - and this time around I destroyed most of the cameras, prompting a warning from the computer voice each time. Pretty cool.

I'm hoping for a quiet day today - got one training session this afternoon, but otherwise I'm meeting free. later...

holidays

The rest of the week after my trip sucked. Busy as all get-out and cranky. Had some users that were pretty much going after me - despite my best efforts. With the work week over - I hopped in my car and headed to central Ohio to visit my parents for Christmas. My sister and brother-in-law were there too and we opened presents and played games - UNO, dominos, a little poker. I did okay at the UNO and dominos - but I was really bad at poker.

The day after Christmas - my parents, their dog, and I got in their new SUV and headed to Illinois to visit my grandmother. The drive... was very long. Very very long. They had recently gotten a garmin GPS so that was kinda fun, but it was still a long drive. Very long.

We spent a few days with my grandmother at her place - and made a few trips to Wal-mart for various supplies that weren't really needed, but we were all going a little stir-crazy.

On the 29th, grandma had her annual soup-supper. The potato soup was excellent and I think everyone had a good time - until we were done eating. Most of the people there left early - which turned out to be just as well since everyone left the finished basement for the first floor. And there wasn't enough room for everyone on the first floor. It was crowded, but we tried to make the best of it. I went to bed around 11:00 - though if that was eastern or central time I couldn't tell you.

We left the next morning - though not really early enough for my taste. 7 hours in the SUV - then another 2.5 for me back to Akron. I didn't sleep well on Sunday night - and then was up again for work at 7:00. It was pretty quiet at work yesterday since most people took the day off - but as a consequence I couldn't get as much done as would have liked.

Went and got a haircut after work - and waited almost a 1/2 hour before I they could start on me. I wanted an all-over same length buzz cut - which should have been pretty easy. I didn't notice it at the time, but it wasn't even. I'm going to have to get a mirror and some scissors to clean it up a bit before going out in public again. Disappointing.

I stayed in for New Year's eve - and watched the Rockin New Years eve. Ryan Seacrest was as fake as usual and Dick Clark seemed marginally better than last year, but it was still tough to watch. I was in bed and asleep by 12:15

I've got the day off today and I'm spending most of it hanging out at home - trying to recover.

So, that's been my holiday. Parts were fun, parts were painfully boring and overall - I'm exhausted. It'll be nice to get back to "normal" and back into the groove of things.

Oh, and on a final note - I'm on the jury duty list. Starting the day after my birthday. I'm going to have to call the night before and then every evening for a week. Could be nothing - could be the sequestered for the trial of the century. It's also the first week of classes. Worst possible time...

Kinda of a downer entry for what should have been a really happy time, but I'm just too tired...

the trip - day two

I'm up at 6:00 on the second morning, packing up my bags and getting ready to leave. I'm checked out and downstairs with all my stuff by 7:00 - ready to leave to head to the office for another day of training. The rest of the crew is a little late but we still get there just as the trainers are arriving.

The training is less relevant to what I need to learn, but I took plenty of notes and tried my best. I checked my email a few times since we were online and we took a short break early on for some breakfast. The rest of the morning went slowly and we broke for lunch a little after noon. The trainers drove us over in two cars and our car got a little lost. Lunch was burgers - served outdoors right on the bay. It was really beautiful there - but my table spent most of the time talking shop. I finally said, "Look! The ocean!" - but they didn't really get it.

Lunch dragged on a bit and though I didn't really want to go back into the training room - I also thought we had wasted a bit of time. My co-worker and I had to leave to catch a flight at 6:41 and we got ready to go a little after 4:00. The driver was supposed to pick us up at the training center, but we got word that they were at our hotel - ironic considering we had to drag our bags from there at 7:00 AM that morning. One of the trainers agreed to drive us and our bags back to the hotel - but when we arrived, no driver. The trainer made some calls and a driver finally arrived - in a stretch limo. Calling himself 'the rescuer', the driver loaded up our bags and we got into the back of this well appointed, but not terribly well maintained, limo.

The delay got us on the road a bit later, and we were in traffic in a residential neighborhood. Suddenly, a gate at a house was opened and a dog ran out into traffic - right in front of the limo. We heard a thump and when I looked back, the dog was running in traffic and ran back to the house and the gate. The driver stopped the car and one of the residents came up. The driver apologized and said he would come back, but that he had to drop us off. The resident started yelling about the driver getting out or the cops would be called. The driver decided that the situation would only get worse and drove off. We managed to get to the airport in time, but it was a little close. I took my bag with me on the plane and we got assigned new seats as we boarded - giving us more room on the undersold flight.

In Atlanta we ate near the re-assigned gate - fortunately, since they started boarding early. We were packed in there for the final leg of the flight and got a bit delayed in leaving. The plane was small and there was only one flight attendant. She did a good job, but I could tell she was tired. Finally arrived at Akron/Canton airport and got our stuff together. My co-worker dropped me off at home and I took a quick shower and went to bed. Long freaking couple of days. I liked the weather - what I saw of it down there - but I was still glad to be home.

I'll have some more notes later - but it's time to get back to work...

the trip - day one.

So, I'm up at about 4:45 AM on Monday morning - on the internet, checking on my flight. It's still on, so I wake up my room-mate to drive me to the airport. I get there without any trouble, then get checked in. I also check my bag - which turned out to be a mistake - but head on down to the security checkpoint. I'd also like to point out that the clerk at the counter told me that I would have to recheck my bag in Atlanta as I was on standby there. While in line, but still not that far along, I realize that I have my co-workers boarding pass as well as my own. Not sure if that will be a problem for him, I head back to the check-in area, find a phone, and leave a message for him. And wait for him until too much time passed and I got nervous. Back to security and through the checkpoint - then waiting at the gate area. My co-worker arrives and we chat for a bit before boarding.

The plane at the akron canton airport was kind small and we were packed in there pretty well. Everyone was trying to make the best of the situation - but then we found out that we couldn't move - the ground was too slippery and the buggy couldn't pull us to the de-icing station. Plan B was to bring the de-icing truck to us, but that didn't work either. So, eventually, the captain decided on Plan C - pull the gates away from the plane and use the engines to make the plan do essentially a 180 at the gate area and power on down to the de-icing station. Which was a little weird, but it worked. Plan de-iced and finally on the runway - 3rd in line. Finally in the air - and my co-worker and I are pretty sure we're going to miss our connecting flight.
I couldn't get to my paper stash - so I re-folded my 14 piece emergency stash over and over until we landed.

When we land in Atlanta, I go to claim my bag while my co-worker checks on the next flight - since there's no way we'll make ours. He comes back to me at the baggage area in a hurry and says the clerk will get us on a plane - but that my bag has already gone on to Miami. Great.

We get some over-priced Arby's and get to the plane on time. I'm better prepared on paper and give leave a complex module behind for the flight attendants. We meet our driver and go to pick up my bag. My baggage claim ticket is ignored and they lady tells me to just pick up my bag if I see it. Which I do and we're on the road.

In route to the hotel, we get a call from the company and ask the driver to re-route and take us to the office instead. We finally arrive and head right into training for 3 hours. Finally take a break at 6 and walk to the hotel. Our directions are bad, but we finally get there - to find that the rest of the crew that was flying in for the second part of the training has just arrived at the hotel. I'm reminded of the Home Alone scene where the mother drives cross country with a polka band to get to her son - and the rest of the family arrives moments later from a standby plane trip.

A quick change of clothes and we head out to dinner. I'm dressed to try and blend in - everyone else still looks like they are from Ohio. Dinner was at Los Rancheos and it was good - I had the red snapper, beans and rice, and plantains. As expected with a bunch of geeky guys on a trip - the humor warped and the stories are un-repeatable.

After dinner we walk around for a bit until we quickly get to a bad section of town and turn around. One co-worker stops to buy a sandwich for a homeless guy so we wait for that to be prepared. It's after 10 before we get to the hotel and I call it a night while the rest of the crew heads to the bar. The shower is hot, the bed is king-sized, the pillows inviting. I set a wake up call for an early morning of more training and go to bed.

plan-effing-B

Gotta go out of town on some training with one of my co-workers - heading to Miami. We've been planning this for a few weeks and while I don't really mind flying, there's a lot of variables to consider. My room-mate has been trying to help, but he sorta ended up making me feel a bit more apprehensive. Plus, the 20/20 story on lost/stolen luggage didn't help.

So, this morning at about 10 minutes to 10 o'clock, I'm in the bathroom taking care of some last minute business when my room-mate knocks on the door and says my boss is on the phone. A few moments later I'm on the phone and the news is not good.

The flight, supposed to leave at 12:00 today - has been canceled.

So, he and I shared some intel with my co-worker about the next step. My co-worker has talked to Delta and managed to get us rescheduled. The soonest flight is tomorrow morning at 7:15 AM - meaning that even if everything goes exactly right - we'll still be at minimum 4 hours late to the training. Which sucks since we are only going to be there through noon on Tuesday anyway.

Strangely enough, the airport website listed the flight as on-time. Apparently, they suck.

I've got all my stuff re-printed out and I guess I'm ready to go for tomorrow. So, I'll be up at 4:00 AM - on the computer, checking the airline website to see if my flight is still on.

later...

address labels, computer part, traffic cop, reaping

My room-mate wanted some address labels printed up and he had several sheets of unmarked blank labels. So, I measured the labels, fired up the internet and figured out the size/style - Avery 5160. I next fired up word and looked for a template. Ummm... there weren't any. So, I checked the help area and tried to find a place to download the correct set up. Poorly organized and missing, you know, the standard ones. Everything was holiday or jelly jar labels. I finally downloaded a christmas one that I figured I could hack to make functional and plain - but then I noticed a label setting in word 2007. In a few minutes I had selected the correct size and added in the address. Hit the print button and it asked me to save the file in an .xps format. Which isn't one I was familiar with, but oh well. And then nothing happened. I closed word and then tried to reopen the file I just created. It wasn't recognized. Wait, what? Word forces me to save a file in a format that even it doesn't recognize? That hardly seems fair. And it had also set up an .xps printer for me that wouldn't work either.

I ended up using delete and then copy and paste to turn the holiday one into something more plain. It works, but the formatting is messed up on the first label in the batch. So, the best we can get from one sheet is 29 labels. So, a sort of success, but more work than it needed to be.

In other news... I checked a local computer parts/cable store at lunch yesterday for the part I needed. Once I finally got someone's attention, they didn't have a clue. They checked with someone better stocked in clues and determined they didn't have anything even close to what I needed.

In a way, I feel a little better that the "experts" are clueless - I was thinking I was behind the times on my tech stuff. I did find the part on-line and got it ordered - though even that was weird. After I got my order confirmation, they suggested I could avoid delays by giving them the last four digits of my social security number in order to verify. Instead, I gave them some harsh comments on their feedback form.

My drive back from Chipotle yesterday at lunch time was interrupted by a traffic cop. He was in the middle of the street and I was unfortunately the first car in the group he stopped. Accident? Construction? Visiting dignitary? Nope. He stopped a bunch of cars on Market street (one of the busiest in all of akron) so that people could leave a restaurant parking lot.

Now, your first thought may be - "are you shitting me?" And I can reply that no, I'm not. It really happened. I'm sitting there in my car, my burrito slowly cooling in the seat next to me - full of crankiness.
Based on what I could see in the opposing lanes, they must have been around 40-50 cars stopped so that the lunchtime restaurant crowd could leave their parking lot. Ummm... nobody stopped traffic so I could pull out of Chipotle. Or the parking lot at work. Or my driveway at home. Or the gas station. Or the bank. It felt like I was there for 600 years, but eventually the cop let the rest of the traffic go. If memory serves, my car was home to some harsh language on my way back to work.

Watched a movie last night - The Reaping. The premise wasn't bad - but the movie was full of plot holes and sub-par acting. The "big twist" was amazingly obvious and trite - but even with all that against it, the movie was kinda fun. And the special effects really ramped up at the end, as though they knew it was bad and were trying to make up for it.

That's it for now... later...

jaw, radio shack, babies, work

My jaw is still bothering me this morning. I'm still thinking it's stress and it will get better once things settle down a bit. Of course, I've got some traveling to do in a few days - so, I'm guessing that I'm not quite done with the stress. Fortunatly, most of the whole process is out of my control so that should help a bit.

In my travels last evening, I went into Radio Shack - looking for a computer cable. The sales dude looked at me liked a grown a second head when I described what I was looking for. Needless to say, they didn't have it - but at least he was able to recommend another place to try.

Also went to target and Babies R Us for the baby showers coming up. I'm glad there were gift registry's for both events as I was totally out of my element. Target's was better - the aisles were labeled and the item codes were clearly marked. I got everything wrapped and I'm going to make some origami ducks for the packages. Might even be able to skip the cards as the origami will make it very clear who they are from.

The computer issues yesterday slowed me down a bit and the afternoon was a mess. Oh, and I'd like to go on the record about something. We've been trying to hire a student assistant for our group and had a discussion yesterday in out meeting about the two candidates. My colleagues? Totally worthless in this area. I could not believe some of the comments - and I started to get a little cranky with them. I'd be better off rolling some dice. Not that I'm going to do that - I'm going to do this the right way. But still, for the record, totally worthless.

Guess that's about it for now... time to get moving... later

computer, tech support, game, baby, jaw

Computer woes. I'm only going to write this to down to preserve it for the ages. And the biggest problem was that I was trying to be clever - which has never, EVER, worked for me.

1. Remove hard-drive from non-working home Gateway
2. Remove HD from old working work Dell
3. Install HD from home to work Dell.
4. Boot
5. Error - you must activate windows. Which didn't work. Apparently, microsoft locks the software to the hardware configuration - which totally sucks. I even tried calling them and got nowhere.
6. Can't add the home HD as a slave since I've only got one port in the machine.

So, I'm going to try and use a SATA/IDE cable to connect the old hard-drive to my new work machine as a drive, the get the data off of there. And then I'm going to delete everything else on there and melt it down with the sheer force of my burning will. Should be fun.

My uncle called last night - he asked for the help desk. Apparently my cousin was working on a paper for school and the computer didn't have enough memory to print the pictures. I gave him some suggestions and they said they would call back if they had trouble. They didn't call back so I guess my status as a first level geek is still okay.

Played Final Fantasy again last night - took on two more big-ass monsters. The dinosaur I set on fire a bunch of times until he killed off some of my characters - them I took him out with some specialized super cool partially automated combat moves that drained all the characters magic - but did the job. The big winged dragon was tougher and I had to follow the stragety I found on-line - which was this:

1. Hide behind a rock so he can't reach you
2. Reflect his magic back at you
3. Throw lighting bolts at him until he dies.

Which was fine until my characters ran out of magic. They were reduced to throwing money at the dragon - which seems kinda lame, but worked.

In other news... I've got two baby showers to buy for. Not that I'm going to attend as I think those things are almost painfully boring, but babies need stuff and I'm happy to help out with that part.

And lastly - my jaw hurts. Like a TMJ kinda hurt. Must be stress.

Well, busy day - gotta get back to it... later...

computer, mask, throw "gil"

Got my new computer yesterday - a kick ass Dell. It came with Vista, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Had a little trouble with the internet connection until I finally found the right tool to convince it to go fix the problem. Turns out I needed to set it to "public" - and Hello, firewall.

Step 2 will be to install the old hard-drive and get the information off there that we need. Maybe I'll work on that this evening.

My attempts at mask-making have failed again. I tried much hotter water for a much longer time - still no luck. I think the piece of leather that I have is just too think. Gotta come up with a Plan B for that one.

Finally, I fired up Final Fantasy again and tried to take on the the "attack-limiting" monster. Here's how it went down.

1. I cast berserk on one character to see if he would mindlessly attack - and then I cast decoy on him to draw the monster's fire and reverse so it would heal him. Well, he just stood there until the reverse wore off and then died in a few moments.

2. I brought him back and tried some area effect spells to hit the monster and his minions. It was working, but slowly. And the bad dudes kept casting Silence on my group so that we couldn't do magic. I'd just barely get them talking again and another silence wave would hit.

3. Finally killed all the minions, but the main one wasn't going down quickly enough. So, I took a look at the Techniques - other options that aren't attacks or magic, sorta "something else". One of those was "throw Gil", with Gil being the coin money in this game. And I've got a pile of it from selling loot. So, I had one of the silenced characters use the "throw Gil" technique and got this message:

"A pile of gil flies through the air. 9999 damage"

And the big monster's health takes a huge hit. So, for the next couple of minutes, I used that skill over and over until he was defeated.

So, let's sum this up:

1. Gil = money
2. Throw Gil is a skill that throws money
3. The monster was a problem
4. I used the Throw Gil technique to defeat the monster

5. I threw money at a problem until it went away.

HA!

later...

games, toys, mask

Did a little running around on Saturday, brought some used games.

1. Shifters - a strange little game that lets the main character shapeshift. Which should be fun, only there are some problems with it. a) No map - well, there's a simplified map, but it's worthless. b) Long load times - especially when going from one unmarked area to another. c) Poor camera controls - i.e. The vomit Cam d) No checkpoints - which I discovered after playing for a couple hours and then dieing - and having to start over from the beginning.

I really wanted to like the game - but it's just so bad.

2. Dragon Quarter - a turn based game. A little odd, but not too bad except - no way to heal. Other than spending "zennys" to buy healing potions. No healing spells, no healing fountains, no little old wise women. "Sure, it's great that you're trying to save all of us from the monsters, but you really need to cough up some zennys if you get hurt," Frustrating - and hard to learn the game when mistakes are so costly.

3. Soul Caliber 2 - or is that Soul Caliber 3? The box was labeled 2, but the disk inside was 3. I think they grabbed the wrong one. In any case, I got my ass kicked. From full life to an 1/8 of a bar in one cheap, unblockable kick. Nice.

Overall, disappointing -but I didn't spend much money on any of them and I got what I paid for.

I also went to a toy store - not to buy anything, but just for the experience. It was pretty crazy in there, but people were not as rude as I expected. They were deeply clueless, but that just meant they got in - and stayed in - each others way. But they weren't mad about it.

Not long ago, I found a website that teaches how to build or create things. Kinda random, but one of the items is a leather mardi-gras mask. Which sounded pretty cool to me. So, I bought a square of leather, followed the directions - and got nothing. It didn't work. I'm guessing the leather I got was too thick and the water wasn't hot enough. I'm going to try again this evening and see how it goes.

That's about it for now - later....

signs, elliptical, dinosaur

The locker room at the pool has some new signs posted.

1. Sharing is not caring. This one talks about the dangers of sharing towels, brushes, tweezers, razors, etc.

Wait, what? Are you kidding? We have to have signs up to explain this to people? I can't come up with any situation where I would share anything in the locker-room.

"Hey, buddy, can I borrow your razor? I forgot mine,"
"No problem,"
"Hey, is this rust on the blade?"
"Nah, it's just dried blood,"
"Cool, I wouldn't want to get tetanus or something?"
"Ha ha,"

2. Don't spread infections - with a picture of a guys hand wrapped up in gauze. This one is about keeping wounds covered.

"Why is the water around you red?"
"Oh, I accidentally cut my face when I borrowed my buddy's razor,"
"You should cover that up - here, I found this band-aid on the bottom of the pool - that should work,"
"Great! Thanks, I feel better already,"


In other news... I used the elliptical trainer again last night for 15 minutes. Not bad, but kinda boring. I think I need a new CD in the player or maybe figure out how to tie it into the playstation.

Finally, played a little more Final Fantasy 12 last night - trying to level up a bit before I head to the last area of the game again. I had tried some side quests before and one of those was to track down a monster - except no one knew where it was. Well, last night I found it - it's a big freaking dinosaur. And it hits really hard. And it's got something like 30 billion hit points or something. I was getting close to killing it when it wiped out all my characters. I brought in the reserves and they died too. I think there's a way to destroy it, but I need a new plan. Something with Decoy and Reverse maybe. Anyway, I may try again this evening.

That's it for now... it's been a really busy week and I'm glad it's almost done...

3 to a swim lane, 4 in a car lane

I worked through my lunch yesterday, so I left work early and headed to the pool. Sort of a weird compulsion to go - which I guess is good. The pool in the afternoon was busy - some kind of swim meet or something. The lifeguard was talking to someone and it took me a few minutes to get his attention to find out which lane I could use. He indicated the one at the far end, a sort of not-quite-double lane at the shallow end.

So, I hopped in the pool and got started. At about 5 laps in, a woman sits down on the edge of the pool in "my" lane. When I got to where she was, I asked if she wanted to split the lane or do a rotation. Neither of which I'd done before and I was sort of hoping she'd choose rotation since I'd read about it and sounded "advanced". She picked split and we swam parallel to each other for a while. And since she was much faster than me - it worked out okay, except that I keep overcompensating and bumping into the wall on my side.

And then a guy showed up, sat down at the edge of the pool in "our" lane, and proceeded to swim with us. And that was awkward. I don't think anyone got kicked in the head, but it was a near thing a few times. After a few laps of this, the lane next to ours opened up and he moved over. I did my 30 laps and got out - tired and somewhat glad it was over.

It's funny how I think we come to rely on those floating lane dividers. We get some space defined and it creates a comfort zone. Even with three people we should have had more than enough room, but without those dividers, we were all over the place. Good fences make good neighbors and all that.

After my swim, I got in my car headed home - later than I usually would so traffic was a bit worse. And of course there was a stalled car in the middle lane, not too far away from the entrance ramp. In the lane was the car, a tow truck in front of it and 2 police cars behind it. Seemed like a waste to me. I did a lot of swearing as I tried to get around it and finally got on my way.

Did some reading last night and did a little planning on a scupley project I'd like to try. It was a busy day and I expect today will be more of the same.

later...

computer, presents, meetings, elliptical

Well, I put in an order for a new Dell yesterday. Should be pretty kick ass - hoping to get it in soon and fire it up. I'm going to try and add the memory and hard-drive from the old computer to boost performance and get the old data off of there.

Got some more packages in the mail - and got everything wrapped. I've even been wrapping the presents my room-mate is getting for his family since I'm way better at that than he is. It's an origami thing.

I've got a total of 11 meetings this week - I think that may be a new record for me. And that's not a good thing. Having trouble finding time to actually get work done.

Worked out on the elliptical again last night - another 15 minutes. Not quite as far as on monday, but I'm trying. I may use it again tonight, we'll see how the knee is doing after the swim today.

Guess that's about it for now... time to get back to work...

elliptical trainer, shopping, computer, vain, drive

Bought an elliptical trainer over the weekend - a sort of an early gift. The sales guy at Dick's was sorta crazy - he suggested the extended warranty in case I was working out and a piece "just flies off" - and suggesting that with the warranty, I wouldn't have to pay for repairs. I politely declined.

The assembly went fairly smoothly - though there was one tricky step. No parts left over and the only thing missing was one of the screws to hold the water bottle in place. I'm going to have to position it carefully in the basement - the ceiling is a little low.

The home computer bought the farm again - this time, I think it's history. So much for the free and somewhat suspicious repairs. Ah, well, maybe I can get a good deal with a christmas sale.

Had a bit of a vain moment this weekend. I cleaned out my closets and drawers to donate some clothes to goodwill and in the organizing and re-arranging, I found an old tank top. I put that on after my shower and noticed that it no longer fit me well. I had, somehow, developed a chest. I actually checked myself out in the mirror for a few minutes until I felt silly. Still, the swimming is paying off. And that's cool.

The drive into work... (sigh). I live in Northeast Ohio. It snows here. If it snowed in July - no one should be surprised since we get all the weather types that exist. And it changes every 20 minutes or so. There were flurries in the air this morning as I pulled onto the highway - and immediately had to slam on my brakes since the cars in front of me were going - no lie - less than 25 miles per hour. Everyone else went past us at 60+ and it took a while to find a safe opening to switch lanes - since I had to not only change lanes but double my speed. When I got past those three cars I saw that the lead one was poking along for no good reason. They'll have a cold ride into work today since I blew their doors off- by going the speed limit for the highway!

So, a somewhat cranky start to the morning - but I made it here safely and it's time to get back to it. later...

computer, training, work

Well, I got the speakers working on the home computer. After running through the diagnostics and opening up the box, I finally gave up and tried plugging in the headphones. Those worked fine. I unplugged them and suddenly, the speakers were working. Good, but also annoying.

Day two of the in-house training. Went pretty well, though it was a little too simplistic and at the same time, a little beyond the scope of what it was supposed to cover. I learned some new things and was also a little "pre-daunted" at what is facing the team as far as work-load goes.

Finally, I've been putting out fires for the past two days with work issues. I thought I had them all put out - and then I checked my email this evening. Mistake. There was another fire and I can almost smell the gasoline. Makes me cranky. I've got a couple of solutions - neither of them good - but at least I'm trying. We'll see how it goes.

Time for dinner... later...

training, computer, shopping

I'm in training all day today - and I had a pile of work this morning to rush through. Fun, in a non-fun sense of the term.

I picked up the computer yesterday and it booted up normally last evening. Only thing not working is the soundcard - so, gotta dig it in tonight and fix it.

Did a lot of Christmas shopping last night made progress and didn't kill anyone - so, that was good.

Well, gotta run...

1 year, computer

Well, today marked my 1 year in the pool - I did a mile. Which is quite an improvement from my 1/8 of a mile last year. So, that was kinda cool.

I got the word that the home computer is fixed. The tech explained that the memory was in the wrong slots - although how it spontaneously failed is still a mystery. Sorting out the slots made it magically all better. I'm picking it up today after work, but I'm still thinking about getting a new machine.

Two days of training coming up - which would be fine if the web pixies did my work for me while I'm gone. Alas, I suspect they won't show and I'll have a pile waiting for me. At least I'll have a computer at home again so I can log in and try and get caught up.

That's it for now - later...

holidays, power, computer

I'm not a big fan of the holidays anymore. Christmas gets stressful with the present buying and travel and New Year's seems arbitrary and wildly anti-climatic. I dunno, maybe I'm just getting old and cynical. And Christmas music? Ugh. Most of what I've heard recently is either ancient and dated - or it's more modern but cloying.

I used to enjoy it. Used to be the "bees knees". Now, it just makes me tired. Or it could be that I've got some kind of SAD or something.

In other news... my room-mate was trying to hang up Christmas lights yesterday evening - in the dark and in the rain. Suddenly, all the outlets in the garage where he had these plugged in went out. Lights, radio, etc. We checked the breakers and didn't see any correctly marked or blown. I suggested it might be related to the fact that he was standing a puddle of water and the cords were wet -but my suggestions were dismissed.

Note to self - you should get current on your CPR training again.

Not sure why that comes to mind. Maybe seeing someone standing in a puddle of water trying to hang up very fragile lights - with an extension cord in the water as well. Eh, guess I'm just being silly.

I called about the broken computer yesterday. This is the 5th working day that they've had it - I'm hoping to get a real answer today. It also irks me just a wee little bit that I didn't get bumped up in the workflow. We are in the same division and I would have done the same for them.
Eh, not really fair I guess. Student computer issues should rightly come first over staff. Still, I'd really like to get moving toward some kind of solution.

Label this post as Cranky... guess that's all I've got for now...

visit, dog, list, water

I visited my parents over the Thanksgiving weekend. Had a pretty good time and ate a lot of food. I helped a little with the lights and the yard work. We tried to go to an Italian restaurant on saturday as a change of pace, but it was closed for a special event. We ended up going to Bob Evans where the food was okay, but the service was really bad.

While I was there, I hung out with the dog, Chloe. I spent a good long time rubbing her belly - which she loves - then sat up and lifted my shirt. "Okay," I told her, "My turn,"
She hopped up and came over, lifting her paw to my bare stomach. She was trying to rub my belly! I thanked her for the effort, but quickly lowered my shirt before her claws tore me up.

I gave my folks my Christmas list - seems a little silly, but we still do those. And since I had to do one, I insisted that I get one from them as well. Only seems fair. So, I've got a bit of shopping to do.

Looking back over my swimming log - I realized that my Year of Water actually began on November 29th. So, this week will mark a year that I've been hitting the pool. Kinda cool.

That's about it for now... back to work...

400, 45, cramp, sick

This is post 400 for me. I think the phrase I'm looking for is woop-dee-freaking-doo - not as exciting as I would have liked. Anyway, here it is.

Swam 45 laps today - that's 1.25 miles. And I paid for it - got a massive leg cramp at lap 42. Had to stop partway into lap 43 and struggle to get back to the edge. Spent the next few minutes trying to work out the cramp with grimace on my face. I was spared any potential embarrassment since the lifeguard was totally ignoring me so I was lucky there. Seriously, you have one job - watch the people swimming. A "hey, buddy, you okay?" would have been great - I got zilch. Anyway, I got past it and finished my laps.

Talked to my room-mate a few minutes ago. He was sick again this morning, called into work and slept the rest of the day. FYI - he recommends throwing up into garbage cans that have dryer sheets in them - a much more pleasant experience. He also coined the phrase - "puke and Bounce".

That's it for me... got a few things to wrap up before I head out.

later...

rilo, sick, light, lost things

I heard the Rilo Kiley song "silver lining" last night on the cable music and found it today on YouTube. Really sweet and sad song with a good beat. Listening to it today on repeat.

My room-mate woke me up last night around midnight - he was "horking" into the toilet. Actually both of them - he started downstairs, then thought he was done and went upstairs, where he was proved wrong. He said he's been this way for about 3 weeks - throwing up 1-2 times per day, but has been both keeping it from me and not doing anything about it.

Once he was as stable as can be, I went and cleaned up the downstairs bathroom (he had better "aim" upstairs) and since he didn't want to go to the hospital, I went back to bed. I could have been more compassionate, but I was really not at my best. I pretty much ordered him to go to the doctor since my Q&A session didn't yield any patterns. We'll see how that goes.

The light under my cabinet in the "cube" here at work had partly fallen down overnight. My attempts to fix it made things slightly worse. We had to have one of the maintenance dudes stop over and use some hammer-based "persuasion" to get it back into place. Weird that it would just fall like that.

Reading a new book called - "The Book of Lost Things". It's started out as a sad story, but with adventure right around the corner. Looking pretty cool. Plus, Saint Anthony is the patron saint of Lost Things - so, it should be right up my alley.


Guess that's it for now. This is entry 399 for this blog, I may write again after my swim today.

later...

queue, impaired, fuel, computer, route

In the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, there's a scene where the characters are confronted with a buruacratic line and the hero says, "Leave this to me. I'm British. I know how to queue,"

Well, yesterday I was confronted with an American that didn't know how to queue. A line was forming at the snack area and both the non-queue person and I were moving into position. I followed the previous pattern of people and the pathway approaching the checkout. He was ahead of me coming from the side and stood at a right angle to the rest of the line. Everyone else in the store formed up behind me - making it clear that he was doing it wrong. I left him enough room to step over in front of me into the line, but he simply stood there, oblivious. Holding his pack of gum.

Now, some would argue that he was looking at things from a different perspective and marching to the beat of his own drum. People that argue that are wrong, sorry.

Once I got nearer the front of the checkout line, I noticed that things were not moving as efficiently as they could be. There were two areas open, but both had issues. The guy at the far checkout was in a massive neck-brace - the kind of thing a Klingon would wear if they had an injured neck. He could barely move in that thing and was becoming dangerous with his quick turn-arounds to see things. The woman that ended up helping me had apparently forgotten her glasses that day since she could barely see and had to bring all the items up to her nose to see them. I noticed one customer use a coupon and then pay with cash and needed change. Might has well have tossed a wooden shoe into the machinery.

I finally escaped after making my purchase - but it was really a summary of how my day went. People in my way, actively opposed to letting me get on with my life. And me trying to stay out of everyone else's way.

In other news... I filled up my gas tank this morning - almost thirty bucks. And this was with a 1/4 tank left and after the price had "gone down" - whatever that means.

Also this morning, I took a different route to work. It went better and more smoothly than the way I usually go - so, that went well.


Finally, I took my room-mate's computer to the repair shop here at work. They created a work over for me and said they would take a look. Felt a little funny that I didn't get a receipt or something, but they did send me an email - so, we'll see how it goes.

Guess that's it for now... back to work...

weekend, computer, work

Had a good weekend - a visit from my sister and brother in law. They were in town to meet up with some friends from Cleveland for dinner and stayed with us for the weekend. Had a nice time and played a lot of UNO. They are OSU fans and my room-mate is a Michigan fan - so the game was fairly intense on Saturday. I played my PSP and just kinda hung out since I'm only marginally an Akron Zips fan if that.

It was good to see them and I'm glad they could stay with us.

My room-mate's computer bought the farm on Friday evening. We took it over to the Best Buy Geek squad and they couldn't even get it to stay turned on. So, based on previous issues, I suspect it's the motherboard that is toast. I'm going to see if the crew here can take a look - but I think a new computer is in the future.

Work this morning, on what could only be a Monday morning - has sucked. Glad we've got a short week - I suspect there will be at least two more Mondays this week.

snow & timing, sneeze, rss, game

This morning, as I was pulling out of my driveway, I realized it was snowing. Just a little snow in the air, but it was kinda pretty. I know that as the winter goes on I'll be dreading the snow - but today I kinda liked it. And though I was running late, the traffic wasn't too bad - must have had good timing today.

Went to Rudy Tuesday's recently and got my usual excellent tasting turkey burger. I also got fries with that, but to balance things out, I also got the salad bar. And then the problems began. I'm 6 foot tall - a reasonable height for a guy - and the "sneeze shield" on the salad bar was clearly designed for someone around 4 foot tall with unnaturally long arms. It hovered over the food items like an over-protective mother and to get to anything I had to bend at the knees and waist, move my arms below the shield, then up and over to reach the tongs. Getting the food to end up my plate was another matter and the impatient 4 foot tall woman behind me used her unnaturally long arms to try and reach in front of me - a clear breach of etiquette.

I got most of what I wanted for my salad, but totally gave up on the mushrooms - no way I would be able to reach those in the back row. The salad was good and I'm sure good for me, but I didn't go back for seconds since it didn't seem worth the hassle. While I appreciate the value of un-sneezed-upon food, it didn't seem like the barrier was well thought out.

In the news of the silly, I subscribed to my own blog with Google Reader. Now the RSS feed will show up along with all the other blogs I read. Pointless, yes, but not a bad exercise.

Played Final Fantasy 12 again last night - getting close to the end. In fact, I could just board the final ship and finish the game, but I'm working on some side quests before it ends.

One of those quests involves gathering a bunch of items from all over the planet in order to acquire three medallions - which in turn open three doors. The first of these doors - the Door Of Loathing - put me face to face with a gigantic monster with a huge freaking ax. I mentally braced myself and got ready when he suddenly fell over and died. His attacker revealed itself and hopped up to confront me. Literally hopped, it was a bunny. With feathers on its ears for some reason. The bunny cast a spell on itself and went totally berserk and started smacking my characters around. I rallied the troops and eventually took it down. The second door had another big monster that went down without too much trouble - no bunny this time. The third door had a monster that set up a field making it impossible to use the attack command. No swords this time - only magic. Well, I like games where you get to hit things - so, I may skip that battle.

Guess that's about it for now - time to get back to work...

donation and leak

I gave blood on Monday of this week - slightly notable experience. The process was mostly efficient, though there was a bit of a slow down in getting started with the actual donation. While I was waiting, I folded a crane one handed - to the amazement of the people around me. The women taking the donation was singing with the guy that was processing the blood donations - a diana ross / lional richie duet, My First Love - so, that was kinda weird. And she left the blood pressure cuff pumped up the entire time. I was uncomfortable at first and then I got used to it. I just figured it was a new procedure but it didn't really seem to have an impact on the speed. She was quite embarrassed when she realized, but I really didn't think it was a big deal.

I also got a sweatshirt out of the deal that I'm giving to my Mom.


Yesterday, I lost a bit of blood as well, though this was my own damn fault. Went to Chipotle for lunch and as I was hurrying to get in my car and close the door before the car next to met took off, my door swung shut on the side of my head and hit my ear. Hard. I rubbed it a bit, swore quietly, and went about my day. Last evening, I reached up to scratch my ear and I must have broken up a scab - blood started pouring out of the side of my ear. Once I got it cleaned up I realized it was a small cut, but it must have been deep. I kept pressure on it for a while and covered it with a band-aid when I went to sleep. Seems to be okay, but it was pretty intense for a bit.

Gotta stay late tonight for another training session.

Guess that's it for now... later

meeting, swim, blood, weekend

Had to give a presentation this morning on some work stuff for the division. It went okay, but it was not the most fun thing I've done today. I don't normally mind that sort of thing, but the topic was a little boring even to me, so I'm not sure how well I "sold it". A few people said I did well, so i guess that's something.

I swam again today - back down to 3o laps from last Friday's personal record of 45. Felt pretty good, just ran out of time.

I'm headed out to give blood in a few minutes. I was going to decline the sweatshirt since I've already got a red cross jacket - but Mom wants the sweatshirt, so, I guess I'll go ahead and get that.

I visited my folks over the weekend. We took the dog hiking and played a bunch of UNO when my sister and brother in law came over. Pretty nice time - quiet and peaceful.

Guess I should head out - I'll need to eat something before I donate.

later...

17.28 revisited, washer/dryer, sore

So, I finally got around to getting a picture of the 17.28 mb origami piece I did way back in May. I also got some shots of more recent projects.

http://gozips.uakron.edu/~aws/evenMoreOrigami.html

The washer and dryer got delivered yesterday - though it was a near thing. We set up the time for "after 5:00" - but they called my room-mate at 7:44 yesterday morning to confirm the delivery of the washer in the morning and the dryer in the evening. He got them corrected and both were delivered at around 5:30 in the evening. We got them hooked up, but since the crew tested them on-site, we didn't bother with any laundry last evening. I'll report on the first run when we get around to it.

I'm still a little sore from my walk around on campus - but it was worth it. I'm hoping the swim today will loosen me up.

Well, I'm hoping for a quiet day today, but I'd better get back to it.

later...

halloween 2007

The day off yesterday for my annual campus walk around has put me behind schedule - so, this will have to be quick.

http://gozips.uakron.edu/~aws/costume.html

This year I was Sobek, one of the gods of the dead from ancient Egypt. People really enjoyed it and I had a lot of fun with the building of the costume and getting to share it with people.

Gotta get back to work - enjoy the photos...