game, parking lot, filter

I played more of Divine Divinity last evening, here's how it went. My character managed to get out of the endlessly wearying caves and I sent him over to the Imp Castle in search of the Heart of the Dragon. When we got there, we found that it was a gem being guarded - strangely enough - by a dragon. Every tactic I tried met with failure and death for my character.

Finally, I summoned a "Demon Knight" creature as a distraction and ran for the exit - figuring I'd come back later when the character was stronger. Unfortunately, the nearest teleporter required a scroll from that castle, so I wandered around for a bit and then decided to head back in there to get the scroll and then run away to teleport back to the town.

I tried to avoid the dragon, but he was blocking the path and I figured I'd try to run past him. When I got close, I realized that the decoy Demon Knight was still alive and still fighting. Even better, he'd worn down the dragon so that a couple of hits from me was enough to take him down. I picked up the gem and headed out of the castle, stopping only long enough to pick up the scroll. So, learned a new plan. Get some decoy warriors going and run screaming for an exit like a little girl that just saw a spider.

Not very manly, true - but, come on, it was a freaking dragon! You'd run too.

I ran an errand last night for some project supplies and saw a car haul-ass across the parking lot. Not down the "roads", but across the parking spaces. They were going way too fast and clearly weren't paying attention. Kind of a pet peeve of mine. It bothers my room-mate a great deal as well, although he does it to. He justifies to me that he "pays attention" when he does it - which I think is funny in a way that makes me glad I have good insurance when I ride with him in his car.

The supplies I picked up included some transparent blue plastic for some filters over the lights in my cubicle here at work. The lights are always giving me a headache - time to do something about that. We'll see how it goes...

That's it for now...

not as helpful as they could have been

My room-mate asked me to go to Lowe's to pick up some dirt for some minor lawn repair - the deal being that if I got the dirt, I wouldn't be obligated to do any actual work. Seemed like a good deal to me.

I headed over to Lowe's and grabbed a shopping cart, then headed back to the garden area. The instructions were "two large bags of cheap dirt" - which I found in the non-roofed section of the area. One of the bags had broken open and with the recent rains, all the bags were pretty much covered in mud.

I'm not a strong person. I can swim forever, but I'm just not physically strong. So, it required a great deal of effort to get the first bag up onto the cart - and I ended up covered in mud.

A sales clerk came over and offered to get me a flat cart. I said that would be great and he wandered away to find it - then brought it back. And then he - this much taller and obviously stronger guy - watched while I struggled to move the bag from one cart to another, then add a second bag. He took the first cart away and I headed to the front of the store.

I got in a short line at the checkout and waited, I think, .5 forevers as the cashier struggled with the transaction. Eventually, I gave up and moved over a lane. The cashier there was very friendly, but a little daft. She blamed it on the cold medicine when she inadvertently did a split transaction and I had to run my card twice. While the second transaction was processing, she reached down and got a tissue. I thought she was going to offer it to me since my hands - and the rest of me - was covered in dirt. Instead, she blew her nose.

I finally got out to the car and struggled again with the bags to get them in the trunk.

Plenty of opportunities for the crew there to really make my day better - but instead I got the minimum and it ended up being more work than my room-mate had when he dumped the dirt onto the lawn.

humanity in games

This is a little psychological to start, had some thoughts about humanity in games. I used to play Diablo 2 a lot and while it was a really fun game, it was still just a game. I rarely felt drawn into it in a single player mode. In my many times through the game, I only felt really a part of it playing a lightning magic user in the Difficult mode. Even with all the might this character could create - and she was very powerful - there were still times when I would have the character wander into an area and find an ambush of highly powerful ranged attack monsters. Just as power as she was and just as fast. And sometimes, either through random placement or the AI of the game - organized. Suddenly, the game went from "vaporise the slow-moving zombies from a distance" to "run from the skeleton fire-archers". And there was excitement and a little fear. And then the game really got fun again.

Tomb Raider has a few moments like this as well. The ambush of gorillas in the arena, the lions in the temple, the 'whatever-they-are" in the final levels. Those are quickly subdued and the brief rush of excitement fades when the twin guns start blazing. TR stands out for me for another reason - vertigo. There are a few shots where Laura Croft reaches a very tall point in the landscape and will invariably look down. Even in the original version of the game, with it's low resolution, the scene would trigger my fear of heights and I would carefully back Laura away from the edge even though she would calmly stand right there for hours on her own. Fear again, but of a different flavor.

There have been other games that sparked the "jump out at you" fear and at least one that sparked the vertigo as well - but I've now found a game that makes me tired.

My character in Divine Divinity had his teleport stones stolen, but since the game must go on, I sent him into the depths of a evil undead infested cave for treasure. Well we found a lot of treasure - and a quest with a promise of adventure. The problem is that the character can only carry so much at one time. When he carries over a certain limit, he can't run. And since he can't teleport, he can't drop off the treasure and exotic weapons he finds. So, the poor dude is wandering around the increasingly deep cave, loaded down with potentially expensive shields, fighting monsters and occasionally camping down there. Since he can't run at this point, it's a slow and almost painful walk . The character has a very limited range of actions and no emotional stance, but I can still feel for the guy. Heavy burden, no light at the end of the tunnel, increasing work and danger, endless battles, no shortcuts.

Sounds like work some days. While I've been writing this, I've been working on a plan to get him out of there and then come back for the loot. He's still got a ways to travel, but I think I've restored a little hope.

Back to the game... later

gas, smoke, mist

My gas tank was close to "E" last evening when I came home from work, but the challenge of entering and exiting the nearest gas station at that time of the day was too much to consider after the day I had. I went on home and stopped this morning to get some gas. Not "fill up" at $3.45 a gallon, but get some and be on my way. As I pulled to a stop at the pump, the Check Gauges light came on - which is pretty good timing on my part.

The car on the other side of the pump caught my eye since the driver had gotten back in the car - which you're really not supposed to do. Even worse, on first glance it appeared she was smoking. I went back to pumping my gas and tried to puzzle that out. Was she really smoking? Should I say something? If I made an issue, would she throw the cigarette out the window of her car, making things worse?

While I was debating this internally, she finished getting her gas and drove off - still smoking. I've never seen anyone do that before and was unprepared - next time, I'm going to say something to them.

Last night, I watched The Mist on DVD. The cover of the box proclaimed it to have "one of the most shocking endings in a movie ever!" Which had me a little puzzled since the book's ending wasn't really all that shocking. But, it's a Stephen King book, so the movie is bound to screw it up somehow.

Surprisingly, it didn't - at least at the beginning. The movie was right on track with the book - scene for scene and shot for shot. Even the dialog was really close. It was well done and encouraging - I was really hoping they wouldn't tack on some cheesy Hollywood ending.

Well, the ending was different from the book. Far, far darker and very disturbing. Uncomfortably so. I was almost wishing for a cheesy happy Hollywood ending. I figured I'd have nightmares about it, but my sleep was untroubled.

that's it for now... later.

glass, injury, game, computer

One of my favorite books - Snow Crash - has a character that gets weapons past all kinds of security by making them out of glass. His favorites are glass knives and harpoons. So, in keeping with my bad-ass image of making my own weapons, I decided to make a glass knife. I had some glass left over from a stained glass project and carefully chipped it into shape- then made a wooden holder and wrapped it with some leather code to hold it into place. Not a bit of metal in it. Now, I'm not going to try and sneak it past a metal detector, but it was an interesting exercise.

And it works too - while I was putting it together I accidentally cut my finder on the edge and got a good bleeding going. Direct pressure and a band-aid took care of it - but it was a somewhat dangerous weekend for me. The tattoo still hasn't finished healing, I got the glass cut, and I cut my self shaving last evening. No hospital trips, so I'm doing okay.

Been playing a fun game on the computer - Divine Divinity. The title has really nothing to do with the game, it's a standard hack and slash adventure RPG. Lots of fun though and the quests are interesting. I've gotten my butt kicked several times, but I'm playing a lot more methodically and working my way through the orc army. I'm also saving more frequently, which is helping with my temper when my computer crashes.

Speaking of which, I had to download another fix for Norton anti-virus. Buggiest piece of software I've seen in a long time. It kept shutting down with a cryptic error message - I finally tracked it down and got the fix installed.

A pretty quiet weekend otherwise, watched some DVD's and did some reading. Oh, and I made some soap too.

later...

churches, paint, mulch, hello, tattoo, game, movies

My room-mate and I ended up lost over the weekend - not my fault and I don't want to go into it - but the main part of the story is that we ended up in an area with a very large number of churches. A disproportionally high number - must have been 12-15 within a mile radius. Not just a few one-room-here-drink-this-kool-aid places, there was a huge church and a good sized catholic church as well. My first thought - doubtlessly from years of too much Stephen King and Clive Barker - was "something terrible must have happened here". Couldn't figure why else there would be so many churches in a small area like this.

On the drive into work I saw some new graffiti - stenciled onto a support post under a bridge. Normally, I'm pretty disdainful of stenciled graffiti - if you're going to be a vandal, at least be creative about and do your own work - but this was pretty clever. It said "Waste of Paint".

Springtime around here means a weird mix of warmth and cold. The weekend was nice and I got a little sun. Spring also means mulch and the campus is covered in it. It looks great, but the entire campus smells like manure. At headache inducing levels. Still, the mulch will stay and the smell will fade, so I guess we can wait it out.

One of the grounds crew was doing a little sweeping up as I came in this morning. I said hello and she responded with a very cheery hello right back. I came inside and said hello to one of my colleagues - who completely ignored me. There are several in the building that do that. They don't make eye contact and they don't respond. I mean, I know we're geeks and all, but at least say hello or something. sheesh.

My tattoo is not healing well. I think the return to swimming was soon and it's still irritated and scabbing. I put some neosporin on it last night and wrapped it - I'm hoping it gets better today. I brought my gear, but I think I may skip my swim.

I played a new game over the weekend - divine divinity. Standard RPG, but only three classes. I started off with the "thief" - though they call it the "survivor". I did okay, but only by chugging potions every time I fought a monster. Decided to start again with the warrior and I'm kicking a lot more ass - I'm also better at solving the quests and I haven't failed any of those yet.

Watched a couple movies over the weekend - Hitman and Black Sheep. Really good stuff. Hitman was a lot of fun - pretty good, if simple, story and lots of great action and explosions. Black Sheep was scary, gross, and funny. Very funny in some parts. Genetically engineered carnivore sheep, were-sheep, mad scientists, plucky hero with a sheep-phobia - what's not to love?

Finally, I watched 30 Days of Night last week. Really good show - one of the best vampire flicks I've seen in a long time.

Guess that's it for now. I'm not really looking forward to work this week, but I'll get through it.

later...

doctor, swim, idiot

I took my room-mate to the doctor this morning - he was going for a colonoscopy. He was doing fine after the procedure - but we decided to call the recovery area the "snoring and farting ward". For obvious reasons. I had taken him for an endoscopy a few weeks back - it was only fair since he had helped me when I had my weapon-grade migraine a while back.

I hit the pool today after I got in and had our weekly meeting. The pool was configured the long way again and though I did my standard equivalent of 30 laps, I was pretty tired at the end. My arm is a little sore too for some reason, but I'm still glad I could get it in.

On the way back to the office, I witnesses the following sight:

A white guy. In a light, metallic purple (let's just call it lavender, okay?) 4 door car that wasn't a Taurus, but might as well have been. He was blasting rap music out of his speakers and "singing" along with it a the top of his lungs.

I wanted to lure him out of his car with some snacks, tag him with a radio collar to track his movements, and get him into some kind of counseling program to help him figure out exactly how he got to this point in his life. It was disturbing and sad.

That's it for now... time to head on out.

soccer, headache, taxes, candy

I went to my FRM's youngest son's soccer game today. It was - as I expected - a blast. The little dude scored a goal early on, then switched teams since they didn't have enough players. On his new team - he scored another goal. I was way impressed - his mom says he likes soccer a lot and is having more fun with it than basketball since he gets to wear his "fast shoes".

I also found out the my FRM's oldest son is going to have a child of his own. The little soccer player's mom was trying to convince FMR's mom to bury the hatchet when her great-grandchild is born for a 5 gen family photo - but she wasn't interested. Crazy people.

I got a headache yesterday evening - all the warning signs and the inevitable decline. I took some strong aspirin and went to bed early, but it came back this morning. It's been with me off and on today, but I think another nap might get rid of it.

I sealed up my tax envelops today and apparently just missed the mail-man. Oh well, Monday is soon enough.

Last thing, funny story... When I was waiting to get my tattoo, a woman and her small son were in there in the waiting room as well - I think she was getting her nose pierced. Anyway, I was folding some paper and he can came over and said hello to me. So, I said hello back. His mother called him back over - I guess she thought he might have been bothering me or something. She said to him, "Now you know you're not supposed to talk to strangers unless they have candy,"

Which I thought was clever and funny.

That's it for now... nap time.

work, taxes, tattoo

I worked a little late yesterday and hung around the area since I had two evening appointments - taxes and a tattoo. I left the office a little after 6:30 and headed over to H&R block to pick up the city taxes that they couldn't do the day before since their "city program" was down. They had everything ready and explained a few things before I left.

I did notice later a flaw in what they'd done. One of the city taxes was missing the w-2 since they'd give me one the day before and only had 3 left - and needed four for the 2 cities, the fed and state. Easily fixed, but it could have been bad had I not caught it.

So, since the tattoo place was right next door to the tax place, I was seriously early. Which turned out to be a very good thing.

The tattoo artist - Sam (samantha) - told me that she had tried to call me. Which didn't mean anything to me since I'd give them my home number and hadn't been home yet. She made a quick call, then started me on the paper work while she had a cigarette and washed her hands. When we were both ready, she took me back to the studio and made the simple modifications to the wrist tattoo I have. (I'll get photos when it's healed up). I paid at the front counter and got the after-care instructions.

When I got home, my room-mate was surprised that I'd been able to get it done. Sam had called my apartment and spoken to my room-mate - telling him she had to leave right then and wouldn't be able to keep the appointment. He said he would try to contact me by work phone and email - but couldn't guarantee anything. This all happened at just after 6:00 - after I was already on my way. Everything worked out okay -but it was a much closer thing than I realized.

That's about it for now...

fog, sinus, sick, taxes, elliptical, tattoo

I took a 1/2 day last Friday and - after my swim - got on the road to go visit my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, and my grandmother for the weekend. I got there in time to have dinner at my sister's - she makes really good soup - and we went to their church for an Easter program. Not really my cup of tea -but it was okay. The only bad parts were the fog machine - which started at the beginning and did a number on my sinuses - and the woman sitting behind us that had marinated in perfume. The fog machine also did a number on the smoke alarms - they went off during one of the songs. At first I thought the strobe lights were some kind of effect, but it was just the fog machine.

I don't know if the fog was the trigger, but I was pretty miserable on Saturday. Bad enough that I took some Alka-Seltzer plus - despite the horrible taste. We just kinda hung out for the rest of the weekend - though Mom did take me to a scrapbooking store for some cool paper.

I was sick enough on Monday to take the day off and slept most of the time. When I was awake, I did a whole lot of nothing.

This afternoon I took my tax stuff over to H&R Block. My main goal was to get the city stuff done since that was the most confusing. Their city program was down and it looks like I'll have to stop back tomorrow. I also stopped to make an appointment to get a little work done on a tattoo - just want to add a little to it. I think they were disappointed that I wasn't having a back-piece done, but that's I want. I'll do that tomorrow.

I used the elliptical last night for the first time since the latest fix. It made some weird and unsettling noises, but it held up for the 15 minutes I used it. We'll see how that goes.

That's it for now...

dinner

Went out to dinner last night at Macaroni Grill. Normally, one of my favorite restaurants - but this visit was less than stellar. For one, the bread. The bread at the Grill is awesome - that's the only word to describe it. Say it with me: Awesome. This time? Not so awesome. A little overbaked and bland.

Next, the Simple Salmon. I'm going to quote right from the menu on this one:

"Simple Salmon: Seasoned grilled salmon fillet served with grilled tender-crisp asparagus and broccoli."

Now, do you see the words "Covered in uncooked chunks of tomato" anywhere in that description?

Neither did I, but that was the reality I faced. I was able to scrap them off onto my bread plate (since I didn't need that, clearly) and work past them. Still "tainted" my fish, but a bunch of lemon juice squeezed from the lemon in my tea helped a bit.

The server kept breezing past us, asking if everything was okay - but leaving before we could give an answer.

Will I go back? Most likely. The asparagus and the broccoli were good and the fish was okay. But I'm going to be more particular and insist on a really Simple Salmon.

I've got a busy and hopefully short day ahead of me - better get back to it.

shoes, memory, swim, book

I bought some new shoes yesterday. There were on sale at Target. That's pretty much it for that topic

I had a memory 'brown-out' on Monday as I was getting ready for my swim. I took my hair/body wash out of my back and set it in my locker - then looked in the bag and was puzzled for a moment as to where I'd put the bottle - even going so far as to think I'd left it at home. Then I turned back to the locker and saw it. Then I started looking in the locker for my towel and wondered how I was going to dry off without a towel, already dreading having to use the air dryers. Then I turned and looked on the bench to see the towel I had set there. My memory is usually pretty good - it was disconcerting to have it display the small failures.

I swam a mile yesterday. Wasn't really planning on going that far, but I was feeling pretty good and decided to go for it.

Finished up a book last night - and was very disappointed. The storyline was charging along, really a fun read and then the book just sort of stopped with huge amounts of plot unresolved. On the last page - "Book One of The Fourth Realm". It's a series? Why didn't anyone tell me? Now I've got to wait for the next one.

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

dream fragment, idea

I had a fragment of a dream this morning where the instant a person woke up would anchor them into a particular alternate reality. For example, waking up at 6:16 every morning meant you were always in the same reality. If you woke up a little early or a little late - say 6:14 or 6:17 - you'd be in a slightly different version of the universe, but close enough to your own that most things were familiar. If you over slept until 8 or 9 o'clock, you'd be very lost and confused - same as if you woke up early. And you'd be stuck until your next sleep cycle.

Might make for a good story.

I also had an idea for a story about a coin that controlled probability. If you made a statement - like 'If heads, then the sky is green' and flipped the coin - and if it came up heads, the sky would turn green. Seems really dangerous - which is always good for a story.

back to work...

vending machine

I just when to the vending machine and tried to purchase a delicious Twix bar. I must have hit the wrong numbers or the machine is hosed, but I got a Nature Valley Oats 'N Honey bar instead.

I'm going to eat it anyway since I'm hungry, but I'm still cranky about it.

part, call, pool, alarm

The part for the elliptical came in yesterday - my room-mate is going to call them today to schedule an appointment to have a technician come out and get it fixed since he's off today. Fingers crossed that this really fixes it.

I was in the bathroom last night brushing my teeth when I heard a weird noise. With the fan on and the sound of my own brushing I couldn't tell it was the phone until it was too late to get to it. The caller ID indicated it was the landlord - calling at ten after ten on a Monday night and then not leaving a message. My room-mate had put a note in the most recent rent check about getting the blinds fixed, but that was weeks ago and not worth a late night call. It was pretty weird. We didn't call back since no message was left - but we may call this evening. At 11:00 pm.

The pool was quiet yesterday, only myself and one other person were in the lap lanes - but there were a few people in scuba gear. They were getting ready to cross the lanes to get to the deep end when I approached and I stopped and treaded water until they got past. This is not the first time the lappers and the scuba have crossed paths, but they usually have better timing about getting past us. It was such this time that I could yield the right of way and have a slightly surreal moment of courtesy.

Since it's spring break this week, there are activities on campus that normally wouldn't be done when the students are here. Such as testing the fire alarms in the classroom buildings. Unfortunately, I had a meeting in one of those buildings yesterday. The alarms were going off as I entered the building, which should have stopped me there - but the people I could see inside were far too casual for it to be actually on fire. I went on in, up to the second floor, and stopped in the most poorly designed restroom I've encountered.

The alarms, which had been silenced, started up just as the urinal flushed itself - which was a little disconcerting. I washed my hands and when to the office for the meeting - and had to shout at the poor office manager to get her to direct me. I found the office and we were able to shut the door to dampen the noise a bit, but it was still bad.

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

fog, elliptical, mask, shelf, brakes, walk

It was foggy the other day - a consequence of moisture in the air and massive temp shifts. A little scary - but only because I've read too many books - and slightly interesting on the drive into work.

The elliptical is broken - again. This is the second time that it's locked up on me - nearly fell off the dang thing this time. So, I called them during their office hours and they said they had re-engineered the part and would be sending it out to me - and would have a technician come out and install it. At first I was going to insist on a new machine, but I'd had a long day and decided to go along with the story to spare myself the stress. Next time, refund. Which is kinda sad, that I'm assuming that it's going to break again. At least I got them to extend the warranty by another three months.

I got a chamois the other day when I was out and about - figured the lighter weight leather might work better for the mask. I tried the process again and it went much better. I'll let it finish drying and see if it holds the shape.

I also worked on a shelf today - trying to make the CD shelf a little more useful. My room-mate and I tried using a dremel and a circular saw - and got close to the width needed. I worked the shelf over with a metal file to try and shave off the last little bit to make it fit. Took me a while and the final result just barely fits, but I'm bored with the project and it will just have to do.

I went to get my brakes fixed yesterday - went around 10:30 to the repair shop. They drove it around and gave me a time estimate - 3 hours. So, at about 11:00, I started me walk. Headed to Lowe's, then to the plaza where the new Target has gone in. (Looks like we're getting a Chipotle!) then into Target and wandered around there a bit. About 12:30 I headed over to burger king for lunch - and they messed up one of my sandwiches. From there, past the auto dealerships and down to the bank to confirm that I wasn't going to be wiped out by the repair cost. Stopped at a gas station for a vitamin water and drank it on a bench next to a stream at the ice cream place. Despite the constant traffic noise, it was very peaceful there.

At about ten minutes to 2:00, I headed back to the repair shop in time to see my car being pulled out for another test. Encouraged, I sat outside on a picnic bench next to subway and waited. In a few minutes they came back and I went inside to pay for the repairs and get my keys. And then I saw my car being hoisted back up again. So, I sat and folded some paper until they lowered it and gave me the final bill. It was painful, but about what I expected and my brakes are in excellent condition again. Kind of a waste of a day, but at least it's done.

So, that's pretty much it for me. I've had to do a little bit of work this weekend, but at least it's been in short spurts. Back to work tomorrow - it's spring break for us, so it should be quite. And parking will be a breeze.

later...

snow, walk, paper, game, tin man

Big snow recently. Really big snow. So much that the university closed early again on Friday. I stayed late beyond the closing time to get more work done - and as a result the drive wasn't too bad. It snowed a lot on Friday and then all day Saturday - and I stayed indoors as much as possible and was toasty warm.

My room-mate and I did get out on Saturday evening - we went for a walk around the neighborhood. We offered to help push a car that was stuck, but the driver declined our help. We also saw a snowmobiler hit a snowbank and fall over. He was going way too fast and far too recklessly. He wasn't hurt, so we didn't offer to help.

We also saw a snow covered car with the door open and a woman half-way in and half-way out of the car. I called out to her to see if she needed help and scared the crap out of her. Apparently, she was just getting something out of her car and hadn't heard us approach. We apologized and went on our way. Didn't know we needed to wear bells...

Did some work on the paper preparation - and it didn't go well. I don't know if the paper wasn't strong enough or what, but it tore in several places when it dried. I guess I need to upgrade before I try again. Maybe resume paper...

I wrapped up the Final Fantasy game this weekend - the last battles were pretty easy since I had all my characters at a crazy high level. Great animation, but a little anti-climactic.

Watched most of Tin Man on Sci-Fi channel on Sunday - pretty good mini-series. I think I'll pick up the DVD. I also want to get the Hitman DVD that's coming out soon.

That's it for now...

car show, roads, flowers

I went to a car show with a couple of friends last evening. It was the last day for the show and we didn't get there until around 6 - and the show closed at 8:00. And it was disappointing. All the cars pretty much looked like cars. The trucks looked like trucks, the SUVs looked like SUVs. Only a couple of concept cars and though they looked kinda cool, they were still essentially cars. Nothing really innovative. I saw a touch screen display that mentioned some futuristic cars - so I played with that until I got to some sketches for a "no holds barred imagination" design. It looked pretty cool - and the wheels were just spokes! Looked like some kind of hover car or variable traction smart wheels or something. The final design? An ordinary car with ordinary wheels.

We were still there when they started shutting down the lights - I thought security was going to have to drag the car nuts I was with out of the cars, but we got out unscathed.

In other news... The roads this morning were terrible. Not icy, but covered in potholes. There are a couple of spots that are really bad on my way to work. I thought I was going to get lost in there a few times. And forget listening to a CD in my car - there's no skip protection in the world that could help with my commute.

On Friday, one of the student assistants that I work with mentioned that she was trying to find a particular flower that her family exchanges this time of the year. She seemed a little disappointed and maybe a little homesick - so, I found a design on the 'net and got some supplies - and folded about 50 small flowers. A little hot-melt glue on a branch from a craft store - and a small vase with some rocks - and it was ready to go. Should be a nice surprise when she gets in. I'll try to get photos tomorrow.

I guess that's about it for now... back to work...

elliptical, work, snoopy, zombie, lost, taxes

I used the elliptical trainer again on Tuesday - and it's starting to make the same noises it did just before it locked up again. If/when it does, I'm going to insist on a new machine. It's only a few months old and it doesn't get used that hard.

Work has been busy, though we did have a snow day earlier this week that I pretty much wasted with video games. I was wildly unproductive.

Got a new game last night - Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron. It's a little silly, but still pretty cool. All the missions are flying and involve some kind of combat. The voices sound like the Peanuts cartoon and are already getting a little old, but the controls are solid and the explosions are plentiful.

I had a zombie nightmare this morning - bad enough to wake me up before the alarm went off and kept me up. I was stumbling around in a dark kitchen, trying to feel for a knife I could use to destroy all the undead in the basement. Yes, I'm aware that's the dumbest thing I could do - I should have just gotten out of the house and found a weapon somewhere else. Instead, I finally found a knife, then rejected it as being too small and dull - as if I really had the luxury of being picky. I picked up another knife and turned - only to be attacked by the first zombie that had made it up the stairs. I fought it off and laboriously sawed it's head off. Then I headed for the basement to destroy the rest of the them and woke up as I was headed down the stairs.

I'm rarely that stupid in my dreams - not sure if this means anything or not, but it can't be good.

Watched Lost last night - and had a low grade argument with my room-mate. He keeps throwing out these terms to explain what's going on in the show and I'm fairly convinced he's using them wrong. Last night's episode cleared up a lot of the mysteries for me - it was almost disappointing in a way - but I think I need to do a powerpoint for my room-mate.

Finally, I tried to do my taxes on our snow day, but I got stuck since I moved last year and the city taxes - the most unreasonably complicated part of the process - were even more complicated than usual. I may have to bite the bullet and take them somewhere to be done this year.

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

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...