I was just about to go to bed last night when my room-mate approached me with something akin to panic. A couple of weeks ago, I had helped him with a show field map for a car show he's involved with. In the past, we've done this using powerpoint and it was relatively easy for him to modify this once I set it up. This time around, we didn't have access to Powerpoint and I used a scanned image of an old event program and modified it using Fireworks. It's a pretty good program, but there's a learning curve.
Well, he got some additional updates last night that he should have gotten days ago. The clock was ticking and he needed to send the changed map via email last night. He asked if I could show him how to make the changes, but I shook my head and told him it would take far longer that way.
So, I sat down at the computer and he refered to his notes and we made the updates. Despite the troubles we had with the file (even getting the dang thing to save properly was a chore) we got things updated and I finally went to bed. I don't know if he got the email out or not - I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Which surprised me a bit - I was putting forth quite a lot of brain-power on the file updates - figured I would have trouble settling down.
But that only lasted a while. I had a terrible nightmare that woke me up and scared the crap out of me.
I dreamed that I was being hunted through a dark neighborhood by a blood-thirsty serial killer. Seemed like I was running forever, but he finally cornered me and pulled out a wicked looking knife. Somehow, I managed to get the knife away from him and I used it against him. As his lifeless body fell to the ground, a bunch of my friends ran up to me and told me that his family was coming home and that I needed to get out of there. In the dream, I was shocked that such a lunatic would have a family, that he would have spent all that time hunting me when his family was due to arrive home - and that I had just killed somebody's dad and husband and left his body on their front yard. I started running again when I saw the headlights of a mini-van start down the street toward the house - the bloody knife still in my hand.
I woke up then, in a panic that I was now a fugitive and they would think that I was the killer. I finally got myself calmed down and went back to sleep.
Still a little out of it this morning, but I'm here at work and it's time to get back to it.
later...
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
projects, motorcycle, game
Although I played a lot of video games this weekend, I still managed to find some time to do a couple of projects.
The first involved building stands for the tiki torches in the backyard. Apparently, they were knocked down while we were gone and the tiki fuel spilled out and killed the grass. As designated "builder of shit", my room-mate tasked me with coming up with a solution. I opted for building a small crossbar wooden base with a vertical piece to wire the tiki torch to it - then putting the whole thing in a plastic flower pot and filling it with gravel. I did this for three of them, but didn't have quite enough gravel. A "small bag" is only a few bucks - but the small is still 50 pounds. I'm guessing I'll need 10 pounds at the most - not sure what I'll do with the rest.
The second project involved afixing boards to inside walls of the garage so that we can hang things there. My room-mate had tried this at some point, but the stud-finder he was using was either not working right or he wasn't using it right. I had a more high-tech tool and with a little patience I found the studs and affixed two large boards - then added in the hooks and hung up some stuff. It was a little tricky to do by myself, but I managed.
I also wanted to put some peg boards on the back wall - but the stud-finder sensor concluded that the entire wall was a screaming grid of lethal voltage. So, I didn't drill anything into that wall. I think I know how to get the sensor to be more reliable, but I didn't really want to mess with it.
While I was working on the garage, enjoying the cool afternoon with the door open, a virtual parade of motorcycles cruised up and down the road. One after another, over and over, all afternoon. It's normally a pretty quiet neighborhood and the sound of the engines was really annoying. I considered putting up a sign out front to try and get them to stop and explain what was going on - or hopefully stop doing it. I mean, if it was some really misguided fundraiser for a sick child, I might understand - but it seemed more like a "look at me, I'm cool" kinda thing. I didn't put up the sign, thinking that if I did anger them, I might be able to hold off a couple of bikers with a sword and some attititude but they clearly had me out-numbered. I've been looking online to see if I can figure out what they were doing, but no luck so far. There's apparently some kind of Angels of Hope ride, but that seems to be for next week and it's further south. I also seem to recall something like this last year around this time. If I can figure it out, I'll see if I can suggest an alternate route. Or invest in some spike strips.
The game that occupied much of my attention was Okami and just when I thought I'd beaten it, the whole thing opened up and the adventure got even bigger. It's really cool and I'm having fun exloring the whole world in the game and kicking some serious butt.
That's it for now - back to work.
The first involved building stands for the tiki torches in the backyard. Apparently, they were knocked down while we were gone and the tiki fuel spilled out and killed the grass. As designated "builder of shit", my room-mate tasked me with coming up with a solution. I opted for building a small crossbar wooden base with a vertical piece to wire the tiki torch to it - then putting the whole thing in a plastic flower pot and filling it with gravel. I did this for three of them, but didn't have quite enough gravel. A "small bag" is only a few bucks - but the small is still 50 pounds. I'm guessing I'll need 10 pounds at the most - not sure what I'll do with the rest.
The second project involved afixing boards to inside walls of the garage so that we can hang things there. My room-mate had tried this at some point, but the stud-finder he was using was either not working right or he wasn't using it right. I had a more high-tech tool and with a little patience I found the studs and affixed two large boards - then added in the hooks and hung up some stuff. It was a little tricky to do by myself, but I managed.
I also wanted to put some peg boards on the back wall - but the stud-finder sensor concluded that the entire wall was a screaming grid of lethal voltage. So, I didn't drill anything into that wall. I think I know how to get the sensor to be more reliable, but I didn't really want to mess with it.
While I was working on the garage, enjoying the cool afternoon with the door open, a virtual parade of motorcycles cruised up and down the road. One after another, over and over, all afternoon. It's normally a pretty quiet neighborhood and the sound of the engines was really annoying. I considered putting up a sign out front to try and get them to stop and explain what was going on - or hopefully stop doing it. I mean, if it was some really misguided fundraiser for a sick child, I might understand - but it seemed more like a "look at me, I'm cool" kinda thing. I didn't put up the sign, thinking that if I did anger them, I might be able to hold off a couple of bikers with a sword and some attititude but they clearly had me out-numbered. I've been looking online to see if I can figure out what they were doing, but no luck so far. There's apparently some kind of Angels of Hope ride, but that seems to be for next week and it's further south. I also seem to recall something like this last year around this time. If I can figure it out, I'll see if I can suggest an alternate route. Or invest in some spike strips.
The game that occupied much of my attention was Okami and just when I thought I'd beaten it, the whole thing opened up and the adventure got even bigger. It's really cool and I'm having fun exloring the whole world in the game and kicking some serious butt.
That's it for now - back to work.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
ocean swimming
While on vacation, I decided that I would ocean swim every day. In the campus pool I can do a mile in about 40 minutes or so. I figured that if I did at least 45 minutes in the ocean, that would be the equivalent of a mile.
Ocean swimming is a lot different than the pool – for one, it’s much more salty. Add in the waves, variable depth, other swimmers, potential for fish and sharks and it’s a pretty intense experience.
I usually started from the beach in front of the condo, then swam down toward the pier – but not all the way to the pier since the fishermen throw the un-needed fish parts over the side and it attracts sharks.
Though I swam the same stretch of water every day, it was always a unique experience. The currents and the tides were always changing and some days were more difficult than others. I got smacked in the face by the tides many times – but eventually found a rhythm that kept me in the clear.
I mostly swam breaststroke, but occasionally ramped it up a notch and switched to butterfly. I’m not very good at that one, but the tossing motion of the waves actually helped. It didn’t do that too long since it tired me out, but it was pretty cool for a while.
So, I figure I did about 12 miles while I was on vacation, not counting the swimming I did in the pool or the “epic fail” of the boogie board.
Not Olympic level, but not too shabby.
Ocean swimming is a lot different than the pool – for one, it’s much more salty. Add in the waves, variable depth, other swimmers, potential for fish and sharks and it’s a pretty intense experience.
I usually started from the beach in front of the condo, then swam down toward the pier – but not all the way to the pier since the fishermen throw the un-needed fish parts over the side and it attracts sharks.
Though I swam the same stretch of water every day, it was always a unique experience. The currents and the tides were always changing and some days were more difficult than others. I got smacked in the face by the tides many times – but eventually found a rhythm that kept me in the clear.
I mostly swam breaststroke, but occasionally ramped it up a notch and switched to butterfly. I’m not very good at that one, but the tossing motion of the waves actually helped. It didn’t do that too long since it tired me out, but it was pretty cool for a while.
So, I figure I did about 12 miles while I was on vacation, not counting the swimming I did in the pool or the “epic fail” of the boogie board.
Not Olympic level, but not too shabby.
beach trip
I got back Thursday from a 2 week trip to Myrtle beach (Surfside) with my room-mate and his extended family. Here are some highlights from the trip:
1. Day one on the beach and two women approached us with free samples of Pringles SnackStix. We accepted a few packages and they went on their way. A few minutes later, another duo approached with more samples. Then a third group, and finally a fourth. When the 5th group came around, we politely declined. Apparently, they were poorly coordinated and didn’t realize that they were hitting the same part of the beach over and over. Or they didn’t care. In any case, we got a pile of snacks.
2. We met up with some of my room-mates somewhat distant cousins at another condo for a cookout and game night. The odds were somewhat stacked against my team as we were playing Scene It and there were limited TV/Movie/Music fans on our side. Fortunately, I do pretty well with the visual puzzles and we held our own. On the last set of questions, my room-mates 8 year old cousin came up with the answer of Jimmy Newtron before anyone else and I followed up with another cartoon based answer – Princess Monokoe. The rest of the group was stunned when they answer came up on the screen. Thank you, somewhat obscure anime.
3. On a separate occasion, we played Scatagories and for the question of “Things you Replace” I suggested Needles. Which seemed quite responsible and clever. For “Things You Shout”, I used - for different rounds – Kneel before Zod! and Spoon! That being the command of Superman’s enemy in Superman 2 and the battle cry of the Tick, respectively. I was denied both times.
4. In the past, I’ve gotten pretty well burned on these trips. This time, thanks to liberal applications of SPF 30 and 45, my pale geek flesh was only moderately tanned.
5. I bought and tried a boogie board. The only way to describe my experience on that is “Epic Fail”
6. I watched a lot of “shark week” on tv in the evenings and a special on the History Channel on corn.
7. While out to dinner one evening, I split an order of calamari, black olives, and cheese. It was disturbing to look at, but quite good.
8. On the last night we were there, there was a massive lightning storm out to sea. It seemed like the lightning kept hitting the same general area with huge strikes and in many cases, the lighting would branch out in cloud to cloud strikes. Really amazing.
9. While we were down in the area, we also went to see Brookgreen Gardens. It has a bunch of really impressive outdoor sculptures and a sprawling garden – really neat to see. They also had a sort of outdoor zoo – my favorite animals were the huge spiders near the horse barn, the three otters in their own creek, and a giant alligator that moved just enough to show us he was the boss.
10. I didn’t do as much reading as I thought I would, but I did a lot of writing on the beach. I worked mainly on a short story – but I’ll need to type it up so that other people can read it.
I also did a lot of swimming – but I’ll go over that in another post. It was a good trip, but it’s also good to be home.
1. Day one on the beach and two women approached us with free samples of Pringles SnackStix. We accepted a few packages and they went on their way. A few minutes later, another duo approached with more samples. Then a third group, and finally a fourth. When the 5th group came around, we politely declined. Apparently, they were poorly coordinated and didn’t realize that they were hitting the same part of the beach over and over. Or they didn’t care. In any case, we got a pile of snacks.
2. We met up with some of my room-mates somewhat distant cousins at another condo for a cookout and game night. The odds were somewhat stacked against my team as we were playing Scene It and there were limited TV/Movie/Music fans on our side. Fortunately, I do pretty well with the visual puzzles and we held our own. On the last set of questions, my room-mates 8 year old cousin came up with the answer of Jimmy Newtron before anyone else and I followed up with another cartoon based answer – Princess Monokoe. The rest of the group was stunned when they answer came up on the screen. Thank you, somewhat obscure anime.
3. On a separate occasion, we played Scatagories and for the question of “Things you Replace” I suggested Needles. Which seemed quite responsible and clever. For “Things You Shout”, I used - for different rounds – Kneel before Zod! and Spoon! That being the command of Superman’s enemy in Superman 2 and the battle cry of the Tick, respectively. I was denied both times.
4. In the past, I’ve gotten pretty well burned on these trips. This time, thanks to liberal applications of SPF 30 and 45, my pale geek flesh was only moderately tanned.
5. I bought and tried a boogie board. The only way to describe my experience on that is “Epic Fail”
6. I watched a lot of “shark week” on tv in the evenings and a special on the History Channel on corn.
7. While out to dinner one evening, I split an order of calamari, black olives, and cheese. It was disturbing to look at, but quite good.
8. On the last night we were there, there was a massive lightning storm out to sea. It seemed like the lightning kept hitting the same general area with huge strikes and in many cases, the lighting would branch out in cloud to cloud strikes. Really amazing.
9. While we were down in the area, we also went to see Brookgreen Gardens. It has a bunch of really impressive outdoor sculptures and a sprawling garden – really neat to see. They also had a sort of outdoor zoo – my favorite animals were the huge spiders near the horse barn, the three otters in their own creek, and a giant alligator that moved just enough to show us he was the boss.
10. I didn’t do as much reading as I thought I would, but I did a lot of writing on the beach. I worked mainly on a short story – but I’ll need to type it up so that other people can read it.
I also did a lot of swimming – but I’ll go over that in another post. It was a good trip, but it’s also good to be home.
Monday, July 21, 2008
all-star, head, paint, paint again, swim
On Saturday, I went to my FRM's son's baseball game - and it was the All-Stars. So, we saw some pretty good - and still pretty funny - baseball. The game started very early, but it was still pretty hot out. We also had some wankers going the whole passive-aggressive route when we sat on the bleachers and apparently blocked their view of home plate (they were sitting off to the side). I heard everything they were saying, but wasn't going to move until they grew up and asked politely. They finally did, and I moved a bit. My FRM's mom was overheating and I brought an umbrella for her - but apparently that was in the way as well so we had to put it down. She finally had to move since it was too hot for her.
We went to lunch after the game and I did some running around with some errands. Had a pretty productive day for a weekend and of course, I had to pay for that. That evening, while watching a movie, I got another migraine. Haven't had one for a while and apparently I was overdue. I took some asprin and went to bed early. I still had the remnants on Sunday, but I was perked up enough to finish up a little project - using glass paint on a light bulb.
I'd purchased one of these at Target, but the wattage was too low for what we needed, so I painted my own bulb and finally finished it on Sunday. Looks pretty cool - even better than the store bought one. I also tried a variation on the painting technique based on accident - trying to go for something that looked like jupiter or something. Didn't work as I intended, but I may try again. I was also feeling well enough to watch most of the Shining - still a dang good movie.
Also played a bit mroe Okami - and using the celestial paintbrush in the game to reshape the world. Pretty sweet game.
Then this morning the headache - or a new one of the same flavor came back. I got it stopped with some potent asprine before it went full-blown - but it lingered all day. I swam at lunch time and that helped a bit - but then the sunshine was bright enough to make it worse. It got a little beter as the day went on. I still have it a bit and I'm still here at work - waiting on the relaunch of our website. Better go check and see how things are going - and if the pizza is here yet.
One last thing... while I was at the pool there was some kind of kids swim camp going on. I came out of the locker room in my square-cut speedos and one of the kids said - quite loudly - "that's disgusting!" I ignored him - as I do most childern unless they are directly talking to me - but was thinking to myself a line that Yoda said: "When 900 years old you become, look as good you will not."
And Yoda was a wise little dude. And besides, I do look pretty good in my suit - I've worked for it. And it's way more modest than some of the other suits I've seen guys wear there. If the kids had gone through there half an hour later, they might have been scarred for life at the old guy with the pot belly and a micro-speedo. Hell, I was shaken by the sight and I've watched a lot of horror movies.
That's it for now... later...
We went to lunch after the game and I did some running around with some errands. Had a pretty productive day for a weekend and of course, I had to pay for that. That evening, while watching a movie, I got another migraine. Haven't had one for a while and apparently I was overdue. I took some asprin and went to bed early. I still had the remnants on Sunday, but I was perked up enough to finish up a little project - using glass paint on a light bulb.
I'd purchased one of these at Target, but the wattage was too low for what we needed, so I painted my own bulb and finally finished it on Sunday. Looks pretty cool - even better than the store bought one. I also tried a variation on the painting technique based on accident - trying to go for something that looked like jupiter or something. Didn't work as I intended, but I may try again. I was also feeling well enough to watch most of the Shining - still a dang good movie.
Also played a bit mroe Okami - and using the celestial paintbrush in the game to reshape the world. Pretty sweet game.
Then this morning the headache - or a new one of the same flavor came back. I got it stopped with some potent asprine before it went full-blown - but it lingered all day. I swam at lunch time and that helped a bit - but then the sunshine was bright enough to make it worse. It got a little beter as the day went on. I still have it a bit and I'm still here at work - waiting on the relaunch of our website. Better go check and see how things are going - and if the pizza is here yet.
One last thing... while I was at the pool there was some kind of kids swim camp going on. I came out of the locker room in my square-cut speedos and one of the kids said - quite loudly - "that's disgusting!" I ignored him - as I do most childern unless they are directly talking to me - but was thinking to myself a line that Yoda said: "When 900 years old you become, look as good you will not."
And Yoda was a wise little dude. And besides, I do look pretty good in my suit - I've worked for it. And it's way more modest than some of the other suits I've seen guys wear there. If the kids had gone through there half an hour later, they might have been scarred for life at the old guy with the pot belly and a micro-speedo. Hell, I was shaken by the sight and I've watched a lot of horror movies.
That's it for now... later...
Friday, July 18, 2008
fortune cookies
I made a page that lists the fortunes I've gotten from cookies - and my comments about them.
Fortune Cookies
later...
Fortune Cookies
later...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
lego, chipotle, abs, motivation, traffic, importance
I'm working on a project at home that required some very specific shapes - and I had one from an old Lego set that fit the bill. Needing more, I checked out the Lego site and found I was able to order specific legos - in any quantity I wanted. It was way cool.
Finally convinced my room-mate to go to Chipotle recently. He thought the burrito was okay, but thought they put too much rice in it. I, of course, ate my burrito in it's entirety and enjoyed every morsel.
I bought an "abs ball" a while ago - essentially a weighted ball used to enhance abs strengthening exercises. It's been mocking me for a while in the living room and I haven't had the motivation to try it out yet. On Monday, I fired up the included DVD and tried it out.
I didn't really get a good workout from the ball - but I think that was because I was taking notes from the DVD as I never wanted to watch it again. The fitness dude on the dvd was a complete tool and seriously annoying to listen to. I did the exercises and took notes - I'll run though the exercises again tonight without the DVD. I saved it, though, as the DVD also has an advanced program on it too. I suspect it's the same guy. Update: I just looked at the website for this product and found they won an award for the DVD! Proof positive that people will give other people awards for everything.
Motivation - I lack it. Really tough to get and stay motivated here at work. We've got some big projects, but I'm finding it difficult to stay on track. I'm getting stuff done, but not as much as I should be.
The drive to work this morning saw me going the speed limit and slightly above. And the traffic was flying past me like I was standing still. Normally, I'm a little casual with speed limits but with the cost of gas I'm a little more careful about my speed. Plus, we were all going to work - why would someone be in a hurry to do that?
I got a few "high importance" emails today from people that were wondering what to do with the sudden increase in a particular type of spam. I've never really understood a high important flag on an email - am I suddenly going to drop everything else in favor of that one email? Not likely - especially when I get several at once. The spam had a heading about "urgent fund transfer" and one of the users actually asked if it was legitimate. Sigh.
I guess that's it for now - starting to get busy this morning. Later...
Finally convinced my room-mate to go to Chipotle recently. He thought the burrito was okay, but thought they put too much rice in it. I, of course, ate my burrito in it's entirety and enjoyed every morsel.
I bought an "abs ball" a while ago - essentially a weighted ball used to enhance abs strengthening exercises. It's been mocking me for a while in the living room and I haven't had the motivation to try it out yet. On Monday, I fired up the included DVD and tried it out.
I didn't really get a good workout from the ball - but I think that was because I was taking notes from the DVD as I never wanted to watch it again. The fitness dude on the dvd was a complete tool and seriously annoying to listen to. I did the exercises and took notes - I'll run though the exercises again tonight without the DVD. I saved it, though, as the DVD also has an advanced program on it too. I suspect it's the same guy. Update: I just looked at the website for this product and found they won an award for the DVD! Proof positive that people will give other people awards for everything.
Motivation - I lack it. Really tough to get and stay motivated here at work. We've got some big projects, but I'm finding it difficult to stay on track. I'm getting stuff done, but not as much as I should be.
The drive to work this morning saw me going the speed limit and slightly above. And the traffic was flying past me like I was standing still. Normally, I'm a little casual with speed limits but with the cost of gas I'm a little more careful about my speed. Plus, we were all going to work - why would someone be in a hurry to do that?
I got a few "high importance" emails today from people that were wondering what to do with the sudden increase in a particular type of spam. I've never really understood a high important flag on an email - am I suddenly going to drop everything else in favor of that one email? Not likely - especially when I get several at once. The spam had a heading about "urgent fund transfer" and one of the users actually asked if it was legitimate. Sigh.
I guess that's it for now - starting to get busy this morning. Later...
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
trainee
I tried to leave work a bit early yesterday, but I got delayed a few times. Managed to grab a bit of food (2 breakfast bars and a green tea) on my way to the blood drive - so I didn't have any problems with getting sick afterward. The experience was pretty good and the staff were friendly.
Only one slight downward note was the trainee that took my history. He was very nervous and when he went to take my temperature, he didn't get the plastic sleeve on the metal temperature probe. Neither of us noticed until I bit down on metal. I handed it back to him and explained the problem. He was quite freaked out and I knew it was a simple accident.
As he cleaned off the probe, the supervisor that was hovering over him said that the metal probe without the plastic would have burned my mouth. So, it was apparently a bigger deal than it seemed. The rest of the process went smoothly and he did a far better job at the finger stick than the last trainee I had. (they had used too much pressure and blood had spurted onto their lab coat - I felt bad about that, but it really wasn't my fault).
The actual donation part went very smoothly and I was out of there 45 minutes after I had walked in. No problems at all - though I am very tired this morning.
back to work before I doze off... later
Only one slight downward note was the trainee that took my history. He was very nervous and when he went to take my temperature, he didn't get the plastic sleeve on the metal temperature probe. Neither of us noticed until I bit down on metal. I handed it back to him and explained the problem. He was quite freaked out and I knew it was a simple accident.
As he cleaned off the probe, the supervisor that was hovering over him said that the metal probe without the plastic would have burned my mouth. So, it was apparently a bigger deal than it seemed. The rest of the process went smoothly and he did a far better job at the finger stick than the last trainee I had. (they had used too much pressure and blood had spurted onto their lab coat - I felt bad about that, but it really wasn't my fault).
The actual donation part went very smoothly and I was out of there 45 minutes after I had walked in. No problems at all - though I am very tired this morning.
back to work before I doze off... later
Thursday, July 03, 2008
side, game, dolphin
I had a meeting yesterday - and got a headache. I'm not saying that the meeting gave me the headache, but I'm strongly implying it. This one centered itself on the sign of my head, on the level with my temple on the left side, but further back. I put some pressure on the area and rubbed it - which seemed to help for a bit - but it came back a little later while I was out trading in some video games. I managed to get myself home and sat quietly for a little while, hoping it would fade out. I also took some aspirin, but it ramped up quickly and I had to lay down for a while. I got up and ate dinner, then just lay around for a while - then gave up, took a shower, and went to bed early. I guess I'm over it, but it was annoying. Especially since I just bought new games and was eager to play.
This is the second time I've gone into GameStop - and like last time, they tried to pressure me into getting a discount card. I'm normally a fan of discount cards - but not the kind you have to pay for. In those cases, I always feel pressured to buy more to justify the cost of the card - which kinda bites. The sales guy tried a several times to get me to sign up for the card - and finally pulled a bait and switch on me - which I fell for based mostly on my headache and a desire to get the heck out of there. So, now I've got a discount card that I may only use a few times a year, a magazine subscription that I'll read but wouldn't have chosen, and entry into their mailing list (great). Still, I got some cool-looking games, so that's something.
My swim yesterday was pretty average - I did 32 laps. There was a girl 2 lanes over, though, that was swimming the butterfly stroke like some kind of mer-person. She basically exploded out of the water on each stroke and then plunged back at incredible speed. I was really impressed. I don't know how fast she was, but it would have made a dolphin feel bad.
That's it for now...
This is the second time I've gone into GameStop - and like last time, they tried to pressure me into getting a discount card. I'm normally a fan of discount cards - but not the kind you have to pay for. In those cases, I always feel pressured to buy more to justify the cost of the card - which kinda bites. The sales guy tried a several times to get me to sign up for the card - and finally pulled a bait and switch on me - which I fell for based mostly on my headache and a desire to get the heck out of there. So, now I've got a discount card that I may only use a few times a year, a magazine subscription that I'll read but wouldn't have chosen, and entry into their mailing list (great). Still, I got some cool-looking games, so that's something.
My swim yesterday was pretty average - I did 32 laps. There was a girl 2 lanes over, though, that was swimming the butterfly stroke like some kind of mer-person. She basically exploded out of the water on each stroke and then plunged back at incredible speed. I was really impressed. I don't know how fast she was, but it would have made a dolphin feel bad.
That's it for now...
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
tires, cookie
This morning, on the drive to work, a truck hauling a backhoe in a cart passed me on the left. Unfortunately, the back right tire of the cart wasn't up to the challenge and was disintegrating. Chunks of the tire were coming off and flipping up onto the road in front of me. I slowed down and he started to get over in front of me, then managed to get all the way off the road. There was no damage to my car, but I did have the stink of burning tires with me for a few miles.
I frequently get food at the Asian restaurant area of the student union - and when I do, I get a fortune cookie. I like these little auguries and don't read them until I'm done with my lunch and have eaten the cookie. In the past, I've gotten encouraging ones like:
"You will have a long and healthy life" or
"Obstacles can't hold you back"
Yesterday's cookie, however, had this message:
"Do not be afraid of computers. Be afraid of the lack of them."
Ummm... great? What the heck does that mean? I mean, I like computers and I'm not afraid of them - though I've seen The Terminator too many times to really trust them.
But for a fortune cookie? Weird.
At some point, I'm going to have to post all my fortunes - maybe on my web site.
That's it for now... later...
I frequently get food at the Asian restaurant area of the student union - and when I do, I get a fortune cookie. I like these little auguries and don't read them until I'm done with my lunch and have eaten the cookie. In the past, I've gotten encouraging ones like:
"You will have a long and healthy life" or
"Obstacles can't hold you back"
Yesterday's cookie, however, had this message:
"Do not be afraid of computers. Be afraid of the lack of them."
Ummm... great? What the heck does that mean? I mean, I like computers and I'm not afraid of them - though I've seen The Terminator too many times to really trust them.
But for a fortune cookie? Weird.
At some point, I'm going to have to post all my fortunes - maybe on my web site.
That's it for now... later...
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
restroom
Earlier this afternoon I headed over to the restroom near the vending machines here at work to "do what needed to be done". This is the larger of the men's restrooms in the building and boasts 2 stalls and 2 urinals. I proceeded to one of the stalls and discovered that the previous occupant was apparently not feeling well and left behind some "residue".
But, hey, two stalls. I went into the next stall and found that there was what appeared to be blood on the outside of the toilet bowl. It started at the edge of the bowl and ran down the outside in two areas.
In the men's room? Blood on the outside of a toilet bowl? I've seen this before... in a horror movie.
"what needed to be done" was not that urgent - I'm going to wait until I get home.
(shudder)
But, hey, two stalls. I went into the next stall and found that there was what appeared to be blood on the outside of the toilet bowl. It started at the edge of the bowl and ran down the outside in two areas.
In the men's room? Blood on the outside of a toilet bowl? I've seen this before... in a horror movie.
"what needed to be done" was not that urgent - I'm going to wait until I get home.
(shudder)
Monday, June 23, 2008
hail, driver, guilt, experiment
As I got out on the road today, the sky opened up and started to pelt my car with rain and hail. I almost typed "me" instead of "my car" but that wasn't the literal case. It had been, however, pelting the poor soul on a motorcycle before he got under the cover of an overpass. I slowed down as a I went past, thinking that excessive splashing would only add insult to his injury.
I reached my destination, accomplished the tasks I set out before me, and attempted to leave the parking lot.
Now, I don't like parking lots. Rather, I don't like the other people that use parking lots - as they usually do it wrong.
1) They park as so to take up multiple spaces. I freaking hate. Either learn to park more accurately or don't take your fancy pants car out into the world if you are that scared.
2) Lots are designed so that humans not paying attention to their world are forced directly into the lane of traffic right in front of the store.
3) People that cut across the spaces and don't pay attention.
It's that last one that really torqued me to today. I was traveling down the lane as I was supposed to and this car came screaming diagonally across the spaces - headed right for where my car was going to be. Since I'm not an idiot, I slowed down to a stop and so did the other car. The driver stuck her hand out the car window and I expected that she was doing so to wave me on or perhaps flick away the cigarette ash.
Instead, she flipped me off - then put the accelerator to the floor and took off in front of me - still going diagonally across the lot. Since she was still diagonal, she decided that the stop sign didn't quite apply to her so she ran that as well.
Ironically, I caught up with her at the next stop light. She was one car up and one car over - putting me ironically diagonally from her car. She didn't notice me - or if she did she chose not to acknowledge me. In any case, I thought some unpleasant things about her and considering myself lucky I both saw her in time to stop and that I don't have a baseball bat in my car since I would mostly now be in jail.
Speaking of guilt - there are two things I am guilty of, and they are both internet memes. Now, I am normally disdainful of overly hyped things. Example: I still haven't seen Titanic nor do I care to. So, appreciating anything that is defined as hype should be impossible for me, but there are two memes that I really enjoy.
1. LOLcats. I know, I know. It's terrible. These damn things just crack me up. I mean, there's some really stupid shit here, but there are a few gems in there that sometimes make me LOL. The best I've seen so far is a cat in a box, looking up at the camera. The caption says, "I'm in your Quantum box. Maybe." That's funny on several levels.
2. "Do not want" and "All your base are belong to us". The first is a mistranslation of the ending Darth Vader shout of "Nooooo!" from Star Wars episode 4. The other is another mistranslation - this time from a video game. I really like how they have taken on a life far beyond their orginal forms. Also, the "Do not want" has a decidely Zen quality to it which I'm just really starting to appreciate.
Finally, I tried an experiment today. Over the weekend, I tried something called Cashew Crush - which was a really excellent snack except that I got seriously congested and spent the rest of the afternoon sneezing. I ended up having to take an allergy pill to get it settled down - and I really don't like to take any kind of medicine until it's really serious.
Thinking that I might be developing an allergy to cashews - which would really bite since I enjoy them - I tried a bit more cashews today in the Cashew Crunch to see if I would start sneezing again. I haven't. So, that wasn't it.
That's it for now... later...
I reached my destination, accomplished the tasks I set out before me, and attempted to leave the parking lot.
Now, I don't like parking lots. Rather, I don't like the other people that use parking lots - as they usually do it wrong.
1) They park as so to take up multiple spaces. I freaking hate. Either learn to park more accurately or don't take your fancy pants car out into the world if you are that scared.
2) Lots are designed so that humans not paying attention to their world are forced directly into the lane of traffic right in front of the store.
3) People that cut across the spaces and don't pay attention.
It's that last one that really torqued me to today. I was traveling down the lane as I was supposed to and this car came screaming diagonally across the spaces - headed right for where my car was going to be. Since I'm not an idiot, I slowed down to a stop and so did the other car. The driver stuck her hand out the car window and I expected that she was doing so to wave me on or perhaps flick away the cigarette ash.
Instead, she flipped me off - then put the accelerator to the floor and took off in front of me - still going diagonally across the lot. Since she was still diagonal, she decided that the stop sign didn't quite apply to her so she ran that as well.
Ironically, I caught up with her at the next stop light. She was one car up and one car over - putting me ironically diagonally from her car. She didn't notice me - or if she did she chose not to acknowledge me. In any case, I thought some unpleasant things about her and considering myself lucky I both saw her in time to stop and that I don't have a baseball bat in my car since I would mostly now be in jail.
Speaking of guilt - there are two things I am guilty of, and they are both internet memes. Now, I am normally disdainful of overly hyped things. Example: I still haven't seen Titanic nor do I care to. So, appreciating anything that is defined as hype should be impossible for me, but there are two memes that I really enjoy.
1. LOLcats. I know, I know. It's terrible. These damn things just crack me up. I mean, there's some really stupid shit here, but there are a few gems in there that sometimes make me LOL. The best I've seen so far is a cat in a box, looking up at the camera. The caption says, "I'm in your Quantum box. Maybe." That's funny on several levels.
2. "Do not want" and "All your base are belong to us". The first is a mistranslation of the ending Darth Vader shout of "Nooooo!" from Star Wars episode 4. The other is another mistranslation - this time from a video game. I really like how they have taken on a life far beyond their orginal forms. Also, the "Do not want" has a decidely Zen quality to it which I'm just really starting to appreciate.
Finally, I tried an experiment today. Over the weekend, I tried something called Cashew Crush - which was a really excellent snack except that I got seriously congested and spent the rest of the afternoon sneezing. I ended up having to take an allergy pill to get it settled down - and I really don't like to take any kind of medicine until it's really serious.
Thinking that I might be developing an allergy to cashews - which would really bite since I enjoy them - I tried a bit more cashews today in the Cashew Crunch to see if I would start sneezing again. I haven't. So, that wasn't it.
That's it for now... later...
Sunday, June 22, 2008
car, steps, swim, lunch
My room-mate's lease on his car will be expiring soon and so on Saturday he decided to head to Columbus to the dealership where his brother works to return the car and lease a new one. I went along - partly for something to do on a quiet Saturday morning and partly out of relief. For the past several months there has a been an ever increasing debate for my room-mate on exactly which car to get. Make, model, features, color - over and over again. And for me, a non-car kinda guy - it was becoming seriously tedious.
We get to the dealership and I had fortunately brought a book - so I sat quietly in the lounge and tried to tune out the blaring TV. If I could have found a volume control, I would have turned it down.
With the paperwork done, we loaded back in the car, stopped at Long John Silver's for lunch, and then headed back. The car is pretty nice and has some cool features and such - though not enough cup-holders - but I was just glad that the endless debate was done. Oh, and the car comes with XM radio for 3 months free - but we found that XM radio has commercials. I can't believe that anyone would pay for radio and also pay to have commercials - thought I guess cable TV is that way. In any case, my room-mate already has Siruis and he'll be sticking with that.
In other news... the back steps out onto the patio have been starting to bow and pulling the nails up. So, I bought some treated lumber, some outdoor wood-screws and on Saturday afternoon my room-mate and I replaced the steps. We didn't do the railing or the risers, just the steps themselves. And it was a good thing too as a huge thunderstorm rolled in just as we were finishing it up. It was a successful project - no mistakes in the cuts for the wood posts, no injuries, and the steps are sturdy and level - and lined up well.
Last Friday, I was in a meeting most of the morning and then had lunch plans and so missed my window of opportunity for my mid-day swim. I had planned to go for a swim after work, but then remembered that the pool was going to be closed for a special event. So, that kinda sucked.
The good news was that my lunch plans included a former co-worker visiting - a few of us went to lunch with her at the student center and swapped some work stories and just generally had a really nice time.
I guess that's it for now. I'm not really looking forward to this week - but we'll get through it.
later...
We get to the dealership and I had fortunately brought a book - so I sat quietly in the lounge and tried to tune out the blaring TV. If I could have found a volume control, I would have turned it down.
With the paperwork done, we loaded back in the car, stopped at Long John Silver's for lunch, and then headed back. The car is pretty nice and has some cool features and such - though not enough cup-holders - but I was just glad that the endless debate was done. Oh, and the car comes with XM radio for 3 months free - but we found that XM radio has commercials. I can't believe that anyone would pay for radio and also pay to have commercials - thought I guess cable TV is that way. In any case, my room-mate already has Siruis and he'll be sticking with that.
In other news... the back steps out onto the patio have been starting to bow and pulling the nails up. So, I bought some treated lumber, some outdoor wood-screws and on Saturday afternoon my room-mate and I replaced the steps. We didn't do the railing or the risers, just the steps themselves. And it was a good thing too as a huge thunderstorm rolled in just as we were finishing it up. It was a successful project - no mistakes in the cuts for the wood posts, no injuries, and the steps are sturdy and level - and lined up well.
Last Friday, I was in a meeting most of the morning and then had lunch plans and so missed my window of opportunity for my mid-day swim. I had planned to go for a swim after work, but then remembered that the pool was going to be closed for a special event. So, that kinda sucked.
The good news was that my lunch plans included a former co-worker visiting - a few of us went to lunch with her at the student center and swapped some work stories and just generally had a really nice time.
I guess that's it for now. I'm not really looking forward to this week - but we'll get through it.
later...
Thursday, June 12, 2008
fuel, swim, visit, hike, dinner
I usually don't fill up the gas tank in my car - usually just put in about 20 bucks or so at a time which usually lasts quite a while since I'd really drive that much. By avoiding the big fill-up, I don't worry so much about the fluctuating gas prices. This time, since I had a little traveling to do this past weekend, I filled up Thursday morning on the way to work. Grand total: $42.86 It went up that afternoon again, so at least that's something, but it was still quite a shock to see. I think there are ways to fix the gas price problem - but most of them involve getting people to not be greedy. So, not likely.
I got in 96 laps total last week - and did 36 today. Getting off to a good start on the week. I'll have to check my records to see what my per week record is.
I went and visited my parents this past weekend for Father's day. My sister and brother-in-law came over too and we watched some movies, played some dominoes, and went for a hike. My sister didn't have the right shoes so she had to borrow a too small pair from mom. A substantial blister was the result. I just had my flip flops and while they were a little uncomfortable and loud, they didn't cause me any injury. Also, we saw a small toad on the trail - so, that was cool.
We weren't sure where to go for dinner for father's day that wouldn't have huge lines - so, we went to CiCi's pizza in a nearby town. The food was pretty good, the service was okay - but some of the other customers were a little disturbing to see. Let's just say they could have benefited from more trips to the salad bar and fewer trips to the dessert area.
That's about it for now... later...
I got in 96 laps total last week - and did 36 today. Getting off to a good start on the week. I'll have to check my records to see what my per week record is.
I went and visited my parents this past weekend for Father's day. My sister and brother-in-law came over too and we watched some movies, played some dominoes, and went for a hike. My sister didn't have the right shoes so she had to borrow a too small pair from mom. A substantial blister was the result. I just had my flip flops and while they were a little uncomfortable and loud, they didn't cause me any injury. Also, we saw a small toad on the trail - so, that was cool.
We weren't sure where to go for dinner for father's day that wouldn't have huge lines - so, we went to CiCi's pizza in a nearby town. The food was pretty good, the service was okay - but some of the other customers were a little disturbing to see. Let's just say they could have benefited from more trips to the salad bar and fewer trips to the dessert area.
That's about it for now... later...
Sunday, June 08, 2008
karma, 122b, party
After a mostly unproductive and still cranky afternoon on Friday, I headed to a craft store and then on to get a CD. The CD was in stock, but the craft store didn't have exactly what I wanted. After my futile search, I got on the highway to go home and suddenly found myself stuck in traffic.
It felt a little like karma - that my pointless anger had traffic based repercussions. In retrospect, I feel a little guilty about things for the rest of the drivers on the road. We were all creeping along when I heard a "pop" and looked over to the side. A guy in a suddenly not-so-nice car was trying to pull off the road with a sluggish success since the traffic was tight. There was smoke coming out of his hood and something leaking from under his car. I didn't feel karmicly upset about this one - clearly, he's been having a far worse day than I could be blamed for. He got off the road and a glance showed him to be neither surprised or really upset. I didn't go try to help him, assuming he had a cell phone.
Of course, had it be a reversed situation - I would have needed some help since I don't yet have a cell phone. Another reason, I suppose, that I should reconsider getting one. Even well intentioned people will assume that should I break down, I would be okay since I could just call on my non-existent cell phone for help.
Anyway, back to the traffic. We were still creeping along when I came upon an exit - though it was not the one I wanted. There may have been more detailed signs that I didn't notice before, but all this one said was Exit 122b. I don't know where it went, only that it was within a few miles of my home, but maybe not the direction I wanted to travel. I tend to find a route and then stick with it until there's some kind of extreme situation and I wasn't sure if stuck in traffic warranted getting lost and maybe wasting even more time trying to find an alternative way home.
A car in front of me - really mostly past the road - decided that they would give old 122b a try. They executed a tight, almost U, turn and took the exit. They rounded the curve and disappeared behind the trees. I remained in my car, with the windows rolled down and my heat turned to try and keep my engine cooler. I wondered if they knew where they were going. If they had a plan and a route in mind. Or maybe they just decided moving - in any direction - was better than just sitting there.
The "horrible" accident that had traffic backed up in both directions for miles turned out to be a fender bender that had been pulled off the side of the road and the only thing blocking and slowing traffic was, well, traffic.
In other news... yesterday evening I went to a party with some friends to see the latest addition to an outdoor train set in one of the friends backyard. The train itself was having some issues, but the setup was amazing. It included some new buildings since I was last there - a new house and more cars and an amazingly detailed greenhouse in miniature.
The snacks were good and the conversation lively. I overheard a discussion in the kitchen that seemed to mix religion, politics, and alcohol in equal parts. Curiously, everyone in the conversation seemed to be on the same very loud side. Not an argument, then - but a general complaint session on the sorry state of the world. I stayed out of...
Wait. I need to pause for a moment and un-recommend a snack food. Early this morning, I had some "bold" flavored chex party mix working off the assumption that the chex mix was almost like cereal and counted as a breakfast food. It's good and has a nice and appropriately bold flavor, but even teeth brushing and mouthwash have failed to remove the taste. While I was typing I burped a little bit and the flavor came right back. It is NOT good the second time around and I feel the need to just go ahead and drink the mouth wash this time. I'll be back....
(please wait)
Less intense mouthwash? Don't believe everything you read. Anyway...
I stayed out the discussion and had a really nice conversation with a few other people - one of whom is allergic to alcohol. He had one beer that he really enjoyed - and then spent the rest of the night sneezing and blowing his nose. I both started and stopped my drinking while in college - but I could still sympathize.
Anyway, it was late when my room-mate and I got back - turned out he'd been one of the debaters in the kitchen so I drove his car back.
I've been enjoying the quiet Sunday at home - did a little reading outside and now I'm listening to the new Aimee Mann CD while I write this unusually long blog. I guess that's it for now.
later...
It felt a little like karma - that my pointless anger had traffic based repercussions. In retrospect, I feel a little guilty about things for the rest of the drivers on the road. We were all creeping along when I heard a "pop" and looked over to the side. A guy in a suddenly not-so-nice car was trying to pull off the road with a sluggish success since the traffic was tight. There was smoke coming out of his hood and something leaking from under his car. I didn't feel karmicly upset about this one - clearly, he's been having a far worse day than I could be blamed for. He got off the road and a glance showed him to be neither surprised or really upset. I didn't go try to help him, assuming he had a cell phone.
Of course, had it be a reversed situation - I would have needed some help since I don't yet have a cell phone. Another reason, I suppose, that I should reconsider getting one. Even well intentioned people will assume that should I break down, I would be okay since I could just call on my non-existent cell phone for help.
Anyway, back to the traffic. We were still creeping along when I came upon an exit - though it was not the one I wanted. There may have been more detailed signs that I didn't notice before, but all this one said was Exit 122b. I don't know where it went, only that it was within a few miles of my home, but maybe not the direction I wanted to travel. I tend to find a route and then stick with it until there's some kind of extreme situation and I wasn't sure if stuck in traffic warranted getting lost and maybe wasting even more time trying to find an alternative way home.
A car in front of me - really mostly past the road - decided that they would give old 122b a try. They executed a tight, almost U, turn and took the exit. They rounded the curve and disappeared behind the trees. I remained in my car, with the windows rolled down and my heat turned to try and keep my engine cooler. I wondered if they knew where they were going. If they had a plan and a route in mind. Or maybe they just decided moving - in any direction - was better than just sitting there.
The "horrible" accident that had traffic backed up in both directions for miles turned out to be a fender bender that had been pulled off the side of the road and the only thing blocking and slowing traffic was, well, traffic.
In other news... yesterday evening I went to a party with some friends to see the latest addition to an outdoor train set in one of the friends backyard. The train itself was having some issues, but the setup was amazing. It included some new buildings since I was last there - a new house and more cars and an amazingly detailed greenhouse in miniature.
The snacks were good and the conversation lively. I overheard a discussion in the kitchen that seemed to mix religion, politics, and alcohol in equal parts. Curiously, everyone in the conversation seemed to be on the same very loud side. Not an argument, then - but a general complaint session on the sorry state of the world. I stayed out of...
Wait. I need to pause for a moment and un-recommend a snack food. Early this morning, I had some "bold" flavored chex party mix working off the assumption that the chex mix was almost like cereal and counted as a breakfast food. It's good and has a nice and appropriately bold flavor, but even teeth brushing and mouthwash have failed to remove the taste. While I was typing I burped a little bit and the flavor came right back. It is NOT good the second time around and I feel the need to just go ahead and drink the mouth wash this time. I'll be back....
(please wait)
Less intense mouthwash? Don't believe everything you read. Anyway...
I stayed out the discussion and had a really nice conversation with a few other people - one of whom is allergic to alcohol. He had one beer that he really enjoyed - and then spent the rest of the night sneezing and blowing his nose. I both started and stopped my drinking while in college - but I could still sympathize.
Anyway, it was late when my room-mate and I got back - turned out he'd been one of the debaters in the kitchen so I drove his car back.
I've been enjoying the quiet Sunday at home - did a little reading outside and now I'm listening to the new Aimee Mann CD while I write this unusually long blog. I guess that's it for now.
later...
Friday, June 06, 2008
54 laps, meeting, aftermath
I swam 54 lap today - that's one and a half miles. I was fast and intense - hardly even slowing down on the turns. I outlasted everyone else in the pool.
I feel pretty good physically afterward - caught my breath in less than a minute and was composed before I hit the locker room. I swam through my lunch hour and just got a couple of healthy snacks instead.
The reason for this personal record-setting swim, however, was not a good thing. I generally try not to talk about work here - and when I do I'm impossibly vague - since that sort of thing tends to get people fired. So, I'm going to vent a little here, but I'm still going to be vague.
I got called into a meeting this morning and got dragged over the coals for things that were not my fault by someone outside our department. I took it personally - which was a mistake, I know. I think I'm good at my job because I care about what I'm doing with the big picture - but that same commitment was attacked today. This guy was belligerent, condescending, arrogant, argumentative, and a whole slew of unpleasant big words. Even worse, my boss got the meeting started and then left for most of it - returning only at the end.
I felt thrown to the wolves. We've done extraordinary work in very little time and this guy had only bad things to say about what we'd accomplished. I stayed polite, quiet, and civil - and managed, just barely, to keep my cool. Should have gotten some kind of award for not smacking the shit out of him.
I think the swim made use of "rage-propulsion" and most of that has burned off. I'm back down to my standard "slightly cranky" - and I can live with that. In the grand scheme of things, this guy was just an ass and with that kind of an attitude, life is going to punish him far better than I could. I'd still like to help punish him - I've even started a list - but we've got too much to do.
So, time to get back to it. I think I may go buy a CD after work or maybe some flower stems for an origami project. I think some good music and a little folding will do me wonders.
later
I feel pretty good physically afterward - caught my breath in less than a minute and was composed before I hit the locker room. I swam through my lunch hour and just got a couple of healthy snacks instead.
The reason for this personal record-setting swim, however, was not a good thing. I generally try not to talk about work here - and when I do I'm impossibly vague - since that sort of thing tends to get people fired. So, I'm going to vent a little here, but I'm still going to be vague.
I got called into a meeting this morning and got dragged over the coals for things that were not my fault by someone outside our department. I took it personally - which was a mistake, I know. I think I'm good at my job because I care about what I'm doing with the big picture - but that same commitment was attacked today. This guy was belligerent, condescending, arrogant, argumentative, and a whole slew of unpleasant big words. Even worse, my boss got the meeting started and then left for most of it - returning only at the end.
I felt thrown to the wolves. We've done extraordinary work in very little time and this guy had only bad things to say about what we'd accomplished. I stayed polite, quiet, and civil - and managed, just barely, to keep my cool. Should have gotten some kind of award for not smacking the shit out of him.
I think the swim made use of "rage-propulsion" and most of that has burned off. I'm back down to my standard "slightly cranky" - and I can live with that. In the grand scheme of things, this guy was just an ass and with that kind of an attitude, life is going to punish him far better than I could. I'd still like to help punish him - I've even started a list - but we've got too much to do.
So, time to get back to it. I think I may go buy a CD after work or maybe some flower stems for an origami project. I think some good music and a little folding will do me wonders.
later
visit, game, work, news
Earlier this week, my sister and brother in law stopped by for a quick visit on their way back from buying a car. She had sent me an email earlier in the day to let me know they would be in the area - I replied back with a "Yes" for a visit, but they were already on the road. The rain and traffic made them a little later than they expected, but they got to the apartment safely and then my room-mate joined us for a dinner at CiCi's pizza. After dinner they stayed only for a short while before getting on the road. The weather didn't look good, but the weather channel said the worst would be over before they got home. Dad called my sister while they were at my place to warn them about the tornado warnings at their home, but he was neither surprised or really that interested that they were in akron. He called me a couple days later to apologize for not talking to me when he called my sister - even though she was in my living room at the time. I told him it was no big deal since I figured he was heading for shelter in the basement anyway and shouldn't have been on the phone.
I picked up a new game recently - Patapon. I'd heard good things about it, but wasn't sure if I could get into it. It's a rhythm game - you tap the appropriate buttons following the beat to play. In this case, you are commanding an army of primitives by pounding the war drums to get them to march or attack. I was a little worried since I don't have much natural rhythm, but I got the hang of it and I'm inspiring my little warriors onto battle and victory. The missions aren't too long (there's no pause feature), but just long enough to really get into the adventure. I don't play too long in one sitting because the PSP isn't comfortable to hold - but I'm enjoying it.
Finally, work has been crazy busy - I'm double booked for meetings today and considering a workers comp claim for my copy|paste pinky on my left hand. Been doing a lot of that.
Oh, almost forgot - I called my FRM's mom last night to see how she was doing. Apparently, my FMR's wife had a baby girl and his oldest son just moved into an apartment about 6 doors down from where FMR and I used to live. Small world...
Okay, gotta go - later...
I picked up a new game recently - Patapon. I'd heard good things about it, but wasn't sure if I could get into it. It's a rhythm game - you tap the appropriate buttons following the beat to play. In this case, you are commanding an army of primitives by pounding the war drums to get them to march or attack. I was a little worried since I don't have much natural rhythm, but I got the hang of it and I'm inspiring my little warriors onto battle and victory. The missions aren't too long (there's no pause feature), but just long enough to really get into the adventure. I don't play too long in one sitting because the PSP isn't comfortable to hold - but I'm enjoying it.
Finally, work has been crazy busy - I'm double booked for meetings today and considering a workers comp claim for my copy|paste pinky on my left hand. Been doing a lot of that.
Oh, almost forgot - I called my FRM's mom last night to see how she was doing. Apparently, my FMR's wife had a baby girl and his oldest son just moved into an apartment about 6 doors down from where FMR and I used to live. Small world...
Okay, gotta go - later...
Monday, June 02, 2008
bookstore, no swim
I went to a bookstore this weekend in Wheeling, WV called Books-A-Million. Based on the store name alone, I had high hopes. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a headache when we got there. I couldn't find a Horror Fiction section, so I headed over to SciFi and began to peruse the selection. I noticed two things right off:
1. The staff was doing some kind of inventory with those bar-code scanner guns that required them scanning every single book one at a time. The scanner gun beeped every time they did this. I was instantly homicidal, but didn't act on my impulse.
2. They were completely missing several of my favorite and prolific authors. Irksome.
I tried another section, only to have another staffer begin beeping. My headache getting worse, I finally gave up and headed for the checkout. Before they clerk began checking out the items, she asked if I had a rewards card. I told her no and she began to explain the stickers on the hardback books and how I could get a discount if I signed up. I politely declined and she continued with her pitch. I declined again, still politely, but with a slight increase in tone.
Still, she continued with the great features of the reward card. I interrupted her and told her I was not from the area and that I had never heard of this store before. Undaunted, she asked where I was from and I finally trumped her by saying Akron, Ohio. She tried to come back by staying that they were expanding up north, but really had nothing to go on - if I'm unlikely to come back, why would I "need" a rewards card? I thought it was done, but just before giving me the total, she hauled out a sheet of paper and suggested that I could sign up for a magazine subscription. I declined again, polite in words, but not in look or tone. Transaction complete, I headed for the door and freedom.
As a coda to the story, my room-mate was behind me in line and tried to get her stopped by telling her he was from Akron as well, but she essentially ignored him in favor of her "speech".
Rude behavior in the name of customer service. Annoying and disturbing.
I've got a headache again this afternoon - though I think this is work related and comes from staring at a computer screen too long. I also forgot my swim trunks today and so missed my swim.
Almost time to go home - later...
1. The staff was doing some kind of inventory with those bar-code scanner guns that required them scanning every single book one at a time. The scanner gun beeped every time they did this. I was instantly homicidal, but didn't act on my impulse.
2. They were completely missing several of my favorite and prolific authors. Irksome.
I tried another section, only to have another staffer begin beeping. My headache getting worse, I finally gave up and headed for the checkout. Before they clerk began checking out the items, she asked if I had a rewards card. I told her no and she began to explain the stickers on the hardback books and how I could get a discount if I signed up. I politely declined and she continued with her pitch. I declined again, still politely, but with a slight increase in tone.
Still, she continued with the great features of the reward card. I interrupted her and told her I was not from the area and that I had never heard of this store before. Undaunted, she asked where I was from and I finally trumped her by saying Akron, Ohio. She tried to come back by staying that they were expanding up north, but really had nothing to go on - if I'm unlikely to come back, why would I "need" a rewards card? I thought it was done, but just before giving me the total, she hauled out a sheet of paper and suggested that I could sign up for a magazine subscription. I declined again, polite in words, but not in look or tone. Transaction complete, I headed for the door and freedom.
As a coda to the story, my room-mate was behind me in line and tried to get her stopped by telling her he was from Akron as well, but she essentially ignored him in favor of her "speech".
Rude behavior in the name of customer service. Annoying and disturbing.
I've got a headache again this afternoon - though I think this is work related and comes from staring at a computer screen too long. I also forgot my swim trunks today and so missed my swim.
Almost time to go home - later...
Monday, May 26, 2008
mood, food, work, trip, appliances
I haven't really been in the mood for blogged in a while, but as Gurney Halleck said in the first Dune book: "Not in the mood? Mood's a thing for cattle and loveplay, not blogging!"
Or something like that. So, back into it...
Went to a Chinese buffet for dinner on Friday and ate a whole honking pile of food. 2 full plates of "dinner items" Sweet and sour chicken, fried shrimp, green beans. 2 small plates of sushi, maybe around 14-16 pieces - mostly spicy crab and tuna. 1 full plate of dessert, various items. And 1 fortune cookie. I was physically uncomfortable. It was awesome.
My room-mate went away hungry. I know, I know. Seems like that would be impossible at a buffet. But, I think he didn't get the concept.
Work has been very busy, but productive. Sometimes those things really don't go together, but I've gotten a lot accomplished toward our big relaunch goal. There have been a couple of annoying snags, but we'll get through it.
Yesterday, I went with my room-mate down to his dad's house to help him clear things our. The goal was to move the washer and dryer to his work, get the curio cabinet for his secretary, and the chest of drawers for himself. The first trip to wheeling and we picked up the washer, dryer and the chest. Back to canton to unload at his work. The old washer and dryer need to be moved out and the new installed - which I'll rant about in a moment. We left the chest there at his work as well and headed back to Wheeling. In wheeling, we picked up the curio cabinet, a tv, a metal shelf and some odds and ends. Back to canton and his work site to pick up the cabinet again since it had the shelves for the curio cabinet. Then to hartville to deliver the curio cabinet. Then home to unload the rest. He had to go back into work, but I got to take a break and played some video games. He's head back down to wheeling today to do some more clearing out as they've sold the house and need to get it emptied.
Now, on to the rant about appliances... The hoses for the washer were difficult to remove - we had to find pliers to get them started. The faucets were not labeled and we had to "guess" which ones would go where. And finally, the thing that made me want to go and find an engineer so I could smack them...
Wait. The only engineering that I know is my brother-in-law and he doesn't work with this type of consumer design. So, he's excluded from the smacking.
Anyway, the cord for the dryer is too short. It's not even long enough for the plug to reach as high as the top of dryer. And the outlet is at least 6-7 inches higher up than that. So, to make it work, they're going to need to buy a longer cord and rewire the damn thing or built some kind of platform to elevate the dryer. Stupid, stupid design. We just left it undone since we were short of time, but it irked me not to be able to finish the job.
That's it for now, I'm going to try and get some sunshine today before heading back to the windowless cube farm at work tomorrow.
later...
Or something like that. So, back into it...
Went to a Chinese buffet for dinner on Friday and ate a whole honking pile of food. 2 full plates of "dinner items" Sweet and sour chicken, fried shrimp, green beans. 2 small plates of sushi, maybe around 14-16 pieces - mostly spicy crab and tuna. 1 full plate of dessert, various items. And 1 fortune cookie. I was physically uncomfortable. It was awesome.
My room-mate went away hungry. I know, I know. Seems like that would be impossible at a buffet. But, I think he didn't get the concept.
Work has been very busy, but productive. Sometimes those things really don't go together, but I've gotten a lot accomplished toward our big relaunch goal. There have been a couple of annoying snags, but we'll get through it.
Yesterday, I went with my room-mate down to his dad's house to help him clear things our. The goal was to move the washer and dryer to his work, get the curio cabinet for his secretary, and the chest of drawers for himself. The first trip to wheeling and we picked up the washer, dryer and the chest. Back to canton to unload at his work. The old washer and dryer need to be moved out and the new installed - which I'll rant about in a moment. We left the chest there at his work as well and headed back to Wheeling. In wheeling, we picked up the curio cabinet, a tv, a metal shelf and some odds and ends. Back to canton and his work site to pick up the cabinet again since it had the shelves for the curio cabinet. Then to hartville to deliver the curio cabinet. Then home to unload the rest. He had to go back into work, but I got to take a break and played some video games. He's head back down to wheeling today to do some more clearing out as they've sold the house and need to get it emptied.
Now, on to the rant about appliances... The hoses for the washer were difficult to remove - we had to find pliers to get them started. The faucets were not labeled and we had to "guess" which ones would go where. And finally, the thing that made me want to go and find an engineer so I could smack them...
Wait. The only engineering that I know is my brother-in-law and he doesn't work with this type of consumer design. So, he's excluded from the smacking.
Anyway, the cord for the dryer is too short. It's not even long enough for the plug to reach as high as the top of dryer. And the outlet is at least 6-7 inches higher up than that. So, to make it work, they're going to need to buy a longer cord and rewire the damn thing or built some kind of platform to elevate the dryer. Stupid, stupid design. We just left it undone since we were short of time, but it irked me not to be able to finish the job.
That's it for now, I'm going to try and get some sunshine today before heading back to the windowless cube farm at work tomorrow.
later...
Monday, April 28, 2008
the news, god of war, training
My room-mate is a big fan of the news. He gets the sunday paper and through the week will watch the local news, then the national news, then the local news again and occasionally Entertainment tonight. I usually avoid the living room while this is going on but I'll wander through at some point. It seems to me that the news is getting worse. Local news has always felt very fear based, but the national and even the entertainment feels like the end of the world.
So, I'll breeze through the room, stay long enough to get depressed, then go back to a computer game or a book.
This is not to say that I'm in the dark - I follow the news a lot on the web. In that case, though, I can take a little more open approach and mix up some of the good and bad and the other.
I understand keeping people informed, but I wonder how much of this is a self-fulfilling prophecy? If the news reports an economy in trouble, will people then behave in ways that make it worse? If a shortage on goods is reported, will that lead to a run on that good across the country? I'm not saying we should keep our head in the sand, but I just don't get all the bad news.
Instead of the news, I played a new game last night - God of War, Chains of Olympus. Interesting story - someone has kidnapped the sun god Helios and without him, everyone is falling asleep - including the greek gods themselves. And then the god of sleep is taking over. Good story, good controls, not always quite as clear where to go. I can only play it for so long since the PSP is little less comfortable to hold than the Playstation controller.
I'm in training this week for some new software. It's not too bad, but the timing is a little rough - so much going on.
Better get back to looking like I'm paying attention.
later...
So, I'll breeze through the room, stay long enough to get depressed, then go back to a computer game or a book.
This is not to say that I'm in the dark - I follow the news a lot on the web. In that case, though, I can take a little more open approach and mix up some of the good and bad and the other.
I understand keeping people informed, but I wonder how much of this is a self-fulfilling prophecy? If the news reports an economy in trouble, will people then behave in ways that make it worse? If a shortage on goods is reported, will that lead to a run on that good across the country? I'm not saying we should keep our head in the sand, but I just don't get all the bad news.
Instead of the news, I played a new game last night - God of War, Chains of Olympus. Interesting story - someone has kidnapped the sun god Helios and without him, everyone is falling asleep - including the greek gods themselves. And then the god of sleep is taking over. Good story, good controls, not always quite as clear where to go. I can only play it for so long since the PSP is little less comfortable to hold than the Playstation controller.
I'm in training this week for some new software. It's not too bad, but the timing is a little rough - so much going on.
Better get back to looking like I'm paying attention.
later...
Friday, April 25, 2008
lunch, dreams
I had a somewhat stressful and - in my eyes - overly long meeting yesterday just before lunch. When asked if I had somewhere I had to be at a certain time since I kept glancing at my watch, I replied, "well, I'm getting hungry". The crew waited for me and we headed over to Chipotle - I drove since there were 4 of us and I have the 4 door car. I was still stressed from the meeting and cranky at the drivers and at the long line since we were running later than usual.
But, one of my coworkers bought me lunch since I had helped him out with a lighting issue. And I got a Sprite+lemonade+lime wedge drink that was excellent. And the actual burrito was excellent. The parking situation threatened to push me over into a bad mood, but the good stuff and the bad stuff of my lunch excursion neatly balanced out and left me with a sort of null mood.
Had some messed up dreams this morning.
1. Dreamed that I was at a large picnic, waiting for a military helicopter to land to pick me up. I had a large backpack with a lot of paper and books in case I got bored. The helicopter landed, scattering the picnickers and I got on. The huge helicopter took off and one airborne I set down my bag and wandered back to the breakroom, past the kitchen. Yes, it was that big. The soldiers there were asking me about the mission and I told them I had no idea. I explained that I had gotten a letter saying that I was to report to a specific area and get picked up by a helicopter. I told them I figured it might have been a joke until I saw the actual helicopter. They were very surprised that I was a civilian and had no training or special skills. The conversation sort of stopped at that point and we sat quietly and waited.
2. The second dream was a just a fragment - I was in engineering on the starship voyager trying to help the them navigate at high speed through a region of space that was almost filled with solid mathematical representations of their ship and a borg cube. Once we got through that - and it was amazing to watch - I headed to the mess hall and watched while the cast of Angel tried to reason with the teen-aged clones of themselves. Very odd.
later...
But, one of my coworkers bought me lunch since I had helped him out with a lighting issue. And I got a Sprite+lemonade+lime wedge drink that was excellent. And the actual burrito was excellent. The parking situation threatened to push me over into a bad mood, but the good stuff and the bad stuff of my lunch excursion neatly balanced out and left me with a sort of null mood.
Had some messed up dreams this morning.
1. Dreamed that I was at a large picnic, waiting for a military helicopter to land to pick me up. I had a large backpack with a lot of paper and books in case I got bored. The helicopter landed, scattering the picnickers and I got on. The huge helicopter took off and one airborne I set down my bag and wandered back to the breakroom, past the kitchen. Yes, it was that big. The soldiers there were asking me about the mission and I told them I had no idea. I explained that I had gotten a letter saying that I was to report to a specific area and get picked up by a helicopter. I told them I figured it might have been a joke until I saw the actual helicopter. They were very surprised that I was a civilian and had no training or special skills. The conversation sort of stopped at that point and we sat quietly and waited.
2. The second dream was a just a fragment - I was in engineering on the starship voyager trying to help the them navigate at high speed through a region of space that was almost filled with solid mathematical representations of their ship and a borg cube. Once we got through that - and it was amazing to watch - I headed to the mess hall and watched while the cast of Angel tried to reason with the teen-aged clones of themselves. Very odd.
later...
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
nightmare, tattoo, lights
I had a dream last night that I was behind a desk in a hotel and the lobby was filled with zombies. I was with a few other people and we were unnoticed until one of the zombies exploded and their "juices" flew everywhere. They hit some of us and a woman in my group screamed - alerting the zombies to our presence. We managed to fight them off, but it was too late - I was already infected. The group forced me to leave before I turned, so I struck out on my own. In a short amount of time, while wandering the streets, I turned into a zombie, but managed to keep my intelligence through an effort of will. I was a zombie, but I could control myself. I didn't really get much time to figure out what it meant before I woke up.
My tattoo - you know, the one I got back on march 27? - was actually starting to heal. And then last night I flexed my wrist and I felt something tear. It was a scab and I started to bleed. I got it bandaged up and put more neosporin on it, but it's still annoying.
Yesterday at lunch I put up some foam board instead of the blue transparency. Worked really well. So much so, that my co-worker wanted it set up in his cube as well. We're both prone to light-induced headaches and I'm hoping this helps. I'm also going to offer this to the rest of the crew - but I'll need to get more foam-board.
That's it for now...
My tattoo - you know, the one I got back on march 27? - was actually starting to heal. And then last night I flexed my wrist and I felt something tear. It was a scab and I started to bleed. I got it bandaged up and put more neosporin on it, but it's still annoying.
Yesterday at lunch I put up some foam board instead of the blue transparency. Worked really well. So much so, that my co-worker wanted it set up in his cube as well. We're both prone to light-induced headaches and I'm hoping this helps. I'm also going to offer this to the rest of the crew - but I'll need to get more foam-board.
That's it for now...
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
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...
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...
Sunday, April 20, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
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
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
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, April 14, 2008
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...
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...
Monday, April 07, 2008
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...
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...
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, March 28, 2008
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...
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...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
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...
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...
Friday, March 21, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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...
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...
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
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...
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...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
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.
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...
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...
Sunday, March 16, 2008
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...
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...
Monday, March 10, 2008
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...
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...
Monday, March 03, 2008
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...
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...
Friday, February 29, 2008
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...
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...
Sunday, February 24, 2008
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...
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...
Monday, February 18, 2008
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...
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...
Saturday, February 16, 2008
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...
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...
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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...
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...
Friday, February 08, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
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...
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...
Sunday, February 03, 2008
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...
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...
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