It's all swirly...

I've finished my giant bag of fortune cookie rejects. Today's fortunes:

Do not hide your feelings. Let others know where you stand.

Okay, I previously mentioned that. So let me say for the record that I really like money and if anyone wants to give me some, I'm not too proud to take it.

Oh, and summer dresses? I approve of those as a fashion statement when attractive ladies decide that's what they're hankerin' to wear. Just thought I'd spell that out.

No need to thank me.

So... other fortunes:

A movie would be a great way to relax this weekend.

Gosh, I'm glad I have a crapload of DVDs to watch. Moving on...

Rely on long time friends to give you advice with your present question.

Um... Huh. That's interesting, as I haven't really asked any questions today. All the same, Vicky offered some suggestions for a new car that I'm seriously entertaining. Conversely, another friend has offered me unsolicited dating advice that has not been helpful, so I'm not sure about this one.

So... on to the last one:

You will travel to many exotic places in your lifetime.

That can be good... and that can be bad. Hopefully this doesn't mean I'll be drafted or anything like that. I'd also prefer this doesn't mean I'm fated to be any kind of refugee or fugitive. That kind of exotic I could do without.

And Erik's birthday countdown is now making me very nostalgic.

He calls out the evening of October 17, 1989. I remember that day pretty well. I drove off to the library to research a paper. I found parking on campus (which was a minor miracle), then hoofed it over to the library (I still don't know why I didn't just walk). When I entered the building, they announced over the PA that the elevators were out-of-service until they could be inspected.

I didn't really think anything of it. I dislike elevators and much prefer the stairs. That's when I noticed people taking up all the phones.

This was before cell phones were commonplace, of course. Every coin phone was in use. And that's when the PA came on again.

In a nutshell, they announced a major quake had hit the Bay Area. There was speculation that the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges had either sustained damage or collapsed altogether.

I don't remember leaving the library. I do know I ran to my car - my research forgotten - and drove home as fast as I could. Erik was already trying to phone his family in the Bay Area.

For hours we tried to get past the busy signal to get word from our families. Meanwhile we fielded calls from elsewhere in the country and watched the news.

It turned out everyone in our families were okay. The only damage my folks' house sustained was a broken plate and a shattered beer stein (oh, the humanity).

Still, the not-knowing was a sickening feeling.

Funny. I can hardly remember the rest of that year at all.

Virga

I picked up Karl Schroeder's Sun of Suns after reading a positive review from Ryan Sohmer on Looking for Group.

I took it to the mechanic yesterday. In four hours, I was about 2/3 done.

Rocks my world. I'm totally getting the other two books in the series.

Amazonian Greatness

Wow. Amazon didn't waste any time at all replacing my "Earth 2" boxed set. It was waiting for me on my chair this morning (which, I suppose, means I should stop whining about wind and animals, but whatever).

I inspected the discs. Everything looks peachy. I'll be enjoying some campy sci-fi goodness this week.

I'd watch 'em tonight, but I managed to get a copy of the old William Hartnell "Dr. Who" story called "The Time Meddler" and I'm going to finish that first.

Gotta love the classics.

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

This morning's fortune:

Do not hide your feelings. Let others know where you stand.

Ooookay.

I'm actually not standing right now. I'm sitting. My office chair is rather comfortable.

For some reason this fortune makes me think of Star Wars.

And now I'm wishing I could throw lighting.

Yeah, it's going to be one of those mornings.

Context

There are things in life I normally enjoy:

- a bit of wind
- cats
- dogs

It's all about context, though. For example, if... oh say... a dog or cat were somewhere within earshot of the window next to my bed and were whimpering all night long while I'm trying to sleep... well, then, I'd be less-inclined to feel fondly about said animal.

And the wind, while a welcome relief in warm to hot weather, is less welcome when I'm biking in to the office.

Must be Tuesday.

Yeah, I'm going to have to shell out seven bills to get my car back. It's totally a Tuesday.

gwah

Today is a "Spare the air day". That would explain why my allergies are slamming me like pro wrestlers.

On top of that, my mechanic has advised me that my car not only needs new belts but it also needs a new water pump.

Apparently I'm damn lucky it didn't go in the last few days and fry my engine, thus totaling out my lovely car.

Whee?

This bill is gonna hurt. Glad I get paid tomorrow.

ugh

I'd planned and hoped to take a half-day tomorrow to deal with my car's troubles.

Then, just as the Bay Area got to experience the first real heat wave of the summer, my allergies (or a really focused cold) have decided to do a tap dance on me.

I'm hoping I shake this tomorrow, but I'm thinking I may be taking the whole day to recover.

I just hope I can also get my car taken care of.

When it rains, it pours, I guess.

Moore of it

I recorded "Virtuality" while I was out enjoying tiki drinks last night.

It's another Ron Moore offering.

If you don't recognize the name, Ron Moore is half of the brain's trust that brought the world a re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica".

You may have heard of it.

I still want to punch Ronald D. Moore and David Eick for the finale to BSG and I still refuse to watch "Caprica" or the "The Plan" (an attempt to close a few of the many, many plot holes BSG left behind). That said, when FOX decided to air "Virtuality", I figured I should give it a try.

io9 loved it. It's summer and any kind of science fiction is a bit sparse.

I just finished watching it.

Can't say I'm impressed.

Oh, the actors are excellent. They're well-cast and appear to be interesting. The premise is intriguing but the paranoiac mystery-plot didn't grab me. It sounded too much like a bad "Star Trek: The Next Generation" holodeck episode.

Besides, knowing Moore, the whole thing is probably being engineered by angels.

Yep. I still want to punch him.

Aaaah...

Tiki drinks with friends at Forbidden Island. Life doesn't get much better than that.

No wait. It does.

Sleeping in after said event and leisurely waking up with no hangover.

That's pure awesome.

Filming Over

Well I'll be damned (very likely, actually). Hollywood listened? According to Dark Horizons, they're going to make a movie based on the "Uncharted" video game.

The article is here.

It's like they listened. Partially, at least.

Ia Ia Cthulhu F'tagn

Lifted from MCS

And Friday arrives again

I suspect my fortune from yesterday will not necessarily come true. My car is generating strange and very, very loud noises from the engine that seem to be from some kind of slipping belt.

Annoying under most circumstances. Really over-the-top at 5am...

Time to call the mechanic. This might put a crimp in my after-work plans today. Bleah.

Supposed to be warm today, too.

Oh well. At least it's Friday.

A fortune of fortunes

Today's fortunes plucked from my bag of fortune cookie rejects of which I'm eating entirely too much:

The stock market may be your ticket to success

You will soon be involved in many gatherings and parties

You will be showered with good luck tomorrow!

So yesterday's was: A pleasant surprise is in store for you soon.

Yesterday's fortune rang strangely true as I had a number of pleasant surprises yesterday.

I'm disinclined to believe the stock market will do me any favors in my lifetime any more than I think other types of gambling (poker, Lotto, blind dates, etc.) will be much help.

Gatherings and parties? Hm. I'm invited to a Fourth of July party. Odds are fair I'll be doing something for the various summer birthdays. The monthly game gatherings certainly count.

Good luck tomorrow? Well, it's Friday tomorrow. That's a good start. Got plans to meet up with a couple of friends for drinks. So far that one is promising as well.

Maybe tomorrow I'll find that my Roth IRA and 401(k) are suddenly worth ten times what they were yesterday (or today) while I'm overjoyed with that, I'll hit multiple parties, win the Lottery, shack up with the woman of my dreams (which dreams? Let's not go there...) and buy an island fortress somewhere so I can better plot my takeover of the world.

Or maybe the fortunes are bullshit. Could go either way, really.

perspective

Salon has a fascinating article on Iran's current situation by Hooman Majid, a prominant Iranian translator.

The article sums it all up pretty nicely at the end by saying the U.S. and the rest of the world should butt out of Iranian politics and that the neocons are a collection of complete idiots who are doing Ahmadinejad a favor by clamoring for Western interference in their election woes.

Fascinating stuff, really.

Genius

I haven't seen Twilight. I've read bits and pieces of the plot on io9.com and other places. I've read enough to know that it sounds like the most miserable crap I can imagine (and in Han Solo's words, I can imagine quite a bit).

That said, I'm a huge "Buffy" fan. So naturally, I love this:



Actually, Head Trip has done some of the best rips on Twilight.

Specifically: this one and this one.

If you have a truly twisted sense of humor, the entire Head Trip site is pretty consistent comic brilliance.

blather for my Thursday morning

Good things:

* Spotting the CHP officer on the side of the road. Bonus: already going the speed limit in the right lane.

* Got my materials together to return my "Earth 2" DVDs.

* Have not gained weight.

* Mostly have full mobility with my outer fingers.

* Am more alert today than yesterday.

Bad things:

* Mysterious and very loud car noises.

* Mysterious, rank odors greeting one first thing into the office.

* Had to re-open the "Earth 2" package to include something I hadn't printed.

* Have not lost weight.

* Hands hurt and knuckles are a bit swollen.

Knuckling Under

There comes a point when one's body says "enough".

For me, it's the sore neck and the puffy knuckles from a couple of missed punches during bag work.

The crushing exhaustion helps too.

I'd planned to ride my bike to work tomorrow, but I think I'll take a break and drive. This is assuming I can get out of bed tomorrow.

I tried to settle in and watch my DVDs of "Earth 2", but as I just opened the package, I found one of the discs was heavily damaged.

Time to try out Amazon's returns and replacement policy. I want my crappy 90's sci-fi!

No complaints, though. Today's been a surprisingly-good day, all things considered.

Except for the pain. That part... not so much of the fun. Oy.

From a cookie

My fortune: "A pleasant surprise is in store for you soon."

I am not one to normally lend too much credibility to a piece of paper found in a snack.

This particular piece of paper has demonstrated remarkable oracular abilities today.

Funny.

Rumblings

Current Events:

- North Korea has threatened to "wipe the U.S. off of the map"

- Iran is under martial law in the wake of a highly-suspicious election

- the economy is still pretty much in the shitter

- the Obama administration supports the Bush administration's illegal wiretapping and executive power grabs, including "indefinite detention" for accused terrorists

- the polar ice caps are apparently showing signs of melting faster than anticipated

- WHO has declared H1N1 a pandemic

It's the goddamn 21st century of the Western Gregorian Calendar. To say this stuff is crazy doesn't begin to cover it.

Okay, the rest of the world really can't do much about Iran. I don't see any profound wisdom with the hard-liner advice to President Obama to have him chew out Ahmadinejad's government. Unless the world plans to invade Iran (and Iraq has adequately demonstrated the lack of wisdom in that plan) folks are just going to have to suck it up. Pissing off that country even more isn't going to do loads of good.

Melting ice caps? Hell, climate change as a whole is just one big problem. Is it human-caused? Is it human-exacerbated? Maybe governments should try listening to the scientists studying the matter instead of paying sock puppets to deny there's an issue?

North Korea... yeah. They apparently have nukes. These jackasses are actually doing missile tests to piss off their neighbors. I'm puzzled why China is okay with an unstable thug-state having nukes. I'm less diplomatically-minded with North Korea, so it's a good thing I'm not a diplomat.

The economy... seems to me that the U.S. is doing more in terms of putting bandages on the problem than trying to fix the underlying issues by putting more regulations and controls in place. A free market economy is a lovely fiction, but it makes certain assumptions about human nature that are proven to be false. Markets don't self-regulate when larger corporate interests can influence legislation to adjust policy to essentially screw the rest of us over. I read a lot of nonsense about President Obama being a "socialist". Blah blah blah... he's pretty intensely moderate. I think his administration could stand to step up a bit more. Public opinion seems to more-or-less back him.

While I'm a fan of President Obama, for the most part, I'm disappointed and disgusted that he's backing warrantless wiretapping, just as Bush did. I'm astounded that he (or any American) think it's okay to have any form of indefinite detention for anyone without representation or trial. Doesn't matter if it's a U.S. citizen or not... keeping anyone without charge or the opportunity to defend one's self is something only a fascist would consider to be correct behavior. If they're "bad guys", prove they're "bad". It's that simple. Otherwise, what's the point in having laws at all?

Oddly enough, the whole H1N1 pandemic thing is kind of not-news. It's terrible that people are getting sick and that some have died, but it is the flu. The flu does kill people. Sure this version is hitting different - and traditionaly resistant - groups, but the numbers aren't ginormous. I'm personally more scared of North Korean nukes.

Bah. My opinions. I'm not bothering to cite references or anything, 'cause all of my takes on these things are just my opinion and most people shouldn't give a crap about my take on things.

Just seems to me the world should be better. We, as a species, should know enough to be in a better place. Why aren't we?

xkcd game theory

creaking

Having one of those mornings.

Going to be a long, long day.

I'm praying my afternoon meeting gets cancelled.

I'm wondering if class today is a good idea or not (doesn't matter... I'll go regardless).

On an unrelated note, I picked up the DVD set for the 1994 NBC series "Earth 2". I found myself craving its campy goodness.

I think I'm one of twelve people in the world who enjoyed that show. Good times.

Six Things

1. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter is far more terrifying than Tim Curry as "It".

2. Alan Dean Foster finally finished his "Flinx" series with Flinx Transcendant. It is out in hardback today.

3. Today is a Woot-fest.

4. I have a bag of rejected fortune cookies on my desk.

5. I have been given samples of really tasty brownies today. They've made me a bit wired.

6. Every time I seem to have a reasonably-good coupon for Borders, they do not have the boxed set of season two of "Burn Notice". It's like they want me to buy it through Amazon.

By CROM!!!

Erik sent me this.

Brilliant.

And I have that issue of "Conan the Barbarian".

*snort!*

Questionable Content

This offering from the brilliant Questionable Content continues to make me laugh over and over and over...

So of course they're going to offer a t-shirt:

Reflecting upon Tuesdayness

I hate Tuesdays.

My philosophy about Tuesdays is pretty simple. On Mondays, my short-term memory can remember the weekend and I'm usually a bit shell-shocked to be back at work, so the usual Monday crap doesn't really hit me until late in the day (if at all).

On Tuesdays, my warm-fuzzy memories of a weekend have faded and are replaced by memories of Monday.

On top of that, usually the things that have been fermenting since Monday start bubbling to the surface on Tuesday.

On this particular Tuesday, I get to add pain to the mix. I got tossed around like a rag doll last night. At least one fall did wonders for my neck in a bad way.

I appear to have hurt my heel as well.

How does anyone manage to hurt their heel? Seriously?

AAAAHHH!!!!!!!!

The Huffington Post has pics of the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie coming up.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

The pic of him will give me nightmares forever.

Meme Infection

These are lifted pics of the mysterious Slender Man.

Booga-booga.

Happy Fun Pix

A few pics lifted from RPG.net that caught my eye. I'm not sure the .gif will animate in the blog. Alas.

Summertime!

The Summer Equinox is done. The longest day of the year is past and now the days slowly shrink.

It's disconcerting to have a hint of light hit my apartment at 9pm.

It will be interesting to see when it actually starts getting hot in our corner of the world now that it's officially summertime.

Another Monday. Five long days 'till the weekend.

After the Math

Friday evening, my friend Steve and I hit the city. We drank and drank and drank.

He was a few up on me the whole evening so I never approached his level of tanked, but I was feeling no pain when I finally got home.

I felt the pain the next morning.

And yesterday was the wedding of my friend "Charli" to her now-husband Warren.

It was a lovely wedding. Nice location and great layout. The ceremony was incredibly fast. The party was fun.

I'm wiped out, though. Ugh.

A Lesson

The conversation:

"Did you iron your shirt?"

"Well, it's more like I coppered my shirt."

"Huh?"

"Well, it's kind of a softer way of dealing with the wrinkles."

"..."

Lesson learned: Metallurgy jokes and fashion do not mix well.

shisou

There are too many expensive things I want. Coupling the "me-want-now" cries of my inner-child and my innate impatience, I'm finding it hard not to dive into the deep end of the debt pool and get the material things that I want at the moment.

It doesn't help that the Internet is an enabler.

I resist mainly because my anal-retentive nature stubbornly refuses to let my debt threshold go over a certain number.

I resist... barely.

---

I hate looking at a work project and realizing that it's much, much bigger than it ought to be.

I especially hate the realization that I can't pawn it off on anyone else. It's all mine.

---

There are days when I really hate pretending and playing nice.

---

So, a tip: if something is advertised as a dessert that is good for you when it normally is not, it is:

* a lie
or
* disgusting-tasting

I have not found an exception to this scenario yet.

---

Apparently Che Guevara was a medical doctor as well as a revolutionary. Interesting bit of trivia there.

---

Titanium is fun to play with.

---

I'm debating the pros and cons of getting a laptop in the future.

Related to that, I'm thinking of returning to my abandoned stories and letting them out of the box. I've left them alone for so long, one of my friends referred to them as my "gimps".

The image has not encouraged me to revisit them.

It has made me wonder about some of the fetishes said friend follows, but I don't ask. Better not to know.

***shudder***

aaaahh...

It's Friday morning and barely after 6am.

The sun's rays are touching the eastern horizon to bring illumination to the Bay Area.

I've got the most comfortable shoes ever created adorning my Sasquatch-ish feet.

I've got attire allowing me to carry pretty much every portable possession I own. And it's comfy attire.

I'm coated in 50 spf sunblock in anticipation of the dayball later.

I've managed to get laundry done yesterday, so I'll actually have a clean uniform for class tonight.

I even have an ironed shirt for the wedding I'm going to tomorrow.

And the potentially-lethal rays of the dayball are now hitting my office's eastern windows and lighting up the ceiling with a weird, yellow-orange glow.

Smells like cooked vampire now.

Good times.

Freyja - queen of the week

Ah, the Day of Fri.

Per Wikipedia, repository of Internet b.s:

The name Friday comes from the Old English frigedæg, meaning the day of Frige the Anglo-Saxon form of Frigg, a West Germanic translation of Latin dies Veneris, "day (of the planet) Venus." However, in most Germanic languages the day is named after freyja—such as Frīatag in Old High German, Freitag in Modern German, Freyjudagr in Old Norse, Vrijdag in Dutch, Fredag in Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish—but Freyja and Frigg are frequently identified with each other.

How friggin' awesome!

It is a lovely thing to see the work week end and be able to enjoy a weekend.

A Fine Lunch

Yesterday some friends in the office invited me to a lunch outing today.

I've been feeling less-than-social this week, so I begged out with some bullshit excuse.

When the organizer approached me again re: lunch, I was set to stick to my guns. She offered to change the venue (which, I believe, was the excuse I offered).

It was a nice offer and I realized my reasons for being antisocial were decidedly childish, so I accepted the gracious lunch offer and we all hit Korean food.

I'm now digesting a bowl of dol sot bi bim bap and processing a new nickname given me by my lunch posse.

Food coma is imminent.

[Edit] I have no intention of contributing to my ever-growing list of nicknames by repeating it. I'm just acknowledging that my friends have too much time on their hands. [/Edit]

And Lo!

And so it came to pass that the Day of Thurs (thank you Thor) arrived this third week of June in the year 2009.

There was much rejoicing.

Not as much as there would be come the Day of Fri, but that, as they say, is another story.

The radiant power of the vampire-killing dayball blazes overhead in the promise of warmth. It also holds the promise of spontaneous human combustion for those souls in the Bay Area who have lost resistance to the rays of Ra.

It will be a culling of the weak and undead.

Or just the weak undead.

Better than an undead week.

Elixir

The life-granting and life-sustaining powers of coffee are not to be underestimated.

A smattering of YouTube

I love YouTube. Where else can you see stuff like the following side-by-side?

Excellent stuff

I don't own any kind of gaming console at all. Part of that is expense but mainly it's because I know how addictive games are and how susceptible I am to the siren lure of fantasies.

The Uncharted series ("Drake's Fortune" and now "Among Thieves") has intrigued me. Mostly due to the movie-like cutscenes they include.

YouTube has all the "Drake's Fortune" cutscenes in order. I watched them and was impressed. They play out like a movie and the animation is really quite good.

Hollywood should really ditch the remakes and try to do a series of movies based on this... if they get a real writer and don't let Uwe Boll near the set at all.

Then again, there's probably no benefit in letting Hollywood screw this up, I guess.

Yeah... great.

According to Associated Press, North Korea will fire off a missile in the direction of Hawai'i. They don't expect it can reach Hawai'i, but North Korea is doing it anyway.

This situation is pretty crazy. How is the international community supposed to deal with a crazy country like North Korea? Sanctions? Hmm... they've been doing that for a while. Doesn't seem to help much.

Invasion? That would be bloody for all sides.

What else is there? Diplomacy doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Ugh.

Irony

Irony is watching Comcast Digital Television and seeing an ad come on regarding the Digital Television Transition, then suddenly Comcast puts up a big black text box in the middle of the screen saying: "Your service has been temporarily interrupted and will resume shortly".

Meanwhile, the ad continues in the background.

And that, in a nutshell, is my experience with Comcast.

If they weren't a monopoly in my area, these guys would be gone in a heartbeat.

One Thousand Moments of Banality

Yeah, so according to Blogger's "Dashboard" function, this post is number one thousand.

One. Thousand.

I have apparently posted one thousand distinct and different comments in this thing.

That's probably not counting the handful of posts I've deleted.

So... probably over one thousand.

Yeah.

Wow.

Apparently I really need a life. Stat.

Pride

I just walked through Borders with a "super coupon" to give me some pittance of a discount in buying stuff. I saw some things I somewhat want and I resisted buying them!

Woo-hoo!

Go me!

Self-discipline, baby! That's what I'm talkin' about!

And then I came back to my desk and ate an entire package of opened snacks.

Okay... so... self-discipline baby steps, then.

Yeah...

Midpoint

And lo, 'twas the coming of the Day of Wednes.

Wait... is that how that works? According to Wikipedia:

The name comes from the Middle English Wednes dei, which is from Old English language Wēdnes dæg, meaning the day of the English god Woden (Wodan) who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th century.

So... okay then.

Thanks Wodan (Odin?). Given that this is also called Hump Day, maybe it should be Zeus Day.

Heh.

The weather wonks claim it will warm today. I don't really care one way or the other. I'm more interested in finding out if I really need to attend this afternoon meeting I've been invited to. I suspect the subject matter is someone else's realm of interest, so I may actually get out of the office on-time today.

We'll see how that goes.

Yesterday I received a hoodie I'd ordered. This one is a bit odd. It's wool. Feels like a fine sweater, actually. The hood portion fits very much like I'd expect a Sith lord or Mordor sorcerer to have (probably 'cause it's black).

I look kind of scary in it, but I expect that's not going to have any major impact on my social life.

This morning's news offers more claims that the "economy is turning around" and all that. The evidence they offer: rising gas prices.

That's right, citizens. It's once again over $3/gal in California.

Sure this is nothing compared to what Europeans have to pay, but we don't live in Europe with their often-superior public transportation and all that.

I'm not sure how rising gas prices (and food prices, and rents, and deficits, and so on) are signs that the economy is improving. If the public gets less for their money, I fail to see how that's an improvement. If things are more expensive, it just encourages us to spend less.

Sure, the high prices are economically great if I happen to own shares in Chevron or Shell or whatever, or if I'm otherwise wealthy and own businesses that benefit from all this...

Hm. Maybe that's what the news meant. That wouldn't surprise me one bit.

In which layering is important

Went to my office softball game last night. Froze.

I just got a sweatshirt in the mail yesterday. I'd even considered wearing it, but I decided not to.

"It's June and it's warming up. My jacket will be enough."

Ah, silly me of 14 hours ago. How innocent you were. How naive.

So tired...

Non stop pissy

I'm working on my ability to befuddle, freak out, offend and/or irritate people today.

If I were graded on this, I'd probably be getting a B+ or possibly an A- thus far. I've managed to hit all four categories thus far.

Thirty minutes left in my work day. I wonder if I can inspire someone to throw a punch?

I'm not keen on that, mind you. I'm really just curious.

Minor Frustration

My dad and I share a love of "Burn Notice". Given that Father's Day approaches (despite the fact we've already pretty much celebrated it), and given that season two came out on DVD today, I thought I'd price out the copies.

If it was cheap enough, I'd pick up a copy for Dad and another for me. If it wasn't, then getting it for Dad is good enough.

So I walked over to Borders at lunch. I found the blu-ray version - which does me no good - but saw no sign of the normal DVD version.

I went to the catalog. It said they had no DVDs for the show in stock at all - clearly an error given the blu-ray version was a few feet away - so I went to find someone to take a better look.

No regular DVD in stock. The helpful salesperson said that Borders only ordered two copies of regular DVD and they were already sold out.

Two copies.

Two.

Two for one of the more popular summertime shows.

Yeah.

I politely thanked the clerk for his help and took a walk out to Barnes & Noble. Sure, I could order the show on Amazon, but that takes time.

Barnes & Noble not only carried copies (they had one left when I got there), it was actually cheaper there.

Clearly there's stocking issues at these stores, but just for fun I took a walk through the B&N. Their stock was superior to Borders in every way that matters to me.

I'd totally do all my shopping at B&N if they offered free memberships for discounts instead of their ridiculous annual fee.

As it stands now, I'm wondering why I give my money to either store and just don't go the much cheaper route of Amazon all the way.

Squee

Yes, I did write "squee" in my blog header.

Packages "out for delivery" today.

Yes, I have bought a lot of junk lately.

No, I probably can't afford it.

Yes, I just placed an order for a book I'm curious about via Amazon... just perpetuating the spending problem.

Unrelated: John Simm and Timothy Dalton are supposed to appear in the final RTD-penned episode of "Dr. Who" that will star David Tennant.

Oh, even better? Dalton is in Time Lord garb.

Oh yeah!

Gotta love a race of time-travellers who completely and utterly lack any kind of fashion sense.

So Simm... gotta mean the Master is coming back. WOOT!

My friend Mackie came up with the ideal casting for the next Doctor:

Ian McShane

Yes, we could picture it. Ian McShane exiting the TARDIS in a black suit cut likely in a Victorian style, complete with a walking stick (that may or may not be a sword cane). One stare and Daleks wet themselves while Cybermen rediscover the "fear" emotion.

Yeah.

To top this? Anthony Stewart Head as the Master.

Sure, there's arguments that Head would be an awesome Doctor (and he would) while McShane would be a spectacular Master (and he would), but like Mackie, I like the twist of having the really scary McShane as the heroic Doctor.

Especially since the first Doctor was a bit of an anti-hero.

Would be a nice, full-circle, kind of thing.

Yep. I'm productive today.

I... I...

I don't know what to do!

I've been gaming (table-top or email RPGs) for months now. Now my modern-era campaign is in epilog mode (and at least one player is out-of-town, stalling matters) and I have to find something to do with my spare mental processes.

Oh, I know! Martial arts class!

No... wait. I suck at that. Seriously. I really suck. It's embarrassing how much I suck. And yet I'm still going. Oh wait, that's not news.

To spin this into a completely bizarre segue, I rode my bike this morning and confirmed that the muscles used for bicycle riding are completely different than the muscles used in jogging and in martial arts.

The pain is pretty similar, though.

I'm in need of new reading material. I've re-re-re-re-read Garth Nix's Sabriel and need something else. I've found my copy of Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora. That should suit me for a bit, I expect.

I'd buy something to read at the local Borders, but their selection of stuff pretty much sucks arse. They barely carry DVDs and music at all now and their book selection is unimpressive in the areas I like to read (sci-fi and fantasy).

This leads me to irritation over lumping science fiction together with fantasy.

They're distinctly different genres! Why do people insist upon putting them in the same part of the store? 'Cause the nerds are the same? I take exception to that.

Of course, most of the books in these sections now are fantasy... really mostly vampire bullshit.

Goddamn "Twilight".

I'm testy this morning.

Can you tell?

Poor Tokyo

What does Godzilla have against the place anyway?

From Lio

Breezing by on charm

At dinner last night, we had a waiter who was abrupt, brisque, and had a tendency to sort of fling our plates at us.

He was also really funny. He had a sort of dry Italiano-goombah humor around him that was just kind of neat.

So instead of complaining about the service, we enjoyed the spectacle.

He had a distinctive scar on his neck, as if someone tried to cut him open at some point in his life.

We decided he was a retired mafia thug or something akin to that. The truth is probably less-interesting, but there you go.

Things I hate about San Francisco

1. Traffic

2. A decided lack of affordable parking

3. Metered parking is now 7 days a week in many areas

4. Traffic

5. Cab drivers

6. Traffic

7. General expenses (especially with respect to parking garages)

8. Traffic

Other than that, I find the city quite pleasant.

Hee hee

Get Fuzzy

survival

I managed to survive running an eleven-and-a-half-hour game yesterday.

There I was, sitting in my shoebox-sized apartment with seven of my best friends and running a role-playing game set in modern Seattle.

And it was pure chaos for most of the evening.

My friend Mackie said I'd crack under the strain of keeping seven distinct storylines straight.

It was a close thing.

At the end, the good guys were triumphant (for the most part) and the bad guys were on the run (again, for the most part).

And I slept the sleep of the dead that night (well, really sometime this morning).

I'm still sleepy.

Owie

When learning the fine art of flipping another person, one must also experience the joy of being flipped.

In this scenario, it is best to pay close attention to the lessons one should have received in how to land upon the ground safely.

If you experience extraordinary pain in - oh let's say your leg - you're doing it wrong.

Just sayin'

Zipping along

June is nearly half-over (technically Monday, but that's why I said "nearly") and I'm trying to figure out why time is moving so fast.

This work week felt insanely long, but I expected that after all the random bits of time-off I took in previous weeks. All the same, I can't recall much in terms of specifics over the week to give me mental landmarks for passage of time.

My weekends are another matter. Maybe that's why time seems to be buzzing by so quickly.

Last weekend was mostly a "me" weekend. The rest of June is busier. I've got a nerdfest tomorrow with a full-house of seven players. I expect that will push me over the edge. I have a family thing Sunday.

Next week I hope to finish some of my more tedious work projects and get answers on a few others so I can get the morass moving. I'm hoping to up my exercise by bike riding on the days I'm not attending class after work.

I'm going to a friend's wedding the following Saturday. Should be a hoot. Sunday after that is Father's Day, which should be bizarre, as my family is celebrating it this Sunday for some reason.

I'd initially said I'd go camping with friends at the end of June, but money is kind of tight this month, so I think I'm going to bail on that. By then, June's pretty much done.

July should be a hoot. Erik turns 40.

My people

To wit I say: "Damn skippy"

The Tube

So television is going 100% digital today.

It's a big pain in the ass in my opinion and it makes me somewhat wary. Technically, analog broadcast signals are "owned" by the public because the frequencies used are determined to be public domain. This requires broadcast companies to adhere to certain public requirements in order to keep their license.

I haven't really looked any of this up, but I'm curious if the same holds true in digital broadcasting.

Meh. TV programming is such crap these days, I'm wondering why I still keep the damn tube at all.

Answered Prayers

Planetary #27 this October!

Woo-hoo!!!!

easy there, survivalist

One of my friends took note of (and possibly exception to) some of the shopping links I have up. Mainly TAD Gear and County Comm.

I've been accused of being a survivalist.

I might aspire to that, but I sincerely doubt that I'd last more than a couple of days should civilization fall in the next couple of months. I attribute that mainly to a lack of firearms. I'm not really all that fond of guns, so I think that would inhibit my ability to occupy a bunker in Idaho or anything.

And I know diddly about camping in the actual wilderness, but that's another story.

So what's the appeal to some of these more... ah... esoteric stores?

Well, I do like the tools offered. I like flashlights, pocket tools, etc. Since I like these things so much, I wind up needing clothing and bags to carry such. Interestingly-enough, these stores carry such items.

Imagine that.

Plus they appeal to me on some level, so I thought I'd put 'em up.

That actually reminds me to add the Chrome Bags site...

Logistics to Fighting

One of the things that most fascinates me about any kind of martial arts class is all the details that go into the simplest of moves.

Seemingly-easy moves, such as kicks, require very precise combinations of balance, foot placement, and movement. More complex maneuvers, such as grapples and throws, require substantial control over several variables in order to successfully complete the technique in question.

Footwork is always essential as is the motion of the hip. Pretty much everything follows those two factors. If you've got the footwork and the hip movement down, you're pretty much 80% there.

Adding speed to this is mostly a matter of training the mind and body so you develop "muscle memory".

And all the time, it's hard not to overthink things. You don't have time to ponder your options in an actual fight (or even sparring). You have to calculate your many proactive and reactive options in a fraction of a second and you have to move your body and act while you're doing these calculations.

Even when I was in good shape back in the day and had moderate skill in karate, I wasn't particularly gifted at these calculations. It showed in sparring. My reflexes were okay and I could react moderately-quickly to attacks, but if you're only reacting in a fight, you've already lost (in my opinion). You have to be mentally ahead of your opponent, not struggling to keep up with your opponent's moves.

Funny how strategy applies to so many things in life.

Cliche Time

A conversation overheard in the office:

"Just be yourself."

"Who else would I be?"

"I dunno. Maybe you have a multiple-personality disorder?"

"I see. So I'm not the only confused person here."

A Mad Scramble

Due to a weird snafu, my family is celebrating Father's Day a week early.

Gah!

And, of course, one of the gifts I am trying to find is nigh-impossible to get. Certainly I'm not getting it by Sunday.

I have half of it, at least. Time to go with plan B.

bleah

The chicken and garlic rice is not settling too well.

This does not bode well for the afternoon.

Hopefully this will be one of the mistakes I learn from instead of the endlessly-repeating mistakes I don't learn from.

Ugh.

What a day. I'm ready for it to be over.

Iiiiinteresting...

So the Tuesday bikini party thing is a typo... it's a Friday.

The Friday before a friend's wedding.

Hmm...

That's going to be a hell of a weekend.

Me likey.

Energy Usage

I set up an alternate site to keep track of one of the two GURPS campaigns I run (or help run in the other case).

I'm in the habit of putting the play by email (pbem) materials up shortly before an actual face-to-face game.

As I'm reading my digest of material for this upcoming disas... um... game, I came to a realization:

I sink a ridiculous amount of time into this hobby.

Seriously.

If I dedicated half as much time to an actual useful skill (say learning a language or whatever), I'd be an expert in whatever field of study I chose.

Well... I guess that's depending on how intelligent I am as opposed to how intelligent I think I am.

mebbe me no smart as think i be.

Entrophy

I know I've reached a certain age when I get an email from a friend suggesting going out to a club for a "bikini party" (it's alleged that ladies would be bikini clad, not us... just to be clear...) on a Tuesday night after 9pm and I immediately discount the idea as waaaaay too late for me on a work night.

It helps that I got the email the day after said event, at least according to the URL I was sent.

It's not like I don't feel that "certain age" anyway, what with the sore limbs and whatnot. Bah.

Ah well. I'm prepared. I have one of those heavy Irish walking sticks (a shillelagh) that I can wave at those kids to "git offa mah lawn"!

If... um... I had a lawn.

Words I Like (albeit a bit late)

"DELIVERED"

Ah well. Something to greet me at the office tomorrow.

Words I Don't Like

"Exception"

Especially when clarified with "THE RECEIVER WAS UNAVAILABLE TO SIGN ON THE 1ST DELIVERY ATTEMPT."

*sigh*

Words I Like

When reviewing the status of packages being shipped via UPS, I do like these words:

"OUT FOR DELIVERY"

Ummm?

Spotted on Boing Boing Gadgets.

My innocence is either giddy or off weeping in a corner somewhere.

Hobblin' along

I knew this would happen when I went to bed.

After class, my ankle was giving me some trouble. I think I strained it.

I thought I'd walked it out, but it was tender when I crashed for the night.

When I woke this morning, "tender" wasn't a strong enough word. I tried to loosen it as part of my normal morning stretching, but... ow.

After my shower, it felt looser, but not good enough that I cared to risk a bike ride in to work.

I shudder to think what will happen when my class has more fierce contact stuff going on. I'll probably wind up hospitalized at this rate.

Maybe this is the wrong hobby? Meh.

Come to the Dark Side

I think Lucas has spawned another meme.

Looking at this (somewhat overpriced) garment, I see "Sith Black" is an option.

Gotta love the choice of color names.

Neat little thing

I saw the Back in a Flash tool shown on the Red Ferret Journal.

Neat idea.

Heeeee

Anime Scooby Do

(Click to properly view)

Huh.

Wow

Yoon ja-kyung - korean swords dance

A Korean sword dance.

Pretty cool.

Ocean

I first picked up Warren Ellis' "Ocean" comic when it hit the shelves a few years back.

As with most of Ellis' stuff, I loved it. It was pure narrative genius and it read like a great sci-fi thriller movie.

I missed the first trade paperback pass when it came out. So I was excited and thrilled when I found it's back. I got a copy yesterday and re-read it a few times to bask in the pure Ellis glory.

I've heard rumors that it's optioned for a movie.

Part of me hopes that's true, 'cause it would be fantastic and be an alternative to the ungodly number of craptacular remakes currently saturating the science fiction movie market.

Part of me hopes it's not true, 'cause Hollywood will screw it up.

Whrr-whrr-whrr-whrr...

I'm on another "Dr. Who" kick now and re-watching my Season Four DVDs of the rebooted series.

I just re-watched the two-parter that reintroduces the Sontarans.

While the rebooted "Dr. Who" series under RTD has its flaws, I must commend Davies and his writers for the supporting cast of the show. I really enjoyed the portrayal of the U.N.I.T. soldiers and staff in the Sontaran stories.

It was a hokey story overall, but that's so typically "Who" that it hardly bears mentioning.

Crazy Countries

North Korea. Yeah.

So...

I don't get it. I don't get the Iraq invasion and all that when even people-on-the-street were pretty sure North Korea was closer to nukes than Iraq ever was.

So we invaded Iraq and let North Korea get closer to building functional nukes.

And now they're prepping missles.

And they have two American journalists put away in a labor camp. And they're sentenced for twelve years hard labor! According to one of the journalists' sister, one has an ulcer that requires medical care. Another has a four year old daughter.

The country keeps sabre rattling against South Korea, Japan, and even the U.S.

They've admitted to kidnapping Japanese citizens off the streets of Japanese cities.

And all the U.N. and anyone seems to do is just slap 'em on the wrist.

I'm not sure I'm suggesting invasion or anything crazy like that. I expect the situation is complicated. North Korea's army is huge, their leader is crazy, and I expect China would be unenthusiastic about any kind of armed conflict next to their borders.

To me that suggests maybe China should get off its ass and do something about their buddy in the northern half of the Korean penninsula, though.

And it would be nice if North Korea would send us our citizens back. Yesterday, please.

They had a Plan

So io9 is pimping out the "BattleStar Galactica" DVD known as "The Plan".

I have way too many problems with this to ever consider watching it.

First of all, the story shouldn't require a separate DVD to explain what was an integral part of the actual series. The Cylon plan should have been adequately explained during the series. It was touted as a major point, after all.

Secondly, the Cylons during the course of the series seemed to have different plans. First they wanted to wipe out humans. Then they wanted to breed with humans. Then they wanted to take and dissect any human-Cylon hybrids... so their plan was to be crazy? Ooookay...

Finally, anything the Cylons (or the humans, for that matter) did got pre-empted by the bullshit of their "angel" conclusion to the story.

Yeah, thanks Ron and David. You guys can go dance on pinheads with angels. I'm not giving you jerkoffs another dime.

Bitter? Moi?

... maybe...

Who now?

I re-watched "The Fires of Pompeii" in which the actress playing the Doctor's new companion has a cameo.

I can understand why they recruited her.

Her role is an unnamed walk-on bit, but Karen Gillan's character seems like someone who should be more important to the story than she ultimately is.

I can't tell if it was the director or the actress who was responsible for how she stood out.

I guess it doesn't matter. Hopefully she'll do okay under Moffat's reign.

Can't wait for the next season.

The Sky Crawlers

As I implied in my previous post, I finished watching The Sky Crawlers yesterday.

In all honesty, I'm not sure I can recommend it.

It's a gorgeous movie. The animation is spectacular.

The story is a bit slow and meandering, which would have been fine if the story had a good payoff.

I didn't find the ending satisfying at all. It was very "WTF?" in a way that made me wonder why I bothered.

Bang

I'm sitting, watching the end of Sky Crawlers and trying to figure out what the hell is going on when BOOM!

A 3.2 earthquake decides to shake things up.

Huh.

Odd. I usually can't feel quakes that small.

Ow

I'm feeling last night's class.

Ow.

Despite the hours and hours of virus scanning I did last night, my PC is behaving oddly. I'm loathe to wipe it and reinstall everything, 'cause that would take a good week of updates. Blah.

Aaah... lazy days...

Noticing the Burn

"Burn Notice" was quite entertaining. It was an okay start to the season. They've mixed the formula up a little bit, but only a little bit.

The dynamic between Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan), Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar), and Sam Axe (the Chin!!!) is getting a little tired, but it still has some life in it.

The story was good enough. I'm hoping they can do a bit more with the "new" direction.

It was worth relaxing to. I'm gonna feel tonight's class come tomorrow morning. Ye gods.

Sign of the Times

I wonder if it's an economy thing when I track a package coming to me via UPS ground and they don't list a delivery ETA anymore?

Unrelated: I have discovered that the "Simply Lemonade" brand of lemonade carried at various supermarkets is not something one should drink in large quantities and expect to lose any weight.

Further unrelated: "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog" never gets old. Nathan Fillion's name is being bandied-about as a possible candidate to take the starring role of Hal Jordan in a proposed "Green Lantern" movie. I approve.

Somewhat related: Morena Baccarin is apparently going to star in the V remake.

Mmm... Morena Baccarin...

A remake of "V" is one of the lamer ideas I've heard of, but more Morena Baccarin is always a good thing.

I'm a shallow, petty creature.

Completely unrelated: xkcd has solved the mystery of the Voynich manuscript.

Wish I were that smart. I'll just have to settle for being a shallow, petty creature.

Mmm... Morena Baccarin...

Dame Fortune is a lovely lady

Earlier this week, I lost something that was somewhat important to me.

Cost me money, anyway.

I had a general idea of the route where I lost said item, but it's a long route. I've got my neighbors thinking I'm an insane hunchback (as opposed to just insane) as I've re-walked said route a few dozen times as I look down to see if I'll magically find said item.

Found it.

The irony is that I was looking for the cap to my keychain flash drive that I lost a couple of hours ago.

Meh. If I had to trade...

Frakking feldercarb

So... yeah. My arms hurt. Muscles that have been lax for about a month were used last night. The soggy noodles that pass for my upper limbs are now in pain.

Whaa!

I'm not even sure what the hell I did to cause this pain.

---

I'm irritated with Borders. I sought a book by a specific author. They did not have said specific author's books at all. They offer the option to order said books.

Now if I wanted to order books, I'd go through a cheaper site, like Amazon. The whole purpose of having a physical-location store - like Borders - is to offer the ability to immediately purchase an item.

Borders seems to be missing that point. Given their dwindling stock, I can only assume they want to go out of business.

Sad, really.

---

My friend offered me some candies called "Holicks" (I kid you not). I started to phonetically pronounce the name and stopped myself.

I don't think she understands this and I ain't gonna go there.

---

It's only Thursday. How did that happen?

huh

In what may be the most tasteless headline I've seen in ages, Twitch reports David Carradine is dead.

According to the source material, Carradine was found in a Bangkok hotel, hanged.

The New York Times and CNN report the same.

Splat

One of my co-workers told me about the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt, Available in Various Sizes on Amazon.

The comments for this shirt are among the funniest bits of comedy I've read in ages.

The video in the comments had me doubled-over in pain.

I'm moderately-sure I owned a variation of this shirt back in college. It lacked superpowers.

---

I'd considered riding my bike to work today, despite the risk of thunderstorms. Then I found the rear tire of my bike was completely flat. I can't find any puncture marks or anything, so I can't figure out why. I pumped the tire back up and listened for escaping air. Nada.

I'll check it again after work (I opted not to ride it until I know what's up). Kind of disturbing, really.

---

"Burn Notice" tonight! I hope this season is better than the last one.

---

I hurt from yesterday. It's no surprise, but I felt like whining.

A day of special significance

Today is my friend JC's birthday.

No, "JC" does not stand for a specific Christian entity. [SMACK TO THE HEAD!]

Moving on...

JC is a classy lady and has demonstrated the excellent taste of marrying one of my best friends some years back. I had the honor of being best man in their wedding, which was a hoot (and hot as one can imagine). During the events leading up to that day, I'd been fortunate enough to hear JC sing.

Angels wish they had her voice.

Gave me goosebumps.

Ah, memories.

Happy Birthday Jen!!

Back to Class

So class has begun again... sorta.

There was a miscommunication about when said class was supposed to begin, so instead I got some "open mat" time and learned how to properly do some exercises from one of the black belts.

Time well spent for me.

It's all good.

Got another pair of shorts arrive in the mail today. Tons of pockets. My only complaint is the logo stitched into the ass of the shorts.

Blah.

Un-Reaped?

Ah, HELL yeah!!!

OH MY GOD!

OOOOH!!!!!

Aaaah

It's amazing how a little cash infusion can brighten the gloom of a Tuesday's soul-dampening powers.

Bonuses were distributed today. Woo-hoo! It wasn't huge, but every little bit helps.

It'll take the edge off of the credit card bills.

It's been a surprisingly-nice day. I've come to terms with a few things that have been bugging me of late. Again, cash helps with the mood.

Even the headache of the email portions of my game are settling into a dull roar. I think my group has just hit a burn-out point and has nothing else to say until our next meeting.

Fine with me, I guess. This concludes in June, one way or the other and this is going back on the shelf for a while. This particular setting exhausts me and I had a last-minute person join which is making me scramble to change plot and... oh you don't care.

At this point, I don't really care either.

Ah drinking songs

Nothing is more fun to listen to in the wee hours of the morning.

Yes, I'm still listening to Great Big Sea's rendition of "Drunken Sailor".

Good times.

And it's raining! In June! In California!

Life amuses.

Classic

One of the songs on these albums is "Drunken Sailor", a classic!

Ah memories.

I can remember in college hitting a local watering hole with my friend AJ. We'd polished off a couple of pitchers of Newcastle and a local folk duo started singing "Drunken Sailor".

It's a catchy tune, especially if you're three sheets to the wind.

AJ and I joined in the singing.

We couldn't sing. Seriously. Tortured cats sound better.

We didn't care.

That's pretty much the only thing I can remember of that evening...

Spinning the Wheel

It amazes me how lucky I am and often how lucky I can be.

I beat a horrible line at the supermarket today, then after depositing groceries away, I caught a train into Berkeley just as the doors were about to close.

Go me!

BART then announced delays. When I left the station, the delays were 20 minutes. When I got back, there was a train stuck at the platform going the opposite direction of where I was headed.

And the delays were announced as up to 40 minutes.

So what happens? BART decides to send the waiting train back... in my direction.

What's that mean for me? No waiting!

Woo-hoo!

So I get home and find in my 'fridge leftover pie from last night!

Yeah, baby!

I found a slight dark cloud over my head in that I lost something off my keychain that's pretty impossible to replace, but I can't find the missing bit and that's that. Instead, I uploaded the three Great Big Sea albums I got today and am enjoying Canadian-folksy goodness.

W00t!

Jelly Babies Redux

Now that I've eaten most of the bag of Jelly Babies, I must say they improve after the first one and are much better than I remember.

I think they're making me hallucinate, though.

Mirror Mirror on the blog...

My subconscious spent last night beating the crap outta me. First it started with a reaction to a Hell Girl episode that disturbed and outraged me.

Then it nagged me about work.

My subconscious nagged me over my job. WTF?

Yes. Disturbing dreams. I don't feel as though I got much in the way of useful sleep.

I got into work in the wee hours this morning (about an hour and a half ago...) and found an odd little paper bag on my chair.

In said bag were jelly babies.

For those not "in the know", jelly babies are a British snack made famous in the 1970's by Tom Baker's stint as the Doctor in "Doctor Who".

They taste mildly-awful, like much of the edible stuff that comes from Britain.

Oh, please don't be offended Britain! I love your beers and your comedy. Your food tastes pretty awful, though.

Still, having nerd candy greet me first thing in the morning makes for a fun start.

Oh God... it's June already.

Half the year just vanished in a blink.