The Text

Two weeks ago was John's birthday celebration. The pictures are in the previous post. We had a good time, and there was much food and merriment.

Last weekend, Jennifer, her father, and I went to the Ren Faire in Casa de Fruta. We had a fun time, but it's never the same with others, so we made plans to return on the 4th, yesterday.

All week I was anxious because there was rain forecast for Saturday. But as the weekend edged closer it looked like the rain was edging earlier, and would be finished just before the Faire opened.

And it was... for a while.

We drove through little localized showers, and completed dressing for the Faire in the parking lot, made our way in and saw the mud. Apparently it had poured for about 5 minutes just before opening. Things were fine, but it was a bit mucky. We were hopeful though that the rain was over.

Jennifer wore her new outfit she had bought a few years ago. She has moved up in station and dresses, nearly noble now. While there, we bought her a new flogger from the Tower of London. And a new head piece. Last week she had bought her first snood, and as you can see from the photos she looks great.

We were finally able to get me a new surcoat. It's awesome. I didn't get the shorts and slashed slops. I wold have needed to get tights and some new boots. Plus we like the look of the bloused pants. But I'm going to need new pants soon. We've re-dyed these, but I need something better.

And then the rain started up again. Fortunately I was warned that the surcoat (mostly suede) would be fine in the rain if I didn't brush the water off, and then let it rest flat to dry. And I had hoped to get a new hat (one of leather as the felt one I have is getting old); however, they didn't have my size, but I plan to go online and get the one I want. But there are a lot of choices.

The problem with the rain was that Jennifer got cold. She didn't have the layers that I did. So we had to leave and missed out on seeing the Moonie, then Broon, then the Moonie and Broon jam session. We did get to see a little of Broon's show before Jennifer got really chilled, and we bought the Moonie and the Moonie and Broon DVDs. They're are a poor substitute to the really thing, but will help us get a long until January when they will be at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.

It's usually around our "Other Anniversary" (our first date), and we have only missed one since they've been doing it.

Playing Catch-up

An old joke from my friend Donna:

A tomato family is walking down the street. The son keeps falling behind,
and finally the father has had enough. He turns around, and squashes the
boy, saying, "Catch up!"

Say it out loud if you don't quite get it.

So let's see...

Here are some pictures from John's birthday picnic, the Renaissance Faire when the FIL was here, and finally, some pictures from yesterday's Faire.

Explanations to follow.

A Weekend of FIL

It was a good weekend, and from his enjoyment, my FIL promises equal hospitality at Christmas.

I can hope that his word will help with my MIL.

Friday night we cooked at home. Saturday we got up and went to the Renaissance Faire in Casa de Fruta. That was fun, and his first experience with a Faire. Jennifer and I are deciding if we're going back this weekend.

Sunday he flew back to Portland, and Jennifer and I had a peaceful evening watching football.

I'm just hoping Jennifer gets her computer fixed soon. That power cord issue makes it nearly impossible to use it, and she shares on mine.

I don't mind, but we both chafe at sharing a computer.

Paternal in Law

Tonight, Jennifer's dad is coming in tonight. We don't really have much of a plan for what we're doing while he's here.

Tomorrow I think Jennifer is going to the City with him. Then Saturday we may go to the Renaissance Faire in Casa de Fruta, or maybe somewhere else.

Then he's leaves Sunday, and I sit with our friendly computer repair person hoping he can fix Jennifer's issues with her laptop.

Many are Called, Few are Chosen

I'm free!

After completing the questioning of the last six alternate jurors, the counsels approached the bench, and agreed to release two members in the box. Those were replaced from the general pool, and then the defense began alternating between those they wished to dismiss.

They released two in the box, and the woman before me, and the I were in the box. And no sooner had I sat down than the prosecutor let me go.

I don't know what it was that I said, but I have a guess.

The case had to do with a home robbery in San Pablo with a 9-mm semi-automatic handgun. He was charged with three different counts of this.

I think because I mentioned John's recent experiences with similar things in his area, that I was released.

Fine by me.

The Duty - Day One

I have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada...

Er, no.

I have been selected by a random computer to be 8.3% of the force that decides the fate of one individual for a crime he may or may not have committed.

Maybe.

Today I reported for the first time due to a jury summon. I have been summoned many times before, but mostly when I was in either Sacramento or Lexington going to school. And so I didn't have to report. Then I have been summoned once every coupe years since being back but never had to report.

Until now.

Today I sat in a room for two hours in the morning, reading and napping, and then nearly the entire room was called up to begin the jury selection process. There we had the initial charges read to us, and those with hardships were allowed to plead their case.

Those of us without any good reason to get out of the Duty, were freed to go at 10:30 to return at 1:30 for the questioning.

Jennifer came and picked me up so I wouldn't lose my parking spot, then we got lunch, went home, and watched two episodes of "Eureka".

Upon returning we were given numbers. I am Number 14. That means I am second alternate (at present) for the Box of 12. Questioning was performed by the County Prosecutor, and then we had a break, and then questioning was performed by the Defense. They got to me, I answered, and we ran out of time.

So, I go back tomorrow morning for the continuing questioning of the other four alternates. Then the Prosecution and Defense get to dismiss those whom they feel will not be able to perform impartially, or will not perform impartially the direction they wish.

We'll see how it goes.

Yeah, I should have taken a picture of it...

I forgot to tell you about Sunday night.

Jennifer is in reading, and I'm on the computer. Outside the window I hear Pom meow. Pom rarely meows, so I click my tongue a few times at her, and go to let her in.

She comes walking slowly, another odd sign, and I can hear her purring.

RED FLAG!

While Pom does purr, you usually have to put your head to her chest. And I'm hearing it from over five feet away.

That's when I notice what looks like a long string hanging from her mouth.

Now, she has brought three love presents to us since we've had her.

The first we didn't discover for a while, and by the time we had, the mouse had settled between the openings in the rubber doormat. That took some scrubbing, but we praised her all the same.

This apparently provided encouragement, for the next day I found her in the garage with another mouse rubbing it on her cheeks while she rolled back and forth on the ground. Jennifer held and praised, then took her inside, while I threw the body away.

Gift three was alive. We had just gotten back from Key West and she came slowly into the media room, and dropped something. Which presently began to scamper towards the bookshelves. I quickly dumped my popcorn into Jennifer's bowl, and scooped the thing up in my bowl. Fortunately lizards can't gain purchase on a combination of curved stainless steel, butter, oil, and salt. Pom had been playing with this one too, because some of the tail was missing. This one I released back into the wild of the English Ivy.

Sunday's love gift, was a moue or a rat. I'm not sure, but it was definitely a rodent. I called Jennifer and she held and praised, while I cleaned up again. In the sitting room. And while I got gloves, Jennifer said she saw it move. Death throws, I hope. So I scooped it up with latex gloves and the garbage can lid, where it kept falling onto a pose looking like it was alive. And I carried it to the garbage can. Now the body was probably no more than 3 inches long, but the tail was probably 6 inches.

At this point, I do my best Mr. Burns shudder.

However, the song of the night was "A Mighty Huntress Is Our Pom".

And a late night party

... for us.

So it's still Saturday. I've been running all day, Jennifer's been running elsewhere all day, and now we have the Wedding Celebration in the City. We're already an hour over on the cook-out, which made it harder to go, but I wanted to celebrate with Yuko.

So we made our good-byes and promised to come by Forbidden Island if we had time.

We ran home, got cleaned up, changed,and drove into San Francisco. The journey was quick and painless, and we parked on the street. I had a bit of trouble finding Maiden Lane at first, since neither of us had brought a GPS, so we wandered by memory and walked right to it. And there with flowers and garlands was Otis.

It's a really cool venue, and Yuko and Gony (pronounced like Johnny) had decorated it up nicely. They had food and an open bar. All very good.

My favorite part was the video show of their wedding pictures from when they were in Indonesia for his family, and then their honeymoon in Malaysia.

We stuck around for about an hour, but the sun had drained us from the cook-out, so we made out good-byes again, headed out.

Jennifer was too worn out to go the Forbidden Island, so we went home, and she was out by 10:30.

It was a very nice (and full) Saturday.

Food and Drink and a Show

So Mr. Monkeys is going to be four decade old this coming Thursday. And he threw a cook-out bash at a park near where he lives. There was food and drink aplenty, but he'd asked for further supplies, so I brought steaks and corn on the cob.

I forgot the basil, but still managed to make passable corn on the cob. The steaks I seasoned with black pepper.

Plenty of beer at the party, and Mr. Wilson played Torquemada with the squealing grate over the fire pit. I managed to get away with only singeing the hair on my right wrist.

Other great food was Korean barbecue provided and prepared by an authentic Korean, Costco hamburgers which are always good, chips, salads, and four cakes and two pans of brownies. John says that he's got a kitchen full of leftovers.

The show came from people asking about the tattoo. Some hadn't seen the color, while the Unnamed and Mistress McCampbell didn't know about the tattoos at all. Also one of the oldest people to now have seen my tattoo (since family doesn't even know they exist) is Mackie's MIL, The Colonel.

I got a lot of positive feedback. Always a happy thing from those with blank canvases.

Musica Caliente

I haz a new stereo. My stereo let me show you it.

So with my birthday money from my penitent in-laws (who forgot my birthday) and a little from my own, I bought a new stereo deck for my car. Now I can plug my iPod and play any of my own music there.

Jennifer has been able to do this for a while as she has a tape deck. So she's got a $20 adapter. My adapter cost a little more than that.

The fun part was getting it installed.

We decided to get the deck Friday night, and it ended up being after installer hours. So I went Saturday morning. It opened at 10:00, so I was there at 9:45 ready to go. They opened up, check the stock... They don't have the in-dash install kit. It seems the ones for the 2002-2004 Altimas are out of stock, and Best Buy was in-between suppliers. The installer called a local installer to see if they had the part in stock; they didn't. I said I would be back and ran over to Fry's. I tried calling, but couldn't get anyone.

At Fry's install center, I found out that first, they didn't have a spot available in their schedule until Monday (Best Buy is first come, first served) and that their computer system was down. The guy at that shop pulled out a catalog, and gave me the part number, and said good luck inside. I went inside, and called Circuit City to find out if they had one in case I couldn't find one inside at Fry's. It turned out that both stores had it. I found the unit at Fry's, and went to get in line.

Remember me saying that the computers were down? Fry's, home to techies and electronics geeks everywhere, was having to create hand written receipts on triplicate forms. It took me an hour to get through the line.

Back at Best Buy, I got an estimate, and was told it would be 45 minutes to finish the vehicle ahead of me (luckily just one), and then 45 minutes to an hour to install mine. This will put me right at 1:30 for completion. I have two other events for the day: John's Birthday Cook-out at 3:00 in Albany, buying food for the above, Yuko's Wedding Celebration party at 8:00, and getting a gift for the second above. Plus I hadn't had lunch yet.

Boys, time for a
walk.

So to Chipotle for lunch and a much needed beer, then Bed Bath and Beyond for a gift, Rite Aid for a Pepsi, and finally back to Best Buy. I still had about 15 minutes to wait, but they finished early.

So I got the stereo installed, and I love it.

Is it snowing?

Back on my 21st birthday, a good friend who shall remain nameless (but their name sounds like the glowing remains of a fire) gave me a framed drawing of the Beatles. This drawing was in a Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band gift bag.

I very carefully removed the gift from the bag, shaking the plastic, gold-star confetti off of the wrapping, and opened the gift. I looked up to thank her (oops, one hint), and she looked disappointed. She said, "You were supposed to dump the bag out and get confetti everywhere."

I said, "Oh," and dumped the bag-full of confetti over my head. Now while this was my 21st birthday I was still sober at this time, although other friends had doubts.

That night, I had stars stuck to my skin under my shirt, and when I took my shirt off they ended up everywhere in my bedroom as they cascaded out of the folds of my shirt. John and I lived in that apartment for a few more years and there were gold stars there until we moved out. They just kept appearing in the carpet after we would vacuum.

I mention this because this afternoon I had to re-tuck my shirt, and found all these red flakes everywhere.

At least are biodegradable. However I am reminded of the scene in "Gataca" where they sweep the office building for genetic material. Mine's everywhere today.

Is this your finger, my leprous friend?

And this morning I woke up to what looked like a giant-flaked, dandruff explosion in my bed. Except that the predominant color is red.

Jennifer's having issues with touching the peeling skin on my back this time. She's had problems before, but I think with two of them going at once, it's more disturbing.

It is itching quite a bit too. She's blaming me for her sympathy itching. Last night, she whispered in my ear about how horrible the itching must be, and it really intensified. I retaliated by putting fingers to temples and imagined focusing those feelings and throwing them at her. When I motioned the "transference" she said it hit her with an almost physical force.

I said good.

Serves her right.

Other diversions

Are you fascinated by simple things like me?

Then check out this. It's a sand game that is lots of fun. Then go up one level and check out the other stuff. Some of it is fun too.

Peelings...

Woke up this morning and had a look at the tattoos. They both have a bit of a gray cast to them; they're starting to peel. They still haven't completely separated from the skin underneath, but they will likely do that today. In big exploding itches.

Back to Work

Yesterday I stayed home and let my wife rub a healing comfrey root and olive oil blend on my back. This morning things have gone from the tight skin feel of a bad sunburn to the itchy prickling of a healing bad sunburn.

We looked over our schedules and we're booked almost through November already. John has a party, Steve has a party while Jennifer's Dad is in town, Tracy has a party, we're having a party, Jennifer is having a chick party, we've got two games in there (one each month), we want to go to the Renaissance Faire, and suddenly it's Thanksgiving.

And next week I possibly have jury duty.

Pain Stains

I sit before my keyboard this evening with my back slathered in comfrey root and olive oil, wrapped in plastic wrap, wrapped in paper towels, fastened with masking tape. The color is (almost) complete. I sat for three hours (the longest sit for me yet), and got all of the bleeding S done, and then managed to sit through the flames, but just couldn't handle the thought of having the flaming S done in black.

Jennifer, mistress of pain that she is, said that my pupils were very dilated and I should stop. Like I couldn't tell her that just from my own sensations.

The sign shown is posted upstairs at EVT. And I tried man, I tried, but at the end, I know I was sounding like a bitch. I was leaning as far away as possible from Phil and his tattoo gun. Lidocaine is my friend.

So maybe in about a month I'll go back for the flaming S to be done in black. For pictures of everything, you can go here. I am really happy with the work. Amazed really. It's truly impressive.

And last night, at our monthly roleplaying game, I had time to sketch out the version of Kal-El's baby rocket that will be in front of the exploding planet Krypton.

I believe we were about 3 rounds into the continuing combat, when my character failed to resist being turned to ice. And so I was was out of the game for about three hours. Plenty of time to sketch and blend the rockets from John Byrne's reimagining of Superman's origin in 1986, the rocket from Birthright, and a little of my own ideas including the fins from the Eradicator. I'm very happy with it and will finish it up for the next phase. I also showed Phil the cover from an issue of Superman-Batman that has a great image of an exploding Krypton. Once I tie it all together, my entire back should be covered. Eventually.

The Evolution of the Soundtrack

It's really hard to think up a way to start a post without beginning with the word "So".

I've been adding to my collection of soundtracks and other music recently. But certainly not through any sort of means that might be considered illegal.

Of course not.

But I have discovered something about older soundtracks. The music is simple. Sometimes very simple. And it's not like it was a sudden shift.

Take for example "Conan the Destroyer" by Basil Poledouris. This sounds like it was recorded for (and in some instances recorded by) a high school, or possibly college concert band. There is really no complexity to it. I can almost picture it being performed by a marching band.

Now remember that this is a sequel. "Conan the Barbarian" also by Poledouris is much more complex.

Maybe it's just the orchestra that recorded it. Or even that is wasn't done by an orchestra. Maybe he didn't write the second one with strings in mind.

But you can even tell the difference in John Williams' works. His work before "Jaws" and "Star Wars" is just not fulfilling.

That's all. I don't really have any solutions, just observations.

Brain Quest

Jennifer and I had pizza last night while we watch three quarters of the Raiders continuing to suck. And we each ate one quarter of the pizza leaving one quarter for each of us for today.

I packed my lunch very carefully, and left it on the corner of the counter to grab as I went out the door.

And I forgot it.

I've been forgetting my lunch since elementary school, but it never ceases to be frustrating.

Guess I'll have wor won ton soup.

Crunchy on the Inside

And this evening's creepy thought: Have you ever looked at an animal moving, and suddenly envisioned just its skeleton moving?

I'm laying on the bed reading before going to sleep, and Pom the Cat walks into the room. She stretches her neck, sniffs at Jennifer's closet, and bats at something inside it. Suddenly I have an overlay of just her skeleton doing that.

It's an odd thing. And it's not the only odd thing I see that way.

I have considered musical instruments and speakers, and imagined seeing the sound waves propagating from them.

I have thought of photons striking the surface of the earth, and all we have built, and transferring bits of their energy in heat from the impact.

I have thought thought about what moving air currents must look like if we could see them. The turbulence and all the miniature tornadoes.

Super vision would be a cool power.

Musical Triumph

I thought I had already posted on this, but apparently I simple shared the news with friends via e-mail.

Jonathon Coulton is funny.

My first experience with him was the song that GlaDOS sings at the end of "Portal". I went looking for more of his stuff, and found quite a bit.

For one year, he did a Podcast called "Thing a Week" where he did a new song each week. Lots of them are good, but he averaged one really great one each quarter.

An a capella version of "We Will Rock You/We are the Champions"
A song from an office zombie "re: Your Brains"
A programmer's lament "Code Monkey"
A great mash-up of the Beatles and Chicago "When I'm 25 or 64"

He has other songs and albums out as well. "IKEA" is a giggle-worthy.

So check it out. "Thing-A-Week" may still be available on iTunes. Just search for Jonathon Coulton.

Reading

I've now read my onslaught of Neil Gaiman books. The two graphic novels were good. Fragile Things was really fun. I liked some of the poems, but found them difficult to read. I've never done well with poetry anyway.

The stories were really fun. I truly enjoyed the American Gods novella at the end. Had the book sucked, it would have made the book worthwhile, but with a good book, it was like surprise icing inside a good piece of cake.

Now, I'm back to Larry Niven and N-Space, a collection of short stories and musings by the author.

Then I've still got a pile of comics to read. And miniatures to paint. So much available to distract me; it's a good thing I have nothing else to do...

Laboring to make Pictures

All right, here are the pictures from the Scottish Games in Pleasanton.

And here are the pictures from the Hornblower cruise.

Enjoy

Labor's End

Monday we finally slept in. We did get some ideas, and Jennifer said I could chose our splurge: a new deck for my car (something to play my iPod), or an iKick.

I was sold on an iKick when Uncrate said it was better than the Bose iPod dock... and was cheaper.

So we went to look at car decks first. Too many choices, and I still wasn't sure, so we went to Fry's where I had seen the iKick on sale.

WE ended up buying two. One for the library, and one for the bedroom. They're awesome, and I cannot recommend them enough.

Sunday on a Hercules Weekend

Sunday began as a flashback of Saturday. Jennifer hadn't seen enough of the events at the Scottish Games on Saturday. We had seen a little of the stone throwing and the highland dancing on Saturday, but she wanted more.

We watched the light hammer throw, the weight over bar for height, and the caber toss. All of those were fun to see.

We sat through a complete set of the Wicked Tinkers (awesome), some of Plad Dogh (fun), and Tempest (lame). Tempest used to be fun, but apparently egos have runaway with the band, and it is nothing like what we remember.

We watched a harpists concert which was neat to watch. And we had some more whisky.

We finished with a trip to get my comics, stopped by Richard's crafts in Livermore, and finally hit an Arby's for dinner.

Saturday's Labors

This was the first day of a three day weekend, and did we sleep in? No, Jennifer and I got up so that we could be at the Pleasanton Scottish Games when they opened. We got to see Cleopatra the golden eagle. I was one of six who named her last year. She is a victim of West Nile Disease, and can only see well between the range of 6 to 8 feet. She is about three years old, and just gorgeous.

We watched the Wicked Tinkers, and then the Sorrellians (Steve, Lisa, Paul, and Gemma) showed up.We wandered a bit, drank some good beer, and then took part in the Whisky tasting. That was fun, but then, Jennifer and I had to go. We had to get cleaned up for a surprise birthday Hornblower cruise for our friend Aileen.

Jennifer and I got dressed up, and once we got to the city were taking pictures in the building between Pier 1 and Pier 3. She had me posing, when through the windows of an office, I saw Aileen and Matt walking. My mouth is just starting to form the "O" in "Oh shit." She didn't see us, and we did our clandestine thing watching them through other windows as they approached the meeting place at Pier 3.

She was very surprised to see us and further surprised as her friends Nicole and Tracy and Bryce arrived in quick succession. The cruise was wonderful, and Matt had taken care of everything. Jennifer and I bought wine for the table, and the food was very good, not just rubber chicken.

The Labor of Friday

Friday, Jennifer and I went to see "Pumpboys and Dinettes" at the Campbell Theater in Martinez. The Campbell Theater is an extension of the Willows Theater, and so far is focusing on ore upbeat stuff. Previously we saw "Altar Boyz" there, which was insanely hilarious.

Pumpboys was set at a road side diner/gas station in the 50s/60s. It was a fun watch, and may have decided us on getting season tickets for the next season.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

So that plan for last night was to make a simple pasta dish and watch "Goldeneye" together.

Instead, we got an anniversary card from my grandparents. And it had money in it. So the question quickly became: Where do you want to go for dinner?

At first we thought of doing La Piñata, but then I suggested sushi.

So we walked to Damo Sushi, ordered our sushi, and then walked home.

And sat on the futon in the media room, and filled up on sushi. We were both stuffed.

It was a wonderful evening.

Tattoo Show

Monday is Jennifer and my 8th anniversary. And today we celebrated it by going to the Cow Palace in San Francisco for the Body Art Expo. Body Art means tattoos, piercings, and other exotic things.

We watched my friend Steve get his cat Max (a Maine coon) on his shin. And Steve's wife Lisa got a mermaid on her leg. We kept them company while they were getting the work done, and bounced around the place looking at the jewelry, and other artists and people getting their own ink.

We had a much better time that the first time we went three years ago. That one was fun, but I didn't have any ink yet, and we didn't understand the motivation of a person getting one. I was leaning towards getting one, but was really afraid of the pain, and couldn't picture getting one done in public.

I still can't. I like getting it done in a studio with a relatively small audience and little to no distractions.

Jennifer almost got some work done today. She was getting swept up in the experience. She might get a tattoo done the next time we go.

It's a Niven Fest

So I finally found something to read: I'm going through the short stories of Larry Niven.

A Hole in Space had some good ones, and now I'm reading "Flash Crowd" from Flight of the Horse. Now aside from the typical issues of writing near-future science fiction, the stories hold up really well. One thing I noticed in a recent story was that other than news and interview shows, television was non-existent. Instead "entertainment cassettes" (the story was written in 1973) we sold and people watched them when they wanted to.

My favorite element to the group of stories I'm reading now are the teleportation displacement booths. The booths that are about the size of a phone booth pretty much cover the world and there's one on every block. It's one dollar per transfer, you can get almost anywhere in the world in three jumps: home to airport for the long distance booths, airport to customs if going to another country, and then customs to destination. It's something I know many of us would love just to get out of the traffic.

The side effects of teleportation are flash crowds (rapid gatherings of people from across the country 'porting in to see what's being shown on TV), smuggling (as pirate booths can be set up just on the other side of the border), and the disappearance of cars and planes.

But, it still beats traffic.

Sheer Surprise

This weekend, I discovered two shirts that I cannot wear when I visit my parents.

The silk shirt I wore on Friday and the rayon shirt I wore on Sunday both surprised me by being sheer enough to make out my tattoos.

And I discovered that there are three things that I have done that as a younger me, I swore I would never do:

• stick my finger in my eye everyday to put in contacts
• let a needle go all the way through my lobe and get a pierced ear
• let needles repeatedly hit my skin with ink and get a tattoo

Well, what are you gonna do?

Erik's got a brand new bag... soon.

I know, I know, but I haven't had much to say.

Last Saturday, we had out GURPS game at John's. That morning I had to get gas, and when I went to put the credit card back in my bag, the zipper jumped the track.

Yes, I carry a bag. I'll even call it a man bag. It's not a purse. It's definitely not a murse. It's a Tumi that my dad gave me when he bought a replacement. I was really appreciative because at the time, I was having back issues because of my wallet. So it was perfect. And I filled it up.

Things I keep in my bag:

• iPod
• Altoids - Peppermint Smalls
• comfrey root salve
• mini notebook
• Tungsten Palm
• fountain pen
• pen and pencil set
• license, credit cards, and membership cards
• business cards

So I'm getting this one today. Hopefully. I wasn't going to have the money until today, so I had them set it aside, but if anyone else wanted to buy it they would have to go ahead and sell it. They being the Tumi store in San Francisco Centre. As a back-up there's another store at 100 Grant Street, so I can call there too. Additionally there's one in Walnut Creek, but they don't keep that model in stock.



But, I'm expecting all to go well. And I'll have my bag soon. It will be the same model as the one I had, just updated. I have no idea how old my old one was, but I used it for almost five years.

Monday night I had to fly out to Irvine (ahhh, scenic Irvine) for the annual XOM all consultants meeting. I thought I was going to go crazy without my bag. I survived, but only because the boring monotony of the meeting kept my bagless stress dampened.

Tattoo Thoughts

Let me lead off by saying that I am very happy with my tattoos. But there was that moment when I was getting them done when I started thinking, why am I doing this?

It reminded me of the feelings I got for the first month or so after my first one. I would catch sit of my back in the mirror, and I would think, "What have I done?" The first time that thought hit me, I nearly broke down into tears. I can't really explain why, because I was, and still am, very happy with the work, but ti was just seeing something new on your skin that will be there for as long as you live took some getting used to.

Last night's feeling happened after about three lines of the line work, and lasted for about 5 minutes. Then the endorphins kicked in, and it wasn't so bad. Not to say it didn't hurt, but it was slightly lessened.

Tattoos - Progress

I got the line work and the shading done today. I sat for two hours, and if I had them all to do over again, I would do it like this. It was half an hour each for the line work, and then another about half an hour each for the shading. Probably more on the flaming "S", but on average.

And the pain is not so bad. It was getting bad for the shading around where the flames are going to go, but right now, it's actually fine.

For the full progression you can go here, and check it out.

The color is scheduled for Sunday, September 14th.

Tattoo in 3 hours

Jennifer and I will be on our way to Vacaville soon for the next stage of the back tattoo. I'm looking forward to this mostly because there isn't going to be much more than line work. And then in about a month I'll go back for color.

And I've decided to re-read The Princess Bride. It's been twenty years since the movie came out (long enough to become a master swordsman in pursuit of revenge), and I haven't read the book in quite a while.

I'll put pictures up tonight or tomorrow from the tattooing. I'm taking tomorrow off to recover. I'm not sure how I'll be sleeping with them going onto the back of my ribs.

Long Long Day

Yesterday was did not start well. We had planned to run up to Placerville to pick up our wine shipment at the Lava Cap Winery. But we had to be back down to Fairfield for a party at 5:30. We ran the times backwards, and thought if we left at noon, we would have plenty of time to get up there, taste a little, and then drive back down to the party.

Traffic on Interstate 80 was surprisingly thick for the middle of the day on a Saturday. I expected cars, but not the slow and go we had. Then as we were passing through West Sacramento, the Magellan was telling us there was a disabled vehicle in the middle to north of Sacramento. The traffic was stopped, so we got off at Jefferson Boulevard, and as we went over the interstate, we could see that less than a mile from where we got off, a CHP had the road blocked. We pulled off, and called the winery to have them ship the wine, and then had 3 hours to kill before the party.

So we went to the Nut Tree. Or the travesty it has become. The stores are the typical strip mall, and then there are the pathetic rides left over from a bygone age. It's pretty sad. On top of that was the heat that was just oppressive by California standards.

The party that night was wonderful though. Everyone grilled food they had brought (we had pork ribs, white corn on the cob, and potatoes). And we played some game that you had to get the rest of the group to guess the name of the song and the group that you had been given. We played this for at least two hours. Jennifer and I didn't get home until 2:00 AM. It turned out to be a great day.

One hundred posts? Already?

Today I got a big surprise. I was over at my gmail account checking on the comments, and I found someone other than John had left a comment. It was a mysterious post asking if I was a certain Erik formerly from Concord. And from a place called Zissler. (Say it out loud in a bit of a whisper.) The person was a longtime missing friend and former coworker of mine, Amber.

Back while I was in college, I worked Christmas and Summer breaks at the Sizzler on Willow Pass in Concord. Retaining my fear of handling food from KFC, I worked what was called The Coldside. There we took orders, prepped the trays, poured the drinks, and, most importantly, took the money.

Amber was one of the waitresses. Those who brought the cheese toast. Got you your refills. Brought you fresh plates for the salad bar. Brought out the hot food. And then left a little plate with mints... and suckers for the kids.

Now at the Concord Sizzler, there always seemed to be a shortage of orange suckers. That was because my sweet tooth demanded that I gather as many orange suckers as possible. I became known for them.

And my friend Amber, who is also a talented artist, began incorporating them into drawing for me. She sent me letters while I was in Sacramento going to college, and they were full of artwork. The picture above was the cover of one of my Christmas cards. She also did kind of freelance work for the Tower Records on Willow Pass. If you were there before they remodelled, and quite a while before they closed, then you probably saw her stuff. Her best piece there, I feel, was her rendition of Chuck Berry. She has been drawing professionally and doing animation for more than ten years now.

During our e-mail conversation today, I found out that one of the animated shows she worked on was "Cow and Chicken". It's not one that I ever watched, but I had heard of it.

I think that's pretty cool.

And she's continuing to work in a field she loves. Now I like geology, and ETIC is great, but to get to draw for a living. That's really great.

Trippy Music Thoughts

Jennifer is out tonight, so I'm doing my typical, manly activity: painting RPG miniatures (actually the ones I'm painting are from here). Hey, I said it was my manly activity.

While I was painting, "Back in N.Y.C." from Genesis' double album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway came on the iPod. And suddenly a chain of thoughts cascaded through my brain like a flash-forward.

Millions of children (of various ages) saw "WALL-E". Of those a fraction have somehow acquired the soundtrack, and enjoyed the song from the credits enough to wonder, "Who is this Peter Gabriel guy?" Now of those some (probably more than I would expect with iTunes and the like) will get some of his music, and really enjoy it. Maybe they'll work their way back to his early solo work. And some of those might even go so far back as to check out old Genesis stuff.

It was at that point that I became jealous of all of those kids, because they will be "discovering" all of this old music. And yes, Ms. Medicine Balls it is old.

But hey, that's cool. I just turn 13 for the third time.

I Watch the Watchmen

I'm getting worked up for the "Watchmen" movie. In their latest Smodcast (Smodcast 58), Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier chatted for a bit about the "Watchmen" trailer shown before "The Dark Knight". Most of the scenes in the trailer are like live-action scenes straight from the book. And recently there have been promo picture ads for the movie released that have recreated the old ads for the comic. I am feeling hopeful.

Additionally, I wanted to share that Warner Brothers has made what they are calling a Motion Comic. It is a really interesting way of doing it, but think of it as being a combination of a cartoon and an audiobook.

So you can go to iTunes and either enter "Watchmen" in the search box, or you can go: TV Shows/Sci-Fi & Fantasy/Watchmen/Watchmen Motion Comics.

Some of the movements bring to mind the old Spider-Man cartoons. The ones from when I was a kid, with the cool theme song, and the really bad plots.

Earth to boring guy...

I had such high hopes for How the States Got Their Shapes. But it was repetitive and boring.

Mark Stein did it alphabetically. Now, on the short thought side, that might seem better. Cover each state, and make it easier for reference. And that's how it ended up reading: like a reference book.

The long thought would be to show a map with changes to the country and perhaps zoom in on the specific affected state and do the book chronologically.

It became a struggle to read through each state. I finally stopped reading with about ten states to go.

The only reason I persevered as long as I did is because I have nothing else to read except my comics. And that's just at home. Now I need something for work and the gym.

Le sigh!

Saturday and Sunday

I forgot to say that Saturday Jennifer and I went to Livermore for my comics, then we had lunch at Ming's in Pleasant Hill, and then came home to do nothing until we got ready for going out. And I crashed hard. It was worse than a sugar and caffeine crash. We think it was coming down after the stress of the coworker quitting as well as some around the coming night.

Sunday, we didn't do much. We went looking for diner food for breakfast, but we were late getting out and everything was full. So around 2:00 we went to La Piñata again. I had a new treat: Tlalapeño. This was a spicy chicken soup served with half an avocado sliced nicely and a side of Mexican rice. Added to two Smokey Margaritas, and followed up with my standby dessert: two scoops of chocolate chip ice cream on a sugar cone, the afternoon was wonderful.

My standby dessert is best in Concord's Todos Santos Plaza, because the local Baskin-Robbins there was $1 scoops, all-day, everyday. It's perfect. They did it first to drive out Coldstone Creamery from the Plaza, and now they do it and sell insane amounts of ice cream.

I was very happy.

Birthday - Part Three

And so the birthday finally comes to an end with Saturday's dinner and drinks with Jennifer and John.

We all took BART in, but Jennifer and I had the joy of waiting in the East Bay sun, dressed for San Francisco, for thirty minutes. First the northbound platform was out of service, so trains were coming on the other platform in both directions. Then the train came, we got on, and we told to get off since it was having trouble and was going out of service. But the train finally came, and we rode off to the City.

The ride was fun, I watched a movie on my iPod, and Jennifer listened to music.

We walked up to Scala's Bistro which was about half a block up Powell past Union Square. Jennifer trooped up in heels and said no more walking once we got to the restaurant.

John got me two really cool gifts (as well as paying for dinner for both Jennifer and me). First a great t-shirt, and then an even cooler necklace.

Then we went to Bourbon and Branch. That was amazing. The speakeasy atmosphere, and the drinks, and the decorations. That was a fun time.

It was a really fun evening with my wife and my best friend. I hope it's not long before we go back to B&B.

Workplace activities

Thursday afternoon at 4:45, I had the one coworker that I supervise come to me and say that on Friday he was intending to submit his resignation. And that on top of that he would not be staying for two weeks, but would have Friday be his last day.

It came as a bit of a surprise, but knowing the meeting he had had with another project manager and the program manager, I could understand his stress. The primary thought was that he was taking too long on reports.

The thing to realize is that all of us get that talk. I was given it for Geohazards reports while I was at Kleinfelder. The program manager told me that he got that talk, and another of the project managers told us he got that talk. We all get that talk. It's just that when you're a staff-level geologist, you don't consider too much how much time you're taking for a report, and how that might affect the projects budget.

And the thing to remember is how small this business is. Not giving two weeks' notice is something that will get shared about a former employee.

But now, the coworker is gone, and we're picking things up. August just got rel busy with work. We get to do that tank dig in Stockton, as well as a well box repair in Pleasanton, and then back to Stockton for some drilling. Add to this the XOM All Consultants Meeting in Irvine (Ahhhh, scenic Irvine) on August 12 and 13.

Birthday - The Album

All right so in this album you can see:

The art glass my dad made as well as the two pieces I have it grouped with right now.

The sculpture.

The orchid. We're leaving it in Jennifer's sitting room right now to see how it does. It should get enough light there, and indirectly, but we'll see how it does. And how our watering it goes.

Birthday - Part Two

Last night Jennifer and I went over to my parents' house to celebrate my birthday with them. We had a glass of wine, and then they had me open my gifts.

Dad gave me a piece of glass that he had created a few months ago, that I have been complimenting him on ever since I saw it. Once I find a place for it, I'll take a picture of it. It isn't the typical transparent colors he does, and the colors are just cool. I'm not sure how Jennifer feels about it, but it really drew me the moment I saw it.

Then there was another gift that is a sculpture from Africa, carved from serpentine. But it's a yellow-brown serpentine. It's called "Lovers" and is really cool as well. I'll get a picture of it up too.

And third, they gave me an orchid. I'll bring it in to work where it will get some sunlight, since the condo we rent is pretty dark. The orchid is eternally like the one above. I'll take a picture of the one I got and post that too.

Then they took us to Somerset in Oakland, outside of the Rockridge neighborhood. We all had a wonderful time with four different drinks (I had Hangar 1 Mandarin Blossom vodka, neat), four different appetizers (steamed mussels for me), and four different entrees (my choice: paella). And everyone was happy and full.

My Music Collection

Also this weekend (Friday night), I reorganized my MP3s. I decided that there was no need to keep files separated by where I got them. So now they're just broken down by genre. Kind of.

But I began to think about how people used to resort their music collections in the past. Like in the movie "High Fidelity". Like when I used to have cassette, when I bought a new one, I had to take out all the ones behind it and move them over one space to make room. CDs were a little easier when I had them on a rack, you just slid them over. However, Jennifer didn't like the look of the racks, so we go books. And so it was back to either leaving room, or taking out the ones you needed to move.

MP3s are different. You can resort them with the click of the mouse on the category header. So instead I had to move some folders around.

And so iTunes, of course had to require everything. On my and Jennifer's computers.

Birthday - Part One

Sunday was my birthday, and Jennifer and I had a full and fun day.

We started it off with seeing "The Dark Knight" in Dublin at 9:00 because Pleasant Hill wasn't showing it until noon.

Then we went to St. George Distilleries, better known as Hangar One. There we tasted Eau de Vie, Vodka, Liqueurs, and Absinthe. And got to tour the distillery. It was fun, and the vodka was good, but absinthe is nasty stuff. My tongue was coated and... bleh!

Afterwards we went to Everett & Jones in Alameda, and had some wonderful barbecue.

Then we went home and took a nap.

After the nap, we finished the day with a trip to Coldstone for birthday ice cream, and came home and watch three episodes of "Freaks and Geeks".

Birthday - the Teaser

See, this is what good friends do.

Now, if I just had some more famous friends...

I'm looking at you Sorrell.

A Triumph!

I have finished Portal.

Or as it turns out the basic levels. Now I'm on to the advanced levels.

I have learned that the key to Portal success is save early and often. I saved after each sphere was destroyed, and then saved after breaking the angry sphere free, and then before creating the portal over the incinerator (since for some reason I kept having trouble putting the portal directly over the incinerator.

I still hate timed levels though. Turning down the music down help though.

Now I can devote more time to other things. Like SimCity Societies.

The Wonders of Wor

Today for lunch I had a medium wor won ton soup at my favorite Chinese restaurant for such things: China Garden in Pleasant Hill. I have now tried the won ton soup in all the Chinese restaurants I frequent, and this one is still the best. The broth is good, it's full of meat (even named meat), and the won ton dumplings are the best.

The meat in the dumpling is not over flavored, and the noodle is sturdy, but not starchy.

And then of course there's the tea.

Of course after all this fluid I do kind of slosh when I walk. And a big bowl of soup and nearly all of a pot of tea (Debbie and Nicole had less than a cup each), I think my internal body temperature is approaching 100 degrees.

And I say 100 degrees because I happen to have an average temperature of 99. Jennifer and I were wondering one day why she's always cold and I'm always hot. Okay, sure she's female and I'm male, but beyond that.

So we took our temperatures, and I mine registered 99. Now, yes it fluctuates, and maybe I'm actually at 98.8, but 99 is close enough. Jennifer, on the other hand, tends to hover around 96.8. No, that's not a typo, she is actually 1.8 degrees below normal.

So between us we have about 2 degrees difference in body temperature. No wonder, I tend to walk around in the winter only in boxer shorts with the thermostat at 69, and she still uses her electric blanket in the summer with the thermostat at 75.

At least the air conditioner at the office is strong. I think I may have finally stopped sweating.

Sadly orange juice cannot teleport

Okay, I was reluctant at first. I have no idea why, perhaps I feared it would end up too much like a Buffy thing.

But I put my trust in the man who brought us Firefly/Serenity and continues to let Summer Glau dance, and have now watched the first two parts of Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Now GURPS Grandmaster Steve Jackson only felt it worth a grin in his review this morning.

He must have missed some of the lines.

"The status is definitely not quo."

"What a crazy random happenstance."

"All the birds are singing that you're gonna die."

So go and watch. And then go back tomorrow and watch the conclusion.

Best quote of the Book

The Gauls are the ancestors of today's Frenchmen, as evidenced by their haughty imperious manner, and their total surrender to the Romans.

C. H. Dalton - A Practical Guide to Racism

More Completed Books and Recommendations

Okay, I finished Zorro by Isabell Allende Thursday night. Okay, Friday morning, but still... I was glad for the events in Alta California, but it still left me wanting. Now, I enjoyed the narrative, but it just lacked excitement.

I've just now completed Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank by Celia Rivenbark. It had some really funny moments, but at the same time, I found parts of it lacking.

So I'll be starting a new book tomorrow by C. H. Dalton entitled A Practical Guide to Racism. It's a recommendations from Jennifer even though she hasn't read it yet, but I've got good feelings about it.

But for a really good series of books, I heartily recommend Christopher Moore. His early (Island of the Sequined Love Nun, and The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove) books have some trouble, but after that he's off to the races. Practical Demon Keeping and Blood Sucking Fiends, are really great. My two favorites of his are Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, and A Dirty Job. They're incredibly funny.

Wondrous Weekend

I had a great weekend.

Friday night Jennifer and I bounced around the house doing various things. There wasn't really anything outstanding, but it was just an easy segue out of the work week.

Saturday, I hosted this month's GURPS game. And I had an amazing time. I had most of the setting completed, but the player input as well as the questions asked by them fleshed out the blighted forest I was guiding them through into something truly sinister. Sometimes being the Gamemaster is a chore. You have to immerse the players into the world, and come up with an answer for any question they may ask. Or at least try.

Sometimes that is easy, or times it's pretty hard. John wrote me a very complimentary e-mail, and it carried me through Sunday. We both feel it was one the best games I've run. But again, the thought the others put into the session was a big help.

And the best part is that the blighted forest they went into was small and less than a week old. There is a much larger forest that has been blighted for around two years (game time). This is going to be fun.

The scariest words in the English language

The other day I was in with Bryan talking, and one of the company's principals looked in and waited for a lull in the conversation. Then, looking at me, he says, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

I had an immediate flashback to five years ago, when I was let go from Kleinfelder.

Don Gray the geotechnical manager (and prick-and-a-half that he is) comes to my cubical, and says, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

I said yes, and then he walks away to his office. I get up, and walk in to see him sitting down and the head of Human Resources. That was when I was told that they were terminating me.

Fortunately all Doug wanted was to make me the equivalent of Hall Monitor for the East Wing of our office. We're going to be hosting a client in one of the offices near mine, and he doesn't want anyone discussing privileged things, or client disparaging comments in the hall.

Afterwards, I told Bryan that I want a sash for my new position.

Buckle your swash

I think the thing that bothers me about Zorro is that I'm nearly done with the book, and it's just now getting back to Alta California. It's more of a prequel that a story about the black clad protector of the people (or pipple, if you prefer).

I'm hoping for some good action in the last section, but I'm not holding my breath.

Of course I'm going to have to find something new to read very soon...

Accomplishments over the Holiday

Thursday and Friday last week, I was (at least for dinner) ovo-lacto vegetarian. Thursday Jennifer made a great pasta for me with mushrooms and asparagus. It would have been vegan if not for the asiago cheese on it. Then for the Fourth, I had two ears of corn and two artichokes, each as big as two of my fists. Again nearly vegan, but they both must have butter. That's a lot of fiber.

Friday night, instead of watching fireworks, Jennifer and I watched the 1972 movie production of the musical "1776". It's a fun show, but the cool part were the stars in the movie. John Adams was played by William Daniels from "St. Elsewhere" and also the voice of KITT in "Knight Rider". Thomas Jefferson was Ken Howard who went on to be the star of "The White Shadow". Martha Jefferson was Blythe Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow's mother. Lewis Morris the Representative from New York was played by Howard Caine who was Major Hochstetter in "Hogan's Heroes".

Saturday was a free-for-all of fun as we spent the day with our friends Steve and Lisa in Fairfield. But not before finally putting down the deposit for my tattoos. I'll be getting the line work, and black and white done on August 7 at 6:00 in Vacaville (yes, 6 hours past noon on the seventh day of the eighth month, or was I the only one that noticed that?). Then we'll set up a date to go back and get the color done after the two bits have healed up.

Sunday we went looking at houses for possible purchase. Not much luck in the price range, but we'll see. It's always a good education going out and looking. Then we went by Black Diamond Games, and Jennifer chose a lead miniature to paint. The one she got can be seen here. She decided that since she sees so well close up that she'd like to try her hand at painting tiny pieces of metal with acrylics. She opened the packaging, and then I glued the washed on the base, and I'll prime the figure with gray tonight.

Simple Things

7-Eleven has a new cool product: the aluminum Slurpee straw. They are 28.5 centimeters long (just under 11.25 inches), 1 centimeter in diameter, and are extremely cool. For 99 cents, I got my first one (yes, yes, in a minute). I got a red one for my red, white, and blue Extreme Gulp cup.

If you've ever seen products by Alumicolor, then you can get an idea of what the straws are like. The diameter is slightly larger than the normal straws. And after the first one, and telling Jennifer about them, I had to get the rest.

There are six colors total which we have distributed throughout our cups. Red (my Extreme Gulp at work); Orange (my old Extreme Gulp mug that I use for water at work); Blue (my Ultimate Gulp at home); Black (for Jennifer's Extreme Gulp mug); and two more.

Jennifer took the purple one for her morning Isagenix shakes. And the green one we have in my car's glove box. The point of this is that inevitably Jennifer gets a bottled drink while we're out, and cannot drink it while we're driving due to stops and starts, and such things. I had been swiping straws from Starbucks, but now with these six, we aren't going to need any more plastic ones.

And my favorite bonus with them is that soda in the mug now tastes like it's coming out of a can.

Glee!

Pixar 4 Life

Saturday morning as intended, Jennifer and I went to see "Wall-E" at the Hacienda Regal Cinemas in Dublin with their digital projector. And we were not disappointed.

This movie could possibly be better than the "Toy Story"s. I might approach being as good as "The Incredibles". It is amazing.

The jokes are funny, the blending of effects are wonderful, and the story is engrossing.

I can say nothing about it without spoiling it.

So go see it. I'm probably going to have to see it again.

And then buy it when it comes out. And watch it a lot.

Many apologies... again

I had no idea I had not updated all week.

Tonight, Jennifer and I are going to Beckett's because she is craving prime rib. Not that she'll have a whole steak, but my description of the meal I had last week with John has her wanting it. I don't know if she'll be getting her own meal, but she says she just wants a few bites of the steak, potatoes, and asparagus. Plus we had a big lunch together today at Fresh Choice.

Then we have fun plans for Saturday. First we're going to see Wall-E at the Hacienda Crossings Regal Cinemas in Dublin. They have a 9:35 showing on their digital projector. We're hoping that will be too early for the chilluns. Then we're going to get the hibiscus charm that Jennifer got for her charm bracelet put on at Cardinal Jewelers in Pleasanton. They have a great selection of things, and we like checking them out every few months. Then we'll get my comics in Livermore.

Then we're planning on going to Vacaville to put a deposit down on my next tattoo(s). I'm ready for the flaming and bleeding "S"s. I'll get the black outlines and shading done first, then after that heals I get the color in a few months.

After that who knows?

I finished Magic Burns Wednesday night. it was really fun, and even better than Magic Bites. Now I'm reading Zorro by Isabell Allende. I've been a Zorro fan since seeing "Zorro - The Gay Blade" with George Hamilton, and that only grew as I learned more about Zorro. I really like the Mark of Zorro with Tyrone Power (which is the version Bruce Wayne and his parents were seeing at the cinema the night his parents were shot and killed). I can see elements that the writers in the 90s added to the Batman mythos. And I've been getting the Zorro comic book by Dynamite Entertainment which is really fun so far.

All is well, all is well...

So Jennifer came home from Portland/Yamhill yesterday... and almost immediately left again. This Isagenix thing is really doing well. But she's home tonight. And now we're sitting across from each other online. She's catching up on her LOLcats and LOLdogs, and reading the captions making me laugh.

Pom is so frustrated with us laughing loudly out loud (yes, LOLing at teh LOldigs and LOLcats) that she has left the room now.

Of course the driving factor of the laughter is an imperial-pint size Bloody Mary for her and a Screwdriver for me. I've followed it up with a Petite Syrah, dark chocolate truffle from Lava Cap Winery, and a small port from Single Leaf Winery.

Now I has a happy.

Magic Burns - Quote

Page 7: "Why no, I won't drink your mysterious love potion."

It's a good start.

New books, new books, new books...

I tried, I swear I tried, but I just could not get through either The Botany of Desire or The Ominvore's Dilemma both by Michael Pollan. I made it through the section on corn in The Ominvore's Dilemma, but I couldn't handle his writing style anymore. So I stopped. Then when I tried to read the apple section in The Botany of Desire, it seemed a replay of a recent "Suppressed Transmissions" by Kenneth Hite in the online 'zine Pyramid. So I quit.

So since since then I've read Nancy Cartwright's autobiography My Life as a Ten Year Old Boy. It has some neat things in it like her first time meeting Phil Hartman to the ridiculousness of Elizabeth Taylor and "directing" Kirk Douglas.

Then I got William Shatner's autobiography Up Till Now. That was great. I read it in a day and a half, getting it Saturday morning and finishing it Sunday night. The thing that makes it so easy is that its like he's talking to you. You can hear his voice. And not just the... pauses. It's so conversational. The best sections are the ones covering his three big television series, but it's amazing the parts he played in TV and movies, and even on Broadway. The part that was the funniest was the charity paintball tournament. It made me laugh out loud it was so funny (Oh, wait. This is the Internet. "It made me LOL!"). If any out there reads it, let me know when you get to that point. My overall favorite part was him describing how he came to be with his fourth (and present) wife.

He made a list. He became incredibly lonely after his third wife had died from drowning in their swimming pool while drunk and home alone. So he decided he would make a list of everything he would want in a woman. And very quickly, he found her. I found this extremely touching because when I was in Kentucky for graduate school, I was feeling lonely, and I felt I needed to really define what I was looking for in a woman.

So I made a list. And within a year I was dating Jennifer. And she is everything that I had put down. I think that's why we liked "Practical Magic" so much because as a little girl Sally Owens makes a list of what kind of boy she wants to marry. And even though she made the list to be impossible to match, that is who she ends up with at the end.

Oh, just in case... Spoiler Warning. Sorry.

And so as you can see, I am now on to Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews. And of course interspersed are my basic comic books.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

And it's Monday... again.

Thursday, Jennifer went to Oregon to help her parents move to their new place in Yamhill. And I kept myself busy reading William Shatner's autobiography Up Till Now. It was really fun to read, and I ended up finishing it last night.

Friday night, I went to Beckett's in Berkeley and had dinner with John. I had nice pints of beer and their Friday Prime Rib special. Afterwards we walked to Games of Berkeley and I bought too many lead miniatures. Then we went to Thalassa and played four games of pool.

I BARTed, and got caught up in the 25 minute delay switching from the SF line to the Richmond line. But the ride home was fine, and I listened to my iPod the whole way there and back. When I got home it was cool. Not comfortably cool, but cooler than the day had been. The air conditioner seemed to be running when I got in but the thermostat measured 80 degrees. I went to check outside, and (after killing black widow number 3 of the week) found that the AC was not running, just the inside fan, and apparently the fuse had blown. I ended up sleeping with the hall fan, and the ceiling fan going and the windows open to try to cool the house down. I ended up getting it down to 75 degrees by 8:00 AM.

The AC system at the house is part of the old wiring system that caused problems earlier this year. The AC has two ways of protecting itself. First is a double circuit breaker on the main board in the garage. The second is a fuse box (yes, fuses) that is outside near the AC unit itself. It was under this that the black widow had made her home. I pulled the fuses panel out, and could see nothing wrong. We had had this problem last summer, but didn't know about the fuses, and got a lesson in how to fix the situation from an AC serviceman. He had replaced the fuses, but we had no way of knowing which one went bad because they didn't have a window to show.

So early Saturday, I went to Home Depot and bought two 30 amp fuses. I replaced the one that looked older, plugged the panel back in, flipped the circuit breaker, and the AC started right back up.

The rest of Saturday was relaxing. I went to Livermore and got my comics. I had a Philly Cheese Steak and sat in a hot restaurant because their AC was out too.

Then I went home and painted miniatures while not watching "The Fifth Element", "The Princess Bride", and "Bug's Life".

Sunday I read Shatner's biography, had dinner with my parents, and then came home and finished the biography.

Jennifer got in this morning, and I am looking forward to seeing her when I get home.

This is (almost) a triumph...

Last night I got past the smasher/pistons room in Portal, and made it through all the rest of the game to end up facing off with GlaDOS.

And I ran out of time.

Again with the jumping games... And a timer!

It's fun, but man is it frustrating.

Reading issues

I tried to read The Omivore's Dilemma, and I got through about a third of it. The first section on corn was good, but I think I just got tired of the author writing style. The narrative of things stopped carrying me through the book and instead frustrated me.

So now I'm reading My Life As a 10 Year Old Boy by Nancy Cartwright. It's been fun, and is interspersed with stories from her journal while she's been recording. There's her first meeting with Phil Hartman; how she met Jonathon Winters; everyone's reaction to Elizabeth Taylor when she recorded Maggie's first word. All in all lots of fun little bits.

My next book in my stack is The Botany of Desire which is by the same author as Omnivore's Dilemma. It's smaller, so I hope I can get through it.

Then I've got the next Ilona Andrews book Magic Burns from John.

And on a Fucking Finally note, I got over the fire in Portal, and am now dodging the smashers. I'm in the room where they are going in all kinds of horizontal directions above me, and I have to find a way up. (See Picture at Top) Have I mentioned before how much I hate jumping games? And they do kind of remind me of the bit in "Galaxy Quest" where Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver have to go through the smashers room. Again in Portal, they serve no purpose whatsoever.

Pain!

This weekend was a fun weekend over all. Saturday i got my comics, and then had a fun RPG day at John's. We're finishing up the adventure in e-mail (with hopefully little to no fighting), and then I take over in July. It seems that no matter how it resolves we'll segue into my territory.

And for those who play in the group and are reading this that means a woods adventure. But for now, which forest we'll be entering shall remain a mystery.

Then Sunday mom, dad, Jennifer, and I went to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park to see the Chihuly exhibit which was free thanks to Target for the weekend. We got there and walked around, and then had lunch. That's when I thought I was getting a caffeine withdrawal headache. I hadn't had any since around noonish on Saturday, so I figured I was due. I had a Pepsi with lunch, but the headache never faded.

Jennifer and I ended up becoming members of the museum and after seeing most of the museum we went the through the Chihuly exhibit. It was fun, but it loses a little of its magic when you know how it's done. When I'm watching dad and Randy do their stuff I pick up a bit. Plus what dad has taught me, and the one demo I got to do with Randy a few years ago.

And the headache kept growing.

After the museum, we went back to mom and dad's for dinner, and while mom was preparing food, the pain had becoming my world. I was sitting in the chair with a dark expression and my arms crossed when Jennifer asked if I was angry, and I said, "No, I'm in pain." She walked me to the couch, and I laid down while they continued with meal prep.

Now, I started getting migraines my freshman year of high school. I got the halo effect and tunnel vision. At the time, I became one of the youngest people the nurse had done a CAT scan on. And during the EEG the nurse could actually tell just by looking at the reading if I was moving my eyes.

The doctor said it was closer to being a migraine on the migraine-stroke continuum, and primarily, we and the doctors decided the pain was a bad reaction to the combined use of decongestants and antihistamines, both of which contract blood vessels. Looking back, I've added in the general stress of school and such, but anyway...

I hadn't had one in a while. I can look back at some mornings that seemed like alcohol-free hangovers and such that probably fall into the category. And I had a day last year where I worked in the dark with my sunglasses on because everything was way too bright, and I didn't want to instigate a migraine.

So Sunday got worse. We put ice on it, and that just had it cold and painful. Finally, I started to smell food, and that really didn't help. I told Jennifer, and she took me home. I slept fitfully from 8 to midnight when it faded to just the right side of my forehead. I finally got into a real sleep by about 1:30 and woke up feeling drained, but mostly pain free. Except if I moved my eyes too far in my head.

So I took Monday off. I rested most of the day, did a little reading, and relaxed.

Now, I'm at work, and I just had to turn my lights off, because I had a faint throbbing. I'll get some orange juice on our 7-11 run. That usually makes me feel better.

Fuego!

So the San Francisco Bay Area is burning. Kind of.

Apparently there are two ways of looking at this.

1. We only do things half ass compared to southern California.
2. We know how to fight fires as opposed to southern California.

Either way the smell of brush fires has been around the Bay Area off and no for the past few weeks.

The Friday before we went to Key West, the hills above Santa Cruz were burning. Earlier this week there was a medium sized fire near Martinez. And this afternoon I got a bit of a scare when John told me about a fire in the Oakland hills. Fortunately it was near Hiller Highlands, and while it would have been scary for my parents when they lived off of Marlborough Terrace in Berkeley, they are safe down off of 13 in Oakland.

For an idea of how close this fire got to buildings, you can check out this blog.

According to my mom, this is pretty close to where the big bad fire started in the hills in October 1991. However, all is well and the fire is contained.

Guilty Pleasure

A lot of people know that my favorite movie is "The Princess Bride". It came out my freshman year of college, and I saw it in the now defunct theater in Sun Valley Mall.

Close behind this singular movie are the Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings movies. And then after there are the Jersey Chronicles - the movies of Kevin Smith.

I am a big fan of Kevin. I remember watching "Clerks" on video for the first time in Kentucky while at graduate school. Then I rented "Mallrats", which while it was not as good as "Clerks", was entertaining. Then "Chasing Amy" came out and I caught it in theaters. And at that point I was hooked. So of course, I've seen "Dogma", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", and "Clerks 2".

Kevin Smith and his producer Scott Mosier are continuity geeks. Things in the movies overlap and intertwine, and while I am not any one of the characters in the movies, I can relate to many of them.

Other than the Jersey Chronicles, I've watched Kevin's one-on-one interview with Stan Lee, which was really a fun watch. And then for a real thrill there are "An Evening with Kevin Smith" and "An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder" where Kevin's talks at colleges around the country and Canada were recorded. There will soon be a third one which was filmed on his 37th birthday (yes, 37th), and hopefully will be released soon.

Two other movies which are so-so are "Jersey Girl" which is not as bad as it was made out to be, and "Catch and Release" which has Kevin in a role playing someone more like himself. It's all right, but not knee slapping funny.

And he is working on two new movies: "Zach and Miri Make a Porno" and "Red State". Zach and Miri is, obviously, comedy about an independent porno and stars Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks. "Red State" is a horror movie that I'm not very familiar with yet.

And I learn about all of the new stuff from Smodcast. Smodcast (Smith and Mosier Podcast) is usually Kevin and Scott rapping and joking about their lives and the movies, but once and a while Kevin's wife is there, or Jason Mewes, or some of Kevin's friends who work the two stores of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash. It's been a fun addition to my music for the gym. Or like I did today, walking to Target.

With Ookla the Mock...

As I said, Saturday and Sunday, Jennifer and I went shopping, and I started some comparison shopping for a new gas grill. The one I have now is a hand me down from my dad. It's the second hand me down, and is the second grill they bought. My first had been their first. Now I would like to buy my own.

So we were looking at Lowes and found this Charbroil grill. Now let me preface that the Lowes is in Dublin, California, which is right next to Livermore. As in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. And this company (aside from the ridiculousness of having the word "quantum" in its name) has the idiocy to advertise that this grill cooks with infrared.

Let me give you a quick physics lesson. The sun produces a spectrum of wavelengths of light. The little bit we can see (call "visible light") is a very small percentage. It extends from the relatively low energy red wavelengths through orange, yellow, green, and blue, up to the higher energy violet wavelength. It also produces other shorter (and higher energy) wavelengths in ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma rays.

I've always said that the way you can tell the difference between ultraviolet and x-rays are when you stop getting a tan and you start seeing your bones.

Now there are other longer (lower energy) wavelengths. The lowest is radio waves, moving into microwaves (yes, those microwaves) and infrared. Infrared is slightly less energetic than red and is invisible to human sight. We can sense it on our skin though as the warmth of the sun...

And everything else that generates heat. That's what heat is: infrared light.

Yes, everything that generates heat, radiates infrared light. That means humans, other hot-blooded animals, heating elements, and yes, one of the oldest inventions of man... FIRE.

What the marketing assholes at Charbroil are doing is preying in the non-science educated population for the country. We have not discovered a new form of cooking, all they have done is put metal plates in the grill to block the fire, absorbing it heat, and radiating it up at whatever you are cooking.

That's all.

In summary, ever since the first piece of fish fell in the fire, mastodon was turned over a spit, or bread was baked in an oven man has cooked using infrared.

All right, I'm done.

Various and Sundry Details

Friday Jennifer and I went to my parents' for dinner with my aunt and uncle from Kentucky, and two other friends of my parents. It was kind of a pre-party dinner because...

Saturday night was my mom 's 65th birthday party. Jennifer and I were on hand to celebrate and help out as needed. As it turned out we helped most in the clean-up.

Both nights were fun if a bit loud. My parents' house is mostly hardwood floors with oriental rugs (should they be called Asian rigs now?) and it's echoey. Add to that my mom's tendency to be loud and my strange sensitivity to sound Friday night, and Friday was not happy for me. Saturday was better as I talked with friends of mom's who were much quieter people. Jennifer helped me through it, and Saturday went better. Although Saturday the party started with a spike of a headache for me, but again, Jennifer helped me through it.

Aside from the party, Jennifer and did some fun shopping on Saturday and Sunday, and I might soon get a new gas grill.

We're both looking forward to this weekend. Friday we're going to try to see Evil Dead: The Musical, and then Saturday we spilt up. I have a role-playing game session at John's and she has a gallery opening for a friend and then a part afterwards.

Busy busy busy.

Oh yeah, and then of course there's that bothersome "work" we seem to have to use to fill in our week.

Favorite Things - Birds

Then there were the birds.

The first thing you'll notice of the bird pictures are the chickens. They are everywhere. Not underfoot everywhere, just everywhere in general. You'll be walking down the street, and hear a rooster crow during any time of day. The chickens are out wandering as well and it being the end of spring, they had some medium sized chicks following them.

Of course, a few times we actually saw a chicken cross the road. We asked why, but got response. However, one time it was obviously one roosters desire to get away from another larger rooster.

Then down at Fort Zachary Taylor we caught sight of a Great Egret in the trees at one end of the moat around the fort. If you've seen a Great Blue Heron or a Tri-Colored Heron, then you know the size of this bird. It was magnificent just sitting in the tree, and I got as close as I could on the walls of the fort, and then we walked around the fort and I was able to get closer from another angle. It finally flew away, but I wasn't able to get a picture of it.

There were other small birds that we watched dive for fish in the fort's moat, and they were really fun to watch.

A great part was that the pigeon population has not yet exploded yet like it seems to have everywhere else in the country. They were there, but they were few and far between. Surprisingly the same holds true for sea gulls. They were there, but we didn't see them swarming like they do around here.

With a little help from my friend

Work - That annoying distraction that provides money and fills the time inbetween webcomic and blog updates.

Strange Letters

So I got this link to a very strange letter through Mental Floss, but here's the direct link.

This is something that I could see lots of my friends doing. Especially the last line.

A Slight Shuffling

I've played around with the sidebar a bit. There's a new feature that reads RSS feeds, so I re-entered all of my links, and added in some new ones that I either hadn't put in before, or hadn't updated. I didn't do the title of the latest update because I thought it made it too long. I do think the site icon beside those with RSS is cool though.

I finished Wintersmith tonight, and will try reading Prom Dates from Hell. It has a Kim Harrison story in it, but her site notes that it is not a tale from the Hollows unfortunately, and is a whole new world (fuck you Aladdin, get out of my head!). We'll see.

After that I've got some non-fiction books (the horror!), and I'll be interspersing some graphic novels. I'm working through Y: The Last Man by Brian Vaughan as they come in from the library. I'm halfway through, and while it is a worthy read, I don't think I'll be purchasing it. It's kind of like Akira; people who read comics should read it, but I don't see the need to revisit it.

Favorite Things - Sunsets

Now taking over 100 pictures of sunsets may seem a bit
excessive. But you weren't there, and it's the primary reason for
going.

I quote "Running Scared"

Ray: Why are we in Key West?

Danny: It's as far south as we could get without having to speak Spanish.

…

Ray: What's goin' on? What happened?

Danny: I don't know. Maybe a ship sank.

Ray: Maybe somebody drowned.

Blond: We're watching the sunset.

Ray: Yeah, right. Really, what happened?

Blond: The sun is setting. Can't you see it?

Ray: Don't give us that. It sets every night.

Blond: Yeah, and we come out every night to watch it. Isn't it
beautiful?

Danny: Maybe we should check this out.

Ray: Yeah, well, it better be good.

And so every night we went out to Mallory Square and watched the sunset. That is except for two nights. Wednesday night we were on the catamaran for snorkeling and watched the sunset from the boat as we came back in to port. And Sunday night we were starving, and too far from the water to make it back in time, so instead we found the best pub in Key West, and I had the best fish and chips ever. We did however get to watch CNN for the Phoenix lander touching down on Mars though.

Four other nights we did watch the sunset though. And each night it was different. Different clouds, different colors, and different entertainers. Because every night there are street performers out doing show before the sunset, and people are selling drinks and conch fritters, and everyone is looking west.

The island that the sun is setting over is (appropriately) Sunset Key. I think there are resorts out there, and you can take a boat over there. Maybe next time.

Favorite Things - Butterflies

So in an attempt to explain some of the pictures from our vacation, I thought I would go into some detail on what we did.

First off, the Butterfly Conservatory.

You enter into a gift shop, then buy your tickets and go into a room describing the unique characteristics of Lepidoptera (which means "scaly wing"). In the room is a movie playing that reminded me of the films made in the mid- to late-sixties that we watched growing up in the seventies. Also in the room are some terrariums with various other tropical animals like the Red Eye Tree Frog (which we couldn't photograph because it was hiding). Then you go through some heavy doors and enter the butterfly room.

The first thing to hit you is the heat. Now I have to admit that this is more intense in Vallejo at the park formerly known as Marine World, because there is also the high humidity. It's probably kept close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and I'd bet 80 to 90% humidity. And flying through this atmospheric soup are butterflies.

Hundreds of them.

Groups of large, bright-blue ones with plain brown outer wings chasing each other around. Small black ones with red slashes. Large black ones with a small streak of yellow and a yellow body. Even the occasional orange and black monarch or the yellow and black swallow-tail. There are even several giant sphinx moths.

You wander through a sinuous path watching where you step, and then you hear the bird song. They are mostly little finch-like looking birds, but we so one with two long tail feathers, and two little birds like white/gray partridges. And then there was the little green bird with a slightly curved beak.

There is a pond with koi and cichlids and plecostomus. The koi are good sized, and in among them swim the jeweled blue cichlids. The plants were lush and several were related to one I keep in my office. The one in my office is maybe a foot tall from the ground and seems happy in the window. The ones in the conservatory (and later out and about on the island) were almost three feet tall, but kept the spindly trunks like mine has. Others plants are like ones I'd seen for landscaping, but never so large and happy.

As I think I've said, we spent two hours with the butterflies on our first visit, and then another hour our second visit. Jennifer had a rider almost immediately on her right shoulder. It stayed with her for at least half an hour. Later when she decided to sit down and just experience, one with very tattered wings landed on her lap.

We finally moved on and saw the hatching room where they place any chrysalis they find and wait for the new butterflies and moths to come out, and then release them into the butterfly room the next day once their winds have hardened.

All the Pictures

All right, I'm trying out Photobucket now. I haven't come up against any limitations yet, so things are looking good. Below are are all the pictures that are fit for public viewing that we took while in Key West.

Animals - Various animals we saw while on the key.

Beach - Pictures of the beach and us while on it.

Boats - The catamaran we were on for snorkeling, a big cruise ship that came in while we were there, and the boat we almost got to go on.

Butterfly Conservatory - The 180 pictures we took during our two visits to the butterflies.

Plants - Various flowers and plants around the key.

Sunsets - Five days worth of sunsets; four from the pier and one from the snorkeling catamaran.

Tourist Bits - Various touristy locations and pictures.

Photo story

So when I posted my pictures from Key West, I had to leave out about 2/3 of the pictures (specifically the sunsets and butterflies) because Flickr only allows 100 MB. I'm going to have to find another place to post those. A co-worker (Holly the biologist and part-time catsitter) suggested Photobucket and Imageshack, so I'll go looking there tonight.

I will write more on our specific favorites later.

Now, on the plane to Florida, I read two weeks worth of comic books. Once there and on the way home, I read the first two books of the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett. It was subtly at first and now solidly set in the Discworld. Now, I'm reading the third book.

Hopefully, I'll get to the library today and pick up some of my requests.

Vacation Summary

All right, we're back.

We got in yesterday, and did a little unpacking, ordered a pizza, and went to bed.

Today not much more, just catching up on things at home, and getting ready for Monday.

I'll go into detail on things in the future, but until them here is a collection of about one third of the pictures I took.