Blisters and the Women Who Love Me

I am back, safe and sound; with blisters popped and herkimer's found.

The walking just about did me in on Sunday. I have big blisters (one on each heel), but Dian popped and drained them this morning before we did our final traveling, and Jennifer has done the same again before we go to bed.

I'll get a play-by-play of the weekend out tomorrow.

Ow, is me.

Just a quick bit using Dian's computer today. We've done a lot of walking these past two days. yesterday was big and so was today. today was a little bigger in fact. I've got two big blisters, one on each heel. I feel bad because Dian feels bad, but it's not her fault. I'd never had a problem with these boots before. I guess hiking and urban-hiking are significantly different.

I'll probably be better just in time to go out in the field the first full week of May.

I'll be sure to do a full rundown of the weekend once I get home.

With pictures.

Seattle - Phone Blogging

Today, lots of walking. Then sushi and the musical. Lots of fun and laughs. Tomorrow, the Sci-Fi museum, more walking, and maybe the Utilikilt store.

Seattle - Arrival

Safe and sound in Seattle. Nice weather and looking forward to tomorrow.

Stripper Reunion

This?

Absolutely awesome.

If it is really going to become a movie/documentary, I am so looking forward to it.

The home web page makes it look like it might be happening.

What I should have said...

So yesterday evening, Jennifer and I figured out the colors for her miniature for the GURPS beginners game. It was a nice creative process involving chocolate and alcohol. I look forward to getting started on it. Probably not until I get back from Seattle though.

Tonight, I got to about 95% of the centaur. Click on the picture on the left and check it out. It still needs the black wash for contrast, and (through the pictures I've taken) I can see some thing I need to fix. But otherwise, I am very happy with how this turned out.

This picture was taken with my new camera. Costco is having a sale, and I got a new Olympus FE-370. It has a nice large display on the back, 8 mega-pixels and a 5x zoom. And the best part (especially when taking pictures of miniatures at full zoom with shaking hands) is that it has steady-cam. This thing is great.

I also got my hair cut today in preparation for my trip. And tomorrow night, I'm packing.

This is also the countdown for Guinness' 250-Year anniversary beer which comes out Friday.

Crap and a Half

Well, I forgot to post yesterday. Not completely, I thought of it last night before going to bed, but I thought I had written something earlier in the day.

Damn.

An RPG Update

Life in roleplaying has been interesting of late.

With regards to miniature painting, I have discovered a new "tool". I am painting a centaur for Holly in my beginning GURPS group, and I wanted to make sure I had the right colors for her character. So I printed up full page pictures (pixelly, granted, but I'm not publishing these), and had her tell me, in general, what colors to put where. Then I took the sheet home this weekend and filled them in with colored pencils. The rough painting went amazingly fast. I tried taking pictures to share with her, but the figure is too small for easy focusing. I'm going to have to work on it. Anyway, I'm about half done with the centaur, and very happy with the results so far.

Moving next to the high level fantasy campaign, I'm still on a cliffhanger ending. My character, an Elf, was up against a dark knight, and I attempted to remove him by casting Entombment, a spell that send the subject ten feet underground in a state of suspended animation. He reflected the spell back on me, and I failed the resistance. So I sent myself ten feet underground into a state of suspended animation. On top of this I have a spell regularly cast that makes it difficult to find me using magical methods. I succeeded by a strong margin the last time I cast it and will be under the influence of that spell for 5 or 6 more hours.

And finally, there's the psionics campaign. Yes, we did dumb things, but my teleporter got away slightly panicking from the effects of claustrophobia. In an attempt to gather some more equipment, I got into a confrontation with some men with powerful guns. One managed to hit me with a shot, and though it didn't kill me, I had to immediately teleport to a hospital emergency room for care. And so that adventure ended with me in surgery.

I'm looking forward to the resolution of both of these dilemmas in the future.

Phone Blogging via Text

And now from my phone too. I'm all set for seattle. ...except for all that pesky packing.

Are you kidding me?

94 degrees?

Now I'm getting flashbacks of elementary school and the insane heat we had in the 70s.

E-Mail posts - The Review

Okay, so it looks like everything is working now. They'll look a little different both before and after editing, but that's all right.

Now I've got another toy to play with.

E-mail Posts

All right, I’m trying this again. After looking over the settings (and my drafts folder), it appears that I had set it up a little more securely so that things went to the Drafts Folder instead of posting.

That’s not going to work if I’m only doing this from e-mail anyway.

Of course I’m still going to have to go over this later to add keywords. Of course this is balanced by being able to use a smarter spellchecker.

Bummer

Well, that didn't work. I looks like I'm going to have to learn some more before I do e-mailed posts. I shouldn't have tried it last night while I was half asleep. I don't know why I was so sleepy at 10:30, but as soon as I got back from the GURPS game, my eyes were rebelling. It felt like they were seceding on the drive home.

I'll look up, and better read the directions for making posts via e-mail, and that way I'll hope to be able to do some posts from Seattle a little more easily.

Fun Day Saturday

Good GURPS game today. I had a a lot of fun.

Very tired for some reason. I'm going to go read myself to sleep now.

White Witch, Black Curse

I think what intrigues me the most about Kim Harrison's books are their titles. Basing them on Clint Eastwood movies is really fun.

Although I need to look and see if Eastwood had anything to do with Dead Man Walking... (Not according to IMDB)

Anyway, this one stumped me a bit until I remember the movie of some famous author hunting in Africa: White Hunter, Black Heart.

As for the book, it's been great over the arc of the books to see Rachel Morgan become (mostly) responsible. She actually thinks before she gets herself into trouble, and does her damnedest to get herself out what she ends up in instead of going "woe is me" through half of the book. Harrison also ties in two short stories she wrote in Dates from Hell, and Holidays are Hell. The first is about Rachel as an eighteen-year-old, and the second is essentially how Ivy get matched up with Rachel in Inderland Security.

It only took me a little over two days to read, but this book will hold me until the next one. However, I am definitely eager for more.

Little Bits of Joy

Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

I've got this reserved at the library now.

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

This one I'll have to wait until October. But how cool! The Patrician as referee. The librarian as Possibly goalie. Rincewind and Ponder Stibbons playing sport. And who are the cheerleaders? This is going to be great.

Unfortunately no word yet on the second Kingkiller book from Patrick Rothfuss. It's even been removed from Amazon.

Beneficial

I discovered something yesterday at the gym: listening to music while working out makes me work harder than listening to Smodcast.

Yesterday, because of the new Kim Harrison book in my hand, i decided to read while working out and listen to my rock playlist. This instead of listening to the latest SModcast, as has been my recent want.

And it turned out that by subconsciously matching my rhythm to the music instead of two mellow guys talking, I worked harder. My pulse went from edging close to 120 to being over 130 for most of the time in the gym.

A good thing to know.

Then on top of this, I have a bit of personal joy to share. At the beginning of March I had a physical related for my 40-Hour HAZWOPER certification, and found out I was down to about 195 pounds from anywhere between 200 to 205 for the end of last year. Tuesday I decided to check on the balance at the gym, with a little fewer clothes and without shoes. It turns out I am down to 190 pounds.

That was a nice little pick me up.

Fascinating Weather

Yesterday's weather was exceptionally odd. I left the office at 3:30 to get to Costco to order a new box of contacts, and came out to the parking lot to see a low nearly black sky. Looking around, there were portions of sky to the west that were clear, bright, and blue, but what was over the east bay was ominous. Add to that the insane winds whipping the trees, and anywhere else in the country you could expect really nasty storms. I drove on, and only got some sprinkles.

After spending minimal time inside, I went out, bought gas, and drove home. Then it really rained on me. it reminded me of films of desert storms with the way it would taper off and then downpour even thought I was traveling in relatively a straight line.

I got home, changed, and went to the gym.

The drive was lightly rained on, and stopped by the time I got to the gym. it dried off while I was inside, but then when I was about 10 minutes from being done, it opened up again. While I'm walking to nowhere on the elliptical, I'm watching the waves of rain travel across the parking lot.

But the best part was the people all concern about their hair and clothes as they went in and came out of the gym. Now these are people who are already sweaty or planning on getting sweaty, and yet they are covering their hair and clothes (workout only that I saw). I had to laugh.

Then when I walked out to my car, I got to enjoy some rain and soft hail.

Finally as I was on my approach to home, I got to see that it had snowed on Mt. Diablo and the neighboring beak. And from my perspective there was a rainbow across the main peak. I wish I'd had a better camera than the crappy one on my camera at the time.

Catching Up

Okay, so it's been a busy time of energy draining activities.

Friday, although I was in the office, was a catch-up day getting things out by deadlines, and being ready for the coming Monday.

Saturday I ran part two of the beginner's GURPS game. They learned the importance of stealth (just because you succeed, does not mean you were undetected), and teamwork against a large force. No one died, but some were wounded, and they have some decisions to make by the next game.

Sunday, Jennifer and I tried to do some hiking, but the dogs off of leashes wrought some havoc with her. No bad incidents, just a strong fear based on bad experiences in the past. We left the Martinez/Lafayette hills, and went to the Martinez marshes. We saw a couple of new birds that we have yet to look up and identify. The nice part was the no dogs rule for most of the area since it's a bird preserve.

Then we went home, stopping for sushi on the way, and watched the last three episodes of this season's "Terminator - The Connor Chronicles", loving every minute, and then two episodes of "Reaper". This was interspersed with trips to the mall (all closed except for Sears) and Smart and Final for ice cream.

Yesterday was finally the last day of drilling in Santa Clara. For this project we broke ground on March 30, and with a few one day breaks, we finished two weeks later. Now I can relax in the office for a while before we return to Stockton for more wells. The weather yesterday was perfect for fieldwork: sunny, but diffuse with high clouds, and a slight breeze all day. Perfect short sleeve weather.

And then when I got home I found my package from Reaper Miniatures. Lots of lead figures, with a completion of wood elementals, and a centaur for Holly's beginner character and a new figure for Jennifer.

Now I'm just left with the little bits of work to finish my taxes.

Done and Almsot Done

Drilling done.

Taxes in progress.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

My mood is less than literate right now. I haven't started the latest book on my list, and I'm really not in the mood to write anything.

Hopefully later this week when field work is over and done with for a while.

Late Again

I need to remember to blog earlier in the day. That way I'll be awake and able to blog more coherently.

The beginner's game went well again. Some frustration over low skill levels, but we all go through that phase.

More later.

Sleep and Games

Pretty sleepy today. Or at least I am now. I'll probably go play solitaire on the iPod until I fall asleep. Not in a reading mood.

Got a GURPS game tomorrow. We're continuing the beginners' game. Hopefully it goes smoothly.

We'll see.

Suprise

My friend from school surprised me by being able to come see us work today instead of Monday. That was cool to show off what I do.

And then the other cool thing is that Monday will be the last field day for a little bit.

I'll be back out again, but hopefully I'll get a little break.

We'll see.

Meetings

(Well, it's certainly frustrating when Jennifer comes in to let me know that I've left the post up and forgot to publish it.)

It looks like Monday I'll have a friend from school (elementary, junior, and high) come out and visit the drill site down in Santa Clara. I haven't seen her since the reunion in 2007, and that'll be cool.

It's something to look forward to at least.

Not a lot else today, just catching up on office work.

And a little In 'n' Out for dinner.

Weather - the Aftermath

Well, we got our well installed just before the rains came again. We drilled down, and got our samples during the first rains, and then set the well in between storms.

It ended up that the heaviest rains hit while driving back to the office from Santa Clara. Gotta love the people who are afraid of the rain, but won't get out of the HOV lane because they are willing to go 2 miles per hour faster than the cats in the regular lanes.

Then when I got home it hailed a bit. So glad that didn't happen while we were working.

* * *

And now, after looking at the weather forecast, it appears that the rain is lingering...

So there's a good chance it will rain tomorrow and Thursday.

Oh joy...

Geek Rant

Adn now an aisde.

I'd just like to say that I'm tired of Lana Lang in Smallville.

First off, she's no longer cute; she's just become this scrawny looking thing when compared to Erica Durance. Maybe that's why they're no longer seem to be on the same episode anymore.

Second, she may be trying not to be whiny, but she's still annoying.

Third, I can't understand the drawing out of the Clark Lana romance, when it is inevitable, no matter how the show ends up being written, that Clark ends up with Lois.

So get rid of her already.

Ah, I feel better now.

Weird Weather

So the temperature climbed today and the sun beat down. After weeks of cold and wind, it was physically hard on us to be in such warmth. Tempers got a little short due to dehydration and heat and stress when the motor for the rig's pump failed. Luckily we got the well grouted up, but we lost time trying to get the final bit of grout out of the pump.

They'll get the well box set tomorrow morning before we get on site, and then we'll get the second well installed. Barring any lightning. Should there be any, we'll have to shut down and pull double duty on Wednesday. I'm optimistic (yes, big surprise) that we'll get it down though, as the call for possible thunderstorms is for the afternoon.

Hopefully.

Desdemona... I mean, Oklahoma

Today was a nice relaxing day. I had planned to go kite flying with Jennifer expecting big winds with the storm coming in. However, it turned out that the storm has been delayed,and the forecasts for both Martinez and San Francisco were calm with little or no wind.

So we stayed home. I did laundry, and painted a little. Then tonight I watched the Australian production of "Oklahoma!" with Hugh Jackman as Curly.

I had seen Hugh Jackman on "Inside the Actor's Studio" and he spoke about doing the musical. He said they had to speak the songs during rehearsal. Immediately the audience groaned because the first two lines of the musical are 'There's a bright golden haze on the meadow." Twice. The director told him, "If you can't think of a reason to say it twice yo0u can't say it at all."

It was also supposed to be a production that puts most of those done by Americans to shame

It was pretty amazing, and is well worth a watch.

(And for an explanation of the post's title go here.)

What was I saying?

Okay, so things are sliding back to normality. I'll be in the field off and on this next week. Which days will be dependent on the work itself. No matter what we'll be back the following Monday to finish the last well.

I got to pick up my comics on the way back from Santa Clara on Friday, and I've been kind of off an on reading them. As well as updating characters for the next Psionics game and the game I'm running on Saturday.

And then there's writing fun letters to people. That's turning out to be more fun than I ever could have expected.

Finally, I'd just like to say that I want a light saber. there are times that the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series (which I can';t even link to over at LucasArts because they're so old) comes to mind, and I have this urge to drag a light saber across the walls at work. Then there's just the usefulness of a universal cutting tool.

I'm just saying.

Mad Geo Skillz

So after dealing with the rude people at the Mazda dealership, we finally got them to move their cars.

And so I chose where we were going to drill, and they cut the asphalt and began vacuuming the soil to get it ready for drilling on Monday.

And true to my talents which any good and true geologist has, I placed the location directly on an unmarked utility.

Now, we cut a 2-foot square out of the asphalt in preparation for a well box. This line is running straight from one side to the other exactly bisecting our square.

We had already moved off of a marked gas line, and had chosen the direction we moved due to an overhead electrical line. And as it turned out, we were on the far edge of our USA marking.

So the upshot is that I had to re-mark for USA, schedule the geophysical utility locator, reschedule the vacuum clearance crew, and extend the driller's scheduled time with us.

It was a long day in the field with nothing to show for it except a nice 2-foot square of new black concrete.

Sympathy

I had other things to post about today, but I recently got a call from a coworker. Her father has passed away, and she has to fly home for the funeral.

My thoughts are with her, and I wish her a safe journey.

Stuff and Such

I got Jennifer's iPod all loaded up last night. She is very happy.

I gave up trying to read Deus Irae by Roger Zelazny and Philip K. Dick. Insanely too surreal for me. I remember slogging through it as a college student, but I don't feel the need to try so hard this time. So I'm on to Coils by Zelazny and Fred Saberhagen. It'll help keep me in the mood for our GURPS Psionics campaign.

It turns out I'm going to be traveling to Seattle at the end of April. I'm going to meet a friend and see a play she is directing. And sight see a bit.

And finally, I vow never to buy a Mazda unless they come up with cheap fusion cars. the people at the Mazda dealership in Santa Clara have been rude and unresponsive over some access issues. I hope to get it all worked out by the end of this week, but if not our schedule is going to be screwed.

Aquaman

This cracks me up. Either Aquaman is now the most powerful of the Justice League / Super Friends, or he's tired of taking shit from the rest of the super hero community.

Or he's been talking to Namor, and has decided to be more proactive against the surface world.

Now with Three Quarters Capacity!

Today Jennifer picked me up for lunch and we went to Costco where we finally got her a large capacity iPod. She's been running around with a 2GB antique. Plus she was upset with my comparing our players and telling her she had 1.25% of the capacity of mine.

So we bought her the biggest that is available: 120GB.

Now she's only 75% of mine.

My assignment tonight is to load hers up. This'll be fun.

Simple Pleasures

Orange things...

Pixy Stix and Kool-Aid

Chocolate things...

sweetriot and See's Candy

Quiet things...

Reading the evening away

Happy Thoughts

I haz dem.

Blogging Blank

Yeah, I had this great idea about 2 hours ago, and now I've forgotten it.

We'll see if it comes back.

Celebration

Well, after two and a half months, Jennifer had her celebration of her new work space.

It was a great party with good close friends of hers, excellent music, and great food.

And tomorrow (okay later today, but I haven't slept yet) we go back to clean up.

Surprise

After a slightly busy day, I headed over to help Jennifer with her setup for her party.

We got the last mirror on the wall, and got a cable for curtains attached. The cable bit is awesome, and we're both thrilled with the way everything turned out.

And then, just now, I received an e-mail. A surprise has been delivered, and has lifted the spirits of a good friend.

All around, a good day.

Many Muchness

Lots of things going on today.

Worked on getting one report out the door (barely).

Preparations for being in the field for the next two weeks.

Dealing with other mundane portions of the job.

Playing with and planning my psionics character again as new rule adaptations came out.

And just the normal evening activities as well as a little laundry.

Abominable

A strange find today.

Through the links section in a webcomic, I found a new one (new to me at least) called The Abominable Charles Christopher.

The art is amazing, and story is intriguing with enough comic relief to break the tension of the tale.

Unfortunately it's only weekly (on Wednesday), so even though it's about a year and half old, it's just now getting momentum in it's story. And is at a point you want to scream for it to be done every day.

Still a fine read though.

Fatigue

My hands are doing better. Now it just hurts my left hand if I make a ring with my thumb and any finer. A remnant, no doubt, of using the slide hammer. It works like a fence post driver, and you slide it up and down to drive the sampler into the soil. Then you do the precess in reverse to get it out. The tighter the clay (like yesterday's work), the harder it is to remove. And there's the shock to the system with each impact going down or up.

You can see a video of it here. Skip to 3:25 for the relevant part of driving the sample.

Then, I'm just tired. Apparently, I'm not sleeping well. It's the only thing I can come up with.

Hopefully, tonight will be better.

Field - Oakland

Too much hand sampling today.

I've got a very sore wrist.

It hurts where the index finger and thumb tendons meet my wrist.

Ow.

The Peace of Nothing

Today little steps progressed towards completion.

Simple urges were indulged.

Drawing was attempted.

Poetry was accomplished. Perhaps.

Trek was watched.

And tomorrow, I return to the mundane world and sing Peter Gabriel all day.

300 - And a trip to Sac

Today Jennifer, Holy, and I went to Sac to see "Avenue Q". The production was really well done, and there are things in the show that are not found in the soundtrack.

The puppet work was pretty good, but I found myself looking at it with a critical eye from doing puppets in junior high and high school. The hardest part is remembering to move your thumb in the jaw and not your fingers which makes the head go up and down. The rod work for the arms was really amazing, but I have to say my favorite parts were the two person puppets.

These are puppets that have two "real" hands, not stuffed hands on rods. These two hands mean that a third operator's hand has to be used in for the mouth. ow when we did it, we tended to do one person for the hands and one for the mouth, but the way they did it in the production was one person for one hand and the mouth, and a second person for the other hand. I wish we had thought of that back then.

But I think it could have been odd seeing the hands fight each other for the wheel when we did "Moving Right Along".

(Oh, and by the way... "THIS! IS! BLOGGER!" Thank you.)

Chocolate Quest

Searching for proper cacao content.

Found for me many content percentages, and Sweet Riot.

Found for Jennifer fruity dark.

Found for another bits of paradise.

Then I had bits of each of mine with port.

Bliss.

One Word: Phreatic

Okay, the Big Picture has some great shots of the underwater eruption off of Tonga.

There's also some video out of it too. Some of it's pretty impressive.

Roger Zelazny

What is it that repeatedly bring me to the end of the alphabet in science fiction section in my library?

I was originally introduced to Roger Zelazny through two friends from high school. I had been in Europe as part of a youth symphony and returned, due to a torn ligament in my left foot, heavily medicated on painkillers. I returned on my 18th birthday, which turned out to be, I believe, 30 hours long.

At the surprise party thrown by my high school girl friend and my parents, my two friends gave me the first seven books of the Amber decology. I was immediately hoked, and since it would turn out that I had four years to wait for the next three books, I needed something else to read. By the time the series was completed, I owned everything Zelazny had written up to that time.

When he passed away, I was pretty upset. This was another author whom I wanted to keep reading (Frank Herbert being the first) who wold write no more. I would feel the same way when Douglas Adams died.

But there is something about Roger Zelazny's turn of phrase. The way he experiments with writing techniques, be it in the styles of different authors, or the simple technique of starting almost every chapter in Doorways in the Sand with a flashback.

The books take me to their world, and let my mind sit in the character's head, and watch what happens.

And no one does it as consistently as Zelazny. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman are great. Kage Baker is wonderful. But if I could only choose one author's work, it would be Roger Zelazny.

Faith and bejabber

So today was St. Patrick's Day.

And what do you do on St. Patrick's Day?

Anyone? Anyone?

That's right.

You go to a middle eastern restaurant called Silk Road fora romantic dinner with your wife.

Very good.

Sauce and Such

Ahhh, such a wonderful sauce it turned out to be. And I've got leftovers from tonight for lunch tomorrow.

Not much else today. I painted a little and that's it.

Except for dealing with the heater repairman. We've got a strange electric start heater that's been freaking out lately. I had hoped to see if it would freak out again tonight to get things settled, but it was so warm today that after heating the house up to try to get it to act strangely for him, it hasn't cooled off enough to test it since.

Sauce

Today Jennifer and I went to Costco for one thing: contact solution. We ended up forgetting that, but among the materials we bought, I came home and made sauce. Pasta sauce.

I used:

half a Costco package of ground beef
12 mild Italian sausage links
6 cans of diced tomatoes
1-2 cups of dried shitake mushrooms
various seasonings

I browned the meat separately, rinsed it, then mixed it in a pot. Then I blended the tomatoes into a puree, and did the same after reconstituting the mushrooms. After mixing in the seasonings, it's all cooking in two pots on the stove.

I doubt if I'll have any tonight after having a Costco hot dog, but I'm looking forward to the first time I get to use some of this sauce.

Ultima II

I don't know why this all came to me, but I started thinking about the old game "Ultima II" (also here) by Lord British and Sierra Online this morning. And what came to me were all of the things that non-important NPCs would say when you talked to them.

Fighter: Ugh, me tough!

Cleric: Believe!

Thief: Psst, wanna buy a watch?

Wizard: Hex-a-poo, a hex on you!

Merchant: Will you buy my apples?

The guards said something too, and I can't quite remember what it was. It may have been "Move along" or something like that.

A fun game. I miss the chain of Ultima games, and the sense of wonder and Discovery as I played through them.

Good Morning

Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning.

And good morining.

Planet of the Mammals

I originally saw this on Yes but No but Yes, and had to read the whole article on the Daily Telegraph.

Proof that that animals can plan ahead? It's amazing the things we're learning about animals recently.

Orca that spit out their partially chewed fish food as bait for seagulls.

Dolphins that create and play with bubble rings. (Which hilariously is just now making it to the "mainstream" sews services.)

And now the monkeys and apes? And you know dogs and cats can plan. Lying in wait is totally planning ahead.

Waves of Creation

Lately, I've noticed an ebb in the size of my posts. Maybe it's from posting everyday, and maybe it's just cyclical (now that's an incredible word).

Sometimes I find myself thinking, "Ooh, that'd be great to post about, and then it fades away as I approach the computer and wait for Blogger to load. Some things seem profound when they're in my head, but in the cooling off period, I just think that there's no point in mentioning them.

I've tried describing dreams, and can rarely remember enough to make a coherent post.

They same waves of creativity control my miniature painting. Some days I could paint all night, and all week. Other days, I just look at them and think what a chore it's going to be to paint them.

I try my hand at drawing occasionally, and that rarely goes well enough for me to keep going. I can do shapes as long as they're not too round, and people are right out.

Jennifer thought that me posting every day would get me back into creative writing, and sometimes I look at my stuff. But I either don't see where to go, or simply mourn the loss of my notes from a car break in over 7 years ago.

There's just so much to do. And so much to listen to. And so much to read and reread. And so much to watch (and I don't watch that much TV). And so much to see.

I think if I can break myself of some of these compulsions, I have, then I might have more time.

Evil Pleasures

Today is Wednesday, and the Baptist church at the entrance to our complex has evening services on this day every week.

On my way in from the gym today, I had some Aerosmith playing, and the windows partly down to enjoy the differences in air temperature. And it just pleased me in such a wrong way to have this music playing loud while I drove past people going in for church service.

Fat Wreck Chords

Okay, so at least at work, I'm able to get to the band pages so:

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Band page and MP3 sample page.

Music

There is a band that I like that I have not yet talked about here, and they are Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (MFatGG).

I first came across them when I was looking for "Sloop John B" by the Beach Boys. It turns out that MFatGG did a cover of the song, and I found that. It was very funny and it's still in the rotation.

The band is kind of a punk ska, and only does covers. One of the covers they do is "Eastbound and Down" from Smokey and the Bandit, which was one of my favorite songs as a kid.

All of their other stuff is good, and I highly recommend them if your in the mood for some new takes on familiar music.

I woudl link to their sales site, but the band page is not loading. So go to Fatwreck.com, and look for them yourself.

News and Timing

First off, I forgot to brag yesterday.

At my physical I had a blood pressure of 100 over 62, and a resting heart rate of 60 beats per minute. That's a good lift for the week. Now I just need to get a blood test and check things in there.

Oh, and apparently I don't do drugs, so that's a relief.

As for today, I have to wonder what a day will have in store when I use of the last of the peanut butter and the last of the jam when making a sandwich.

Perhaps the true alignment would have been if I'd used the last two slices of bread...

Thickening

I create, I draw, I write.

We converse via the page both through the aether and on mundane matter.

The quest is the joy, and the joy is the wonder.

We make peace.

We make laughter.

And all is mended.

Let's get (a) Physical

Friday, I got refreshed on my HAZWOPER certification. And now tomorrow I've got my physical to go along with it. This is just coincidence though, since it usually coincides more with my service anniversary of March 29.

And that's the other thing. I'm approaching 3 years with ETIC. It's exciting. And comforting.

Now I need to start burning off that vacation time again.

Saturday Morning Watchmen

No, I didn't go see it again. Not yet.

We did go see Push, and that was fun. I enjoyed it more than Jennifer did, but she still had a good time. She's decided that she can't handle the violence in The Watchmen.

And yet she went to watch a UFC even tonight...

Anyway, check this video out. The Watchmen as a Saturday Morning cartoon.

And that makes 50

Jennifer surprised me today with the Hawaii state quarter. Now our map is complete.




But they've messed with us and extended the quarters to have territories and protectorates and commonwealths. So there's going to be DC, Guam, Puerto Rico, and others. And our map doesn't have them.


We may get another map if we find one we like. But I bought this one for Jennifer for Christmas when the new quarters started, and both sides of our family laughed at us. Then a few years later, they all decided they were going to start collecting.


And now we're done. Kind of.

Watching the Watchmen

Just got back from the midnight showing.

Bloody.

Fucking.

Awesome.

All three separately and together.

Drilling Photos

Want to see the Carnival of Drilling?

Check it out.

Home

Tired.

2-hour drive to Marysville.

Cleared two locations to five feet.

Installed 30-foot well.

Installed 40-foot well.

All while amongst the setup for a carnival. Yes, a carnival.

Then a two-hour drive home, and an hour of catch up at the office.

Sleep now, and pictures tomorrow.

The Night Before...

Tomorrow I'm off to Marysville (Ahhhh, scenic Marysville), to install two monitoring wells.

If you're up that way come see us. We'll be in the old parking lot. Although apparently they've even taken down the Mervyns sign. I almost hope that one of the reasons they went out of business was from their contempt for the common apostrophe.

Now we're starting at 8:00, so that means leaving about 5:30, and getting up around... yeah, I should be getting packed right now.

Yes, packed. With 4.5 to 5 hour round trip time, we're planning on staying up there. That is unless the driller can actually get two 30- to 35-foot wells in before dark.

I know I've got my fingers crossed.

Ah, the fun we can have

And so it begins.

A meet, and a favor.

A little back and forth.

Some teasing and tempting writing.

Art and nature.

I am excited.

A Day for Shopping

Today Jennifer and I spent money. Not on anything big, just lots of little things.

Comic books

Shampoo and conditioner, multiple nail polishes, and a cleaning mask

Hamburgers and beer

A sweatshirt hoodie, and a ruffled top

Two shirts, a blouse, and a sweater

Cards and note cards

Various and sundry sundries

It was a fun day.

The Caravan Begins

Tonight, I took a small group into the the world of GURPS.

I used a personal variation on Caravan to Ein Arriss, and slowly taught them the basics of playing. And they taught me what they know and what they like.

We had an interesting group of four, missing one due to flu, and another who has not been able to come and be taught the Way.

One is an Elf. He styles himself as a ranger, but has many annoying disadvantages and knows not magic.

One is a Centaur. She has overcome her impulsiveness and likes company and archery.

One is a holy woman. She has some magic and pictures herself as a great seer of truth.

One is an astrologer. She is perky and pacifistic.

It has been over a decade since I have played with XXs. And never more than one at a time.

It's a bit disturbing.

I am Fat

...Or so I am told.

By a commenter (Anonymous, I might add).

"You are fat", was what I received, and have dwelt upon this all day.

I know I am not. I'm not in perfect shape, but I am far from fat. And now I almost wish I had allowed the comment to post just to find out which post it was commented on.

But it's gone now, and so it's not an issue.

It's still very weird though.

Domestication

I guess there just comes a time when you have to admit to yourself that you are domesticated. Tonight I ironed probably two dozen shirts.

Most were silk, and the majority of the rest were cotton. I've gotten fed up with cleaners. They break buttons and add too much starch, and can't get out stains, so I did it all myself. I already do all the laundry because I'm better at it, but I can't expect Jennifer to iron my shirts. She's as busy as I am with her work.

But now I see why my mom did it watching television. I watched "Inside the Actor's Studio" with Chris Rock as the guest, and then I watched Clerks 2 while I ironed.

And now I'm ready for bed. And I doubt I'll be wearing any of these shirts for a month since I'm not going to be needing any nice clothes out in the field.

Wipeout

We've now had two people laid off at our company, and not one of us saw it coming.

I feel safe, and I hope I am, but you're never 100% sure.

It was nice to get back in the gym after two weeks (three weeks?), but I'm only moderately sore, and next week, will not be too terribly shook-up.

I'm getting pretty focused on the upcoming beginners' GURPS game on Saturday. It's going to be as big a group of players as the psionics game John will be running in two weeks. I'll be looking forward to that one after all of this.

Return to Stockton - Day 2

Very quickly due to fatigue and updates.

Conductor casing set.

Steak and baked potato for dinner.

Reading Lord of Light by roger Zelazny.

Very tired.

Good night.

Return to Stockton - Day 1

Today I was back in Stockton for another drilling job at a different site. We're putting a monitoring well in a sidewalk.

This morning the rig got setup, and began cutting a square in the sidewalk. They got two sides of the square cut, and the rig stopped. They messed with it, and it kept dying.

So they sent out another rig. When it finally arrived they got the work done very quickly, but what should have been a 4 hour job took 8, and what could have been a day to get ahead with drilling, was lost to simply clearing the hole.

Luckily the rain stopped early again, so we were dry when we watching them work.

Hopefully tomorrow will also be a good day for weather.

Weekend Work

Yesterday Jennifer and I were over at her studio getting more things set up, and then went to IKEA to buy more things to set up.

It was a very long day, and the fact that the fridge died on us didn't help. She spent the morning over there today with the repairman, and then was out with a friend.

I went to Livermore, got my comics, and had Philly Cheese steak. Then I came home and did laundry.

Tomorrow I get to play in Stockton. In the rain. In the street.

I'm going to miss my nice warm office.

Do that meme, do that meme...

Once again Miss Em (whose blog is now secret) has sent me something cool on Facebook. She's surreal, and so I had to be as well. But do not ask me where question #12 is. It's a mystery.

48 Questions

Here are the rules - post this list on your profile using the Notes tab. Replace my answers with yours. Tag 10 people to do the same thing.

Author commentary: You’re not the boss of me now… You’re not the boss of me now… You’re not the boss of me now… And you’re not so big…

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Columbus but my parents can’t spell. And Leif’s father.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
When “Firefly” was canceled.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Why bother? No one teaches it anymore.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Peanut butter

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No, I don’t like goats.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Not until we develop cross time travel to parallel worlds.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
Only against giant hedgehogs.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes, but we never talk.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Do you even know me?

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
None of the above.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Boots, boots, boots.

12. THERE IS NOOOOOOOO QUESTION 12.
It is twice "Rule 6" anyway.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
The one that I like.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Boobs or lack there of. Then I start checking things off the list.

15. RED OR PINK?
Green, copper based, remember?

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
My second least favorite thing.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Everyone. My aim is very poor.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
Everyone? And read 6.5 billion responses? Are you crazy?

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Flesh

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The hum of my hard drive. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?Inanimate.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
I probably have some, yes.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My phone is very small. I talk to people on my feet or while sitting in a chair.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Who? Old crotchety? No, I hate her guts and her imaginary fish. Duh.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Night time hallway cat laps.

27. HAIR COLOR?
Infrared.

28. EYE COLOR?
Ultraviolet

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
On my shelves.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Protein and carbohydrates. With cellulose for variety.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Depends on the movie. Some have neither.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Zapruder.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
626.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Spring or autumn?

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
With the right snake you cold have both.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?Miss America38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Miss South Carolina

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
The Apocrypha

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
My mouse, and occasionally my hand.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
I didn’t, so there. Nyeah.

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S).
My heartbeat in my ears.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Moss or spell-check.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
In seven-dimensional time-space? Nowhere at all.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Shhhh, they might be watching.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Aren’t you old enough to have figured this one out already?

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
Alex Trebek's

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
Well.

15 Albums

Another challenge from the girls on Facebook.

"Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. They might not be what you listen to now, but these are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world."

1. “Star Wars - the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” by John Williams: In 1977, this album (actually two LPs) was constantly on my turntable. I had it on when I was playing, and I had it on just to listen to. It brought me into the world of movie soundtracks.

2. “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles: This was my first real cassette album, and truly introduced me to the Beatles.

3. “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys: This collection of the Beach Boys was the cassette that was most often in my car my junior year of high school in Maryland. I created an entire musical (in my head) using the songs in order cast with my friends from school.

4. “Pipes of Peace” by Paul McCartney: This was the first album (and LP) that I bought with my own money.

5. “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits: I didn't realize the Dire Straits had done “Sultans of Swing” but enjoyed their stuff on MTV from this album. Some friends of mine were really into DS, and said if I listened to one complete album, I would want everything they had recorded. I did, I did, and I do.

6. “Star Trek II - The Wrath of Kahn soundtrack” by James Horner: The music from the fight in the Mutara Nebula was incredible to me, and this album was impossible to find for years. I had to hunt and hunt for it, finally finding it in an ad in a comic book.

7. “Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack” by Michael Kamen: There is a song in here that when I was fast forwarding on my cassette I heard completely differently. Played normally you really wouldn’t hear it, but sped up it is based on the stereotypical scary music of rising notes “duhnt, duhnt, duhnt, duhnt, duuuuuhn, duhnt.”

8. “Alchemy” by Dire Straits: Simply taught me that I don’t like concert albums. I prefer studio recordings.

9. “Himself” by Bill Cosby: My first purchased comedy album. Also and LP, I got this one at an auction. I remember buying this and a black leather baseball glove.

10. “Batman soundtrack” by Prince: This one was the first album to really be a difference between soundtrack and score. It seemed that we all had to wait so long for Danny Elfman’s score. And I still argue that it should be “Songs from…” and “Soundtrack”; a score is the music itself not the performance or recording.

11. “Footloose soundtrack” by various artists: My first CD. My parents got this for me because I was enjoying the movie so much. It’s pretty dated now.

12. “The Extremist” by Joe Satriani: My friend Steve and I listened to this album all the way to my one and only SCA event. It amazed me the emotion that went into and came out of a “simple” electric guitar. I get every studio album of Joe’s that I can get my hands on.

13. “Dance Into the Light” by Phil Collins: Jennifer and I received this album as a gift (actually a bribe I think) from the regional manager of Kleinfelder. There was something about him giving us the album that tainted it to us, and has slowly tainted most of Phil’s music. I have all of his albums, but probably only 5 songs on my iPod.

14. “Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd: Lots of people say that the Beatles “White Album” is the album they have to have, but DSotM is a must have. When CDs and MP3s go away, whatever format is next, then after my foundation soundtrack, DSotM will be there.

15. “The Eiger Sanction” by John Williams: I found that even the greats have their bad days. This may have been good soundtrack when it was written, but it seems that there is a point in music where a switch gets flipped somewhere, and the whole feeling of it seems old and dated. After this soundtrack and before “Jaws” was when it flipped for John Williams.

Coraline

Jennifer and I saw Coraline tonight.

And it's amazing.

Yes, it's stop motion, and sometimes you can really see it, but the story is told so well that it just goes with it.

It really doesn't compare with The Nightmare Before Christmas or Corpse Bride. They are totally different kinds of movies.

Some of the celebrity voices are apparent the first time you hear them, but after that, they quickly become the voice of the character.

We even saw it in 3-D and the quality is incredible. It's not done gimmicky throughout, just a couple times, but after that it becomes part of the movie.

Go. See. Enjoy.

Bad Writing and Good Writing

I finally gave up trying to read Empress by Karen Miller. The writing was compelling for most of the book, but I never cared about any of the characters. I finally stopped about 20 pages from the end.

Also today, we had a pre-field meeting for some drilling we'll be doing next week. Our staff geologist from Japan was going down our checklist, and I noted something interesting about her notepad. While she was taking notes on tasks required of her for after the meeting in English, I noticed that the notes on the folded over pages were in Japanese. It just tickled me that she was doing that. It's like a totally different form of shorthand.

Lulls

I got a lot of work done today.

I have completed a closure request, so now all it needs is he risk assessment section.

I'm preparing for my month and a half in the field.

And now I'm getting into character for our upcoming return to Psionics with GURPS. I really enjoy my character, but it's been a bit difficult with the e-mail session.

He's just so different from my Elf in our Fantasy campaign. I have to remember that modern humans actually use contractions. John and I got a big kick opt of that as well as both of us tending to refer to Randal as Auremar.

Rain

Some days, (rain) there are things (rain) that just overwhelm everything else (rain). Today the courtyard (rain) at the office was on the verge of flooding (rain) due to a clogged storm drain.

(rain)

I have to admit though (rain) that the office sounds so amazing (rain) with the water falling on the roof.

(rain)

But what I don't need are the lizards (rain) coming into my office (rain) through the cracks in the wall and floor (rain) around the doorway.

(rain)

Ew.

Torpid

Today was a pretty relaxing day in the beginning. Jennifer and I got up, she had a client to meet, and so I got to kill some time around the house before going to meet up with her for lunch.

I typed up her character from our GURPS training session yesterday, along with Holly and Elise's. I found a few things wrong with Jennifer and Holly's, and then found that Elise still had 40 points to spend. She's a little confused still on the disadvantages vs. the advantages.

Then while I was working my way through my Internet reading, I found a link to this game simply called The Space Game. It's a real time strategy game, but dealing with asteroid mining and setting up power links and defense grids. It's very fun, and not as frustrating as I would have expected. Plus you play against the computer, so there' no one tea-bagging you when you die.

Then I went to meet with Jennifer. We had lunch at Long John Silver's, then we went to help a friend with some storage setup at his apartment. Two trips to the E-Ville Home Depot alter, I think we have his closet set up lean and mean.

Afterwards, Jennifer and I went to T-Rex Barbecue in Berkeley. This has to be the best barbecue I've had in living memory. It knocks my Marlboro barbecue into a cocked and squashes it with the magicians rabbit. It has a wonderful macaroni and cheese. And a serviceable corn bread. I also had the New York steak with garlic mashed potatoes which were amazing. But the best was the appetizer: Smoked Pork Riblets with Spicy BBQ Sauce. Along with our take home stuff of what all we could not finish, we took home a half-pint of the sauce. Sometime this week, we're getting ribs, and doing it at home.

And now, I still have to go back, because we were too full for dessert. And they have over 100 whiskeys, including a specially picked barrel of bourbon from a distillery outside of Frankfort, Kentucky, that I've never even heard of. It's so unknown to me that I can't even remember the distillery. We're going back for brunch next time.

Dinner and Games

Last night's dinner was great. We had a wonderful time, and the food was amazing. We look forward to the next time we can do that.

Today, tow of my GURPS trainees came over and we finished getting their characters established. Now all we need is a session to play with all five of the newbies.

Today is brief, but I'm ready for bed.

Dinner Menu

Valentine’s Day Dinner
14 February 2009
Chez Appel et Collins

~ = MENU = ~

~ Appetizers ~

Russian Tomatoes
Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus
Vespers

~ Palette Cleanser ~

Fresh Baked French Bread
Olive Tapenade
Pinot Gris – J - 2006

~ Salad ~

Endive with Seasoned Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar with Feta
Mushroom and Dill Marinated Cucumbers
Syrah – Cakebread - 2005

~ Entrée ~

Steak Medallions with Mushroom Reduction
Nutmeg and Gruyere Pasta
Cabernet Sauvignon – Cakebread - 2004

~ DESSERT ~

Grand Marnier Chocolate Mousse
with Chocolate Shavings and an Orange Twist
Fine Ruby Port – Dow’s

~= HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY = ~

Boots for a Bonus

Recently I got my work boots re-soled.

For most of my career I've had the typical lace-up, steel-toe, work boots. But after seeing a driller with steel-toe cowboy boots, I vowed to get a pair of my own. I went to the western outfitter across from Sun Valley Mall, and got myself a pair of Durangos which were very comfortable, but didn't have much tread. I ended up wearing the keel down pretty quickly (as I tend to do), and so took them in for repair.

I asked if they could put a more aggressive tread on the whole boot, and they pulled out some waffle-stompers that looked great. I said go ahead, and put 'em on.

I think they turned out pretty kick-ass.

Oh, and for an added bonus here's me at work. This is from 2007, but it's also how I looked on Wednesday the 4th with our high concentrations in soil.

Dessert First

Tomorrow we are having the Sorrell's over for dinner. I'll give more of the menu tomorrow, but tonight.while Jennifer was out, I made the dessert: Wonderful Chocolate Mousse (a.k.a. Grand Marnier Chocolate Mousse).

It was my favorite "special" dessert growing up, and I made it even more special when I made it for Jennifer for our first date picnic.

And I think it is something that needs to be shared because it is so great. So without further ado "Wonderful Chocolate Mousse"

6 tablespoons strong coffee
2 ounces (1/4 cup) Grand Marnier liqueur
6 ounces (3/4 cup) semi-sweet chocolate bits
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine coffee, liqueur, and chocolate in top of double boiler. Place over simmering water. Stir until chocolate is melted. Add sugar, continue to stir until very smooth and glossy. Cool. Chip cream with vanilla until very thick. Thoroughly blend chocolate mixture into cream. Spoon into glasses, cover, and chill.

(Serves 6)

For the Microwave:
Place chocolate bits in 4-cup glass measure. Microwave for 2 minutes on high or until melted. Add hot coffee, liqueur, and sugar; stir until smooth and glossy Cool. Whip cream with vanilla until very thick. Thoroughly blend chocolate mixture into cream. Spoon into glasses, cover, and chill.

First of all, it's very simple. Second, the taste is impressive. And I forget every time I make it, that it requires coffee.

Enjoy.

Back to Normal

Work today was business as usual. Things went back top normal, and then we planned out the next month and a half of field work. I'll be in the office next week, and then in the field for the following 4 to 5 weeks.

Jennifer and I were going to go see Coraline today, but we got distracted, and ended up staying home.

We did watch some old Twilight Zone episodes though. "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is eon of my favorites.

Drilling Deep - Day 6

And... we're done.

I am so wiped out. And all I did was watch these guys work. Yes, I helped Yuko log the samples, but that drive killed me. And Yuko drove.

I'm so glad that we get to do it all over again in March. This time in Santa Clara. Now that drive is really gonna suck.

Drilling Deep - Day 5

Very quickly, because I am very tired.

We got our last two wells drilled today. One got set, but the last one did not get finished because we had gone 10 feet deeper than proposed for all of the wells, so the drillers rand out of casing for the wells.

So we'll half a nice short day tomorrow.

In the rain.

Nature spotting today, I was looking at a flock of sheared sheep, and saw a dog with them. Not the typical sheep dog, and not an Aussie, but still a sheep dog, right? Then I thought, I wonder if there is anything preying on the sheep. Then in the distance I saw this reddish-orange shape bounding around this other field. I saw a fox. Cool.

Drilling Deep - Day 4

Today we set the first well after drilling to 85 feet.

Things were going well (I swear, no pun intended) at first, but the water was so silty that the well casing kept floating up and out of the sand pack. It slowed the drillers down, but we did manage to get off site at 5:00.

Sunday afternoon, after my time with Dian, I watched the animated collection Batman: Gotham Knight. Aside from the extreme anime influences, I really enjoyed it. The combination of influences from the new movies added to the basic Batman mythos went together very well.

A Sense of Pleasance

Today I got the opportunity to spend with an old friend from college. We'll call her Dian.

After seeing the condition in which she left me emotionally nearly 15 years ago, some might wonder how I could still call her a friend. But she's one of those that you just remain friends with. She's very intelligent, and has a way about her that you just want to talk to. She's fun to be around.

And she's very pretty.

She was in the area for an interview, and asked if I could give her a ride there while her sister was working. We met at DVC, had lunch at Monsoon Masala, and drove to Mill Valley. And we kept up a constant string of conversation. It was wonderful.

I learned today that the Bay Area is really not that big. Not two blocks from the theatre she was interviewing at is a burrito place that my family and extended family ate at a couple years ago near Christmas after walking around Muir Woods.

After the interview we drove back, I dropped her off with her sister and she headed off to see her mom.

I'm rooting for her to get the job in the summer, and not just for the chance to see her again. She's very confident, and one of those people you (or I, at least) just want to see succeed.

Ah, the Weekend

Today was nice and relaxing.

This morning Jennifer and I got up around 9:30, got dressed, and went to Carrow's for our diner breakfast that we've been talking about for nearly a month.

Then we came home and I got ready to go to the GURPS game at John's.

It was a bad time for our heroes, and the dice were not friendly. Soon after arriving in a city, we were split up (by our own actions), and then the bad guys attacked. Each group was out-numbered and out-powered.none of us dies horribly, but many were wounded, almost all non-player characters (NPCs) were taken down, and the evil ones were barely kept from their objective.

Oh, and the game ended with everyone slowly being healed, and my character in suspended animation 50 feet underground.

Not through any direct action by the enemy though; simply through their defense turning my attack on them being turned back onto me. I was unable to resist the effect, and so down I went. The worst part is that the only people to see me disappear were my opponents, my partner being unconscious at the time, and I have a spell active that hides me from magic sensing for a further 4 hours.

And that was the cliffhanger ending.

...at least from my perspective.

Drilling Deep - Day 3

Today, we finished the conductor casing drilling. Monday we'll be back to drill deeper and start setting wells.

But the fun for the week was driving through the delta and seeing the wildlife.

Twice I saw a group of wild swans. It's really kind of weird to see such graceful creatures with dirty brown necks from feeding in the marshes.

The egrets have been amazing and pervasive. And today I saw three blue herons in various locations, flying around.

And the best part was today's drive back when I saw this strange thing out in the middle of a field. I looked hard at it and it turned out to be a coyote.

And tomorrow I'll get to pretend I'm an Elf. Yay!

Drilling Deep - Day 2

First off, I need to remember to click "Publish Post." I forgot to do that last night for the post on drilling yesterday. I probably got distracted by the cat, and just went o bed afterwards.

Anyway, today was both worse and better.

First it started out with rain, and then moved to sunny but windy and cold.

We also started half an hour earlier than yesterday, but we finished an hour earlier.

So not a bad trade.

No other news though...

Drilling Deep - Day 1

Oh what a day.

We're drilling some deep groundwater monitoring wells at our site in Stockton. And because we're drilling through one layer of contamination we're installing conductor casing (a large pipe) first so that we can isolate the upper contamination from the lower water-bearing zone.

We got to the depth for the conductor casing at 9:30 this morning. And yet we were still on site until 4:45 because we had to get the 8-inch augers out, drill back down to depth with 15-inch augers, and then drop the 50 feet of conductor casing down, and then grout it up while removing the augers.

From leaving the office to returning, it was a twelve hour day.

I'm wiped.

"Blow Me Away" - MP3 Divination

So I'm bringing something cool over from Facebook (yes, there are some cool things in Facebook). It's reminiscent of bible divination where you ask a question and open the bible and point to a verse. This one involves putting your MP3 player on shuffle, and after you read each question, you press the skip button, and then write down the title to that song in answer to that question, no matter ho strange or inappropriate it is for that song.

Of course the Facebook thing is to get others to do it to you, but I'll put it up here just for the weirdness. And hope for others.

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? "High Hopes" - Pink Floyd {Possibly.}

2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? "Devilman" - Rob Zombie {Not as such.}

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? "Birdhouse in Your Soul" - They Might Be Giants {This could work.}

4. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? "Junkie Doll" - Mark Knopfler {Getting someone off stuff, maybe.}

5. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" - Sting {It worked the time that counted.}

6. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Theme song from "The Flash" - Danny Elfman {Well, aside from CSUS band flashbacks, I'll take this in a positive way.}

7. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? "That's All" - Genesis

8. WHAT IS 2+2? "Stop Trying" - Huey Lewis {... okay}

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? "Freeing One's Mind" - Dialogue from Mallrats

10. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? "Sun is Shining" - The Fireman {... you make me happy when skies are gray...}

11. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? "Why Don't You Come Over" - Garbage

12. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? "Justin" - Korn {Not really.}

13. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? "Angry Chair" - Alice in Chains {Not gonna touch this one.}

14. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? "Rock is Dead" - Marilyn Manson {Geology is defunct? Really?}

15. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Main Theme (Expanded Version) from "Futurama" - Danny Elfman {Nope}

16. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? "I Don't Love You" - My Chemical Romance {I here I was hoping for "I Grieve" by Peter.}

17. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? "Only the Good Die Young" - Billy Joel {Does that make me evil?}

18. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? "Sleep Together" - Garbage {Do they really?}

19. WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? "Thoughts of a Dying Atheist" - Muse {Whole new insights.}

20. HOW WILL YOU DIE? "What I've Done" - Linkin Park {All my fault.}

21. WHAT IS ONE THING YOU REGRET? "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes {Do you?}

22. WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? "Desire" - U2 {If it's done right.}

23. WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? "A Thousand Years" - Toto

24. WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED? "Blue Blue Sky - Eric Stewart/Alan Parsons {meh.}

25. DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?"Human Beings" - Seal {Animals only tolerate me.}

26. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? "First We Take Manhattan" - Leonard Cohen {::whiff:: Swing, and a miss.}

27. WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? "Second to None" - Styles of Beyond {Yup.}

28. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS? "Blow Me Away" - Breaking Benjamin

Football

Yeah, I watched the Super Bowl, and enjoyed the victory of the Steelers over the Cardinals.

I can remember watching the Steelers and the Cowboys back in the late 70s.

But anyway....

I'm still kind of amped over the beginnings of the new GURPS group. Sure they are quite the motley crew, but they've got some good potential.

The warrior woman will be ambidextrous and wielding throwing axes two handed. The centaur will be an archer, and probably have a spear as well. The astrologer will have weather, air, and possibly water spells and also carrying knives for both wielding and throwing. The priestess will be the healer, but also has a couple missile spells. And finally, the Elf ranger... who doesn't know any spells yet.

And of course whatever, I decide to run.

The hardest part was getting them to see past what had brought them to gaming. Two were coming from computer games, one no experience at all, and two had played old D&D. It takes a lot to reshape the thinking of some people to get them to understand that there are no "classes" or "alignments".

GURPS Training

Training went very well yesterday. Jennifer cut out early to go watch some UFC at a freidn's, and Holly and her friend Elise left a bit after that, but Gemma and Paul finsihed theirs.

Gemma made a priestess focussing on healing, and Paul made an Elven ranger with no spells at present.

Holly is workign up a centaur, Elise is making a warrior woman, and Jenniferis making an astrologer.

At least all of them have some offensive capabilities as well.

We'll ahve another small session for the three women who aren't done, and then we'll try a game.

All in all everyone came away happy, and lookign forwrd to more.