| "Loyalty Day"? WTF? |
[May. 1st, 2007|01:09 pm] |
So, Teeka just pointed out this whitehouse press release in which our idiotic president decided that celebration of pagan holidays be damned, May 1 is now gonna be "Loyalty Day" in the U.S.
After reading through the press release my initial reactions are:
- So what exactly are we supposed to be celebrating on July 4th?
- Does "Loyalty Day" stike anyone else as the polar opposite of "Independence Day?"
- George the Moron makes reference to our founding fathers and the documents that founded this country. Isn't it ironic that during that historical period Loyalists were actually the anti-patriots? Good going, Mr. Bush. I've got another idea for a holiday: "Confederacy Day" celebrating the end of the civil war when the nation was confederated together again into a unified body.
Dear god, the 2008 elections can't come soon enough... |
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| AFF 2007 Con Report |
[Apr. 5th, 2007|02:24 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  happy | ] |
I'm going to make this entry public, just because... well... it's pretty much public information anyway, and I do want people who aren't on my friends list to be able to view the entry, too.
Anyway, without further ado, here's my ( uber-long AFF 2007 Con Report. ) |
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| Moving to (mostly) friends-only |
[Feb. 28th, 2007|03:18 pm] |
Just FYI, from here on I intend to make most of my journal updates that have any kind of personal information in them friends-only. This is not because of any kind of motivating event or other er... nasty things happening. (And I don't really want to wait for something nasty to happen to become the motivational force behind this decision.)
I just think that with the Internet being as hostile a place as it is and will likely forever be, I don't need to be sharing anything personal with random joe-schmoe on the web. Yes, this does mean that if you don't know me, you won't have much of a chance to get to know me through these entries. Sorry about that.
If you are not on my friends list and would like to be, feel free to leave a comment in this entry. |
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| Turn about is fair play |
[Dec. 20th, 2006|09:05 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
So... last night Teeka and I were up much later than we should have been finishing out a long quest sequence in an instance in World of Warcraft with some guildies. I didn't get to sleep until about 2:00am; But that's another matter...
This morning at about 5:00am after I did one of those wake-slightly-up-to-roll-over maneuvers in bed, I hear Teeka roll over and say (very intelligibly, I might add):
"Yeah, but don't we have to get that thing for that one quest still?"
"That... um... thing..."
"Man, I can't seem to think of anything right now."
At which point I realize she's totally asleep, and decide to see if she'll talk with me, so I say, "That's because you're asleep."
She mumbles a bit... and then a few moments later:
"Hehe! Murrrr!"
*pause*
(and then whispered loudly) "You guys are really comfy."
*pause*
*snore*
I was amused, but tiredness kept me from simply laughing out loud.
...
And now I *really* want to know what she was dreaming about. >:D |
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| Salvation Army = PETA of human charities? |
[Dec. 6th, 2006|12:38 pm] |
So...
In the last couple days, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) teekachu and later slysquirrel made reference to this LJ post lambasting the Salvation Army. (Read the post if you want to see why, but they make good arguments, and the few places I've looked to verify the facts seem to corroborate most of the claims made in said entry: It appears the Salvation Army is a proselytizing church receiving public (ie. tax-payer) funds, is legally allowed to discriminate against protected classes in its hiring and promotion practices, and uses some portion of their "charity" income to lobby on capitol hill.)
It's quite disgusting really... The more I look into it, the more the Salvation Army seems like the
PETA of the human-helping charities...
My first impression, therefore, is this is not a "charity" that I want to be supporting. But where's the constructive alternative?
Certainly, the Salvation Army does a lot of good for needy people throughout the United States. And
while they do a lot of ethically-questionable things, and therefore I'd like to boycott them... surely a significant portion of the funds donated to them actually do end up helping people who need help. It feels wrong to me to deny monetary help to people who really need it because the mechanism through which one can provide said help has some... major problems.
So my real point in bringing this up is this question: Do any of you know of more "worthy" larger charities who aren't politically active, don't discriminate against people of alternate faiths or sexualities, and don't try to force a religious agenda down the throats of those they help (with public funds)? Ideally, I think it would be awesome if a humanist/agnostic/atheist charity were in a position to trump the Salvation Army, however I'd be willing to donate to just about any group so long as they don't do any of the above three ethicially-wrong practices.
(And, just for the record, I'm most interested in charities that help humans within the United States with this question, and even better if it's something we've got locally in the Pacific Northwest-- I know there are a ton of great charities which help animals, or people on the other side of the world... but I'm asking about helping humans in my own neck of the woods.) |
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| This surreal moment of the day brought to you by Amazon.com |
[Dec. 5th, 2006|01:57 pm] |
So...
Being a lazy geek, I just made a rather large purchase from Amazon.com for xmas-related gifty-stuff. You know how they always send out confirmation e-mails whenever you make a purchase with them (along with the occasional targeted spam)? That confirmation e-mail was immediately followed in my inbox by a recruiter from Amazon.com wanting me to do a phone interview with them for a position in Seattle later this week.
My first thought was: "What, does the job come free with a large purchase or something?"
It would have been absolutely awesome if the first line of either e-mail was "Save 10% on your next purchase from Amazon.com by becoming a valued employee!" |
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| Busy week! |
[Aug. 13th, 2006|09:08 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  content | ] |
Whew! It's been a busy week for Teeka and I, eh!
On Thursday night, we went to go see Nickel Creek as they performed at the Festival at Sandpoint. I love the band (it's the 4th time I've seen them in concert... and the last time I saw them in concert was when I proposed to my darling wife), but I have to say I was very-much underwhelmed by the venue. Sandpoint, for those who don't know, is kind of a haven for ex-hippies and wannabe-hippy yuppies who've got money. So this festival they throw every summer, trying to be a reflection of the community, is the type where you pay to get in, and the seating is mostly on blankets and lawn chairs on a big field on a first-come-first-serve basis. I can tell that what they were trying for was a close-knit community event, (heck, they don't even have proper parking for the event-- you're supposed to park on the residential streets that surround the venue) but they've vastly outgrown their original intents. Combine this with the fact that they're in it for a profit, which means they're going to oversell the capacity of the place as much as they think they can get away with... Overall, it was like a crappily-planned bumbershoot.
Teeka and I weren't feeling that great when we left for the concert (had to beg her to go, and she agreed, bless her heart), so we got off a bit late. When we got there, we did one drive-by of the place, noticing that we'd have to part about a mile away, and almost wrote the whole thing off right then. We got some food at a local Thai restaurant, and afterward decided we'd give it a go anyway, since we already drove 3 hours to get there (yeah-- all kinds of construction on the highway between Moscow and Sandpoint. :P) When we got in, the only seating available was in the far back left corner on the ground behind an army of hippies sitting in their lawn chairs, sipping the eclectic wines they all brought. Of course, being at the back, we were seated next to the family of 3 screaming kids, and right in front of the rude, beligerent drunks who were talking about three times as loud as the poorly-amplified music, and never ceased talking the entire time they were there. (I mean, really-- who the hell shows up to a concert to have a loud, drawn-out conversation with one of your colleagues about how much you screwed over one of your clients because you sold him an advertising package he obviously didn't understand. You unethical, egotistical prick.)
Nickel Creek took the stage about 45 minutes after they were supposed to and played a lot of their hits from their most recent ("Why should the fire die?") and also their most popular album (their first, self-titled). Thankfully, about half-way through the concert all the hippies around us started to turn into pumpkins and leave (including the assholes shouting their conversation over the music behind us, and the screaming family next to us) (and-- as a side-note-- how rude is it to get up and leave in the middle of a song, half-way through the concert? It's not like they didn't pause to banter with the crowd between every song!), so we actually got to hear the last half of the concert. And it almost made up for the rest of the day-- Nickel Creek is just so awesome. Every one of the songs they played they did a little different than the recorded version; They're so good at musical improv that several times throughout the night we got to hear them transition into different (often pop-music) tunes and lyrics in the middle of one of their own pieces. We got to hear The Fox again, once again different than any previous time I'd heard them do it. And that made me exceedingly happy. :)
So... while I still love my favorite band, and think their performance was good despite the venue, I think it's safe to say that Teeka and I will be avoiding this stupid stinky hippy festival in the future. Had I taken a close look at their tour schedule before buying the tickets, I would have known we could have either gone to Redmond or Boise this weekend to hear them give the same concert, and in a forum that allows one to get guaranteed seating that isn't in the nosebleed "It's OK to be rude because we're far away from the stage" section. (I hate first-come-first-serve seating... especially when I pay $35 a head to get in.)
Stupid... goddamn... hippies...
(And on a side note-- who the hell brings their kids to a musical concert anyway? I realize it's supposed to be a family-friendly environment... where everyone brings vast quantities of various forms of alcohol and imbibes liberally... so much so that the fumes of which are enough to turn the stomach... but really-- I mean... Does anyone else get pissed off at those damned young wannabe-hippy yuppie families who spawned and are in perpetual denial about the fact that child ownership means there are certain events you can go to with your kids, and certain events where you'd be better of hiring a sitter for the night? Who the hell thinks bringing your toddlers to a wailing hippy / bluegrass concert is going to do anything but make the kids bored and cranky, and piss off everyone within earshot?)
Aaanyway. On a whim on Friday night (and also because I promised Teeka we could do anything she wanted this weekend because I'd dragged her to that lousy concert), we decided to head up to Spokane and do... er... stuff. Right now I'm lying next to Teeka in bed in our room in the Red Lion at the Park hotel (which is one of the hotels we're considering for the furry con we're helping to plan for next Spring). It's been a pretty good weekend thus far, if not incredibly eventful. I love spending time with my Teeka... and she's really cute when she's sleeping and snoring quietly. :D
Heh... time to get her up... |
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| New icons 'n stuff! |
[Aug. 7th, 2006|09:51 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | pleased | ] |
Teeka introduced me to the Firefox El Jay Icon maker. I am pleased. :D
Here are a few new ones, eh!
    
Now to go scan in the rest of my con badges... |
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| Back! |
[Aug. 5th, 2006|08:40 pm] |
Whew!
Teeka and I are back after spending a week in beautiful Southeast Alaska on board The Radiance of the Seas Royal Caribbean cruise ship. I'll be trying to catch up on... everything over the next couple of days, but don't know how thoroughly I'll be able to read my friends' LJ entries from this last week. Anything of special importance I should be sure to read?
Also, in the next few days I'll be posting a huge-mega-big update with all the goings on of the cruise stuff, as well as a bunch of the photos we took on the trip. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 5th, 2006|12:46 pm] |
Happy belated Blow Stuff Up Day, everybody! (And especially you fellow denizens of the United States of America.)
The last couple weeks were not really noteworthy at all, excepting of course yesterday-- Teeka and I spent the holiday at the parents of my friend Lord Brad's place. (Now, there's an awkward sentence!) In an odd turn of events, we didn't actually fire off any fireworks this year-- Lord Brad's parents live in the woods and it was dry. And they live next to a county deputy sheriff.
Lord Brad roasted a pig on a spit over a huge brick BBQ. It was very, very tasty, and I do hope we get invited to any similar events in the future. (Of course, just about everything Lord Brad cooks ends up being ambrosia.) Other than that, the afternoon was filled with lots of BSing, and quiet contemplation.
In a rather odd turn for me, over the last week or so I've been thinking a lot about the significance of the 4th of July holiday. I've got to run off to a meeting right now, but if I get time later this afternoon I think I'll try to put some of those thoughts down in a LJ entry. Catch ya later, eh! |
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| Quick update |
[May. 5th, 2006|01:30 pm] |
Yes, it's been forever and a day since I've made a real update to this journal. This isn't one either; I do plan on making a real update this weekend sometime, though. (Stay tuned...)
I just wanted to make this entry... well... because. I get a crapton of spam on my e-mail servers, most of which just gets filtered off to the bit bucket automatically, and some of which ends up in my inbox. I mostly ignore all these... but every once in a while I get something that really does piss me off. Like today, for the second time in the last month I've gotten political spam from Shiela Sorensen (who is a local republican running for a position in the Idaho state legislature).
( What can I say... it annoyed me... ) |
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