SR's random ramblings

Worst Joke Ever

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:21:56 GMT

So, I dreamed last night that I was visiting my family in Boise and my brother
told me a really funny, but really off-color joke having to do with a person's
constitution rights and the death of a horse. He called it the "worst joke
ever."

Well, I didn't want to forget it so I could re-tell it to my coworkers and
friends when I got back home, but I didn't have anything with which to write
it down, so I borrowed a notebook and typewriter-like thing from my mom, who
asked me not to waste much paper there because the notebook contained stories
and other things which were special to her. "No problem," I thought, "I'm an
excellent typist."

Well, it turns out the typewriter didn't have keys in the order I expected,
didn't have tactile feedback (used a flat sheet for the keyboard with no
"feel" for where the keys actually were) and had the letters really close
together. And the placement of the paper was weird, so I couldn't look at it
while I was typing. But I tried anyway to start typing hunt-and-peck method...

"W-O-R-S-T-Space-J-O..."

(Better check the paper to see how I'm doing because I think I missed the "O"
there..."

"Constitution ws"

"What the?" And then typewriter is the sort that doesn't allow you to erase
what you've already typed. No matter though-- it's only one ruined sheet.
It won't matter *too* much if I tear this one off and start again... (and
look, now the letters have changed places on the keyboard...)

"Horse was gonn..."

Weird... I'm sure I didn't type that.

"Cron ml..." (The paper now has a horse watermark on it, which would be
ironically funny if I hadn't typoed the joke already...)

"Blog with bl..." (The paper is now college-ruled...)

"Wconfe enneis..." (And now I've just typed over a story my mom wanted to keep
written back when she was doing church youth camp stuff that was already on
what I thought was a blank page...)

....

Anyway, it goes on like this for a good dozen or so pages, and no matter how
slowly and carefully I type the letters on the crappy, ever-changing keyboard
I somehow am unsuccessful each time of even writing the title of the joke on
the page, let alone the 3 or 4 paragraphs that make up the joke. All the
while, I'm making myself more and more embarrassed about how much of these
precious pages of my mother's that I'm wasting...

And then it occurs to me that I'm dreaming. And then I remember that when
a (sane) person is dreaming, written words will never appear the same way
twice (if you bother to go back and try to read the same thing twice.) Then
I realize the futility of what I'm trying to do.

And then I wake up, somewhat chagrined.

The joke? I don't remember the one about the horse and a person's
constitutional rights anymore. But it occurs to me that at least my
subconscious got a good laugh at my own expense.

"Loyalty Day"? WTF?

Tue, 01 May 2007 20:20:44 GMT

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...

AFF 2007 Con Report

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 21:28:16 GMT

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.

Well, I've been trying to figure out how to go about doing a con report for AFF for the last several days. The problem is I was so tired and a bit dazed throughout most of the con, so it's mostly a blur to me. A happy blur, but a blur nonetheless.

So, I guess I'll just try to hit some of the highlights throughout the days-- I apologize if I leave anyone out in this summary.

Wednesday before the con (28th, I believe), Teeka and I had hoped to leave fairly soon after I got home from work so we could meet up with Moorcat, Zinnthra, and Lupercus who were already in Spokane. I think we were both already a little panicked at the prospect of helping to run a con (which none of us on con staff had had any experience with), so we had a whole bunch of last-minute things to take care of, and didn't end up getting out of the house at 10:30pm. After arriving at the hotel and checking in, we headed over to the Satellite Diner for some food at about 1:30am (since we hadn't had dinner), and discovered the awesomeness of this quintessential late-night greasy spoon. Teeka in particular fell instantly in love with their mozarella cheese sticks.

Thursday morning, after allowing ourselves to sleep in for a bit, I headed over to a local TV sales shop to rent out a VGA-compatible projector which was going to be used for various events the rest of the weekend. In the mean time, Moorcat and Lupercus, along with a squad of volunteers (Tsunari, Leo Drake, and Moorcat's friend Bob who was also the DJ for the dance) dropped off their first load of con supplies at the hotel and went back to the storage unit for another load. When I got back to the hotel, I met up with Jeff (the guy working for the hotel whose job it was to keep us happy throughout the event). My first impression was that this guy was going to be a pain to work with; However he turned out to be a great help in the end, doing spur-of-the-moment changes and listening to our requirements/demands despite our obvious naivety when it comes to running events. One thing I did realize throughout the weekend is that we need to do a more consistent job of communicating with the hotel-- there were a couple times where Jeff had assumed one thing based on a conversation with Moorcat, and I ended up contradicting that based on discussion we'd had as staff.

Anyway, eventually the set-up crew got back from the storage unit with (mostly) art show panels and we got to work setting up that room. It was kind of funny-- Our drawing of the room set-up assumed the panels would be set up in rows, and any intersections of rows of panels would be at 90-degrees. It turns out the panels as given to us by the former Conifur staff (thank you!) are a lot more stable if the rows zig-zag. So... there was a little confusion at first how we were going to set things up. We suffered the "too many cooks in the kitchen" problem for a bit, then I think everyone but Leo Drake and I left the room to go do something else, and Leo had a great idea on how to set up the room. We were mostly done by the time everyone came back. We were short a couple of panels, so a few went off to get those while some of us stayed at the hotel and made sure the registration desk, dealer's room and main event theater were set up and ready to go.

There was surprisingly little set-up to do on the day before the con, and I think next time if I end up being the volunteer coordinator (I hope not-- I'm a computer geek! And I don't enjoy Human Resource-type positions that much.), I think we could do it with fewer people. Still, it was great to see the turn-out of those eager to help.

Thursday afternoon I picked up Wolf Nymph and her boyfriend (Preston) from the Spokane airport and later that evening we all went to our Guest of Honor Dinner at a nearby restaurant called the Europa. They have great italian food, and if I'm ever in the Spokane area around dinner time again, they're definitely an option. I think next year we'll have to be a bit more explicit about the GoH dinner being for the GoH's party, staff, and sponsors/super-sponsors only (and issue tickets)-- while it's great to have people wanting to help out, it became apparent we hadn't budgeted for the number of people wanting to go, so there was an awkward moment when I had to tell about half the guests they were going to have to pay their own way. I don't like doing that sort of thing, so hopefully next time we can do that event a little better.

Friday was the first official day of the con. After the stress and tiredness from setting up the previous day, I couldn't sleep in much. Not that I wanted too-- I was eager to see who had showed up the previous evening. Also, Fire had come down with something nasty the day before the con, so I was preparing to take over her role for the most part in running/tending the Dealers' Den. It didn't take long to help Kiefer set up the registration desk area, nor to read through Fire's paperwork for running the Dealer's Den. (Thank you SO much by the way, Fire and Kiefer-- if it weren't for your organization, I don't think the nuts-and-bolts aspects of the con would have gone nearly as smoothly!) So, since we were ready to go anyway, we went ahead and started processing registrations as well as allowing dealers to set up in the dealers' den. Note for next time: When you only have about 10 dealers showing up on the first day, it doesn't take 3 hours to get them all through dealer reg. and get their tables set up. XD

Shortly after a very brief "Welcome to the Con" session by our illustrious leader and those staffers who weren't tied to their post, Wolf People showed up with their wolf, ready to give their presentation. Since they wanted to show both a powerpoint and video during their panel, I dashed over there and ran the (that is to say, my) computer for them. Things went off without a hitch, and I think everyone who was there enjoyed the presentation, and the chance to associate with Mohawk-- the wolf they brought in.

After that, the time came to open the Dealers' Den to the general con attendees, so things got a little hectic in the dealers' den. Of course, I *did* take advantage of the fact that I was there early in order to get my name in first with a lot of the artists there for badge commissions and whatnot. I think I ended up with about a dozen new badges by the end of the con, and I think they're all great (I'll post them later today after I post this). That's the secret: If you want to make sure you get in first in line for the artists, be on staff! XD

Um... I forget exactly what happened after that. I spent a good portion of the time just tending the AFF support table in the dealers' den, chatting with old friends and meeting new. I especially appreciated the chance to get to know Noriko Miyagami (Kacey Miyagami's wife) and their friend Jeremy. They apparently have had a lot of experience being dealers' den staff at Further Confusion. And while AFF's dealers's den is a tiny fraction of the size of FC's, they had a bunch of great suggestions and stories from working at FC. At points throughout the con, we ended up drafting Noriko into dealers' den shepherding duty as I and other staffers had to run off to do various things throughout the con. Thank you so much for that, Noriko! I know I'd seen Noriko at previous cons (she's got such a stunning appearance, it's hard *not* to notice her), and it was great to have the chance to get to know her a lot better at AFF.

I forget exactly where we ate dinner and with whom on Friday evening... I think it was at the Satellite Diner (we frequented the place a lot throughout the con because it's so convenient and the food was fantastic). I know I didn't get to bed nearly as early as I would have liked...

Anyway, Saturday morning I had to get up especially early to meet Jeff to set up and run the Cartoons and Cereal event. I was glad Jeff took my suggestion to double the amount of cereal he bought for the event-- it turns out we had enough for everyone without too many leftovers. The cartoon selection came from yours-truly's video library (which was one of the things I was packing on Wednesday that got us off to a late start). Most of the cartoons I showed were from the late 80's early-90's genre, with a couple older and newer ones thrown in. Next time I'll have to see if I can locate some Thudercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or He-man. Because nothing bolsters the appetite quite like seeing Skeletor in a speedo.

Again, things get hazy for me shortly thereafter as the con got under-way full-force. We had a fairly full dealers' den on Saturday, and things were fairly active in that room for most of the day. (Which is not bad considering we only had 14 tables in there.) I understand that most of the artists did pretty well with sales, especially considering how small our con is compared to the giants. I do hope most of them felt it was worth their while to get a table and will want to do it again next year.

Throughout the day I bounced around a lot between the Dealers' Den, Registration Table, and Art Show. I was happy also to see we got some really awesome art in the show, and a good portion of it ended up selling. When we first started talking about doing this con and having an art show in it, I didn't expect anything to get enough bids to warrant it going to the live auction. I was happily proven wrong as two of the pieces (both Kacey Miyagami's work) did.

Saturday evening, a bunch of us hastily pulled together a group of dinner-goers and vehicles and caravanned the 6-7 blocks to a nearby Chili's. They were surprisingly able to seat us fairly quickly (in three groups of 4 all seated within conversation distance). I was lucky enough to be at the girl-artists' table with Teeka, Marci McAdam, and Foxy Fennec. I'd never had the chance to socialize much with Marci (when she's working in the dealers' den she seems so involved in her work and so professional I would feel awkward just starting up a small-talk conversation). And actually-- I think Marci was fairly surprised that she didn't have a huge possie of fan-boys and -girls following her around the con that she felt a little out of place. I do hope we'll be able to correct that in future years.

Toward the end of dinner, someone pulled out a pen and applied it to a napkin, and a moment later a full-scale Chili's Art Jam was underway. I think Wicked Sairah, Marci, Teeka, and Foxy ended up drawing together on 3 napkins before we were shooed out of there by Chili's staff... I'll have to get Teeka to post a link to scans of the napkins in her journal soon.

Right after dinner, Teeka and I headed down to the dance for a few minutes to see how things were going. I was only there for about 15 minutes (and helped get Jeff and a few others to move the headless lounge to a closet that was much closer to the dance itself), but what I heard sounded fine and it looked like people were having a lot of fun. The $70 in dance light rentals we spent seem to have gone a long way. I understand there were some complaints about the quality of the music selection (or, at least, the relevance to the con demographic). We'll try to get some stuff more relevant to our audience's taste next year, eh. (I *do* want to thank the DJ, Bob, for coming out and doing it for us though-- he also helped a lot with setting up and tearing down the art show and other rooms before and after the con.)

After that, most of the people from dinner came up to our room to hang, art-jam, and socialize. We put on Pirates of the Caribbean II and shortly thereafter Arcanix gave me the best back massage I think I've ever had. People who seem like they should know always tell me my back is always really tense and full of knots. I imagine with the stress of the con, it was doubly-so for me. But man did he do a good job-- my back felt all warm and glowing for about a half hour afterward.

Sunday morning we actually got to sleep in for a little while, which was exceedingly nice. Sunday was actually a pretty slow day for us, as the con was winding down, and there were only a few events scheduled for the day. I got to help Teeka out with the art auction, and then afterward when we realized we had almost no idea how to run a benefit auction, Samwise came through with flying colors and devised a system in the spur of the moment which ended up working very well. At the benefit auction itself, we sold a large portion of the plushies that Conifur had donated to us along with the rest of their equipment, and ended up making about $160. This is not much considering the total cost of the con (All Fur Fun was the benefactor this year-- with the idea that we wanted to raise some money to help us be able to hold a con next year. Next year we'll probably have a real charity for the event). Next year we'll also put a shout out for donations for the charity auction well in advance of the con, so we don't just have second-hand plushies and some last-minute donated art to sell.

After that I attended the feedback session where we got to thank everyone for coming out to our little shin-dig. As has been stated elsewhere, All Fur Fun almost didn't happen because we had a hard time finding a hotel we could afford that would meet our needs (but our fearless leader didn't give up, and came through with a hotel that worked pretty well for us). Also, we decided from the start that we'd be happy with 40 people attending, and would hope for 50-60. We got 110 in the end, which I think greatly exceeded anything we'd let ourselves hope for.

I was surprised at the feedback session that there weren't more complaints about how we ran the show, or about the hotel. We did come away with a few suggestions for how we can improve next year (which we're taking very seriously), but overall the message we got was, "We love you guys! You did a great job! And we're coming back next year, so you'd better hold another AFF in 2008!" Let me tell you-- with as much work as we put into it, with as much as we stressed over it and worked hard to make it happen... that was about the best thank-you we could have received!

And that was the official end of the con. Those of us on staff and a few volunteers went ahead and started tearing down the art show and other rooms to turn things back over to the hotel. Once we were done with that, a group of us headed over to Sushi.com and had a meal there. Apparently a few people got sick from the tuna afterward, but otherwise the food was good. I was especially happy I got the chance to hang out with Phil Geusz for most of the evening and chat. He's really an awesome person and a stellar writer-- and he's lived a life with more interesting experiences than 10 average people will ever experience in their lives. We talked for hours about all kinds of stuff, being interrupted here or there to say goodbye to friends who were heading home or Teeka doing her patented and trademarked "Annoyingly cute, and cutely annoying" (tm) thing. Later a bunch of us went over to the Satellite for a late-night snack... then Arcanix and Vega Fox came up to our room to hang out.... and then all too soon we went to bed, and the con experience was pretty much over.

A couple of post-con thoughts:

When Teeka first came to me with the idea she and Moorcat had dreamed up of doing a furry convention in the Spokane area (in the wake of FFNW's cancellation), I never would have thought that just 8 months later we would actually be holding the event itself, nor that it would have been such a smashing success. We had a few very uncertain times (eg. when looking for a candidate hotel), but in the end were able to work things out. It was really gratifying to me to see just how well the staff Teeka and Moorcat were able to recruit worked together, helped each-other out when someone got over-burdened, and otherwise came together as a team (in the ideal way they always mean things to happen in those work-related seminars failing companies spend a lot of money sending their disgruntled employees to).

In the end, though, we definitely couldn't have done it if it weren't for our attendees-- they put enough faith in our efforts to take a chance and come out to Spokane for a weekend of furry fun and frolicking. A con is not a con if people don't show up. And what a time we all had!

I'd also want to thank all the volunteers who came to put in time and energy into seeing the con happen. I know we over-estimated the amount of help we'd need this year, and I apologize for that (I'm rather inexperienced in coordinating volunteers), but do know that we really appreciate your willingness to help, even if we didn't always have an interesting job for you to do.

So... next year? Hmmm... well, to be honest, I don't think many of us StAFFers had put a whole lot of thought into next year's AFF convention before last week. We just didn't let ourselves hope. But now the overwhelming thought is that we definitely, definitely are going to make it happen next year, too!

I thought we'd get a chance to take a break for a few weeks and let things calm down for a while... but we've got a lot of paperwork to go through, checks to send to artists, taxes to file, and a lot of other busy-work. Not to mention the fact that we've already started making plans for AFF 2008. Our convention planners' mailing list is almost as busy now as it was in the week before the con!

Speaking of which-- if you have suggestions for AFF 2008 and haven't had a chance to tell them to us yet, please do so! Probably the most reliable way to reach us is to either leave a message on the AFF Forum or use the Contact Us page on our web site.

We're really excited, eh! And we hope to see you all at All Fur Fun 2008!

Moving to (mostly) friends-only

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:23:42 GMT

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.

Turn about is fair play

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:13:18 GMT

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

Yay for bandwagons!

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 19:41:19 GMT

Xmas Stocking

leave a gift for sr_foxley

get your stocking

Salvation Army = PETA of human charities?

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:38:18 GMT

So...

In the last couple days, 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.)

On the sixth day of christmas...

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:05:46 GMT

Yay for semi-frequent LJ updates, eh!

...

Well, Ok, frequent for me.

So, starting from about where I left off last time...

This Thanksgiving, much to my parents' chagrin, Teeka and I decided we would spend the time in Seattle with our many friends there instead of at home, with my ueber-huge family.

We stayed in the "Comfort Suites Seattle Center" (which we highly recommend to anyone who needs to stay in the Seattle area, and doesn't have a couch they can crash on, or don't want to impose on friends living in the area already). We got off to a late start mostly because I spent most of the day leading up to the time we were going to leave trying to get World of Warcraft running under Linux (I got it working, but it was still choppy enough that I decided to just turn my laptop into a dual-bootingwintendo/linux box over the break. I managed to get this set up by the end of the holiday, but it turns out there wasn't any time for WoW then anyway, thank goodness. :)

For the record, Pronto Pizza delivers at 2:30am, and their pizzas and sandwiches are very nummy.

Thursday (Thanksgiving) after sleeping in until noonish, Teeka and I hit Fred Meyers for some groceries and burnable CD's, then headed over to wicked_sairah's and blueroo's place for some awesome Thanksgiving goodness. We caught up on old times while helping to prepare the meal (a little-- Sairah and the 'roo did an awesome job with the meal and hosting and whatnot). Eventually a bunch of people showed up (I think doc_mcdowell, calypte, jurann, K'sharra and someone else whose name I don't remember off-hand), and much goodness was had all around.

Notes from Thanksgiving:

Robot Chicken is friggen hillarious

Serenity is a great movie

Gourmet mustard from Buffalo, NY is TEH BOMB! (Blueroo-- you'll have to tell me the name of the place again, and whether they've got some kind of online or phone ordering system in place.)

Shiba Inus are extremely bouncy, but totally lovable and funny, too.

Mostly, I was really happy to be able to hang out with Blueroo and Sairah again... It's been so long, and things ended on such a sour note when we left Seattle. I guess time is healing those wounds, too.

Friday, after again sleeping in liberally, Teeka and I eventually picked up her long-time friend gibbouswolf and then her room-mate jyuu_chan for some hangin' out and arting goodness back at the hotel. We ordered a taco pizza and watched Taladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (which was surprisingly funnier than it had any right to be). Eventually we were joined by kliefox and lazalanti and generally had a good time. Jennifer drew some of the most cute little sketches of people in the hotel room (it was to squee for, really).

That evening, we all headed down to the Purple Dot Cafe for some late-night chinese eats. We were joined by foxcutter, xodiac and eventually doc_mcdowell and calypte. Although the food wasn't quite as good as I remember it being, I think we all had a good time. And it was great to just be able to catch up on the times with everyone there, eh.

Saturday, again, after sleeping in liberally (we loooooves the sleepin' in thing!) Teeka and I hit Uwajimaya for lots of asian-snacky goodness and then head south to firesplace and kieferskunk's place. I have to admit I was really impressed with the find they've made with their new home: Teeka and I would feel very lucky indeed if we could land something as sweet. When we got there, kiri33 was there, and eventually we were again joined by foxcutter and xodiac. To our surprise and joy marbled_genet and crashka had apparently burned rubber earlier in the week with their move from the east coast, and had arrived in the Vancouver, WA area earlier than expected. Instead of taking a break like sane people, they decided to jump in the car again and head north to meet up with us all at Fire and Kiefer's place. (And we are *really* happy they did! They're soooo awesome!) That evening, all of us decided to go out for sushi at Fire and Kiefer's favorite sushi place in Redmond. It did not disappoint! (We *so* miss sushi and bubble tea where we live here in Moscow.) That evening, those of us non-locals crashed at Fire and Kiefer's place.

Sunday, after once again sleeping in (can you sense a theme here?), Teeka and I enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the skunk and unicorn's place, got to see some of the truly awesome gameness of Kiefer's X-box 360, and then we finally said our goodbyes and headed out... only to get caught by the crappy weather on the pass. It was an interesting trip home (our average speed up the pass was 10 mph), but we made it safely, if rather late. Our kitties had missed us, of course, and weren't stand-offish for too long. Still, the extra-long drive home gave Teeka and I plenty of opportunity to talk about all kinds of stuff, and come to a couple of decisions about things...

And one of the things we decided is that we are probably going to be looking seriously about moving in the near future. There are a number of reasons for this:

Teeka is pretty lonely living in Moscow, Idaho. While we do have a few friends in the area with whom we occasionally do stuff, we very much miss everyone we left out in Seattle when we moved. True, we don't live *that* far away-- but a 5-hour drive (also over a mountain pass) makes the occasional weekend visit a chore, and really, just doesn't happen.

And although I don't show it that much, I'm somewhat lonely myself. But probably not as much as Teeka.

Teeka and I were utterly dumbfounded by the number of people who went out of their way to be able to visit and hang out with us over Thanksgiving. Apparently some of y'all miss us, too! ;)

I'm in a dead-end job here in Moscow. My marketable skills are atrophying, and... well, I don't get any satisfaction out of my job anymore. To be honest, my work performance has been really lacking, even considering what little I have to do here-- I'm actually to the point where occasionally I'd like them to simply fire me so I'd have more of an excuse to move on with my life. And the area in which I've accumulated the most experience and qualifications for... well, those jobs are generally only found in or near larger cities.

Once we've discovered the nature of Teeka's health problems, and hopefully a way to treat them, Teeka will have a much easier time finding work in a more populated area.

Obvously, if we lived, say, within a couple-hour drive of Seattle, and not over the pass, we'd have a much easier time doing those weekend visits and stuff.

So... Teeka and I are thinking we want to move to the Portland, OR or Vancouver, WA area. We've thought about Seattle, but really don't think we'd ever be able to afford it or be able to buy a place we'd *want* to live in that didn't entail an hour-or-longer commute to work. Among the biggest reasons we left the Seattle area in the first place were:

Housing prices are insanely high. And if you want to own a place you actually want to live in and can afford, you're looking at an hour+ commute to your job.

Everything is so damned expensive in the city...

<Marlon-Brando voice>The traffic... the traffic... the traffic...</Marlon-Brando voice>

I hate to say it, but people are generally rude and mean to each other in big cities.

I'm not sure there's much we can do about that last point above no matter which population center we decide to move to. We're steeling ourselves up for it, though, and think we will be able to deal with it.

Yes everything is expensive in a big city. But the key is to be aware of your finances and not live beyond your means. And also, not to sell yourself short with how much you are demanding to be paid to work at a given job. (I realize now that this may have been my biggest mistake in moving to Seattle-- I far underestimated how much it would cost me to live there, which also means I far underestimated how much my employer should have been paying me to live there.)

I'm not sure how bad the traffic is around Portland, but I suspect it's better than in the Seattle area. If any of you have input on this, we'd love to hear it.

But mostly... Teeka and I want to own our home. We really, really don't want to be dealing with a landlord again, or flushing our money down the toilet paying rent (for very long-- we realize we might have to rent for a half year or so once we move.) We absolutely refuse to get ourselves into the situation again where we are consistently paying more each month than our income... we absolutely will not live in such a way that perpetually drives us deeper into debt. And housing prices vs. salary in a given area are a key indicator of whether we'll be able to do that. From the looks of the housing prices around Portland and some typical salaries for the area, we'd be able to live comfortably in a home we want to live in, given the right job (which appears to be within reach).

So... long story short, I've updated my resume and have been sending it out to companies in the Portland area. I've had a few bites... and a few companies who've come out of the woodwork to ask about hiring me (several in the Seattle area... and various other non-Portland areas around the United States... grrr!). But if any of y'all have any input on the above, or know of any hot jobs in the Portland area, we'd love to hear it!

This surreal moment of the day brought to you by Amazon.com

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:57:09 GMT

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!"

Just when you thought you were rid of me...

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:14:14 GMT

Let's see, it's been... 3 months since my last update?

No problem! Now where to begin...

I suppose the first thing I ought to mention is probably the thing that has been consuming the most of my free time lately, and is largely the reason why I haven't updated in the last three months:

I've made vague mention of the fact that Teeka and I are helping to plan a furry con that's going to happen in this area next year. I know this is a lame excuse, but part of my reason for not wanting to post was because I wanted to say something about this con, but only after there is something *to* say...

Well, last Thursday evening we went live with our public web site, so there's a lot to say now. Check out:

http://www.allfurfun.com/

Kiefer and I have been doing most of the coding on this site (and really-- Kiefer mostly, especially lately. I'm pretty impressed with how quickly and reliably he's been able to put together the registration system and whatnot that make the site itself pretty useful).

For those of you who haven't bothered to click the above yet, the con is happening in Spokane, WA on March 30 - April 1, 2007. It is a first year con, and we have high hopes for it; The team of staff we've pulled together to work on it are just awesome-- things are coming together quickly, and it looks like it's going to be a smashing success! There's still a lot to do, and several unknowns; But we're working hard and should have most of this stuff figured out, probably in a matter of weeks or less.

Of course, this being the first time I've been on con-planning staff, I've been learning a lot about what it takes to make something like this happen. It's certainly anything but easy; Hopefully none of the mistakes we're undoubtedly making will be show-stoppers for us. I don't think they will be though-- we've got a lot of smart, hard-working people putting this together and so far we've been able to overcome all the challenges we've faced with it (and there have already been a few big ones... it's really hard to get a good hotel for a first year con, where you can't give the hotel staff very good numbers as far as expected attendance up front... but somehow we've managed to do so.)

If you've got some free time toward the end of March next year, we hope to see you there, eh! :)

Anyway, enough shameless plugging for now.... what else...

Teeka's been in school most of this fall, and she's doing very well in it. (Actually, she's doing a VTD assignment right now as I type this. xD ) Of course, some of the medical problems she's been having have made things all the more difficult for her. But she's still managing to get the work done and is (I think) still getting good grades in all her classes, despite not being able to attend classes very often. We've been seeing the doctor a lot over the last few months and undergoing several different diagnostic procedures to hopefully find out what's up with her digestive system. Nothing definite has surfaced so far. That's been discouraging of course-- if we knew what it was, we'd at least have a clue how to treat it. But, we're sticking with it. The last thing we want is for this to develop into something far more serious than it appears to be, so we'll keep seeing the specialists and whatnot until we know what it is. Wish us luck, eh!

Um.... lesseee....

Teeka and I have started playing some World of Warcraft again (although we've not had the time to touch it in about a week. :P) We're on Vek'nilash now, for those interested in gaming with us on occasion. Horde side, of course. ;)

The elections of last week have both pleased and disappointed me in many respects. Overall, I'm glad to see the democrats win both houses of congress. In all honesty, I'm not sure how much they can accomplish with Bush still in the president's seat. But at least we've got some checks-and-balances restored to our government. Hopefully they'll be able to prevent him from screwing things up any worse than they are, at least until he's outta there...

If nothing else, it was awesome to see the sheer turn-out for an off-year election like this. It seems people actually do care about the direction this country is headed...

On that note... I'm not generally a very politically-minded person... but it seems to me that our two-party system has really been the enemy of progress in this country for probably 30+ years at this point. I would like nothing more than to see laws enacted which would prevent the current political parties from growing so large and having such an overwhelming influence on the elections we have. It sickens me to live in a state where almost always all the candidates with an "R" after their name on the ballot are handed an automatic win. It also sickens me to hear "I voted straight democrat this year because I hate Bush." By removing party affiliation, people would actually be forced to get to know what a given candidate actually believes, and how they stand on the issues and make their voting decision based on that. We might actually have a hope of getting better legislation passed, and earnestly considered in congress, rather than the balance always tipping to the political views of whichever party happens to be in power at the moment, our representatives being more worried about losing face among those of their political party than actually representing the views of the people they were elected to represent.

I really, really hope that our new congress is able to pass some reform laws, both affecting current unethical lobbying practices (which favor those with deep pocketbooks), campaign finances, and even campaign tactics... it should be a criminal offense to do some of the things done by... er... a certain party struggling to retain power this year (eg. robo-calling misrepresenting themselves as the opposing party, voter intimidation, etc.)

I know such things are probably far from becoming a reality. But I do have hope, eh...

...

Moving on...

Well, there really isn't much to report on for the last 3 months for me, I suppose. Oh yes! I was interviewed last week for a job with another company in town here. The work I would be doing would certainly be more interesting that what I do now, however, there are pros and cons to both positions... I'd almost certainly get paid a lot more in the position I'm probably going to get an offer for this week; However I'd also have a lot less vacation time, and work might occasionally chase me home on evenings and weekends. In my "old" age, I'm discovering that having more money is far less important to me than being able to spend time with my most beloved one, doing whatever we want to do at the time (which, usually means playing computer or video games, if we're not doing something productive together. ;) I'm reserving judgement until I actually get an offer, of course... but... eh... we'll see.

And... um... I think that's it for now. I should really make another color post soon.

I get around...

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 21:04:39 GMT

Because I'm bored...

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Busy week!

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 16:48:18 GMT

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...

New icons 'n stuff!

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 04:54:07 GMT

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...

The cruise report

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 07:56:41 GMT

Check out the LJ entry we made in Teeka's journal about our Alaskan Cruise!

Back!

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 03:43:48 GMT

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.

It's been an interesting two weeks...

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 02:39:05 GMT

It certainly has been in interesting couple of weeks for Teeka and I!

So, the week of July 9th, Teeka and I spent on a "suprise" vacation for my dad that my mom planned. We drove down to Boise on the 9th (6 gallons for 300 miles! I love you, Prius!) and spent the night at my oldest sister and brother in law's place. While there, I was able to catch up on things somewhat with my younger brother, who has recently returned after being a misssionary in Japan for two years.

Monday morning, Teeka, my siblings, their spouses and I all headed over to the airport really early in order to beat my parents there. My mom had told my dad that she was taking him on a surprise vacation for his 60th birthday, but refused to give any details other than he should bring his biking and rock climbing gear. This was around 8 months in the planning for my mom, and I'm very happy to report that we did manage to pull off the surprise. All the girls boarded the plane first while the boys went to go see an early showing of Pirates of the Caribbean II (our flight left later that day). While us boys were en-route to Calgary, Alberta, I'm told the girls went to the Calgary zoo. Once the whole family was together in Calgary we all boarded a bus to drive the hour and a half to Banff national park, where we checked into the Fairmont Hotel at Banff Springs (despite a several hour power outage that was leaving the town in the... er... twilight of the far north).

The hotel (which was built around 75 years ago from rock quarried in the area) look like a castle. It was definitely a high-class place; somewhere Teeka an I don't often have the chance to stay (thank goodness my parents were footing the bill!) The only complaint I have about the place is that our bed rather sucked-- it felt like two concrete slabs with a few springs stuffed between them for good measure. (Then again, I suppose Teeka and I are rather spoiled by our bed at home. :)

That evening we ate at the Waldhouse German-themed restaurant. Having lived in Germany for 2 years, I can tell you that there wasn't much german about the menu there, although the food was excellent (even if it did take a while, thanks to the power outage).

The following morning I got up early to go horseback riding with several of my siblings. This... well... could have been better. We were delayed by about an hour and a half getting under-way, and the ride just wasn't all the fun. The horses were definitely dude horses: Each one seemed to always want to stick its nose into the ass of the horse in front of it. But I did have a good time anyway.

That afternoon I got a chance to do a little shopping in downtown Banff before and after our dinner. As far as tourist towns go, you could certainly do far worse than Banff! The shops they had were actually fairly interesting, and everyone was friendly and eager to please. And multi-lingual. I'd guesstimate that probably 1/3 of the tourists in the Banff area are from non-North-American countries (Japan, mostly). I bought myself a nifty new fly-fishing hat. :)

That evening's dinner was had at the Grizzly House Fondue restaurant. I got the "exotic fondue dinner" (which I actually cooked on a 600-degree flat rock they brough to the table instead of a pot of hot oil). Of the Shark, Alligator, Rattlesnake, Ostrich, Frog Legs, Buffalo and Venison I tried, I have to admit that I didn't care much for the ostrich or rattlesnake, but the frog leg, venison and especially the shark were awesome. :)

Wednesday the 12th we did lunch at a local sushi restaurant (where I managed to up-end my bowl of miso soup on my lap and) where the meal was good but not stellar. I've definitely had much better sushi. Later that afternoon we all went on an hour-long float trip down the Bow river. This was supposed to have "category 2" rapids, and while the river was fast moving, the only "rapid" we saw was a slighly enlarged ripple from a deeply submurged rock. Again, for a family that has rafted the Salmon river near Riggins Idaho together, this was a total joke (not that the Salmon River is incredibly exciting, but at least they do have a decent rapid or two). At one slow-moving part a couple of my brothers (and one in-law) and I decided to liven things up a bit by jumping into the 38-degree water. Yes, it was cold, but not really that bad. :)

Dinner that evening was at the snooty French restaurant downtown: Le Beaujolais. Teeka and I both did the 6-course meal they had there, and it was very, very tasty indeed. (I got to try fiddle-heads, eh!)

Thursday I went with my dad and a few of my siblings on a guided fishing trip on the Bow river. Let me tell you: Alaska fishing this wasn't! Out of all 9 of us who went (in 3 different groups, I think all of us were fly fishing) the only one who caught anything was by brother Tony, and the brown he pulled in measured a whopping 5 inches. Still, I had fun; and I gather that our guide was the best of the three. I was able to improve greatly on my roll cast. (I've mostly fly-fished on calm lakes and ponds before, where unless you've got a lot of high vegetation at the shoreline, roll casting isn't necessary.)

That night we did the "Oh Canada Eh!" dinner show in Canmore. It was a total hoot: The waiters and waitresses participate in the show, singing and dancing at various times throughout the 2 hour meal/performance. Yes, it was extremely cheesy and stuff, but it was also hillarious and a lot of fun. Eh? Eh!

Friday we all boarded the bus bright and early to head back to Calgary for the flight home. Unfortunately, once we were under way we found out the plane we were supposed to be flying back on was being repaired. Apparently during the 100-hour maintenance of the plane one of the mechanics accidentally attached a couple of the struts backward, and there was some buckling and damage caused when it was loaded with a full 5000 pound load of fuel for the flight. All kinds of fun. Glad they found the problem on the ground, eh! Anyway, this essentially boiled down to the fact that we were going to be stuck in Calgary for an extra day. (Yep, apparently Teeka and I take our travel-luck with us wherever we go. :P)

By the time we made it to Calgary, after many phone calls to travel agents, family members at home, etc. we had a hotel to stay at, a few rental vehicles, and arrangements for our flights home the next day. After checking into the hotel, several of us packed back into the rental cars to attempt to dash across town to catch the tail end of the world-famous Calgary Stampede. No offense to all you Calgary residents out there, but I have to say I wasn't all that impressed. The place struck me more as an over-grown county fair than anything else. I suppose it didn't help that we arrived just in time to miss the actual rodeo part of the rodeo, and had to leave to get to our dinner reservation before the next rodeo show was supposed to start. It was hot, stuffy, and otherwise unpleasant. I think I'll watch it on T.V. next time, if ever.

That night we ate at a Calgary steakhouse recommended by the hotel staff. Overall it was a pretty good meal, eh. Alberta beef is yummy! :D

After dinner we did a little shopping before taking most of the girls to go see Pirates of the Caribbean II (again, for the guys). The only thing I have to say about that: Why is it the cover art on most U.S. novels suck so bad? The entire collection of Terry Pratchet discworld books had beautiful art on the covers, unlike the boring crap on my U.S. versions!

The following morning the girls left bright and early while the boys went down to check out the Calgary Zoo. As far as zoos go, this wasn't bad, although it wasn't stellar, either. Check out the San Diego, the Henry Doorly or St. Louis zoos if you want a really cool zoo to see. Still, they did have a Caribou with humongous antlers, which is pretty unique. Afterward we caught our flight back to Boise and the next day Teeka and I drove home.

Overall it was an awesome trip, and Teeka and I are really grateful to my parents for footing the entire bill. Banff is an awesomely beautiful area to visit. To all you rock climbers out there: You'd be hard pressed to find an area with as many and as varied places to climb.

And now... Teeka and I are really looking forward to this weekend when we leave on our much-delayed honeymoon: A cruise from Seward, AK to Vancouver, BC!

And beyond that vacation, the Drama Llama has struck the Moscow, Idaho area recently. Drama, drama, Llama!.

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:59:20 GMT

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!

"I'm alive" and other startling facts

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:42:35 GMT

Well, Ok, I guess that isn't that startling. But it is a fact.

Wow, I can hardly believe it's been a month since my last entry-- time just seems to fly on by!

Anyway, as usual, Teeka and I had a good, if uneventful month. In fact... I can't even think of one particular event that's happened during that time that merits individual noting...

Hmmm... So, for lack of anything else to say, I will say the Teeka and I are kicking ass and taking names! She's started putting a lot of time into making avatars to sell in SecondLife. (Check them out and buy one!) I think she's having a lot of fun doing so, and they seem to be selling better than her plushies have been selling. And it's always encouraging to be making money, eh.

I've been putting a lot of time into a programming project which, well, I've been meaning to do for about 5 or 6 years now. It's a helluva lot of work; Y'all probably won't see a public beta of what I'm working on for several more months yet. But it's really fulfilling to me to be working directly on something that has been a life-long ambition for some time now. I won't say what it is right now (don't want to ruin the surprise, eh. ;) other than to say I'm also learning a lot about different web technologies in the process. Fun, fun!

Teeka and I have also started exercising again. And we've been doing a good job sticking with it this time-- Intense DDR sessions for a half hour about 3-4 times per week. So far we both haven't really lost much weight (we've not changed our diet much-- just cutting down on soda intake and some of the more unhealthy foods), but I think we both feel better and more fit.

We've worn out the soft (and very crappy) Red Octane DDR pads I bought a couple years ago (we're getting almost as many errors as good inputs from them at this point), so a couple weeks ago I ordered a couple Gamesis GS-9300 pads. They got here last Thursday... and I could immediately tell they were crap. Don't believe the site: They're claiming the pads' frames are made of 100% stainless steel, and the pads can handle a 600lb+ player. The truth is the pads' frames are made of a thin stainless-steel sheet that's been bent and welded into shape, but the all-important base-plate is made of cheap plywood. It's a Very Bad Thing if I can easily bow the dance pad using just my bare hands. And the button triggering mechanism? Don't get me started. When will the DDR pad manufacturers finally figure it out that aluminum tape + a small charge grid = one of the worst and least-durable ways to activate a foot-triggered switch? Apparently pretty-much all the commercial high-end DDR pad manufacturers do it this way... well, all except one...

The one good thing about this pad is the reseller has been very cool about letting me return them thus far. The pads will arrive back at their place tomorrow, and then we'll see what kind of refund I get. (And how ferociously I pursue the task of ruining the manufacturers name among the online DDR crowd.)

In the mean time, I've ordered a couple of new dance pads (which should hopefully be able to withstand this 275lb dancing fool jumping around on them) from Cobalt Flux. These are just a little bit more expensive than the pads I bought from Keepgaming.com (which were already damned expensive-- and ludicrously priced considering the quality of their product), but from everything I'm reading about this company and their products online, these are *the best* home-use DDR pads in the industry right now. And heck, if they can handle an enthusiastic fan running over his pad with several different cars, then immediately playing and scoring well on a difficult song with the same pad right afterward, well, then I'm pretty sure they'll handle my mediocre efforts. :)

Um... and that's the month.

During July, Teeka and I will be going on two different week-long vacations, both of which will take us out of the country at least once. (Well, kinda-sorta. It *is* Canada, after all.) We'll take cameras, of course, and hopefully the pictures we take will eventually end up on the web, eh. :)

Edit: Actually, there is one unusual thing that happened this last month...

This last week I was contacted by my old friend tarcel, who I hadn't really e-mailed, IMed, or otherwise communicated with in about 5 years. (And I was -> <- this close to getting away from him entirely. ;D Also, I logged into the #transformations channel on irc.menagerie.tf for the first time in about a year... It seems June has so far been the month for rekindling old relationships for me!

An update... again!

Thu, 18 May 2006 21:21:32 GMT

So, I guess it's been... what... about 3 months since I made a real update to this journal?

A lot can happen in 3 months...

...unless you live in Moscow, Idaho. :D

So, I've been racking my brain over the last couple weeks trying to decide what I should put in this thing other than, "Nothing much happened." And... well... mostly I've come up blank.

So... Um... stuff. And things. And er...

Oh! Toward the beginning of April, doc_mcdowell and Caly came out for a few days to y'know, do the hangin' out things. It was a lot of fun; I got to introduce Doc and Caly to Raclette. That weekend we went hiking to Elk River Falls (which was fun, even though Caly was the only one with enough sense to bring along some water to drink.) Pictures can be seen here.

(As a parenthetical, I shall eventually be putting more stuff on my gallery.)

Hmmm... toward the end of March, teekachu and I went to go see my parents in Boise for a couple days. Got to see a kick-ass hockey game with them while we were there. I have to admit: I don't really care much about sports (and hockey is no different). However, there are few things as fast-paced and exciting as a good, live hockey game. And it's always fun when you totally trounce the opposing team. :)

Lesseee... Oh! For those of you who haven't heard, Teeka and I will be going on a "real" honeymoon this summer. Some of you might recall that last year, our wedding date got suddenly moved up due in large part to the absolutely screwed up insurance/health care system we are forced to live with here in the U. S. of A.. One of the results of this was that we didn't have the time or money to plan a truly special honeymoon. Well, we're correcting that now: Starting July 29th, Teeka and I will be taking a week-long cruise along the coast in Alaska and British Columbia / Vancouver Island. We're very, very excited by this. As of two weeks ago we've finished paying for it. Finally got our passports sent to us by the U.S. State Department this week. The only thing we have to do now is get the paperwork from the travel agent, pack, and show up. We're totally pumped!

Um... um... It's kitten season again; Teeka and I are proud foster parents of 5 ky00t widdle kittens for the next couple weeks. They've already been weaned and stuff; Mostly we're involved to help socialize them until they grow big enough for spaying/neutering. So far 3 of the 5 have turned to the Dark Side (ie. we've successfully turned them into little cuddle-monsters). I'm sure we'll be able to turn the last 2 before they're beyond our grasp... Pictures to come... um... soon, I think. I'll post a note when they're up on my gallery above...

Hmmm... the Prius continues to be one awesome little car to drive. I'm getting almost exactly 50mpg from each tank now (which is good, since I have to drive 40 miles a day total, going to and from work.) This is up from about 42mpg when I was using the gas/10% ethanol mix one gas company around here sells. Things to note: For the Prius at least, gas with ethanol in it isn't as efficient as just plain gasoline. I suspect that's probably the case with most engines, since there isn't really anything special about the way the Prius' gas engine works. I have to admit, though, that it weirds me out a little that the Prius is getting better gas mileage than my 2001 Honda Shadow.

Teeka and I have mostly broken our World of Warcraft addiction. I figured we prolly would: Mostly we play games obsessively until we either beat the game or get through most of the content and challenge the game designers have put into the game. Once you have a level 60 character in WoW, the game is all about doing top-level instances. And you can't even do half of these unless you're in an ueber-huge guild that demands (yes, demands) a certain degree of participation (eg. playing 3-4 nights every week, and submitting to some of the stupid-ass guild politics, drama, and other nonsense that go on in these large guilds). So... yeah. After doing Strat a few times and Scholo a few more... it just got boring. So we kinda quit. I do miss the friends we met and played with exclusively through WoW, though. Still paying my subscription fee right now, though, because I'm not totally sure I want to give it up for good. I mean... it took me 25 days to get to 60. (Man-days. That's 25x24 hours of playing what turns out to be a pretty damned repetitive game, despite the size of the playing field, the awesome graphics, etc. It's still about: Go around, kill shit, and make pseudo money so you can get better gear with which to go around killing shit.)

Teeka and I also put our satellite-T.V. subscription on a 6-month hiatus as of about a month and a half ago. We just weren't watching. And we weren't interested in watching.

Lately I've been wanting to do more stuff that matters with my time. Not necessarily being productive: You can be amazingly productive at mind-numbing, pointless things... but, stuff you make memories about or stuff you're proud about years afterward. Stuff that isn't "easy" to do. I know... several different things I want to do. And I'm trying to do them with limited success. I'm hoping I can get myself into the habit of doing stuff that matters, or at least make myself acutely aware of when I'm doing stuff that doesn't matter.

Hmmm... Not entirely sure where that came from. But whatever. In case you couldn't tell, this is really a half-hearted attempt at adding some details to the course of my life over the last few months after the realization over the last couple weeks that... well... while life is good, steady, and calm, it's nothing really to write home about for Teeka and I. :) So... um... yeah, I'm just sort of writing stuff down as it occurs to me.

Teeka and I have also started to do a much, much better job of watching/managing our finances over the last many months. It feels so good to compare the totals we're spending and earning each month, and through that realizing that we're actually, finally, really spending less than we're earning. Which means we're finally able to save money. Which is and exceedingly good thing. (I just hope that Teeka doesn't think I'm being too miserly, or, I dunno... overly thrifty with the way we're spending money.)

And... um... yeah. Teeka and I discovered that Rudy's burgers here in town makes some truly awesome fries. And their burgers ain't bad either.

And... well, I can't think of anything else to say for now. Teeka and I really like having out-of-town guests over to visit (announced, please! We don't really like the, "Hi, I'm on your doorstep now. Entertain me!" kind of visit). Anyone looking for something to do over Memorial Day weekend?

Man... with this weather... we've *so* gotta finally get those fishing poles out this weekend...

Quick update

Fri, 05 May 2006 20:45:46 GMT

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).

The text of her spam was about the same as the rest of the political tripe you see running around this state all the time, so I don't think it's all that important to quote it here. But I will share my response:

Dear Shiela Sorensen,

Please remove my name from your e-mail list. I did not opt into this list,
nor would I have if I had the choice. For that matter, I'm curious: From
whom did you purchase my e-mail address?

I have reported the SPAM you sent me to both of the service providers you
used to relay the message to me.

Please note also that I consider your actions regarding this unsolicited
political e-mail to be gross negligence and complete disregard of common
internet courtesy. (Are you even aware that in sending SPAM like this you
are indirectly supporting the economy of those malicious hackers who go
about writing computer viruses which hijack home and coporate machines and
turn them into the bot-nets which then relay spam like this?)

The fact that you consider this to be an ethically responsible means of
promoting your campaign speaks volumes to the level at which you do not
investigate and therefore will not understand the driving forces behind
current issues. (And if you can't even master something as simple as the
cardinal rule of "DO NOT SEND SPAM," do you really think I'd want someone
like you representing me on our state's many other vastly more important
issues?)

Your complete misunderstaing of this issue has bolstered my interest enough
in the coming election to find out who among the various candidates has the
greatest likelihood of beating you and voting for them instead.

Yours hoping for your coming defeat,

<Name withheld from this LJ entry to protect the innocent>

Going through her website just makes the bile rise in the back of my throat. There are many things I like about this state. This person, and those significantly like her, are not among them. (I mean, come on? The bullshit "Legislative Scorecard" which compares her votes on issues with a what amounts to the wishes of a biased group of rich white men in the state? Dear god-- a political parrot like this is the last thing I want in a leadership position in my state!)

Happy Birthday, Teeka!

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:48:18 GMT

My darling wife and mate, my bestest friend in the whole wide world turns 23 today. So....

Happy Birthday, Teekachu!

(And yes, I still choose you! ;D )

Moments in surreality...

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 21:59:54 GMT

So, right about lunch time today my mom called me on the phone. After making some arrangements for a visit Teeka and I will be making to Boise soon, the conversation went something like the following:

Mom: Oh! So, I have to ask you something. Because I've been asking everyone else in the family, and we were sure that you'd remember it: Did you celebrate last Tuesday?

Clueless son: Er... ah... last Tuesday?

Mom: The 14th...

Clueless son: Um... well... ah...

Mom: Oh come on! You have to remember it!

Increasingly embarrassed son: Er... it's the day before (my brother)'s birthday?

Mom: ... yeeeeees... And?

Totally embarrassed son: Um... I think you're gonna have to give me a clue...

Mom: Think of the date: 3/14... and at 1:59pm...

*longish pause*

Embarrased beyond the point of speaking, convinced he's forgotten some vital event of significant familial importance, son: ... er...

Mom: It was pi day!

Son: Er... Pie day?

Mom: You know, p...

Suddenly getting-it-ly, son: Oh! Pi! Yeah, that's right... 1:59pm.. duh!

Mom: Oh, I was sure you would have remembered it. (My younger sister) did!

Son: Heh! Well, I certainly won't forget it again now!

Mom: Yeah... we should have had pie for lunch that day, but I forgot to get a pie.

...

And then the conversation went elsewhere.

So, why the surreality? I'm not the kind of person who phones home very often. The fact is that I rarely call, and probably have contact with the rest of my family members at most once every few months or so...

And today, Pi day was the hilight of our little chat. I am endlessly amused. Next time I talk to my parents after this upcoming visit, I've definitely got to come up with something obscurely appropriate to chide her about. :D

I love you, Mom!

Vroom, vroom!

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 22:20:19 GMT

Wow... weeks just seem to fly by sometimes, eh? And I suppose this update is a bit tardy.

So... What have Teeka and I been up to?

Well, not a whole lot of late, really. Again, one of the repeated themes
you'll probably find in my journal here about life in Moscow is that it's
pretty quiet. Which suits us just fine, I think.

Last weekend Teeka and I got to play host to one of our friends from SecondLife and World of Warcraft: Trip Metropolitan (SL and preferred name). It was great to meet him in person and hang out... and to do stuff in WoW while sitting in the same room. (REALLY helps to coordinate things in a group. :) He was originally only going to stay for 1 or 2 days, but ended up staying for about 4. We certainly enjoyed the company, eh! And we look forward to your next visit, Trip!

And... in other news, we bought a bread-maker a couple weeks ago. We have found that living 5 miles from the nearest grocery store, we usually only go shopping about once every 8-10 days. A loaf of store-bought bread doesn't last that long unless you freeze or refrigerate it (which makes it taste strange). And, we like "home-made" bread, eh. It's easy and has been working out well for us thus far. :) Nummy sammiches all around eh!

Oh-- yeah, I suppose there is one big piece of news to share: Teeka and I have jumped on the bandwagon! Last Friday we took ownership of our new Toyota Prius.

Having owned and driven one nearly every day for a week, here are some of my impressions:

* Eeeeeee! *joygasm*
* This little car handles like a small car, but rides like a mid-size...
* Which, along with the surprising amount of power it has, and the "continuously variable transmission" (ie. no more automatic gear shifts which you don't realize you depended on to know what the car was doing until they're gone) makes it incredibly easy to lead-foot...
* Going 60 feels like going 35. 75 feels like 45...
* The first full-tank fill up I did was less than $20. And we had driven around 400 miles to get the tank empty...
* The nav system is very handy. Map quest Be Gone! It would be nice, though, if the system would allow editing of destinations while the car is moving if it senses a passenger in the front seat.
* Keyless entry/ignition is sexay...
* Wind noise? What wind noise?

And... I think I might be able to fit my bass into the thing with the back seats folded down. I'll have to try that this week...

Eeeeeeeeee! *joygasm again*

Looks like I'll have to get a bluetooth-capable phone in the near future... ;D

Now, if I can just remember how to turn the car *on*...

A Meme, stolen and edited ;P

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:05:14 GMT

Stolen from samwise_fox. :D

The rules for this meme are simple, copy and paste the list into your own LJ, then follow the labeling guidelines and add a single food that is not already on the list, to the list

Bold = Foods you like
Regular = Foods you dislike
Italics = Foods you haven't tried

1. Fresh fish
2. Lobster
3. Steak
4. Thai food
5. Chinese food
6. Ice cream
7. Pizza
8. Crab
9. Curry
10. Prawns
11. Moreton Bay Bugs (like lobsters without claws)
12. Clam chowder
13. Barbecues
14. Pancakes
15. Pasta
16. Mussels
17. Cheesecake
18. Lamb
19. Cream tea
20. Alligator
21. Oysters
22. Kangaroo
23. Chocolate
24. Sandwiches
25. Greek food
26. Burgers
27. Mexican food
28. Squid
29. American diner breakfast
30. Salmon
31. Venison
32. Guinea pig
33. Shark
34. Sushi
35. Paella
36. Barramundi
37. Reindeer
38. Kebab
39. Scallops
40. Australian meat pie
41. Mango
42. Durian fruit
43. Octopus
44. Ribs
45. Roast beef
46. Tapas
47. Jerk chicken/pork
48. Haggis
49. Caviar
50. Cornish Pasty
51. Turkish Delight
52. Swiss white chocolate

Hmmm... apparently with most things, if it's edible, I like it.

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 21:01:36 GMT

Happiness is curling up with my Teeka under a warm electric blanket and snoozing the evening away.