Really long posts about nothing.
Jul. 15th, 2009
07:21 pm - Band powerhouse...
Today was band camp for #3. Wow, we're all out of elementary school! Which isn't all that amazing I suppose... not so much as #1 being in high school and getting job offers.
His sister was working with him over the past month... handed down her old clarinet and everything! He's also got a rogue's gallery of paraphernalia from her past four years of upgrades.
Diva got a bit of help from dad, who had played Clarinet. That helped. But with Trouble getting a full month's worth of practice in, they knew he had an older sibling in band as of the very first note. Win! I still hope he'll slide over to sax next year, since that's cooler for a guy... but I understand some of his motivation... the Clarinet section always had the smart girls, which was one of my favorite types of people. They were also more introverted... not like those in-your-face trumpet chicks. ::grin::
Anyway... it's cool to have all the kids playing... they are their own little clique. And it's more respectable than manga or LARPing. Win!
Speaking of that, I have this crazy idea that I want to hit Ivory Tower on Sunday... they have some sort of an event on the calendar, and they're closer than Ghenna Plains. Which I also want to hit someday. ::sigh::
04:08 pm - Fun with kids...
Buddy: Did you see the trailer for Percy Jackson and the Olympians?
Diva: No! I totally missed that, are you serious??
Buddy: Yeah, it looks like it's going to be pretty cool and . . .
Diva: Do you realize what this means??? (Grabbing Buddy's arm)
Buddy: Uh...
Diva: This means everyone else is going to have to read the series now, and we wont be the Only Ones!
Jul. 3rd, 2009
10:08 pm - GREAT paper on freedom in America, using various Metrics...
Freedom in the United States is a college paper that my father sent me a link to. It is a great read.
For those local midwesterners who complain that "The Republicans" are the ones messing up our freedoms, this paper sheds light on why we disagree. The three 'least free' states, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York are all -very- Democratic. So growing up, I got to watch a long list of Democrats make laws to protect me from asinine things.
That isn't to say that the recent trend of GOP hate wasn't without cause... but my experience with heavily 'democratic' run states was not positive. Meanwhile, living in Colorado was wonderful. Certainly a place where you had to prepare for things on your own, but also a place where you could gun down home intruders and not worry about being sued for it (unless you were really over the top about it). Also, I don't recall gay rights being as much of an issue in 'Republican' Colorado. I worked with all sorts of people that had 'domestic partners' and they lived pretty normal lives. Granted, Matthew Sheppard happened in Colorado, but the freedom he had was a lack of government restrictions, not a freedom from criminal assholes.
::sigh:: I miss Colorado. (except the criminal ass-hole part). Colorado friends are free to chime in with reasons -not- to like Colorado... high real estate, um, prairie dogs.... uh... stuff.
Oh, heh, funny note - Colorado is #2 in freedom, but one of it's major resources is prisoner storage. Freedom for those who did not not decide to abuse it, I suppose.
02:46 pm - Well, THAT was new...
I got pulled over today... and as often happens with dents in my van, I wasn't really doing anything wrong... not even talking on the phone or reading a book while driving.
I saw the cop behind me, and I knew I had been cruising at about +/- 5mph of the limit (I actually picked up a little when I noticed the cop, as I was going 60 in a 65) but then the lights went on. I was stymied. Maybe I rode the line when I took a snarf of beef jerky?
Nope, somewhere in the miles I had been going through the city, I failed to signal a lane change. Perhaps when I moved out of the slow lane to make room for a cop giving a ticket? Now that I think of it, the cop jumped around me as I was putting my license away and pulled over someone else, probably for doing the lane change to give the cop an open lane (and not signaling). The cop was nice, quick and only gave me a warning. So I'm not all that annoyed that he was out there pulling people over who were actually changing lanes to make it safer for -him-. I'm pretty mellow about it, having spent twice as many years around KC as I did in NJ. But I can certainly see room to be annoyed with what he was doing.
I was also happy to note that my insurance card still had 5 months left on it, since I always forget to put the new card in the car. However the registration will be due next month. I might even get THAT done ahead of time! Maybe.
And the setup of having license, insurance, registration all -right there- and -up to date- again made the trooper a lot happier than digging through anything, be it a wallet or expired insurance cards. Win!
Jul. 2nd, 2009
01:43 pm - We didn't start the flamewar!
My sides hurt! NSFW due to bad words. I LOVE the tune though! Wear headphones, and try not to sing it in the office. (not hard for the 40-60% of us who no longer HAVE an office! Ha!
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:19075
10:28 am - Quantitative analysis awful...
I started a week late, then I had to get books... Day Camp and Bronchitis also served to delay my startup... and I've already dropped out of Quant Analysis once. EEK!
Now on week four... and I'm horribly behind. But catching up this week. I hear it gets better, but if there was any one reason I might not ever get a degree it would be due to Quantitative Analysis. Bleh. The skills themselves are not bad, but this is the worst text I think I have ever read. It reads like Dr. Stephen Vargas on downers. (Fast Times reference there)
My Associates in Computer Science hit a similar snag... Calculus. Which I loved, but I was also taking a full load of classes, plus a full time Marine, part time Gas Station/liquor store clerk, plus we just had baby#2. That was one of those semesters where I didn't just drop out, I ended up in the hospital. Ick.
Some day, I may revisit the old path of higher math and less business. It was a lot more fun. Except Trig, Trigonometry is the stupidest thing known to man in my opinion. It was my downfall in Calculus, but was also the only class I had in Jr college that I had a hard time 'getting'.
Luckily, once I am through Quantitative Analysis, next (and last!) semester should be a bit easier.The degree will be finished off with less than $10,000 added debt, and sets me up for a nice time with the economic recovery because I will have the degree PLUS 19 years experience. I'll just have to move to Brazil where all the IBM jobs are now.
Jun. 25th, 2009
09:34 pm - Deaths...
Ed McMahon - has my respect, fellow Marine who rose to great heights, and had a hard time scaling back with age. As mentioned elsewhere, when we're on the lower rungs of society and have to scale back, there is a lot of support and understanding. The higher up you get though, that support turns into vultures awaiting carrion, which makes it harder.
Farrah - Didn't know her, didn't follow her, liked her hair but wasn't sure what the big deal was. I didn't like Charlie's Angels TV show because of the melodramatics. I liked Lynda Carter better, Wonder Woman rocked.
MJ - Like others, I'm torn. I never hated him, I still have the sequined glove my mother made me years ago. He certainly did not age well. He exemplified a lot of the mental illness or emotional baggage that follows some very poor or abused people into their riches and destroys them. I respect him for not totally self-destructing into drugs and alcohol, but I don't have a whole lot of good words for how he conducted himself in business and in his personal life.
Was he a pedophile? He lived a very odd life, but I don't recall him ever having to register as an offender. Since the families involved seemed to favor a cash payment over a civil suit, we can only wait for the kids who knew Micheal to grow up and tell their story. I've certainly seen a biased slant in the reporting on him, so I discount a lot of the media hype. I hope that history is kind to him.
ETA - 1993 case was settled out of court.
2003 case included DNA testing, and Jackson was exonerated of any abuse, conspiracy, or alcohol charges. So while we heard all the Tabloid Crap, no one ever mentioned the fact that he was never guilty. One could still claim that he is a pedophile, but looking at his history of questing for eternal youth and his work trying to save kids from the abuse he suffered, I think that he's been wrongly condemned. And condemned out of pop-ignorance.
Jun. 24th, 2009
12:43 am - Thinking about the heat...
Normally, the heat doesn't bother me, I mow in it, I run in it, I tan in it...
But it was noteworthy today that as people died in the heat, my 12 year old (and many other local kids) are out at Boy Scout camp, going the whole week without Air Conditioning. They learn to survive and even THRIVE, even when the weather is below zero, over 100, or wetter than fish piss. They're still going to earn their merit badges, including the ones that require a bit of hard work.
I remember a weekend of Webelos camp, when the Cubs were 10. I learned that when it's 89 degrees in the middle of the night and you feel horribly warm, even lukewarm water to the groin (specifically the perineum area) will cool you down a LOT, and make sleeping a lot easier. I can't say that the bugs outside really bother me, because we've been through worse.
Next year, I may hang out at camp with both boys... at 11 and 13 they can both spend a session at camp, and their sister can work staff. I'm not sure how well we'll survive at 89, 92, or whatever, but at least while we're still young we will know 101 ways to survive in climates that are less than comfortable. I like that a lot. Damned near teary with the pride.
That being said, I'm still going to enjoy my heated waterbed tonight, because the house is a cool 72 degrees. I may take that up a few notches though... I -hate- the high electric bills more than I hate the heat.
Jun. 19th, 2009
10:37 am - Good news and bad news...
Good News:
Diva's marching band 'uniform' (t-shirt and 'shorts') was free.
Bad News:
She found out TODAY that all Freshmen need a Lyre by tomorrow. (The little music holder that attachs to the clarinet)
Good News:
Lyres are only $5-$7 on eBay, meaning they probably aren't a $75 accessory locally.
Bad news:
Myer Music doesn't have them in stock, and the 'local' stores don't start opening up until 11:30-12:00.
Neat find - Bundy Clarinet on eBay for $25. Luckily we already have a clarinet for #3. Although I know there are brands to be avoided with each instruments, and I don't know which is which.
Jun. 18th, 2009
10:46 am - Not an impulse...
I suppose I am researching and saving for a new tattoo now. I have long thought about Celtic knotwork, and I know that any band I get will have to be a -complete- band... none of that cheater stuff where it ends before encircling the thigh. I reserve the right to change my mind about that, in the case that it becomes insanely difficult to do such a thing, but it will take quite a bit to change my mind about it.
Yes, thigh. Originally, I had thought about it around an arm, but the upper thigh seems a great place for it. And 'woad blue' is definitely the color for it. I'll have to find a tattoo artist that works in knotwork thought. The last guy was -great- at doing Santa Maria type stuff, but knotwork is not his focus. Plus, he was a bit of a brute, and I would like for my leg not to fall off. ;-)
The 'Virgo' along my flank is still a thought too, but I've only been thinking about that for 5-7 years, not quite long enough to cement details. It usually takes me 10 years to go from initial concept to completed ink. Partly because it is more permanent than a mortgage or marriage, and partly because I often do not allot much to any 'tattoo thrift savings fund' because it is not value-added in my life. On the plus side, I run very little risk of regretting such things later.
It is interesting to look at artistic options... hell, I might even travel for the right artist. This is NOT something that I do 'cheaper by the ounce', so it will likely be a few years before there are any pictures to post.
Oh, on the Virgo flank idea... something like the following, only a bit less trampy - 
The original thought was to even have the tattoo come up and over the shoulder or something, but I've not found design that I like which does that.
::shrug:: I'll likely be paying to put one of the kids through college before I get to worrying about such a thing. ;-)
Jun. 16th, 2009
12:24 pm - At it again...
I pulled out of Quantitative Analysis last time because it was pretty damned complex, and I had a good feeling I was heading towards divorce... distraction while trying to run through a heavy course is not fun.
And then there is the technical portion, Stats I was a prereq. I CLEPed out of that and took Stats II. Got an A. But that was in 1998.
Thank God the other class is I.T. Ethics... Ethics are usually not factual, they are opinion. So it becomes either a me-too conversation, or a debate session. Fear me, for I blog about corporate ethics for a hobby! Bwah hah haaa!!!
Ok, not all ethics are opinion... random torture and senseless violence doesn't really have a lot of support. But if you're going to debate international business practice, computer security, or corporate raiding... I'm all over it... on both sides. Wheee!!!
Jun. 14th, 2009
10:16 pm - Playing with my Wii
Ok, it still technically belongs to the kids...
The Girlfriend and I are playing the EA Games 'Wii Active' this week. It's like the adult version of Wii Fit. Seems like the progress and reward system is also my pace... I don't think I'll max most of it out in a week. The exercises are also a bit better (read as: ass-kicking not-fun) so I have more respect for it. Balance games and stretching are good to have, but I don't think they should be included in one's "thirty minutes" of daily exercise.
Nik: Gawd, this is kicking my ass tonight!
Me: Yeah, isn't it awesome?
Nik: (Sweaty glowing smile looks at me over her shoulder) Hell yeah, thanks for getting this game!
The game also asks you for your diet, snack, water, and exercise information outside of the game, and charts that. No points for that, other than credit for doing it. Also, the game runs you through (approx) 30 minutes of interval training (15-20 exercises) and will Kick Your Ass with squats and lunges and standing crunches. Awesome!
06:42 pm - Update...
DayCamp - Done. Including a +1 day due to a rainout.
Coronation - Done. Planned it out early, survived easily. 8 days and no one hates me yet. (That I know of)
Lillies War - F*ck... came up too fast again.
Pack Swim - Postponed due to all four packs having been at DayCamp all week +1 day.
Rakis War - Could have gone, given the pack swim cancellation. However I didn't, for the same reason the swim was canceled.
Gorilla Theatre - Got designs down, working on wings tonight. Pattern will be reusable for Amtgard. Need to get wings completed and out to the birds.
Highland Games/Date Night - Done. Ate odd foods, bagged on the Campbell, hung with girlfriends, got another kilt. Pattern will help my own projects.
Aikido - #2 is paid and has a new Ninja Suit, thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
zylch. Thanks zylch! Looks great!
Jun. 11th, 2009
07:34 pm - Roses and Thorns
My Rose this week was noting that at my age, taking a 'little blue pill' 30 minutes prior to going to bed still refers to Aleve rather than Viagra.
My Thorn was after going through 16+ walking groups at Day Camp, the last group of kids decided to have a super-soaker fight with the large bottles of tempura paint. W T F? I should have left out the acrylics.
Day Camp got extended a day, the kids are enjoying the time on staff, they have the option to stay home. So far I think only Diva is opting for the rest. Thank goodness the pack swim was moved back!
Jun. 4th, 2009
06:18 pm - Roleplay
I told Diva that as the new Regent of Centerpoint, she could determine a 'theme' for the reign. It could be that she wants to see more ninjas, more heraldic devices, more pants...
"How about more Roleplay?"
Um, or you could ask for more ninjas, more heraldic devices, more pants...
So for my part, I roleplayed a garber today... attempting to do something other than a t-tunic and drawstring pants.
I am not a real garber, I just say that I'll work on something that I can't spell (or pronounce), and after a week, I convince the person that I made something that they asked for. ;-)
Bedsheet ninja!
And as mentioned on Facebook, putting French seams on a Japanese Kimono is like spreading Nutella on Sushi. MAN that was a pain!
May. 31st, 2009
12:25 pm - Holy Shite, I'm a Sheriff...
I have done monarch spots a few times before, but I've never been a Sheriff... the focus is still the same though, defuse politicing and get back to basics.
At the same time, I need to run through all the Amt-Projects that have been cluttering my home... which is a good summer push.
I was particularly impressed with the daughter's push to get A&S done so that she could qualify for regent... a banner, banner pole with base, and double daggers. Tres cool.
I'm also hunting through Alona's website for some Japanese-y garb to make since she is the Manga Queen of the house, but we also liked the sluff-coat pattern she's posted. I'm not fond of the name... not of anyone who wears it to ditch and then complains that they aren't "sluffing*", that it is just the coat. If your garb constantly causes problems, change something.
*- "Sluffing" is actually 'sloughing', but not many care.
May. 28th, 2009
10:08 am - The weekend...
I'm not sure I can itemize all the adventure that was had by the Venture Crew... but a few pictures may help explain the odd facebook statuses (Statii?)
Koshare Indian Kiva - I counted just under 1000 timbers, if they were only 100 pounds each, that would make for a 100,000 pound ceiling. Wow. Did I mention that the 'timbers' are actually telephone poles from a decommissioned Army base? 
The rafting we did was down the Arkansas River, Brown's Canyon. It was a class III-IV rapid, so not much of a chance of death, but a good chance of losing people out of the boat. Over the course of the day, we lost no one, but came rather close a number of times. There are footholds in the raft that do a really good job of holding onto your foot, so mostly I would just get blasted over the side of the raft like kelp, but would not end up a 'swimmer'.
Oh, and there was the Royal Gorge Bridge. Last time I went down there it was a good amount of money to get in, then more money to ride the tram, more money to ride to the bottom, more money for everything. THIS time around, we had enough people to get the bulk discount, so it was $15 for everything except the slingslot bungee CRAZY stupid thing. So we made sure to do all the fun stuff.
The Bridge was neat, created in the 1920's, it is a testament to Colorado's support for Darwinism. The side rails were about waist high, and if you wanted to jump it was nothing at all like the Empire State Building's iron bars... you are free to pay the cash and plunge to your death. There are a number of places where stupidity will cause death or grevious bodily harm. I like that. Not because it is dangerous, but because I hate when asshats are coddled and allowed to grow up into unproductive members of society. A little random chlorine is a good thing.
May. 21st, 2009
02:11 pm - The apocalypse van story turns weird...
A pair of pink tights were found, size 4-6. Local friends might note that this probably came from transport of Little Gymnasts (saffronhare's girls).
However, to find such a thing in a black minivan with tinted windows, tarps, hatchets, rope, duct tape, and trash bags, it could paint a different picture to a local law enforcement official. Eek!
Personal justification for clutter is not a good defense against police assumptions... it might work out in court, but I don't need that sort of headache. ;-) Luckily the Little Gymnast Transport Duties are done for the season, but I think I will work doubly-hard to ensure that we don't have a mixture of those two different types of items in the van again. Particularly when -my- kids are far past the size 4-6 stage.
12:05 pm - RAndom note on clutter
While some lament the amount of 'stuff' many guys keep in their vehicles, it is worth noting that in the process of a 90% purge to prep for whitewater this weekend, I have determined that at a default level, my van is packed for a zombie apocalpyse. Bladed weapons, blunt weapons, projectile weapons, food, water, shelter, blankets, pads, beer, air pump, vice grips & duct tape, rope, long poles (a D&D thing, you ALWAYS packed 50' of rope and a 10'pole!), extra shoes, jackets, lanterns & flashlights, maps, GPS, CB radios, spare glasses for 2 of 3 children and myself, eyeglass repair kit, sewing kit, tent repair kit, mess kit(s), coffee mug, tarps, and so on. ETA: First aid kit (patrol sized), ring belts of various sizes, saws, extention cords, power inverter, electric grill, paper towels, belt pouches, enough random garb to outfit the family, boffer swords, approx $12 in change, blackberry charger, NintendoDS charger, deer spotlight, energy drinks, bottled water, gatorade, chainmail shirt plus chainmail repair tools and extra links... (more updates as I clear away strata)
I would note that this is camping season, but camping season is year-round for us now. As well as other adventures. Perhaps if I just got a panel van and had everything labeled and in rubbermaid bins, it would seem less like clutter and more like what it REALLY is... a 4000 pound adventurer/zombie slayer survival pack! Eleventy!
11:30 am - Susan Komen e-mail...
That was weird, I got a Susan Komen email the other day. I couldn't figure out why... I donate to a lot of things, but the Susan Komen thing keeps coming back into my life.
I don't actually have a big 'story', various people around me have had scares and a few have even had the actual cancer with full breastectomy, but it's not -that- close to home. However, unlike cereberal palsy or tooth decay, breast cancer has a much more subliminal impact on my overall quality of life. It causes the removal of breasts. I'm not fond of that At All, so I suppose I will stay on the Susan Komen mailing list. Perhaps long enough to find out who Susan is.
Now here's an odd thing I noticed, I've stayed on the Walk America list for a while now, and I don't even recall what they walk for (birth defects I think) but the NRA, who I supported for many years, has been calling and I won't give them a second glance. I forget which election it was, but they were flinging rhetoric and weak claims around some time ago that were as infantile as the anti-Bush stuff. So despite a long history with them, I am All Done. I like a good cause, but I detest shit-flinging monkeys. I reserve the right to review them as an organization in the future, but when I can compare Charlton Heston to Micheal Moore, they've jumped the shark.
So... boobies are in, walking for any reason is a good idea (although I MUCH prefer a 10k) and causes that mislead as much as a Ford Warrantee are out.
12:41 am - Well, THAT explains it...
I hit the Fit today, after a week of hiking Scouts around Clinton and shucking mulch & topsoil. BMI was down damn near a point after 8 days... not bad. And I felt good so today I hit some more advanced stuff. The Island Run in 8 minutes was great, and netted me TEN fit points. Yay! Much better than the no-points you get for failing advanced tightrope walking.
It has occured to me that one could do 'balance' games for the 30 minutes and never really exercise. Yoga breathing and the lotus position sit come to mind. I was wondering if I was missing something, since none of the trainers tell us that we suck or are cheating ourselves if we don't try to hold a 90 second plank at least twice daily. Does the fun stuff really help that much?
This Article points out something new, although it jives with what I have found over the years. Kick your own ass, and it will shape up. Take t soft on your ass, and your ass will remain soft. I didn't know that the recovery was part of it, but that explains why even weightlifting would slim me quicker than the best diet plans.
Granted, I'm up for 4 days of driving this weekend, so we'll see how that treats my BMI. ;-)
May. 15th, 2009
09:39 am - What is the plural of Phoenix?
This has been an interesting debate, and dictionary.com lists the genitive form as 'Phoenices', but that indicates possession.
Wikianswers turns this info into 'nominative plural', but a Wiki is not an authoritative source.
I'm still calling them Phoenii. (Fee-oh-nye)
May. 11th, 2009
06:13 pm - Yay!
Twice now, one of the kids has come to me with mild medical issues (like a splinter).
"Well, perhaps you should see one of the first-aid certified people in the house."
Hooray for delegation!
04:24 pm - Diva wants a totem animal.
Trouble is a cat, we've known this for years.
Buddy has decidedly become a Great Dane. He was always a puppy with 18 paws, but now that he's tall and gangly, he can destroy a china shop when startled.
Diva keeps asking what animal she is... she's very sweet much of the time, but can also be a badger if poked at the wrong moment.
Dad (me) has been called a bear among other things, since most everything doesn't bother me, but once someone does 'get to me' I'll apparently chase them for miles, tree them for days, and eat their brain... or something. It was put much more poetically by others.
11:29 am - Another Neat Thing about the Wii Fit
We ended up eating out twice during the weekend, once was at a China Star where I told the kids to make sure they were eating meats and veggies, not just rice and ice cream.
The next time we all weighed in on the Wii, our BMIs were all up. It computes BMI to the nearest hundred, so small gains are noticable. It's not really a big deal, but it was amazing to see what happened when we ate until full, rather than eating until just 'not hungry'.
I know that at one point, there was pride in making sure that no one walked away from the table hungry. That is usually after a lean period where the food budget was less than we liked.
Over the past few years, we've paid attention to serving size, and getting normal servings of all food groups, but without so much of the fillers, or having seconds, thirds and fourths. At times the kids mention that they're still hungry, but when offered veggies, they decline. I understand the desire to want a whole bowl of Stove Top, or a Pounder bag of Doritos... hopefully we're getting away from that.
The big trick will be to see if the better food choices stick with them after they're on their own. And to see how they cope with good food (and no fillers) through the teen years).
May. 8th, 2009
04:15 pm - Wii Squii!
Lotus Pose - Hard to do when the cat is wondering WTF is up, and then tries to chase the butterfly.
Dance Pose - Sucks. I am glad I was not in a yoga class, or I would have the urge to smack the no-butted things that make it look easy.
Cobra Pose - Is the funniest thing in the world to a teenage girl who gets to watch her father make horrid faces as a testicle migrated into a bad spot. She was not grossed out at all, but wonderfully amused. I was not so enchanted.
There was lots more... I hate the planks, not because they suck (that is the good part) but because if I try to look at the TV, the tart assumes that I have dropped the pose.
Oh, and today's fun - Kieran found out that when you sneeze through a recorder, it makes a funny sound. Now whenever he has to sneeze, he has to grab his recorder. So much for Ode To Joy.
May. 6th, 2009
04:26 pm - Notes -
Diva used a double negative, I told her she's grounded from emo music until she stops being so negative. ::grin::
The Wii Fit board noticed that I had gained weight between exercises. I thought it might have been the water, but I realized I was holding a LARGE bag of Doritos. Busted, again.
Trouble's school came down with a confirmed case of swine flu, I got the official note from the middle school, not just rumor from idiot kids. (That's Nike Elementary, USD231) Luckily, we've got a big humidifier in the house, although on the amusing side of things, we have very few Mexican families in the area, breaking the notions that a) it's a pig thing and b) it's a Mexican thing. Although I -would- like to know if the infection was in Trouble's class/grade/whatever. Granted, this information is not as important as simply making sure that we're all doing the right thing rather than focusing on the -known- person who's been pulled from school anyway.
May. 5th, 2009
04:52 pm - VAMPIRES!!!!
I got to watch Lost Boys: The Tribe today. It was amusing, a good movie to pet the cat to as I tried to get my vertebre to re-align. Nothing hideous, nothing horrible, nothing too grand either. A little bit too much soft-porn for the kids, but nothing that would traumatize them.
So, a few minutes ago, Buddy turned on the TV (a BIG tv, I should note) and the there was some sort of Vampire face looking out from the TV as he was fiddling with all the buttons to move from DVD to Wii. At some point he looked up and was staring right at the scary face on the screen. It was very quiet, and even the cat was looking at the face on the TV. Granted, Bryce was likely analyzing the skin composition and trying to determine if it was Greek or Roman, but he was very intent. The room was very quiet, until I yelled "VAMPIRES!".
It should be noted, that along with a DD-214 and crunchy ankles, one of the things I still have left from my Marine days is a good 'bark'.
::sigh:: I'm still tearing up form the scene... Buddy went epileptic, and the cat did a cartoon-like 'hover and run in place' thing. It was all over in a spilt second, but I was highly amused.
Oh, Lost Boys II is barely worth watching... unless you need to lay and let your spine settle for an hour. In which case, it beats BassMasters.
01:56 pm - Yay! And pbbbt!
A big yay for the troop fundraiser, despite being priced (to move) the troop cleared over $1000 in profit last weekend. Along with the garage sale, we added baked goods, Venture Crew Gatorade leftovers, Scout Trash Bags, and lord knows what else. The Trash Bags of Awesomeness have a slimmer profit margin every year, but they're becoming a community service at this point. People hunt down Cub Scouts at grocery stores asking about the trash bags. As much as we try to promote the popcorn, the trash bags are our "Girl Scout Cookies". Possibly because of the slimmer profit margin.
On the pbbt side, the Wii Fit told me that I had not bee on in days, so while all the kid's avatars would do things mimicing their favorite activites (Yoga for Diva, running for trouble) it represented ME (or My Mii) as falling asleep, with my fat jiggling as my avatar was awaken.
It is not abuse if it is honest
Problem is, it didn't account for all the work hauling stuff in and out for the garage sale, or for the few hours I spent trying to mow my rice paddy. (Chemlawn and a lot of rain makes for a very difficult lawn) Not that I care much, sort of like not-caring about the degree for years has gotten me to the end of undergrad studies, simply doing the exercises for -me- will eventually result in the better lifestyle, not an electronic smiley face. Caring about the end result rather than intermediate goals has always worked well for me. Subjective vs objective. Although it IS nice to have the high score in most events... without cheating the system.
Also, there are a number of leftovers from the garage sale that I may post here. Camp stoves in need of regulators, a large R2-unit sized humidifier, and various other weird things. Also, if anyone is in need of an electric organ, we couldn't PAY people to take it off our hands. I may put that on Craig's List. I could also freecycle it, but it would probably be better off going to Goodwill or DAV. I feel sad for the organ. And saffronhare feels sad for my Great Room that now houses the Organ. Although we've already had a great time playing with it. Apparently I am 'magic' because I can make songs come out of it. Although since my knack for play-by-ear is limited to church songs, only Trouble, the one who likes the Orthodox church, recognizes most of them. Although the kids all being in band means that we all have that common bond. It's a pretty cool unifier... and more old-school/respectable than our WiiFit Age competition.
Apr. 28th, 2009
08:37 pm - What's in YOUR tartar?
I've been making nummy tartar sauce with mayo, pickle relish, and LOTS of lemon juice. It's so nummy I could eat it with a spoon!
Does anyone else any anything different? I remember that whatever brand of fish fillets my family used to get, it came with little sauce packs that you mixed with mayo. The benefit to this being that you only had a little bit of tartar sauce, and not the cereal bowl full that I tend to make.
I assume onions might go well in there too... but I find onions to be like bacon, they make (most) everything better.
Other ideas?
08:48 am - Madness, takes it's toll.
I've been doing database work for years... and while I have gone through the Access "Programming" courses a few times, I never really found much of a need for it. Until recently.
I'm doing an invoice and order summary type program for a friend, and I'm building it out in OpenOffice. Wow... I'm rusty... -and-, I have been unfarely harsh on 4GL programming... it really is a lot more design and engineering than I had given it credit for. Sort of like moving from Procedural to Object-Oriented languages, it's really hard not to have everything right there and linear. But since I can't really put this system on a mainframe, interactive database goo it is.
I may need to go back through all my class exercises just to refresh myself. As I recall, you could set up MS Access databases with front-end screens and a GUI menu so that the person was never aware that the back end was a database. I assume I can do all that in Open Office 3, but it will be 'fun' to figure out 'how'.
Apr. 23rd, 2009
10:03 pm - College
Made my third trip up for a meeting with NAU admissions.
For the third time, someone pulled out the degree requirements sheet and started filling it out based on what I had taken there recently.
::big sigh::
Although the admissions gal had a grand time listening to me rant, snark, and angst my way through the process. After all was said and done, I was a bit shocked to find out that I had pretty much all I needed to graduate, minus 3-5 fluff courses. I was about at that point before, and was weeding through the fluff courses that I -had- to take for a degree when the divorce started taking a toll on me. Actually, I think it was right before I started filing, but after the realization that I was going to have to go it alone. That was a very sucky year.
Sometime since then, they re-structured their wacky credit structure and there are now 3-4 less classes required. I was already trying to stuff close to six years worth of credits into a four year degree, (which just gave me a wonderful mental image of a 'muffin top' (God bless google image search for knowing what I was talking about! (Work-safe, not awful image there))(I AM the parenthesis king!!))
Where was I? Oh, stuffing credits... I hit Longview College today, which was 80% less frustrating than it used to be. They did manage to cheapen the feel of the college by giving it a dorky logo, but some of the school sweaters were pretty cool. Much like saffronhare who does not like living on a street with an unpretty name, I don't like colleges with icky acronyms. I've avoided JCCC for over a decade due to this. Now that Longview College is 'MCC Longview', I don't think I'll ever go back. The clincher was reading through the current course offerings. I hate the higher-end university for having too many fluff courses, I can't imagine that a degree from Longview today (in computers) would prepare a person for much of any sort of job with computers. That's been my complaint for over a decade though.
So, I'm assembling my credits into a database where I can track -everything- and will keep a folder of the documentation. I have CLEPs, military transcripts, junior college credits, civilian school credits, university credits... and they all use different credit formulas. Bah!
If nothing else though, I -really- want to keep my Landmine Warfare and Demolitions credits applied to my four year degree. Why? Because that course counts as two HUMANITY credits!!! BWHAHAHAHAA!!!! (megiloth is free to correct the title of the course, as I suspect he took it too, if not druidevo).
The awesome part of today's meeting (other than having a great post about the silliness of college admissions)? I found out that even if I DO have to take a few fluff courses to polish off the degree, financial aid resets in the summer so I will fill out a 2009 FAFSA and whatever PELL money I get, I can use it all in ONE quarter. And if I need more than three courses? I can fill out a 2010 FAFSA and use all that in just one quarter to finish off the degree. I usually get $4000-6000 in Pell Grants due to the kids, a lot less than I used to, but more than enough to cover 3 courses, even at the higher NAU rates.
07:58 pm - I got meatspun!
I upgraded my main monitor just now. From a 12 year old 15" thing I got for free, to a new 22" inch LCD.
The first post I came across? A spam post to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
sca_garb with eleventy billion meatspinners.
If you are not familiar with the meatspin, it is not work or kid safe. It's not disgusting, any more than any other animated sex thing... although the less liberal-minded might be disgusted.
I'm not sure what sort of weird urge drives a person to post something like that... I was a really crappy kid in a number of ways, but I never liked random shock value. It's much better to disgust friends in person.
10:12 am - Yay filing!
Wow, after yesterday's blue-collar extravaganza, today is all about the 'puters.
Met with a buddy about designing an electronic invoicing database, which I am initially building out in OpenOffice since my copy of Visual Basic is . . . dated. I bought Visual Studio in 1997. That's ooooold. But this morning was the design meeting and I need to have it prototyped by Monday. For reference, design often takes a few months, not 45 minutes, and prototypes are generally available in 4-6 months. At least with the last companies I've worked for. And there is good reason for that, but when there isn't a few hundred thousand to spend, guerilla programming is a lot more fun. 8-)
I found my 2008 and 2007 tax returns without much fuss. Hooray for organized filing! OR at the very least, having a lot filed, and only a few boxes of papers left to file. Does anyone else keep old Prospectuses (Prospecti?) Those are the thick things that Fidelity, UBS, Edward Jones, and other investment companies send you like every week, to give you ALL the info you don't care about on your long term investments. I have enough of them damned things to fill a minivan. I've never read one... I put money in to not touch it for 40 years... it's weird. I wich I could opt out and re-invest the trees into an IRA (preferably a Roth).
Oh, and I'm meeting up with the expensive school this morning. I need to map out the route to KU, but for being closer (as the eagle flies) it still takes me damned near an hour to get to Lawrence from here. As an amusing aside, every time I talk about a college appointment, saffronhare asks about KU. I might just be reading into things, but it is possible that I'm getting nudged there. ;-) Not so much a 'go do it', but an interest in KU itself. Possibly so I will stop calling the Jayhawk a koo-bird (KU bird). Sorry ld_hrothgar, K-State is too far out to consider. ::grin::
Apr. 22nd, 2009
10:23 pm - Wow, full day. Week?
The topsoil job lost it's glamor today. Normally we're putting down 10-12 cubic yards between three people. Today we did 22 cubic yards (22 tons!) of topsoil, with just the two of us, and for the same pay. Oh, and Yahoo! said it would be a HI of 78 today. As per the norm, Yahoo! screwed me... when we drove to the second site the temp was 93 degrees. saffronhare said it looked like I got some color (tan or red I assume), I told her it was just the heatstroke. (Yes, yes... I know, it's actually heat exhaustion).
Laptopping from the bedroom again... got another chassis running and added a 802.11g dongle. The thing needs a serious rebuild, but for now I can poke around from bed again. Useful, because the home offices are in the basement and they're COLD. About 15 degrees colder than the 2nd floor. And I chill easy. Although with the eleventy billion calories killed today, I now feel rather toasty... damn near overheated.
For Earth minute (or whatever that crap was today) we did the shut down thing. Actually, Buddy did it, because he's an outstanding citizen. Although there were some compromises since Diva did not want to have to re-program the eleventy billion things in the house that have internal clocks. Microwave, alarm clocks, coffee makers, VCRs, whatever. My vote was to make an ACTUAL impact and turn off the whole house at the breaker box, but I settled for the thing they were talking about on NPR where they did "no meat or cheese" meals. I use quotes here because the college they were doing the story on was serving "no meat or cheese" but they did have a lot of topping options for their turkeyburgers they were serving. Do turkeys grow on trees or are they a root vegetable?? ::shrug:: I got the gist of it, cows, goats, and sheep fart a lot which is bad for the environment. Turkeys don't fart, which I guess makes them just that much cooler or something. Personally, I find turkey shit to be much more vile than cow shit... but I suppose it isn't as rude as farting.
Tomorrow is also packed... coffee date, possibly setting up a database program for some company that I can't pronounce (might be the sun exposure) then going through financial aid for one college. The one who's selling point was that they would let me run up to $58,000 in student debt. (Um, yippie?) I have a serious feeling that I'll be switching to KU though. NAU has off-pissed me just about every time I re-enroll, which is pretty much par for the course with any college, but KU is cheaper. Granted, I'll have to really spreadsheet ALL the costs... since KU is like UMKC, much cheaper per class, but eleventy billion sneaky little fees.
I like eleventy billion today.
Oh, apparently the scent of topsoil, sweat, and sunshine is a major attractant for druidy girlfriends. Unfortunately, I was horribly worn out and not able to fully capitalize. Although I -did- tease a lot. Whee!
Lastly, the household got hit with major allergy ick this week... we're all feeling it to some extent. I -had- been safe, but then I left my basement and spent the day in the middle of all the pollen in the world.
Oh^2, #3 tested out for band today, and nailed the clarinet... so we get to recycle odanu's clarinet through another player! Trouble is stoked... he's been wanting to do clarinet for half a year now. AND, Diva stopped asking about moving to contra-bassoon. Which is nice, because even at the low end, those things cost more than a good car. Yay!
Apr. 15th, 2009
11:14 pm - In other news...
I now have Pandora on my Blackberry, so I am yet ANOTHER step further from ever logging on to a computer through the day.
I also got an old 486 running, I may load it up with Linux, although after 12 years I'm not sure how much time I want to sink into it just to have the hard drive fail.
I found the reciept for the faster PC, I spent more than I thought, close to $250, making it three times what I paid for the slow PC last month. Granted, it was a sound investment once I added memory... I've ended up doing a lot of my online time on it. PArtly because it's faster and the monitor is better (flatscreen rather than old SVGA monitor) but also because the basement is chilly and my poor little feetsies suffer.
I've been reading up on new PC technologies, and it appears that my old (all of them are at LEAST 10 years old) monitors are finally hitting a point where they are obsolete as most new motherboards now use DVI ports! I wanted to put dual-screens on my PC (as I often had on my laptops) but doing so takes a dual-port graphics card, and most of the decent ones seem to be DVI. I'm glad I noticed that, because it is quite possible that I would have come home with a new monitor from the garage sale only to find that it was too 'new' to use with either (or any) of the PCs.
I also found out that by the time I get a PC up in Diva's room, I'll probably upgrade the home WiFi to 802.11N to get through the additional level of house. It is also faster, but since Video games are for the Wii, I don't need sooper-bandwidth. Unless my next job calls for it.
And what is it with processor companies taking new directions in naming conventions? I liked the "8086", 286, 386, 486... but then it went to the Pentium, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium IV... but now it's all silly.
Core 2 Duo (ok, two processors, got it)
Core 2 Quad (four processors, simple enough)
Core 2 Extreme (the logo is BLACK rather than blue, how edgy!!)
Core i7 (Better multi-threading I guess... was this name a stab at Apple?)
Core i7 Extreme Edition (seems to have been developed mainly to latch on all the popular marketing trends between the little 'i', the 'extreme', and calling it an 'edition'.)
Oh, and the new brain thing is somewhat cutesy, lotsa lame. We'll get used to the 5-brain rating system and then they'll change it again.
I was happy to see that AMD had stuck with the K# concept longer, but even they gave it up since there are now notebook processors, mobile device processors, and desktop processors. Along with multiple levels of each, from the high end to the budget end (Celeron). So they're going to end up like GM, 23 models of truck all competing against each other until the diversification bankrupts the company.
Feh... all the more reason to see if I can get NPR streaming to my Blackberry. Or even more radical, use a radio. (I laughed a lot when I realized the latest techno plug-in for my phone was something I already have in every room)
Apr. 14th, 2009
02:15 pm - Note for adventureyear
Indoor Cart Racing! It's everything it is cracked up to be!
The one our Venture crew hit - http://www.sadlersindoorracing.com/raci
As anyone who has done indoor cart racing can attest, it is much more of a rush than it looks like from videos... because you are in a little cart 2" from the floor, going up to 45mph inside of a warehouse on a course that has eleventy-billion chances for flaming death. Luckily, one's own survival instinct keeps us from going TOO fast for ourselves, but once you're comfortable (and get the adrenaline going) you're going to be going faster and faster and driving more aggressively, which is a BLAST!
I could tell many many stories of how much fun the kids and I had, but you really had to be there. More fun than Laser Tag, less pain than Paintball (assuming one doesn't have enough endorphines going to numb all pain).
To sum up - ZOMFGWHEEEEE!!!!
02:01 pm - Slacking, even in the slacking department...
I'm not keeping up with on-line social networks as much as I used to... sorry about that. On the plus side, I'm away from the online world a lot more now. I'm still not getting very far on my GBLOE (Great Big List Of Everything), but I -am- getting a lot more PDTL (Prioritized Daily Task List) tasks wiped out.
On the other hand, every night that I do dishes I tend to make a sheet of cookies, and eat half of them before bed (the other half is snacks for the kids) so that needs to stop. Upon getting my first severance check I noted that I had almost three weeks of vacation so I actually have just shy of a half year's severance. Fun has been had with odd jobs and college research... my college I had been doing I.T. classes through switched to healthcare type classes. I had my shot at healthcare when I was younger... I worked at a hospital and knew biology like some sort of rainman... the problem was, I'm not fond of people. As I put it back then, I -hate- people. Given an additional 20 years of maturing and reflection, I now know that I don't hate people in general, but I don't have a high tolerance for people that make poor decisions and then want their problems fixed. In the computer world, there were all sorts of examples of how early techs did horrible things to gullible customers. I never did anything horrible to customers, but I certainly snarked my fair share of people who did silly things.
I suppose I am nicer and more tolerant nowadays... but I still think the #1 path to successful healthcare reform is going to have to be on us as individuals. Presently there are discounts for not smoking, tax breaks for exercise/weight loss regimens, etc. I assume one of the next steps will be to give discounts for keeping ourselves healthy. It's not going to be an easy sell, but insurance companies have been moving that way for years.
I was reminded of my lack of empathy when my mother-in-law called last night. She's in a lot of pain because the chiropractor won't work on her anymore due to a lot of spinal deterioration. I've known this woman for 15 years, and she is one of the most sedentary people I know. Granted, she is a victim of her own mind, she does not see any way to improve the way she lives, and thus she is doomed to live in a failing body. I saw it as yet another wake-up call that I need to not slow down, not take it easy (but not take it TOO hard).
Anyway... I'm enjoying my time off, and doing things I didn't have time (or energy) for when I was hooked to the laptop. IF anything important comes up, I can be texted, but I'm not checking a whole lot of voicemail or email right now.
Apr. 10th, 2009
07:29 am - Doesn't pay to be cheap...
So last year I went up and up with my PC purchase for the kids until it was near $200. I think I paid about $179 for the refurbed compaq... I figured it was just an internet machine, but I did want the extra power because I figured they would play a game or two.
The recent box I got for myself had to be quick, and cheap. For under $100 I was all set up. I figured I would upgrade things later.
Memory upgrade on my machine from 256MB to 1.25GB - $45. (DDR DIMM)
Memory upgrade on their machine from 512MB to 2.5GB - $21. (DDR2 DIMM) That's less than half the price for double the memory.
Actually, theirs -would- be at 2.5GB, but I can't get both sticks to work at the same time. I knew their machine had gotten really boggy, but when I installted the new memory and had diagnostics up, I noticed that just having Explorer open along with control panel (I was ripping out the embedded not-MSOffice) it was using about 1/3 of the 2GB of memory. That means that at 512MB, it didn't even have enough memory to webbrowse efficiently. Whoa! Also, the "older" kid's PC had SATA drives, which was cool.
Oddly, I recall it wasn't too long ago that we could do everything in under 640k. I'm not that freaking old, either. And I don't see 1000 times the functionality as we had back in the Win95 days (640k vs approx 666MB). But I digress.
I suppose the new bargain PC will be an internet machine for one of the kids in the next year or so. Now that I'm back into digging in PC boxes I've got the bug again. So I've been digging through all my other scraps to see if I can get another PC running. The one I -thought- I would resurrect with a new power supply does not seem to be worth it...
HP Pavillion -
500Mhz Celeron
64MB SDRAM
13GB HDD
It's not worth replacing the power supply at this point. I've got other PCs with better stats. I don't even see any usable scraps on it other than the case... and I've got enough cases around from other dead PCs. This one is likely landfill-bound unless someone wants it. (new power supply would run about $28)
Apr. 8th, 2009
09:29 am - "Major Escalation"
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Somali pirates hijacked a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned container ship on Wednesday with 20 American crew on board in a major escalation in attacks at sea off the Horn of Africa nation, officials said.
Major escalation is right! Holding 20 Americans hostage? That's just plain stupid. Hell, we had warships out there when it was just 'lesser humans' being killed and ransomed.
Yeah, technically they are 'ransoming' the ships and cargo, and the people are just 'guests'. I suppose it is to their credit that they haven't been executing prisoners as much recently, that was sort of bad for business. Particularly when they manage to hijack cargo ships containing 33 tanks and 'other heavy weapons'. Still,they got a few million for the tanks... and the only hijackers/terrorists that died were killed because they were running too fast with their share of the money and capsized. One pirate's father even blamed the United States because we had a scary warship in the area and they were driving the boat too fast out of fear that they might get caught. I suppose the fact that his son was a pirate that was running with a few hundred thousand dollars in ransom money is just a red herring. ::shrug::
Apr. 7th, 2009
03:20 pm - Fun and Frolic...
I did more topsoil hauling today, it was a blast. Luckily my blown disc gived out right at about the end of any hauling expedition.
As normal, after getting a wad of cash, I stopped by a store or two on the way home for the 10-20% home improvement tax on earnings. Housewares has been my favorite place for some time now... but today I was searching for a master bedroom hamper and a front entryway rug. I found a whole lot of neither, or at least nothing that I wanted to bring home. So all the cash will go into the account to pay for camps this month. ::groan:: even without getting Diva to horse camp, I've got a few hundred due for various things in the next two weeks. I think the extra cash will make the difference between just Diva getting to have fun at Sadlers, and BOTH of us having fun at Sadler's on Saturday. I'm still torn on whether I want to participate or just photograph.
Last night was awesome cooking fun... I got into a 4-burner meal. That would be where a meal ends up using all four burners on the stove. It's not a specific goal, just amusing when I hit it. I called it an international spread because we had risotto, kielbasa, French sourdough, and I also had some Sangria with it. Altogether it was pretty awesome. At least to us. Yay!
Apr. 2nd, 2009
08:59 am - Mmm...
It's been a while since I've handled cash... most everything has been automated for years. But the other day I had to transfer some cash, which meant pulling a few hundred from an ATM. They were new bills, and as I often do when counting a lot of fresh bills, I 'crinkled' them so that they don't stick together.
Funny thing about that, the smell was like beef jerky, or wood smoke, or something else awesome... it was an interesting observation, I love the smell of money! It had me giggling.
Better yet, the scent of rumpled cash had filled the van, and was all over my hands... so for the next few hours every time I adjusted my glasses, fixed my hair, or just needed a 'hit', I was sniffing my fingers. And giggling.
Yes, it was like many other awesome scents. ::sigh::
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