i am... not defined by my job

Voicemail

2010-02-02T23:33:00.002-06:00

I've been using Google Voice for my voicemails for a while now, mostly for the transcription service. It's useful receiving text messages of a voicemail when I can't call and listen to the voicemail myself. For some reason, though, the service is never any good at transcribing Bridget. I don't know if she mumbles, or if the speaker on her phone is just bad, but I get the most hilarious transcriptions from her messages.

Today, she decided to stop by my office and say hi during what is normally my lunch period. Unfortunately, my lunch was moved up an hour and a half, so we weren't able to connect. Not that I had any idea she was coming when what I get as a voicemail transcription is this:

Hey Nathan, it's Bridget, we are circumstances have brought me to the waffle house on the menu and 0 E. It's 438 so you should be going to lunch since you're not ready at lunch and i wanna send send money but I'm only out here. I thought maybe we could you give me a bank card, yes and Hey Nat, it's Heather something else. So I'm gonna head in that direction. Give me a call when you get up for lunch and hopefully we will be leaked we can actually see each other. Okay love you yahoo to talk to you soon. Bye.

Words in bold are words Google Voice is pretty sure it has the correct transcription for. Now, when I get this message, this is one of 6 missed calls I have from her. Also greeting me, left from 4:41PM to 5:03PM:

Or you could use. He had your gumbo and hot site and let you know we get home with no way that I am. That them stuff. He may yes so so please please please call. Please, please be out for lunch in please please please don't have your phone turned off for debtor's from. I love you and Mike at 18 Tina, I'm just turning into the parking lot, so please please please call me and it bye.

Hey Nathan, it's 453. I was just gonna run the entire parking lot and I don't see your car anywhere. Bleached Dennis praised me, but I guess maybe you forgot your lunch. She's going to go get something somewhere. I don't know, but hey. Nat, I need to see if maybe I can ask somebody is a no, you know if they come out and Hello, this is a much longer. I'm gonna go ahead and ill and don't worry about it. If you get this, and I've made. Ohh and suck if you will see you tonight and I love you and and looking forward to T, PA stuff so i love you, Sorry I missed this incident and I'm gonna go. I love you.

Hey Nathan, it's Bridget again I. D. N. S. Somebody and she said she didn't know you, but she said she would ask security, if you were there, so I'm still waiting to see if she told me that or if you come outer nobody comes out or what. 459. Now you know. I just part of a half over. If you go out for lunch at 94 30. Missing you and having lunch with it doesn't change and you know hey hey and Women Center. I'm just a little bit longer. You know I don't have high hopes that they said I couldn't find your card I talk to you can see how you left for work. You need to work right. Nat, it's a where a I'm not gonna do a on that now the okay. I'm sure I'll be leaving at least one more message for you. So I was. Bye.

Hey Nathan, it's Bridget, I'm going in leaving now, because nobody ever came out so if you came up and I don't know where you were none of them are so 8506 now clearing my car. And yeah, yes this message and area calling to grab that cup island and give me a call and I'll be happy to come home. If I missed in with you, then you know. Like I said only about it because I'll see you tonight and I will get together for lunch. Another time. I love you so much. I hope you're having a great day it and yes this is tell me where cars night here so it seems awfully suspect for someone to exploit dot, com bro, yes, so I. I love you. Okay bye.

Big weekend

2009-08-29T22:02:00.002-05:00

We bought a house! It looks like this:

Eleanor turned 2! To celebrate, we threw her a party in the new house. It looked like this:

We hid our present in a closet, because we're lazy and didn't feel like wrapping, but mostly to hide the big surprise. It looked like this:

The Other Half

2009-08-18T23:42:00.002-05:00

Thanks, Gizmodo.

It's the little things

2009-08-11T22:20:00.002-05:00

There's a small knock on the bedroom door this morning. Bridget gets up and opens the door. I hear a high pitched "Hi mommy!"

And then "Daddy sleep?"

Yep, the little things.

Of Books

2009-04-01T22:57:00.002-05:00

I recently picked up my library card at the public library here in town, and have set about reading as many books as I can. I haven't really read in quite some time, so it was quite refreshing. The third book I picked up, and the main reason I got the library card, actually, was Foundling by D.M. Cornish, and is the most engaging book I've read in some time. It was recommended by a friend, who spoke very highly of it and its sequel, which I plan on picking up tomorrow.

The book takes place in a steampunk-ish fantasy setting, filled with alchemists, monsters, and ship engines powered by muscle tissue. The author presents the world to us in a way that makes the connection to this world easy to grasp, and provides fantastic character illustrations to go along (he studied illustration in college), as well as a lengthy glossary. I highly recommend picking it up from the local library, at least.

Any other recommendations anyone can offer?

Work, and things

2009-03-29T22:45:00.003-05:00

The new job is going pretty well - I've been doing it long enough now that I suppose calling it "the new job" is even a little out of place. I've actually been out of all phases of training for about 3 months now, moved fully into my role as last line of defense before a customer leaves the company. Not doing too shabby, either, for the most part. I manage to keep a majority of my customers; some of my other stats, like length of call, could use some work though. Working on my QA scores, as well - would love to get those back into the green. Was doing fine until we moved into save.

My desk:

The view from my desk when I turn around:

Oustide of work, things have been going pretty well, too. Got a new (to us) car, as the old Tercel was on its last leg, a '94 Honda Prelude. Has its issues, of course, being old and used, but I like it. If I could fix the whine one of the generators gives off, it'd be near perfect.

Spent the weekend in Jackson earlier this month for the big hapkido seminar we usually attend. Had a great time, as usual, learning some great techniques, and some fantastic applications. Have to share with Charlie once I can head back up north for class.

Speaking of class, I really need to start working out again. I feel kind of like I've turned into a lazy bum. I've lost 20 pounds since moving down here, which I chalk up to the lack of exercise and a change to my eating habits - I eat smaller meals now, it feels like. There's a hapkido class that meets on Saturdays that I may look into joining, as they know a friend of Charlie's. Tough to give up that time though, as it's some of the only real time I get to spend with Bridget and Eleanor.

My baby girl is doing wonderfully, as well - mostly. She's crying right now, and Bridget believes she may have a sinus infection. Had a great time playing with her cousins today though. She's really starting to communicate now, and her vocabulary grows every day; she picked up "cow" today while we were out shopping. Daycare is apparently teaching some sign language, too, as she now uses the sign for "more" and says "mo-mo" when she wants some milk - she actually uses it to mean "milk" rather than "more", really.

We have a vacation planned for April 18-25, visiting my relatives in the northeast. Flying to DC to visit my paternal grandmother for a few days, and then on up to Massachusetts to visit my maternal grandfather, aunts, and friends for a few days. Very much looking forward to it, but worried about Eleanor on planes of course. All of the flights are short, thankfully, and we have layovers in between most of them, which we hope will make things better.

Typecasting

2008-12-04T13:58:00.002-06:00

Don't know why I'm posting this, as it's very random...

Moon Bloodgood is an actress I first saw in the great but short-lived tv show Day Break, which centered on a cop (played by Taye Diggs) who relived the same day over and over again - think Groundhog Day, but drama rather than comedy.

The following season, she shows up on Journeyman, which was about a journalist who would randomly travel back in time to fix something in someone's life - very similar to Quantum Leap, except every episode of Journeyman involved several leaps to different periods of the person's life, and he would always return to the present in between.

She is now working on Terminator: Salvation, the upcoming prequel/sequel in the Terminator franchise.

Apparently, Moon Bloodgood only takes roles in projects that somehow involve time travel.

Ellie's song and dance number

2008-11-28T22:31:00.003-06:00

Bridget filmed this Thanksgiving night.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that it was spent in good company, be it friends, family, or both.

Do want...

2008-09-30T17:42:00.000-05:00

I know I'm a much bigger Trek fan than Star Wars fan, but this is awesome.

The new job is going well. I get up at 430am to be at work for 530am, and get off of work at 215pm, and am usually very tired when I do. That'll change once we're done with the classroom training period, which ends next week. Then eight weeks of hands-on training, a week of specialty training, and they'll let us loose.

Wee!

Ellie Loves Pasta

2008-08-15T17:16:00.001-05:00

Geolocate this post

Posted with LifeCast

Ellie In The Pool

2008-08-11T09:08:00.001-05:00

Posted with LifeCast

Ellie's First Doll

2008-08-09T12:37:00.001-05:00

Posted with LifeCast

Job's Done

2008-08-09T10:26:00.001-05:00

So, I lost my job a couple of weeks ago. I'd been pretty stressed out for quite a while, both work and home related, and it made me practically useless. So I fell behind on stuff at work, and was fired for it. Right decision, really; I'd have fired me too.

I've taken one of the Louisiana state civil service exams, and did pretty well on it (though not as well as Bridget or her sister). I've applied for a few positions, a couple in Natchitoches, one in Shreveport, and one in the Lafayette area. Yesterday I took an assessment exam at a call center in Lafayette, and they seem excited to hire me.

We're looking around at other possibilities, too. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Geolocate this post

Posted with LifeCast

The case

2008-08-06T18:50:00.002-05:00

Since none of the jury ended up being sick or anything, they sent us two alternates home when the jury retired for deliberation, so I don't know how the case ended.

It was drug case, defendant charged with "Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance, Schedule II, namely crack cocaine, With Intent to Distribute." Seems that in early 2007 he had the unfortunate chance to be driving around with 1) a guy who was the subject of an arrest warrant the local drug task force was attempting to effect; 2) another guy carrying 40 rocks of crack cocaine; and 3) $1121 in his wallet, mostly in $20s.

When the vehicle they were in was stopped by law enforcement, he and the crack-carrying guy jumped out and ran into the house they'd pulled in to. An officer followed them to the house, which was full of people, and asked them to step back out. He located the homeowner, asked if he could search the house, and then searched the area where the two had been seen, and found the bag of crack. He then searched the two and found the money on the defendant.

The state alleged that the two were involved in a "major drug organization operating in Natchitoches Parish." They put on the stand the state trooper who had followed them in to the house, the sheriff's officer who was in charge of the operation, the officer who pulled over the vehicle, and another sheriff's officer who was allowed as an expert witness in drug trafficking and distribution. The expert testified about the general operations of low- to mid-level drug dealer's - namely, that usually the one with the drugs didn't carry the cash. He just accepted it, and then carried it to his boss. He also explained that usually rocks of crack were sold for $20 or $40; in his experience, finding someone with a lot of $20s with someone with drugs meant a connection between the drugs and the money.

The defense said that the money had come from winnings at the casino a few nights prior. The defendant's fiancee stated that they had won about $1800, and he had given it to her to hold for him. The night before his arrest, he came to her for some of the money to help bail a friend out of jail. The man who had been holding the crack had plead guilty to possession with intent to distribute, and testified the drugs were his, and his alone, and that neither of the other occupants of the vehicle had any knowledge of his carrying it.

There was some conflicting testimony over where the defendant was in the house when he was arrested, and over the location of a cooler he may or may not have been sitting on. None of that, in my opinion, really mattered, because where he was didn't matter in relation to his actual possession of the drug. None of the testimony had him ever in actual contact with the drug; what the state was actually trying to prove was something called "constructive possession," which is, essentially, when you have power or control over someone who possesses drugs, or can control what they do with it.

The case came down to where the money came from: was it drug money, or gambling money? The defendant and his fiancee testified that they went to the casino about 3 times a month. The state wanted to know how a man with no car, who cut hair in his carport, and cut lawns on the side, could afford to go to the casino 3 times a month - obviously, it was drug money. The defense argued that it was a lifestyle choice of young men in the black community. The state argued that the defendant was a repeat offender - previously he plead guilty to distribution of marijuana, distribution of cocaine, and possession of cocaine. The defense argued that previously, he had plead because he had been guilty, but that now he was fighting because he was innocent.

The case only took one day; kind of wish I'd been able to stick around for the deliberation and verdict.

Jury Duty

2008-08-05T16:04:00.002-05:00

I got a letter about a month ago telling me I was being subpoenaed for jury duty. My reaction to this was actually "Yay!" as I've been wanting to serve on a jury for some time now.

Lots and lots of waiting. That's what happened the first day. The jury selection took ALL day. I ended up as an alternate. Bah. It's like the black sheep of the jury. They have to hear all of the evidence, but don't get. Real vote. How lame.

Anyway, we're on a break right now, waiting to be called back in for closing arguments. Then we get to deliberate. Then, finally, I'll be able to talk about the trial itself.

Court, btw, is just like ok TV. Sarcasm, glares, and drama, oh my!

New versions, new features

2008-07-15T23:40:00.005-05:00

A couple of pieces of software I use recently released new versions, so I thought I'd talk a bit about a couple of the little touches added to them that, in my opinion, just make life a little bit easier.

Firefox 3

One of Firefox's new features is an updated location bar, aptly named the AwesomeBar. Firefox searches bookmarks, tags, and history as you type in the location bar.

This feature actually ties very strongly in to FF's completely redesigned bookmarking system, which fully supports tags and "smart bookmark folders," which are based on customizable database queries to the bookmark engine.

Bookmarking has also been made extraordinarily simple, for such a robust system. At the end of the location bar is a small star icon.

Click this icon, and the page is bookmarked - as simple as that. Click it again, and a dialog will pop up that allows the bookmark to be saved into a different folder, to add tags, etc. It makes bookmarking that much simpler. In my experience, it has also made sorting bookmarks easier, with the combination of tags and the AwesomeBar. Rather than having to manually add every martial arts page I have bookmarked to my MA folder, I can tag it with martial arts much more quickly, and find it with a quick search.

Another FF feature I've used extensively in previous versions is keyword searches. Save a search on, say, snopes.com, add a keyword, and I can search directly from the location bar. This involved bookmarking a search, and editing the saved URL, though - not always a fun proposition. Now, FF has added a context menu item when right-clicking on a search text field.

Makes setting these searches up SO much easier.

iPhone

This is a feature I was actually surprised wasn't implemented earlier on this device. On previous versions, when using the software keyboard, holding down a key will give options for that key - holding down the A key, for example, presents options of A with various accents.

When typing in web addresses into MobileSafari, there is a quick button for adding .com to the end of an address.

Holding down this button did nothing, despite how intuitive it would be for it to offere the options of .net, .org, .edu, etc. Finally, Apple added this little helper.

Simple little thing, nothing ground breaking... but I like it.

Of course, there's still no copy/paste.

Oh - and I can type in Korean now, too. Shows up as boxes when I send texts to people though. :/

My princess

2008-07-08T13:39:00.002-05:00

Every morning, Bridget gets up and leaves for work before I do. She shuffles out of bed, fetches the baby, feeds her, and sits her on the bed next to me while she finishes getting ready for work. Sometimes Eleanor wakes up as Bridget is moving around, sometimes she needs to be woken up.

This morning, when Bridget sat her next to me, she looked like this:

Poor thing was so sleepy!

Inanity

2008-07-08T03:52:00.002-05:00

Einstein vs. Ninjas

With trusty sidekick Richard Feynman. For awesome.

Our new kitchen floor

2008-06-15T23:54:00.001-05:00

Landlady finished staining and varnishing our kitchen floors. Very nice dark brown/red stain. Unfortunately, meant we had to stay at the resort all week while it dried, but we survived. She'll be painting the trim this week, and we can move the table and chairs back in Tuesday night.

All clear

2008-05-19T16:22:00.001-05:00

Bad gas, that's what the doctor said. Or maybe constipation. But she's doing much better now, and we bought suppositories in case it happens again.

Worst case of gas I've ever seen.

Drawing blood

2008-05-19T03:46:00.001-05:00

We should get a "regulars" discount...

2008-05-19T03:06:00.003-05:00

Ellie woke up this morning at 2 AM in a tizzy, completely inconsolable. She was crying and crying and shaking. Finally Bridget insisted we take her to the ER. She seems like she's in some kind if pain, we just can't figure out what. When she's had ear infections in the past, she's never really so much as peeped. Doctor seems to think it's either flu or strep throat. I doubt both, but we'll see.

At hospital again

2008-05-06T07:03:00.001-05:00

Well, here we are again. In half an hour the ENT will be perforating Ellie's ear drum and inserting tiny, tiny tubes to allow drainage. Hopefully this will stop the constant infections she's had.

And for the record, babies on Versed are funny.

Elephants

2008-03-18T22:43:00.003-05:00

Eleanor can sit up by herself now - well, really, she's been able to do it for a couple of months now. She sits in high chairs by herself (as evidenced by the previous post/picture), we can sit her down on the floor with some toys, and she'll be okay for a little while, before she gets a bit grumpy and wants someone to play with her.

I love my little princess.

2008-03-13T00:42:00.001-05:00

My lovely daughter eating a highchair. Isn't she beautiful though?

My poor baby

2008-01-11T23:27:00.000-06:00

That's our poor, 4-month-old child in a mist tent at the hospital. We had a doctor's appointment for her today, to get her 4-month vaccinations, but this morning she had a fever - not surprising since Bridget had been sick since Monday, and I since Wednesday. So we gave her some Tylenol to reduce the fever, and I tried my best to feed her, but she still won't take a bottle from me. By the time her appointment rolled around, though, her temp had reached 104. The vaccinations were called off, and they ran some blood work, which came back positive for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)- apparently the most common respiratory ailment for children under 4 years. It can also wreak havoc on the lower respiratory system in very young children, though.

The doc was concerned that her immune system would be weakened enough by fighting two viruses already that it would make her prone to catching another; and he really wanted her to be where, if it was needed, help was very nearby. So he had her admitted to the hospital. Just as a precautionary measure, really.

Thus far, not much has happened, though a second test came back negative for RSV. Poor Eleanor, though, isn't handling the fever very well. She whimpers, and moans, and it's all so sad.

The Star Trek: TNG Episode Song.

2007-11-11T18:57:00.000-06:00

I bow to this man.

Most beautifulest baby ever

2007-10-31T23:03:00.000-05:00

I'm in love.

New car

2007-10-21T00:09:00.000-05:00

So, since I thoroughly thrashed the Ion, we started looking for a new vehicle. We'd been talking about possibly getting a minivan for some time - well before the accident - since we now have a newborn, and will possibly have another in a couple of years, and seating room could become scarce. We looked over a few, and finally decided that, well, the gas mileage just wasn't what we really needed. That basically left us with large cars.

Bridget was in love with the PT Cruiser, and we almost bought one a couple of years ago. The Chevy HHR was similar enough to it, so we compared them and finally came to the conclusion that, despite outward appearances, they weren't that much larger than the Ion on the interior.

Eventually, we found a beautiful blue 2006 Chevy Impala that I fell in love with, and the price was just fantastic. I spoke to the dealership in Shreveport several times about the vehicle, Bridget got a loan from her credit union, and we were all set to go buy the car yesterday afternoon. Except they'd sold it.

Thankfully, I found this out on the phone before we'd left. So we looked around some more, and found several 2007 Impalas at another Shreveport dealership that were the same price as the 2006 we'd been looking at. Bridget, now faced with the impending decision of buying a new car RIGHT NOW, was kind of freaking out, and called her parents to be assured that, yes, this was a good decision.

We drove to the dealership today, after speaking to a salesman several times last night, and looked at several models. We settled on a bronze one - the only real differences between all of them was the color, and white we just did NOT want (side note - the white ones were the only that were supposed to be sold at the price we were quoted, the others were supposed to be $1000 more - the sales guy just went with it when I asked).

The next part was the really cool part - we had some extra stuff we wanted to purchase - GAP coverage, and the extended warranty since this one's warranty mileage was almost up. We had calculated a base amount that would cost us, based on what it had cost us on the Ion - a little over $2000 for the warranty and $600 for the GAP.

First, though, they beat the APR we had for the loan from Bridget's credit union. Then, the warranty on the car was almost $500 less than on the Ion. Our monthly payments ended up being less than we'd anticipated. It was a great experience.

And here's our new car.

Test 2, Nathan's Immortality: Success!

2007-10-15T19:33:00.000-05:00

So I wrecked my car Sunday.

And when I say "wrecked my car," of course I mean I did this to it:

I fell asleep at the wheel, spun out, flipped it over and slammed it into a couple of trees. I hit my head and was out for a while.

Yes, that's my blood. Looks worse than it is, really. I have a lot of lacerations on my scalp, mostly from hitting the windshield there, I think. I have a couple of small cuts on my hand and arm, but nothing major. But my neck hurts like crazy. And there was blood everywhere inside.

That's the area of the ceiling that was directly over my head - or under my head, since I was resting upside down.

Major reason behind the minor injuries - the driver side was barely touched.

So, as the title suggests, I'm thoroughly convinced of my immortality, though funding for further tests has been cut off.

The cost of a child

2007-09-20T20:22:00.001-05:00

We got the "Explanation of Benefits" from our insurance company today, covering the hospital stay and the anesthesiologist.

Anesthesiologist: $1050.00
Amount we owe: $0.00

Hospital: $8367.00
Amount we owe: $100.00

That brings the grand total that we paid to have Eleanor to $215 or so.

I love insurance.

A Memory of Light

2007-09-17T02:00:00.000-05:00

That's the title of Book 12 in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. If you've never read the series... well, now's not a good time to start, as Robert Jordan died yesterday.

My heartfelt condolences to his loved ones.

Oops, I broke it.

2007-09-08T13:45:00.000-05:00

I was filling out a poll at Wired, which uses Reddit for its polls and user submitted stuff, when this error appeared:

So, I apologize to anyone whose internet experience I have ruined.

Happy Birthday!

2007-08-31T03:52:00.001-05:00

Eleanor Grace, well, graced us with her presence at 5:33 am on August 29, 2007.

Weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz, 18 inches long.

Bridget's holding up well after the 11.5 hour labor, which didn't go as well as we'd hoped. Both girls are doing fine, and we're home now, but Bridget is sore, and on pain medication. Ellie likes to eat, ALL THE TIME, and is quite the stinker. But she's beautiful, and she's ours.

Yes, I have a new job

2007-08-10T12:13:00.001-05:00

Which is the main reason I haven't posted in a while, though I have had chances on occasion and have just been lazy. I am now the Accounting and Human Resources Manager, which, in a nutshell, means I am responsible for all expenditures from the resort, and ensuring we receive all payments. I answer directly to the GM, am his equal in all financial matters, and in some convoluted way still am in charge of the front desk. Sort of. The position I used to be in, which is directly in charge of the FD, answers to me.

I'm loving it, so far. Although, on my two recent days off, I had math nightmares. Weird. I spend all day in my office, balancing checkbooks, managing spreadsheets, signing paperwork, going through stacks of receipts... I deal with guests much less often, which interestingly has lowered my stress levels considerably. As, I think, seeing my wife more often. I actually see her EVERY DAY!

Well, those days when I don't have to work 2 shifts; the person who is taking my place can't, well, take my place, until we have someone who can take HER place. Which should be happening at the beginning of this coming week. Then I just need to train the new manager, and we'll be set. I'll be working days only. WOO!

In other news, I've recently discovered a band called Dragonforce. I'm not normally a metal fan, but it's pretty meoldic. And their songs have a very epic quality to them: Through the Fire and Flames

I first heard about this band, and dismissed them as metal, when someone figured out how to hack Guitar Hero to accept custom songs, and someone made Through the Fire and Flames as a playable song.

Now it's a bonus song on Guitar Hero 3. Woot for community efforts.

In other hilarity: Jack Black performing Kissed by a Rose.

I end the silence...

2007-06-23T02:24:00.001-05:00

With this video.

Now that's dedication.

Also, I may be getting a promotion at work. We'll see.

We're geniuses

2007-04-18T19:45:00.000-05:00

A few years ago at one of Bridget's pool parties, Seth and I jokingly created a theory of 3-dimensional time, and had a fun time imaging travelling sideways in time.

Now, it seems, we were ahead of our time, pun intended. Admittedly, this is far beyond what Seth and I joked about.

Next time, Seth, we patent or copyright our fun times.

Calvin and Hobbes

2007-04-04T19:19:00.000-05:00

I love StumbleUpon. It led me to a a searchable Calvin & Hobbes database. Thus far, I think only the text is searchable, so you can only find, for instance, strips in which Susie's name is mentioned, but not every strip she's in.

A familiar face... and name

2007-04-04T00:32:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting here at work, killing a little bit of time on Digg, and I'm watching this video of a Penn & Teller's BS show when I see a somewhat familiar face maybe 3 minutes in. And then it's clinched when he says, "I'm Tarracas Obremski, and I hate Wal-Mart."

I literally JUMPED in my seat. There's NO way there can be two of them, although he does pronounce it differently on the show than he did when checking in at the hotel several years ago. Apparently, as he said, he hates Wal-Mart. Even runs a website dedicated to hating Wal-Mart.

A little glimpse into the mind of the man with the greatest name ever.

I'm going to Jackson

2007-02-26T16:18:00.000-06:00

Actually, I've already been. We drove over Friday evening for the biannual Jackson throwfest that we attend every year, said hey to some folks, and then went downtown to this place called Hal & Mal's, which we also hit every year. It's a great little restaurant/bar, and we started going because they brewed their own beers. Alas, they stopped a couple of years ago, and buy some locally brewed stuff instead. The atmosphere is still fantastic, though, and the food is really good. The place was PACKED compared to when we usually go; we had to park about 3 blocks away and walk up. Charlie had a friend that was singing in the "auditorium" next door, and the band that they were opening for was apparently kind of big, though we had never heard from them. So we watched them for a bit, and then ate, and went back to the hotel to sleep.

Saturday we woke up early and went to one of the meeting rooms and worked out for a while, as Charlie and I were testing for our new ranks that morning. The test went relatively easily; I was worried, as I seemed to not be able to not messing everything up when we'd driven down to Houston a couple of weeks ago, to work out with Charlie's instructor. I felt good during the combos, great during the one steps, and fantastic during the forms. The testing panel chided Charlie and I as we were getting ready to spar that it was to be a "friendly" sparring match. Charlie and I just smiled, and we actually did take it pretty easy. Great match, too. Afterward, one of the panel members said he'd hate to be our friend.

So Charlie and I now have some blinged out new black belts, with our names, in Korean, on one end, and Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan on the other. Gold bars indicating our rank sit below our names. We likely won't wear them much, as we prefer the plain belts, but they'll be there if we need them. Our dan certs are also the size of a small table. Ask me to see it the next time any one is over.

He was more important than I thought...

2007-02-26T15:15:00.000-06:00

Who knew that Lando was pope? Must have been at the height of the corruption of the Catholic Church.

Ah, the glory of management...

2007-02-17T04:27:00.000-06:00

One of my employees just had surgery to remove a growth from one of his testicles. I'd known about it for a while, so I was prepared for it. He works the evening Manager on Duty shift on my off days, but I was only going to have to pick one of his shifts up, and we could security to come in early to cover the others. Total, though, he'll be out for 8 days. His surgery was Monday.

Monday evening, my full time night auditor asked me what we'd do if she got sick - not that she was planning on getting sick, or anything, but, what were our emergency plans, cause our other night auditor has sever arthritis, and working more than his two nights a week really made it act up. I told her that I or the guy out for surgery could easily cover that for her if she were sick, or needed some time off.

Tuesday morning, the part time night auditor calls me to tell me his mother died. She's been a terminal cancer patient for almost a year now, so it wasn't entirely unexpected. I offered my condolences and called my manager, telling him I'd be working the night audit on Wednesday and Thursday, and we'd need someone to work my MOD shifts those nights. He asked me to get the full time girl to work one, so we'd only need to find one MOD. She agreed, for a box of Runts, her favorite candy.

So, Bridget and I got to spend Valentine's Day together, or at least the part of the day after she got off from work and before I left for work. We had a great dinner, and enjoyed a lot more of each other's company than we had in a while, and then I left to spend the night at work - I had a room set up, because I'd be getting off work at 7am, and going back at 3pm to MOD.

My full time auditor calls me shortly after I get off: she's running a 102 degree fever. There are 4 people at this hotel that can run the night audit, and three of them are now down for the count; looks like I'll be Night Audit again tonight. Won't be a problem, I can be a lazy MOD. Mostly stay in my room. They can call if they need me. Only problem is, because we only 4 occupied rooms, I'd also scheduled myself to work the 3-11 desk shift. *sigh* I managed to get someone to come in to cover that shift, though - which could have been very difficult, because of the way some of my employees schedules work, and considering the number of them that were now out.

The full time girl called again today, and thanked me for working the shift last night, and she'd be in tonight, she was feeling somewhat better. When she showed up, she was still running a 101 degree fever, and looked it. So I took a 3 hour nap and relieved her about halfway through her shift, sent her home. I have to MOD again this afternoon, during which there is a freaking Mardi Gras Ball, and we'll see how she's feeling for the night audit tonight.

Bridget, I did tell her I wouldn't be able to work Sunday night. So she'd better be well by then.

And that was far longer than I meant it to be.

Oh, and if anyone is interested, I'm testing for my 2nd dan in Jackson, MS, on Feb 24. If all goes well, I won't look like an ass while I'm doing it.

I wish...

2007-02-01T02:12:00.000-06:00

... we had done this at our wedding. I was a HUGE Michael Jackson fan growing up.

Soccer Kid Commercial

2007-01-13T17:15:00.000-06:00

Yeah... this kid loves playing soccer. Great plan, man.

The new Wii browser

2006-12-22T04:37:00.000-06:00

Nintendo just released the "internet channel" for the Wii. It's based on Opera, and uses an onscreen keyboard for text input. Thank goodness for predictive text or this could take for freaking ever.

It does seem to work on most sites; nothing has yet thrown up any flags for me. They apparently spent a lot of time making sure YouTube would work in it.

It is the "trial" version, better known as "Beta" until March when the full version should be released. It will be free to download until June, and will then cost $5 to download.

I hope they get USB keyboard support soon, cause this gets old fast.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

2006-12-16T19:18:00.000-06:00

There was more to the theme song?

I think they did well in paring it down.

Oh, and there's a new Die Hard trailer!

Interesting study on circumcision

2006-12-14T01:37:00.000-06:00

Two studies in Africa show a marked difference in the rate of HIV/AIDS among circumcised men versus uncircumcised men. Circumcision has little place in a modern, hygienic society, like ours; but it may be quite helpful in Africa. Fifty percent? Sheesh.

And if my name were Dr. De Cock, I'd change my name the moment I entered the HIV/AIDS field.

That is not a small number.

2006-12-08T13:17:00.000-06:00

According to Blizzard, the most crafted items in World of Warcraft are Soul Shards. For 12/6, they had a lead of 50%.

You can view back 7 days. They lead every single day. The margin isn't that high every day, but they beat #2 by about 600,000 on the low side.

Wii

2006-11-30T03:21:00.000-06:00

I bought a Nintendo Wii the day it came out. Drove around Spring, Texas, where we were visiting some of Bridget's family, and found a Target that didn't have much of a line out front, near a Toys R Us that had NO line out front. Came back the next morning, an hour before opening, and got unit number 53 of 60. Yay!

It comes with a great game called Wii Sports, that's basically a series of mini-games, a demo for the motion-sensitive controller. Included are Tennis (HIGHLY addictive), Bowling (lots of fun, especially one of the training modes), Baseball, Golf, and Boxing.

Watch this guy get a great score in Bowling.

And this is unreal - the aforementioned training mode.

PlayStation 3

2006-11-17T01:25:00.000-06:00

Tonight at midnight was the launch of the new PlayStation. The new Nintendo Wii launches Saturday at midnight (technically Sunday). I noticed something funny a few days ago in Wal-Mart: nearly all of the controller section of hangers had been cleared out, and new price tags had been put in place. About 8 were for Wii controllers; 2 were for PS3 controllers. I chuckled to myself at how much they were obviously pushing the Wii.

So tonight, I walk in 20 minutes after the PS3 went on sale to see people just leaving with their new $600 toys. I talked to one of the electronics workers (Eric Austin, who, by the way, will be a father in a couple of months), and found out they 6 total PS3 units. Damn.

So I walk to electronics, and still, no PS3 controllers; no PS3 games either. But there do happen to be SEVERAL Wii controllers and games.

I have found Nirvana

2006-11-11T03:33:00.000-06:00

And this is it.

Edit: Indeed, the site appears to be down now. Probably surpassed their bandwidth limit.

David Copperfield is awesome

2006-11-10T16:13:00.000-06:00

Just picked up this story over at Digg.

Would YOU believe an illusionist who said he had nothing in his pockets?

I'm only a year late on this...

2006-11-09T16:21:00.000-06:00

Transparent aluminum.

In the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Scotty teaches a 20th century human how to make a substance called transparent aluminum, which is several times harder than glass.

Now, apparently, we've done it.

New Windows XP theme

2006-11-08T16:39:00.000-06:00

When Microsoft released Windows Media Center Edition, it released with a new default theme called Royale (screenshots here). It was basically the default Windows XP Luna theme with some glass effects.

Recently, someone got their hands on another version of that theme called Royale Noir; it's essentially a black version of the Royale theme (screenshots). Very, very nice. Installing the Noir theme also installs the Royale theme, so you get two in the one package.

And either one looks better than Luna.

D&D made simple

2006-11-05T22:10:00.000-06:00

GameSpy put together a simple explanation of how to play D&D.

tvRSS

2006-11-02T13:46:00.000-06:00

tvRSS is a site dedicated to providing RSS feeds of TV show torrents. I recently started using this along with the RSS Feed Scanner plugin for Azureus.

It's a pretty simple concept; the Scanner periodically checks the various feeds, and if it finds a new entry with one of my keywords, it downloads the torrent and starts it up in Azureus.

RSS Feed Scanner allows the set up of multiple feeds, for multiple shows. I currently have one set up for Heroes, one for Smallville, and one for Jericho. It also has the ability to parse the filename string to determine season and episode (assuming it uses one of about 5 season/episode formats), so I can instruct it to only download Smallville episodes Season 6 episode 6 and later, for instance. It will keep track of which episodes it has downloaded, and won't download those later.

This saves me from having to search for new episodes every few days, especially now that I'm trying to watch 3 different shows.

Pics

2006-10-26T02:21:00.000-05:00

I recently discovered that Google offers 250MB of free image storage via PicasaWeb, an adjunct to their Picasa image editing software (which so far seems cool enough, except that resizing images is bass-ackwards). So, I've uploaded a bunch of the pictures I've got sitting on my hard drive of various weddings I've been to recently, a certain van wreck, stuff like that.

If you're interested.

Party at my place...

2006-10-24T03:21:00.000-05:00

There wil be a total solar eclipse on my birthday in 2057.

Mommy, Billy touched me!

2006-10-18T11:43:00.000-05:00

A Boston school has banned tag.

Because they were afraid of being sued.

Are kids getting hurt so badly playing TAG that parents are actually suing?

Positive liberty in action. These kids are now free to not be hurt.

I Nintendo-ed my video card

2006-10-09T16:16:00.000-05:00

I just bought a new video game for Bridget, but every time it would start, the computer would lock up during the intro video. I messed around, trying to figure out if this was a problem with the processor possibly overheating, whether the video card was acting up, or the motherboard was dying. I ran some diagnostic tests, but that showed me almost nothing.

So, finally, I took out the video card and blew on the fan, releasing the months of dust stored inside.

Ta-da! Working video game.

I want to be this fast.

2006-10-06T21:41:00.001-05:00

Pop'n Music gone wild

A few reviews whilst I think of them...

2006-10-05T03:04:00.000-05:00

The Motorola L2 is a fantastic little phone, if you don't need a camera. I just upgraded to one, for free, and we added a new line for Bridget with the same phone, also for free. Polyphonic ringtones, .mp3 support, Bluetooth, speakerphone... I love it. As does Bridget. It is essentially their "business-class" SLVR; business because it doesn't have the camera, which is frowned upon by many corporate-minded individuals. Suits me just fine. The L7 is the high end model with built-in iTunes support, along with an SD slot to hold songs.

And now, a book!

I hadn't read a book in a good LONG while, and then I ran across an ebook copy of Neil Gaiman's American Gods (for you hardcover fans). I'd heard good things about both Neil and this particular book, so I read it. Quite enjoyed it. At my next opportunity, I'll be buying a copy.

Was browsing the cellphone sale at Amazon as I typed this - and the whole page looked like this. Tempted to try them on that.

A recent spam I received

2006-10-05T02:58:00.000-05:00

I... what is the point of this?

Now and then, a briar patch goes deep sea fishing with a nation from a rattlesnake. Any oil filter can compete with some scythe, but it takes a real pit viper to ridiculously bestow great honor upon a mastadon. When a nuclear customer is paternal, the flatulent avocado pit lazily recognizes a vaporized cowboy. Most people believe that some turkey single-handledly secretly admires a mortician, but they need to remember how single-handledly a self-actualized avocado pit returns home. Some pickup truck inside the grand piano procrastinates, and a chess board for a buzzard hesitates; however, a mean-spirited jersey cow eagerly trades baseball cards with the briar patch. For example, the particle accelerator indicates that a bowling ball figures out the most difficult fruit cake. Most people believe that a turkey completely secretly admires a stoic blood clot, but they need to remember how knowingly the turn signal defined by an apartment building beams with joy. When a tabloid is gentle, the outer globule tries to seduce the inferiority complex. A grand piano around the ski lodge feels nagging remorse, but a satellite secretly admires an asteroid inside an ocean.

Some precise warranty At base level, this just comes down to total transitional flexibility.

You really can't fail with integrated management matrix approaches. If a freight train caricatures some paycheck about another light bulb, then a freight train defined by the submarine procrastinates. When you see some hypnotic reactor, it means that a grizzly bear living with the cargo bay hibernates. When a hypnotic football team rejoices, a briar patch starts reminiscing about lost glory. A fruit cake beyond a bartender competes with the unstable polar bear.

I think my favorite part is "it takes a real pit viper to ridiculously bestow great honor upon a mastadon."

A Reader's Digest Moment

2006-09-11T23:38:00.000-05:00

A conversation just held at the front desk:

Guest (on phone): Yes, I'd like to call Germany.
Clerk: Umm... let me check on that for you.
Clerk (to me): How does a guest call Germany?
Me: They dial 9, and then the number as normal.
Clerk (to guest): Dial 9, sir, and then the number as normal.
Guest: Okay... but how do I dial the plus?
Clerk: The... plus?
Guest: Yes, the plus. To call Germany is +49.
Clerk (to me): How does he dial the plus?
Me: The plus? What? Did he actually just say that? You don't DIAL the plus!
Clerk (to guest): Sir, have you ever called Germany?
Guest: Yes, from my mobile.
Clerk: You don't have to dial the plus.
Guest (obviously does not believe clerk): I will try this...

The guest also did not know he had to dial the U.S. country code before dialing the number. This may not seem odd at first, as I'm sure not many Americans know to do this, but the man is FROM Germany, working for an American company IN the U.S.

Edit: When dialing an international call from the U.S., every call starts with 011 - which is the U.S. Country Code. The general format is 011 + City Code + number.

I... am unsure of what to think

2006-08-06T07:15:00.000-05:00

Recently an announcement was made that a new Star Trek film was in the works. Heck, they even released a teaser poster.

This poster, it intrigues me, as it strongly implies TOS era. And not TOS movie era - TOS when it was on TV era. The Official Site also tells us that the director is set to be J.J. Abrams, best known as the creator of such shows as Lost, Alias, and... umm... Felicity. So, for the most part, that's exciting.

But then IMDb tells me that the rumored casting for James Kirk is...

MATT DAMON??!!?!

Now... I like Matt... but as Kirk? I suppose he does kind of look like him... I'll reserve judgement until more concrete news arrives.

The new job

2006-05-13T23:14:00.000-05:00

I'm enjoying it, so far. Most of it, anyway. Being one of the only people trained to run night audit, and the only one with any real flexibility, once again has its drawbacks.

Actually, come to think of it, right now over half of our staff can run night audit; why is it that I'm the one here, running night audit at the last minute, then? Because I cave, I suppose. This one is sick, so we need a replacement; this one is supposed to work tomorrow afternoon, so he can't do it; and this one has arthritis, so doesn't like doing it more than twice a week, and he's cranky, and his mom's ill, and... well, the list goes on. This is why we're hiring a new night auditor.

I enjoy the actual desk stuff. The computer system here is great. I've always enjoyed a good treasure hunt, so digging through audit packs is a weird kind of perverse fun for me. I'm really enjoying having real co-workers, that I work WITH, instead of simply getting paid by the same company.

I have begun having desires to play WoW again. Even tried logging on earlier tonight, to see if I had any time left before my cancellation went into effect; 3 patches later, it tells me that I have, indeed, cancelled my account. Ah, well. When I have money again, I may re-subscribe.

I also found it interesting that the notoriously slow Blizzard Downloader downloaded the 1.10 patch far faster than the installer installed it. And that the patch notes were very different from the installer screen to the confirmation screen.

Any way, the night audit beckons, and I must answer its nocturnal call.

Google Page Creator

2006-03-23T03:02:00.000-06:00

Google recently released their Page Creator, a website construction and storage tool. I signed up for an account, and recently received an email telling me I had access. I checked it out, briefly, and you can see my attempt, along with a brief review of the service.

I'll continue checking it out.

The times they are a-changin'

2006-03-18T21:42:00.000-06:00

Well, we bought a new car. New to us, any way. And pretty new overall. A 2003 Saturn Ion, cranberry in color, 5-speed manual transmission. Very nice. I'll post pictures soon.

I've also started training at my new job, and so far, I love it. The Property Management System they use seems like it's a breeze to work with. Many times working at the Holiday Inn I've wished that certain functions were easier to access, or that it was easier to switch from one to the other, and this program focuses on that.

The staff members are also fantastic, from the desk clerks, to the managerial staff, to the wait staff, everyone is very friendly. And thes pressure I felt at being hired is starting to ease some, as my supervisor told me today she expects I'll be up to full speed within 6 to 8 weeks. I was definitely expecting to be up before then, and I thought they were too, so I guess my learning curve will be somewhat more realistic now.

Anyway, I've got more work tomorrow, so I'm off to bed.

More Chuck Norris Facts

2006-03-11T22:22:00.000-06:00

This time, AS READ BY CHUCK NORRIS!!

The Safe Bedside Table

2006-03-10T19:25:00.000-06:00

I want one.

Will you buy one for me?

Specifics

2006-03-10T12:59:00.000-06:00

More about the job:

I will be working morning shifts most likely. This works out great for me, cause I'll get to see sunlight and Bridget again. Also great for them, as they have a night manager who comes in at 3.

I will be working 5 days a week, and weekends, as they are very busy, will be part of my work week. I can choose my "weekend" from the rest of the week.

I will be in charge of ensuring smooth operations at the front desk. Making sure everyone is following protocol, that deposits are beng taken, rooms correctly assigned, etc. I will be in charge of scheduling the front desk, and I will be tasked with being the emergency on call guy, which is cool, cause I've been doing that for years anyway.

I may actually start training before my 14 days is up at the Holiday Inn, on my days off there, to a) get a head start, and b) earn some more money. Both are good.

Really, working for Jay wasn't that bad. He was a decent guy, good sense of humor. He just took his employees for granted. Bridget told me I was being used, but I don't think so. I just don't think it occurred to Jay to do that.

But, I am glad to be starting somewhere new. Somewhere with fellow co-workers. somewhere with upward mobility. Somewhere that PAYS.

The Interview

2006-03-09T19:02:00.000-06:00

So, the day of my interview it decides to rain like God is flooding the earth again. Driving through Many, I can barely see the truck in front of me - and we're stopped at a red light. I kept having mini-flashbacks of flipping the van.

Despite my misgivings, I did make it to the resort fine, and by this time it's stopped raining. I showed up 30 minutes early, not knowing how much the rain would slow me down, so I sat in the car and listened to the radio, then called Bridget, and finally headed inside. After a few minutes, a desk clerk went to tell the lady I was meeting that I was there, and then the interview started.

It wasn't really an interview, even. She gave me a rundown of the history of the place, who owned what, we talked a little bit about my experience at the Holiday Inn, and then she went to get the General Manager. The man is large, and his hands are HUGE. And by so big, I mean... hmm... meaty. He doesn't even try to close his hand around yours, cause there's just too much of HIS hand.

Anyway, the GM talked as if I already had the job, we briefly discussed a pay range, and then he gave me a tour of the place, which is gorgeous. Pricey, but gorgeous.

They wanted to hire me right then, but the job they were hiring me for didn't exist yet - they needed authorization from the corporate office to create it, which might take a few days. So They handed me some paperwork to fill out, and said they'd be in touch.

I come back for lunch with Bridget, we discuss pay stuff, and I head back up there to turn in the paperwork, ready to ask for the very top of that pay range. I walk in, and the lady says, "Hey! We got you approved!" Wow. So what could have taken a few days instead took a couple of hours, cool. Now to talk money. She leads me into the GMs office, and he says, "We got you the top of that pay range." I was speechless - I hadn't even had to say word one about it.

I think the thing that excites me the most about this job is that hiring me excites THEM. They are ecstatic about me starting work there. The people I've met seem fantastic.

I'm very much looking forward to working there.

Off to see the Wizard...

2006-03-09T08:17:00.000-06:00

Well, here goes...

On the Horizon

2006-03-08T13:24:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow morning I will be interviewing for the position of Front Desk Manager at Cypress Bend Resort. I'm nervous - much more nervous than I've been for anything in a while.

I don't know a whole lot about the job, really - learn most of that tomorrow. It's a full time salaried position. I'm hoping that means benefits. I'm hoping the pay is nice. I'm also hoping it includes discounts at their massage parlor.

They have a MASSAGE PARLOR.

And condos, and a golf course, and a marina, and a restauarant, and an amphitheater, and ballrooms... it's a REAL HOTEL.

The lady I spoke to seemed very excited to talk with me; I hope that carries over through the interview.

I'll let you know more... well, when I know more.

Kabumei: Art of the Sharpened Grenade

2006-03-07T17:52:00.000-06:00

A 5-minute documentary on one of the oldest martial arts forms in the world.

Another wacky wild website

2006-03-07T04:58:00.000-06:00

www.macgyver.com

And no, it's not what you think it is.

Twenty years after Challenger

2006-01-27T10:24:00.000-06:00

I remember seeing the news footage of the shuttle disaster, probably because my dad brought me to watch it. I was 5 years old, so I'm actually surprised that I can remember it, but I have memories of remembering it at 8, if that doesn't sound too weird. When the Columbia disaster happened, I knew just how I would have felt at the Challenger.

MSNBC is reporting on 7 Common Myths About the Challenger Shuttle Disaster.

Most of them are pretty boring. But Numbers 2 and 3 surprised me. Especially #3: The flight, and the astronauts' lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch.

Apparently the shuttle remained mostly intact after the main booster fell apart, though some sections of the craft were also ripped away. It's possible the crew was alive, and although unlikely, were even conscious, when the shuttle slammed back into the water at 200mph 3 minutes later. Some of the emergency air bottles in the cabin had been activated.

That's... a scary thought. And one I don't think I'll dwell on.

Meepo

2006-01-20T11:54:00.000-06:00

Meepo was the cornerstone, it seemed, of the short run I did of the Sunless Citadel adventure, as a prelude to Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Well, ladies and gentleman, Wizards of the Coast has decided to showcase the further adventures of Meepo, the Kobold Dragon Keeper!

Hmmm. Something tells me we shouldn't mess with him now.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin...

2006-01-19T11:40:00.000-06:00

Is an odd duck

Check out the video links on the right, bout a third of the way down.

Ladies and gentelmen...

2006-01-10T09:48:00.000-06:00

I give you...

Darius "Don't Call me Hootie" Rucker!

I want it to be real...

2006-01-05T19:06:00.000-06:00

http://www.livejournal.com/users/groovychk/85968.html

"I canna break the laws of physics cap'n."

"Yeah, but you could you maybe bend them a little?"

DSL!

2006-01-04T13:46:00.000-06:00

I rule teh intarweb!

Ewwww...

2006-01-03T15:11:00.000-06:00

DSL is not working. I'm on DIAL-UP.

It's been years snce I've been on dial-up. This is actually the first thing I've done since getting online, but so far my experience hasn't been horrible. Things are loading up at a decent speed... not crawling, at least. Bellsouth guy will be here tomorrow to check out the lines and see if there's a problem.

T-shirt

2005-12-30T06:15:00.000-06:00

I rent to pwn.

That's one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.

At least until I watch the Bill Cosby DVD I just bought Bridget.

Happy Thursday!

Presents

2005-12-22T02:28:00.000-06:00

Got my first Christmas present on Tuesday.

You can call me Master Bruce now.

It's Christmas Time Pretty Baby

2005-12-20T12:16:00.000-06:00

Less than a week now. Bridget and I are hurriedly moving into our new place and trying to shop for everyone at the same time. Which can be difficult with only one car. Or truck, as we have her dad's at the moment, and he is fixing our car. As I understand it, the only thing left now is fixing the rear quarter panel and putting in a new tail light. The trunk opens and closes, the bumper is reattached, all good stuff.

Back to Christmas. This is the first year that I have really, absolutely NO idea what I want for Christmas. Perhaps it's the onset of real adulthood, but in previous years there was always some THING I could point to and say "Yeah, that." It might have been a book, or books, or a video game, or... I don't know, SOMETHING.

This year... I almost feel like saying, and truly meaning, "Nothing."

******

We went to two Christmas parties this weekend, one in Lafayette and one in Lake Charles. The Lafayette one was at my friend Amanda's house, and was a lot of fun. It had been a while since I'd seen or some of my other friends, and the people that I didn't know were really cool, as well. Lots of funny conversations, some great sillyness during the white elephant exchange... good times.

The Lake Charles party was, of course, at Daisy and Joe's. We hung around, talked, ate dinner, played Hot Death UNO, and did the white elephant thing.

Anyone remember a few years back for Chrostmas I got this little gun that shot foam discs and made noises? Or at least know the type of gun I'm talking about?

Daisy's gift in the exchange was two guns and 175 of the discs. And I got it. And then, 5 mintes later, somebody got ANOTHER one. Four guns, 350 rounds (literally).

We discussed random violence, but not that much really occurred. Mostly we tried shotting them into a gift bag from about 10 feet away. Each shot is unique, so it can be difficult to make any of them. I don't think anyone got more than 1 shot out of 12 into the bag.

And then we drove home so Bridget could go to work, leaving the other revelers to their... reveling.

A great weekend.

...and now a random Chuck Norris fact

2005-11-29T08:54:00.000-06:00

http://www.4q.cc/chuck/index.php

I love Chuck Norris. He was an absolutely fantastic fighter back in the day. But this... this is too funny. I don't know when the random odd Chuck Norris jokes started, but they will make me laugh for quite a while.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S Enterprise

2005-11-26T07:51:00.000-06:00

Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise

My Christmas Wish List

2005-11-08T03:41:00.000-06:00

Just in case you were wondering.

Free shipping even.

At Last

2005-11-07T08:23:00.000-06:00

Robert Jordan has redeemed himself.

Knife of Dreams is the best book in the second half of the Wheel of Time, thus far. Winter's Heart was decent, at best, and only the last chapter or two truly had content. Crossroads of Twilight was an exercise in how to expand what should have been a chapter or two into an entire book.

But Book 11...

We get to see Rand do Randish things. Perrin is Perrin. Mat is bloody Mat again. And things get ACCOMPLISHED. I'm proud of you Mr. Jordan.

I think the problem the last couple of books have had is that people complained Jordan's characters were too flat, so he tried to let us see some more of their personalities other than constant braid-tugging, ear-thumbing, and forehead-knuckling. But it was BORING. I have spoken to one person who thought it wasn't - and I ask every single person who's read the series: "What did you think of Book 10?"

In this one, he does a decent job of balancing action, plot forwarding, depth of personality, plot twists, and even plot resolution. I mean, when was the last time THAT happened?

Not to say there is not braid-tugging, ear-thumbing, or forehead-knuckling. He focuses on fewer characters this time, people more central to the main story, so is more able to develop them. Some characters are almost given short shrift, even. But it is an excellent read, the most engaging this once brilliant series has given me in some time.

There were a few spots, however, that were odd. At one part, I very pointedly felt he had a character speak to the reader. I hate that. Nothing spoils suspension of disbelief for me like a character saying something that the other characters obviously know, but the reader probably does not; spread it out amongst more than one character.

At times he also forces cultural differences, such as colloquial sayings and customs, into odd places in the narrative. "Oh, yeah, don't forget, these people are different." We know, already. Notes about their accent being unusual is one thing, constantly throwing in odd fishing sayings we don't understand is totally another.

But read it. Good Book. :-)

And Mr. Jordan...

(warning:spoiler)

Gas

2005-10-03T08:53:00.000-05:00

I think someone siphoned my gas tank last night while I was at work.

I filled up my tank Saturday. Sunday afternoon, I still had half a tank, which is the last time I really remember seeing the gauge. This morning, I had no gas. Enough to start the car, but not enough to GO.

And I have a locking gas door.

It is possible that I have a gas leak. Which may be worse. There was no puddle beneath the car, though.

Umm... wow?

2005-10-01T08:24:00.000-05:00

Things have been crazy around here for the past month or so - at least from my perspective. Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast area, but it threw the hotel into chaos. Our reservation system sunce then has been unreliable, giving inaccurate availability data for practically every day since then. We've been doing manual room counts every day, making sure we have enough rooms for everyone that was already here and for those who had reservations. FEMA and Red Cross set up a program to pay for the first 14 days of hotel charges for those affected by Katrina, which is great both from our perspective and from the guests's. Helped to lighten a lot of moods around here.

Then Rita hit, and things weren't so peachy keen. My sister came up to stay with us to avoid power outages - when Lily went through Lafayette a couple of years ago, they didn't have power for a week. Bridget told me she was coming and I said, "Yeah, great. (pause) Oh, wait." My sister has 4 kids, all under the age of 4. Ages 3, 2, 1, and 2 months, to be exact. That was going to be tumultuous, I could already tell.

Rita hit, and we lots power, at the hotel and at our house. The hotel rented a generator, thankfully, to run our computer system, and the power was only out for about 14 hours. The city actually turned off the power at 4am to avoid live downed lines in any areas. Pretty smart, I think. We still had a lot of irate guests, especially when our cable system didn't come up until the next day. People wanted to see what their homes, or at least their home area, looked like, and couldn't.

Power wasn't restored at our house until Tuesday afternoon. We spent the weekend at a friend's apartment and cancelled class Tuesday night to clean up the fridge and resulting mess from leaving a vacant house for several days. My sister wen home on Sunday - their power had been restored Saturday afternoon. The kids were wonderful, when the 1-year old wasn't screaming.

In other news... I will likely be closing the karate school. Attendance, and thus fees, has been attrocious. I've been paying out of pocket for a few months now. This was why we moved to a whole new location a year ago, for cheaper rent that my student base could better support, and for no utility fees. Now, I often sit through empty class periods before anyone shows up. I don't need this stress, and I don't need this money sink. I've talked thinsg over with Charlie, and I'm going to restructure to a less commercial enterprise - so I suppose "closing" is a misnomer. I want to move to a less formalized environment, one where I don't need to worry about paying hundreds of dollars a month in rent and thus don't need to worry about my student base. I'll keep a few of my adult students, and that'll be about it. Problem is finding a location. Some place that would be willing to take us in for a percentage of my student income would be perfect - then I could just charge like $10 a month and not care about anything else.

In still other news, I saw Serenity last night, and greatly enjoyed it. I would highly reccomend people watch the Firefly series first, just to get acclimated with the characters first. It isn't neccessary, but it will definitely help. Great action, great comedy, just an all around good movie. I'll probably go see it again.

In further other news, Bridget got paid! <singing>We're in the money! We're in the money</singing> But seriously, if you see me attempting to splurge, STOP ME.

Words of wisdom from a coffee shop

2005-09-18T06:02:00.000-05:00

"All unattended children will be given two shots of espresso and a free puppy."

Okay... could you repeat that?

2005-08-05T01:56:00.000-05:00

So, I'm reading through the World of Warcraft Warlock forums, and run across this message:

I dont like to stress the fact that the warlock rocks, but he jus does. So, for all you staff users out there, feel free to come in and post, my staff is a good one, but here is how it goes 1. post message in the room 2. LOOK IT OVER 3. dont report anything, i might get in trouble :) and 4. Have fun!!!

Anyone else understand that? There are now 26 pages of collective WTFs on the forum.

So, just thought I'd share.

It's Official

2005-08-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

At least to me, the pool party was a smashing success - my favorite so far, I think. Two days of nonstop fun - from 9am Friday (Hi Moose!) until 9pm Sunday (Bye Moose!). There was, of course, swimming, as well as poker, boardgames, some Munchkin (wish I had gotten in on that), and some plain nerd-dom.

I am at work, so I need to make this short. Thanks to everyone who came, and I hope everyone had as good a time as I did!

Scotty is dead

2005-07-21T00:17:00.000-05:00

James Doohan died Wednesday. He was the Canadian who played Scottish engineer Montgomery Scott on the original Star Trek.

He's the second member of the original series to pass away - DeForest Kelley died in 1999.

Some interesting tidbits: he served in World War II, losing his right middle finger on D-Day when attacked with a machine gun. One bullet to the chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case. I thought that kind of stuff only happened in movies.

He was given an honorary degree in engineering by the Milwaukee School of Engineering after half of the students there said he had inspired them to join the field.

He suffered from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and fibrosis of the lungs. It was time for him to go. He'll be missed.

DnD Web comic!

2005-07-08T06:38:00.000-05:00

Most of you guys have seen Order of the Stick before. If not, check it out, it's a hilarious little comic.

The author of that strip has another one called Five Foot Steps that is an official part of the WoTC RPGA site. Looks like it's pretty funny, too, from the player's perspective instead of the characters.

Well, yeah. That is all.

Baton Rouge

2005-06-29T04:58:00.000-05:00

Cade was supposed to come visit this weekend. Unfortunatey, his dad got sick, and he couldn't come.

Instead, Bridget and I drove to Baton Rouge to visit him. He's come up several times, figured it was time we reciprocated.

We had a great time. Hung out, just talked, went and ate, talked some more, and went to see Batman Begins again. Was Cade and Bridget's third time each, and my second. Love that movie.

We spent the night in Baton Rouge and hung out in the Mall of Louisiana while Cade was at work. Usually Bridget can't stand shopping, even for just a few minutes, but she did very well, this day. Mostly, I think, it was because we looked for items very specifically for HER. We ended up getting her this great skirt and a pair of shoes. Looks fabulous on her. Then we ate dinner with Cade and his folks, and headed to Lafayette, where we spent the night hanging with Bridget's sister and her husband, and Bridget's cousin. Again, more fun was had, and as a side note, Psychonauts looks like a pretty cool game.

Now, we are returned home, and all is well, or as well as working every day for the rest of the week can be.

More squirrels

2005-06-19T08:01:00.000-05:00

I think today was the squirrel's Rite of Passage or something. On the way home from work, I had FOUR squirrels stare me down as I barreled towards them. Not only that, I had this behemoth of a Ford truck right on my tail, so I couldn't really brake, or I'd be a smear on his undercarriage. All ran away at the last moment, thankfully. Just rather... odd.

Emotions and Batman

2005-06-19T06:18:00.000-05:00

I've been particularly emotionally sensitive lately, and I don't know why. I've always been pretty emotional - I admit, I cry at those parts of movies - but lately it hasn't been taking much. And it's not even neccessarily that I will cry, it's mor of an all-around empathy. Hey, maybe I'm part Betazoid.

Naming-wise, the Betazoids really got the shaft. Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, Ferengi, Borg... the writers couldn't come up with something better than [planet name] + oid? Come on.

Anyway...

Batman Begins rocks. Went to see it on opening day, and loved it. It's everything I hoped it would be, though it does have some corny moments. Nothing, thankfully, like the cornfest that was Batman & Robin. For those interested in seeing it, but wary because of the last films:

It's loosely based on the Batman: Year One comic book storyline.
It's NOT directed by Joel Schumacher, the guy who did the last two.
It's DARK.
It stars both Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.
And they already have 2 more screenplays written, so if this one does well, we can see MORE well done Dark Knight movies!