And so, April comes to an end. Seeya next year, April! Wasn't too bad of one this year, all told. Some stresses, some solutions... it seems to have come and gone fairly rapidly.

Was I just doing taxes 2 weeks ago? It seems like months. I'm still getting the occasional treat at http://drop.io/scottobear , feel free to drop something off, or pick something up. I removed the m4ps, but the mp3 music is still out there.

Had the in-laws over - BHk made pseudo-beef stroganoff, baked zucchini and corn on the cob - a fine dinner which caused me to consume with gusto... and too much.

Back was doing pretty well until I hit the sack - laying straight caused some medium discomfort. I think I'll take my night meds a half hour before bed for maximum ease.

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Recent photos -

. . .

ATW man is just sitting on the roof.. waiting for the owner to come up with a new plan, I guess... Mother's Day is coming... maybe we'll get to see his mama!

Also shown, our dancing robots, captured in the wee hours of the morning. I think that the designers gave the girl a lot more personality, but I think that they're both very cute.

 Oh, I forgot one - speaking of robots - the Wall-E bench.

there's a heart on the seat - Wall-E + Eve

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A google search for scottobear homebrew gives about 86 results. So, BHK - I do use the term homebrew every here and there! neener neener. Funny thing is that BHK did a search independent of mine, and got a more valid result of about 31. She just thinks it's a funny word for me to use.

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A male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water with a pole, trying desperately to spear a passing fish.

It is the first time one has been seen using a tool to hunt.

The extraordinary image, a world exclusive, was taken in Borneo on the island of Kaja, where apes are rehabilitated into the wild after being rescued from zoos, private homes or even butchers' shops.

"Orang hutan" means "forest man" in one of Indonesia's many languages and our long-armed cousins do indeed show a remarkable ability to mimic our behaviour.

This individual had seen locals fishing with spears on the Gohong River.

Although the method required too much skill for him to master, he was later able to improvise by using the pole to catch fish already trapped in the locals' fishing lines.

The image is part of a series taken for a new book, The Thinkers Of The Jungle, which also includes the first photograph of an orangutan swimming.

Thinkers Of The Jungle, by Gerd Schuster, Willie Smits and Jay Ullal, is published by Ullmann Publishing on May 5.

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1 year ago - TM sullen, gardening, ohio offer, heroes, rpg supers, free software

2 years ago - plazes, car accident, mustache finger tattoos, bibliochaise, rush arrested, barking kitty, orbit cam, Guten Drudennacht! Time for der Hexen-Orgie!, greathatsby

3 years ago - Hitchhiker's, Dr. Who, Dont Cry Kitty, torrents, ebay victory, front pages, walkies pix, key/class quiz

4 years ago - Drudennacht (Walpurgisnacht), email dopes, gmail auction, gamedevelopers, Mod a disposable cam into a stun-gun, Chickens like to eat scorpions, T2 espanol question

5 years ago - Where the hell meme, boobah, timetable entry, tripped and went to the hospital on my back, slow trip home

6 years ago - a day in the life doodle, Osbournes, Chupa/tia fight, Star Map (Awesome! I forgot about this!), give bro some DVD-fu, broken pic links I have to fix

7 years ago - music confession, bug farts, fiction, wrote a encryption toy for CEJ and me to chit chat, underwear poll, AL Amarjan Slang, McCafe, lederhosen,SOP - "you forgot the gravy"

Happy Easter!!!

atw man and his easter basket

Went to Fuddruckers Thursday night with BHK and the in-laws... I got a bunless veggie burger with cheddar cheese and a side salad. Not bad, for what it was. I'm more happy that we ate out at a place that Larry really likes. We drag him to Mexican, Thai or whatever else, and he's not usually that keen. (He gets a taco and french fries when we go to Mexico... close enough to a burger for him!)




Today, barring cancellation, we hit Cheeburger Cheeburger for a late lunch today with Adam, Eric, Tina, Matt and BHK in Annapolis. I've been saving points for the trip. [edit - we did! a good time was had by all!]

Morning plans include replacing a window at the Brown house with Larry, but I suspect that timing will make it a project for next weekend rather than this one.

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Two cool things that I want - A palm-sized cell phone jammer, and a hoverlounger.

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1 year ago - haircut local color pic

2 year ago - time distortion, senior kitties, shleep, movie meme, acim worker overview

3 years ago - Calimocho, escort crazy man (with sound files), netflix slacking, LEACH

4 years ago - morning has broken, weak Spanish knowledge, Wondering about JTD, winged sandals, Kenya, free movies legit, robo-predators, word count, 2! 2! undead movies nearby

5 years ago - Bro pissing me off, haiku, bro meets porn stars.

6 years ago - pen refill dream, baby llamas

7 years ago - cool weather, my 1376th post, talked to ckirk, ornj, and Devil-troll ticks me off

50 things I've done meme continues with item 33. I...

33. I did not punch a doctor in the face yesterday, despite his smarmy, holier than thou attitude, poor consult practice, shit-eating grin and "you could beat me up just by sitting on me" comment. If I were a less in control sort of guy, I'd have ripped his spine out via his neck, reversed it, and shoved it back into him rectally.

Adrenaline-removed details below.

Dr. D really took quite a lot of wind from my sails yesterday regarding my back. I'm more than a little disappointed and dismayed, but I am happy that a fix is available, contrary to my prior concerns that I have no options.

The short form - I have gained back much of my former lost weight - I'm at 364 lbs. Pulse 82, BP 148 / 88 (far higher than my usual 120/80)

BMI is 42, according to my height vs weight, which is in the very [edit: morbidly] obese category - I obviously need to get back on the stick, health-wise. (some shortcomings of this reference)

His bedside manner was lacking in the extreme - said that I was in a lot of trouble, that my spine has some severe damage that needs to be repaired and the rub is I have too much mass to properly operate on me... he can't get down past all of the tissue, (both fat and muscle) to take care of it.

I won't go into his overly condescending talk about weight loss, but the bottom line is that he feels that he can't work on me now... but he'd prefer that I come back to him in a year after I've lost about 100 lbs - then he thinks that he can repair the damage to my spine and fix the nerve short-circuit in my leg. Meanwhile, I'm going to have to suck it up, and just deal with the pain and numbness issues a bit longer... I don't mind getting on a healthy diet and workout regimen.. it's just a shame that his idea of finding a good one is "pick up a magazine" - rather than guiding me to a trainer and / or dietitian as I'd asked.

So, part of my journal is going to be recording and tracking my weight / workouts again - I'm going to resume my points-based WW program on the palmtop, and we'll see if I can get myself into fighting trim at a reasonable and healthy rate.

I will continue to see that doctor until I find a better one - but meanwhile I'm just happy that there is a chance for repair in the future. I'm disappointed that I still haven't gotten a cortisone shot, but there is a chance of one next visit to my general prac.

After much stress at the Doc's, we swung by the local Games Workshop store (right across the street). It was odd to see a store devoted to just mini wargaming, specifically warhammer fantasy, warhamer 40k and lord of the rings miniatures. Apparently the Glen Burnie site is the USA headquarters for the Games Workshop with dozens tables of goodies set up for play. I was surprised to see the one in Annapolis hopping with people - mid-afternoon on a Wednesday... I'd figure everyone that would want to get in on it would be at work or school. I was impressed by the quality of the paint jobs on the armies... a lot of labor of love going on there. BHK and I both really dug the red and yellow lizard men.

We picked up a very late lunch at Lemongrass Too - it was excellent as usual. More tofu with peanut/curry vibe and spicy-sweet green beans.

We were going to check out Be Kind, Rewind - but it was too late. The only showings at the Bowtie were at 3:30 (missed it) and 9:30 (not on a school night!) - So, while we were in the plaza, BHK shoe shopped - she really liked the keen ones... Timberline, venturea, and malibu styles. note to self for future presents!

On our way out of Annapolis we did discovered the ATW man got gussied up for St. Patty's Day (pictures to follow)... and he also has a myspace page ! Lots of pictures that I didn't have of his past exploits - we went inside ATW and got a floor mat... the reciept mentions where to locate him on the web. I've added him as a friend, but he hasn't reciprocated yet.

Dinner was boiled eggs, salad, and leftover veggie taco "meat". good stuff, solid for the end of the day.

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As for today - went to work, worked, got on the bus, headed home, wrote a long entry on the ol' PDA.

BHK made some amazingly tasty split pea soup, with chick peas, carrots and cabbage. Lovely for St. Patty's.

Point budget is 35, using the weight watchers points system. I still can't abide weigh-ins and meetings, but the plan has worked for me in the past. Monitoring using the wwcalc program on the palm.

I'll export the results here in the future.

I can bank a few points for the weekend, where I'm pretty sure I'll go over when we dine out.

Misc health info -

10 minute brisk walk to the bus, light level. not worth any points, really.
10 cups water - just healthy.

Researched utility of using company gym during lunch - distinct possibility. 3 bikes, a treadmill and some free weights that might do the trick.
Bring gym clothes, allot 20 min for lunch, 20 for workout, 20 for changing/shower.

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1 year ago - wrongly accused have to pay back rent for jail time

2 years ago - sunday walkies, path and pics

3 years ago - calle ocho, aroo, writing, chronic, tulips, mummified head of Mata Hari,Idahos mugshots, Girl Scout cookies remind me of Katt and Wendy, Monkeyhot or not, fonts, cool tools, Yu-Gi-Oh! suicide

4 years ago - CoH, Batroc, Bro, uncles, crazy yarn, comic styles, DP reboot (dang Byrne), dance cyclopedia, people as mexican food (metaphor)

5 years ago - Nordis = el sucko, LAN setup, Bellsouth, Lovely gifits from Dani, palm update

6 years ago - Applelard's BDAY!, the moon, cadbury craving, dead website linkies,bilhicks, hairball poll, skijump, silly supers, network names

7 years ago - sweet dreams, evil news, why blowing up buddha isn't so bad

Monday monday - back to work! Not much to post about... general purpose day, but BHK picked me up afterward. We met Chris and Larry at Lemongrass - Larry wasn't gaga over it, but the rest of us enjoyed the feed. We parted company soon after - BHK and I hit the store and got the boys a new water fountain and a toy or two. I barely fended off BHK's request for goldfish and crabs and hammies and gerbils and kitties.

ATW man has varied a little from his valentines outfit.. now he has a red wig on, no heart shaped box of candy, and the rose still clenched betwixt his teeth.

If anything, he looks a bit like a grateful dead album cover at the moment. hard to get good detail with the camera phone and a back light, but bigger gets a bit more.

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Taking a hint from edbook, six years ago (friends only link) -

50 things I've done in my life: (I'll do it 10 at a time each weekday, I think, due to time constraints.)

1. 'was run over by a car while riding a motor scooter - snapped my collarbone. If the front wheel had been 6 inches to the left, I'd be dead.. 2 feet and I'd have been fine. The car never stopped to check on me, it just kept going. I didn't know it was broken at first, until I called GP on the phone and he advised that I flex my arm. After I unblacked out a moment later on the floor, I went to the hospital. Only bone of mine that broke... unless you count teeth.

2. 'have been every male part of a wedding ceremony, short of the priest. (ring bearer, usher, best man, groom). In that order. Will I be ordained enough to do the last one someday?

3. 'saw at the very least five different kinds of consensual crime performed in under an hour... my last night as a bouncer. The pay was good, but not worth going to jail for... even if nobody there was complaining.

4. 'met my wife thanks to the internet,  livejournal, and an ex-girlfriend.

5. 'got a scholarship to clown college, but opted for computer science... more lucrative, and I don't do well with sawdust-based environments.

6. 'is allergic to cats, but happily fostered and then adopted Newton-kitty when he was 3 weeks old - bottle and rag fed him every 4 hours when he was still in the nursing stage. I now live with 2 cats and don't show allergies much around them, but other animals will give me red eyes and sneezles, until I adapt to 'em.

7. 'worked for an organization that helped to search for missing children. I think that my heart was in the right place, but I'm glad to have moved on. It can be heartbreaking to hear about a kid that didn't make it, or to see petty behavior on the part of an org or the police result in stupidity that could potentially cost a kids life. Plus, I don't like being rattled every time the cell phone rings... now when the phone vibrates, the worst thing is a downed server or a weather issue. It's taken me about a year to get out of fireman-alert / stress mode every time the phone rings. I do feel that the national center is the best place to turn to when a child is missing.

8.'worked in a library through most of college and high school - during hurricane Andrew. Got to reshelve and relocate books while wearing a miners lamp on my head under rows of black plastic tarps... no power, no lights or AC. Until discovering them underfoot in the stacks, I had no idea scorpions lived in South Florida. Also, people bring porno to "read" in the rear stacks... ick.

9.'was also in the civil air patrol during Andrew, and got to see how destroyed homestead got... I had a huge amount of pity for the folks in NOLA that I might not have if I didn't see areas of just rubble and water where homes used to be. We got to round up food and water for people out there... it's what I imagine it to be like in an area struck by war.

10.'has offered spiritual advice to people, even though I have no idea what, if anything, is beyond the veil of what we can see. I've helped people through crises of faith and to find a common ground where elements can be conflicted even though I haven't the foggiest about my own faith... and I'm ok with that. I don't know if that makes me a hypocrite or what.

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So, Tron 2, the movie in 2011? I've got to wonder about that one. Will I see it? Yes, if it's going to be in 3-D. 3-D makes everything at least a little bit awesome. I'm sure that BHK will want to fo see national Treasure 3... and I'll be fore it, if it's in 3-D, too... but no word on that.

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The son’s tooth helps to save dad’s sight

Rob McNichol’s son — also called Rob — didn’t think twice when the chance arose to help his dad to see again by giving him a canine tooth.

Father-of-eight Mr McNichol snr (57) was blinded in a work-place accident, when liquid aluminium exploded in his face in November 2005.

But he can now see again after doctors, using groundbreaking surgery, inserted his son’s tooth in his eye.

The surgery, Osteo Odonto Kerato Prosthesis (OOKP), involved fitting a living canine tooth with an optical cylinder and transplanting it into the eye cavity

The surgery, which costs an estimated €40,000, is believed to be the first of its kind to be carried out on an Irish resident.

Pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, Osteo Odonto Kerato Prosthesis (OOKP) surgery is carried out on patients for whom conventional corneal transplants will not work. It entails replacing a damaged cornea with a live tooth root and attached optical cylinder

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John McCain apologized for a supporter's use of Barack Obama's middle name. And rightly so. Only his mother should use his middle name, and then only when he's done something really naughty.

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1 year ago - Sunny day sends our snowman away, pictures, star fleet battles revamp (I never did buy it), I touch witch's rock in leonardtown- pic, also witch's other stuff (trash can, tree, flagpole, picnic table, and ash tray), veteran memorial, google traffic, dating persona

2 years ago - router dies, kids tp, tree-hugging, get human database, my blue heaven,

3 years ago - power out, mark lenard, color wwi pics, free stock photos, 20 ways to say no, knife, razors and laws, vonnegut on writing, newt pictures and doodles, cravings, costume changes, handy freeware

4 years ago - pondering public entries, nice gab with the Cs, ADP sucks again, Zombie Recipe, Cat w/hands, gov overrides names

5 years ago - 03/03/03, MRE, rudimentary lj search engine

6 years ago - fake trading floor, Olive Garden screed, Hsien-Yu Pi-Jen

7 years ago - Owls in Myth & Culture, 3-d fax printing, Dogen

Got up bright and early to take care of more work stuff.. got it off of my plate by 10 am. Newton and Pyewacket hung out in the office with me, bringing soothing purrs and general cuteness to assist with the pretty boring machinations of general purpose analysis. (See cam picture posted earlier)

Once that was done, BHK and I crawled back into bed for more cool-weather Sunday snuggles. Both the boys have beens snoozing in the bed with us lately... warmest spot in the house, without a doubt.

At about 1ish, we finally got up and at 'em... invited the in-laws to Cheeburger Cheeburger. While BHK was in the shower, I installed an updated firewall on my system... it gave me a few hair-pulling moments, but managed to get it working before we headed out. What should've been a "click-click done" was more of a "expletive expletive click click click click click click expletive done" sort of thing.

Cheeburger^2 was nice... even nicer that the in-laws insisted on paying, even though we invited them! Veggie burger, frings and a chocolate-cherry shake for me! (BHK had similar, but her veggie burger was teriyaki with pineapple - mine was more standard lettuce, onion ring, cheddar, honey mustard, pickle combo)

Swung by ATW on the way home, and he's all ready for valentine's day!



He's holding a rose in his teeth, wearing a beret and a striped shirt, holding a heart shaped box. what a romantic!

My back was seizing a bit this weekend but is feeling better tonight. We watched the pilot and following episode of Eli Stone upstairs... not bad - depending on how the writing continues, it could be excellent or peter out. Not a bad framing device for morality / guidance tales sort.

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1 year ago - buttered Chris's nose at tinas

2 years ago - songbird, Opa, micro retro, FREE PANCAKES!, personality awareness, scary mary

3 years ago - Bro & HI, website income to AmeriCares, I miss CJ, Danny gets Debate, mirror newt pics, still talking to mel, #3 for kp/rs shenanigans, Newt Love, Danny sick (and he was again last year), sedef & crew adorable, MmmmMMMmonkey, masked grader

4 years ago - shopping for condos, zombie night club

5 years ago - memes, dreams, Streets of San Fran, computer sculptures, Pith, Good quote of the day, interviewing, hot shower

6 years ago - up early on a Sunday, Finished reading FAFCwGM, nice weather, tulpa plot

7 years ago - kid tv-memories, valentines

Called in sick to work - made a trip to the dentist to deal with that cracked tooth.

Before my root canal, we stopped for stuffed crust pie at pizza hut - bhk and I didn't figure I'd be in the mood to eat after having my choppers done... fate was not on my side.

Unfortunately, I ordered a quepapa appetizer - one of those little tater tot things got caught in my throat, and seared the back of my esophagus. Our server tried to administer the Heimlich maneuver by grabbing me around my neck... so while I was busy trying to expel the spud that had grafted itself to my windpipe, I got to fight off a caring, yet misguided attempt at stopping me from choking by strangulation.

Hit the dentist, and he had a lot of trouble.. abscess. I got a perscription for penecillin (I didn't know that they still did that, rather than all the alternates these days...) and filled it a tthe local walgreens. BHK - not one to be outdone by my accident prone-ness, got her finger caught in a shiatzu machine there.. nothing broken, just a nasty pinch.

Bah, says we... she was fine, and we zipped past the ATW man (see below) on the way home.

got home, played a little HL2, and am now watching psych with BHK.

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atw man took his tree down, and is just sort of taking in the stars tonight.

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1 year ago - laundry with newt pics, bros grimm, dream away, major spam hits in anony comments due to the word "panty"

2 years ago - RS suspicious, fdle meeting, sleepy, cheap electric, laser pointer in fog, fabiform, windows update, yahoo ads

3 years ago - pics of Danny and I playing pirates at twistyland, sickly mel, hippo and tortoise are pals, how infectious are dead bodies

4 years ago - Goodies, bad phone, long meeting

5 years ago - waiting for doc, HMOs suck, Autopsy, memories

6 years ago - freesco, horked my arm, make smudges, culture bound syndromes, stinky, live in the present, salt sticks

7 years ago - vagg, movies, napster

Decorated gingerbread with tina and went to good deale bluegrass show.


Saw amazing new fiddle player AND old fiddle player John Glick played that had a liver transplant.

Drove around Annapolis at night to show Wilton and Linda the sights.

Passed ATW man - in Christmas gear!

Got my last filling (and the broken filling repaired) last night - On our way home, The ATW man had shed his Spidey Costume, and is now preparing for winter! BHK thought he was killing a turkey, but it turns out that he's just chopping some wood.

Full size is the best way to catch any detail. I rather like the amorphous white blob the light makes... I pretend it's The Man's alien friend, blinky.

Since he didn't numb me very effectively, the anesthetic wore off in under 20 minutes. I was able to enjoy a little stuffed crust pie... and a few quepapas (tasty glorified tater tots) for a lead-in.

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I'm about done with Penguin Soccer... it just doesn't stand up to 4-player, and 2-playerwise... I think that the novelty has worn off. Even with a few tweaks, it just needs more work. I'm leaning more towards Binary Homeworlds and Martian Chess as far as icehouse / pyramid games of choice stand out. A few games of Zamboni Wars might bump that into the running, too.

Game design on Pumpkin has come to a standstill... I need to pick up the pen and get back on working the crimps out of a few sticky elements. (Not to Mention Giants and Dwarfs / Brier Patch )

For a lot of Playable games (and more than a few not-so-playable ones) , icehouse.org is still pretty handy. I'm not doing the competition this winter, as I prefer to try and design a good game first, and then worry about what pieces are needed - rather than the other way around. Heck, you can play Martian chess with pennies, nickels and quarters if you wanted to.

Homeworlds seems a lot simpler to play in person than on superdupergames, but it is nice having the hard-coded rules keeping track of what can and can't be done.

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BHK made a tasty cake for the gang's thanksgiving at work... orange cake with a cranberry drizzle on top. Yummy... vaguely reminded me of fruit loops.

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Newton and Pyewacket are getting to be quite the little chums... perhaps it's due to the colder weather, but they're downright affectionate with one another these days. Newt lovingly headbutted Pye the other night - that's something totally unanticipated.

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Kindle looks nifty, but $400 is way too much to spend. I'd probably totally snag it for $200, so maybe next year. I'll be very interested to see where the next version of the technology goes... but it'd be worth it for just free rss reading and wikipedia on the fly, along with whatever books I put on there myself. Throw in some basic PDA functionality, and you've got me, but good. EV-DO could work wonders, too. It reads prc files, so all of my palm ebooks would be just fine, too.

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Two interesting links, especially for around thanksgiving - Sent to me by BHK Both give food to the needy by asking for a story from you or just improving your vocabulary.

Click here: Tell Story | Spread The Sharing
Click here: FreeRice

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1 year ago - more sanibel pictures and talking a bit about the trip

2 years ago - arsenic & old lace, book fair, gamma passes, newt pics, missed uber, NYPL Digital Gallery, broward #1 for AIDS

Pictures - junk shop pictures - lots of crazy statuary / monkey / eagle / chandeliers

3 years ago - torrenting, Brisco's Pete, theme music, dictionareoke, flash games, cosplayers, mel

4 years ago - bro responsored by viper, GP stuff, palm art

5 years ago - accexpo, gossamer and gollum (later Jinx and Felix), Christmas specials

6 years ago - Cranberry Sauce, walkies, haiku, wacky news

7 years ago - Bob Marley, Roy likes to destroy, </b></a>danigolden asks if she can add me to her friends list. (I say sure!)

Let's see... to recap the weekend -

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Friday - Gem show was fairly nifty... I got to fool with a $109,000 aquamarine stone, and ate some tasty dessert with the in-laws and BHK.

Positives : Played with Rocks, Tasty food, Obtained a little knowledge on Lapidary, Got some ideas about what to get BHK as presents, Rock Cutter reminded me of Todd, discovered "sno cone" cut

Negatives: 4-5 hours is too long in a folding chair, Mouthy lady across from me, Had to wear nice clothes, heavy rain, we were tardy, I notice occlusions and stone flaws too easily, BHK low blood sugar, Newt accidentally in the walk-in closet the whole time we were gone.

Final Score: More win than fail. If I had to do it again I wouldn't complain, but would plan for uncomfy chairs a bit.

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Saturday - We were going to spend a little time doing chores and then go to the flyball tourney with Amy and her sisters, but got sidetracked after we were invited to breakfast with Larry and Chris. Post Bob Evans, we got the tickle to pick up our copy of Zombie Fluxx at Aardvark in Solomon's.... That sort of turned in to a family trip to BJ's Wholesale with the in-laws, once they heard we were heading south for a moment. Larry And Chris suffered a little bit from sensory overload at Aardvark's, but we were in and out quickly. Just fast enough to grab our ZF and go. I found out that they don't carry warhammer minis, but instead do war machine. I wonder if Eryx and his crew mix and match figures, or if they're purely WH? Once we got to BJ's, a quick trip for some tires for Larry's car turned into Shop-o-rama 2007. BHK and I picked up a few things that we needed, Halloween candy for the kiddies, and two wonderfully discounted wii games ($20 each) - Rampage and Ninjabread Man. Chris decided to play Santa, and bought our cart of goodies as well as their own!

While grocery Shopping, we found some Theme Chocolate -



Sexual Chocolate I've heard of... Forgiveness? interesting. Tranquil and Renew... what happens if you eat all of these at once?

On our way south, there was a trailer on the side of the road hawking flowers, apples and baked goods. By the style of dress, I thought at first that one of the vendors was Amish, but on evaluation of the trailer, she must've been Mennonite - Horses would've had a tough time pulling the thing, but a truck hitch would be fine. Also went to the post office, and got Danny's Anniversary Present, and a Fluxx card "Zombies Eat Brains" promo... you use it in the standard deck, but has a Zombie theme, to be sure (The player who has Death on the table wins if the Brain is on the table.) The Boxed version of HEY! That's My Fish! I was a cruel and heartless player, and beat BHK 3 out of 3 games. I fear my victories will grow fewer in number as we get more players - I'm much better with 4 penguins than with 2.

We also stopped off at Maerten's to get our wedding rings engraved - inside of mine will be "Wing To Wing" and BHK's will be "Oar To Oar", referencing Robert Frost's The Master Speed - last lines of which are:

Two such as you with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once you are agreed
That life is only life forevermore
Together wing to wing and oar to oar.

The full poem is on my bio page here.

Positives: Zombie Fluxx obtained (Aardvark sold out and was on it's second order!), Hey! That's My Fish!, Free Candy, Free Wii Games, Free Houshold supplies, Social time with the in-laws, ginger snaps and apples, offer to teach me old school biscuit baking techniques.

Negatives: Delayed visit to Amy for a day, no chores done - will probably have to buckle down next weekend, a little skittish about not having my wedding ring

Final Score: BIG WIN! I really can't find much to complain about getting games, chocolate and a lot of good conversation and giggles out of a Saturday. Tried Ninjabread Man, and the controls are tricky, but not bad once you're used to 'em. I bet Bugah will be quite good at it.

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Sunday (Today) - I slept in until 10:30! I never sleep that late, but it must've been quite needed.

BHK and I hustled out the door to visit with Amy before she headed back for New York - got to give a friendly wave and offer support. We didn't ge tto eat together, but BHK and I took in some gorgeous weather, and went for pizza at 3 brothers - Sicilian with ricotta and garlic, BHK got meatballs on the side. Really, really good. Enough left over for dinner and for me to take to work tomorrow for lunch... and for BHK to have a nibble for lunch, too.

Stopped in Annapolis to look at couches at Jennifer's to replace the pink Torquemada-inspired beasties on the living room wall. Some solid, affordable options there... most light at the end of that tunnel yet. Nothing totally sings, but we have a few ideas about what to do now.

ATW man changed to Spidey for Halloween!

.

I dig his boots.

We got home and flopped in front of the TV in the treehouse, caught up with The Office, Earl, and Midnight.... and just enjoyed snuggles with Newt in bed. Chris called to invite us over for Veggie soup, but I was too pooped out to get dressed and head over there. They understood, and BHK worked our way downstairs to catch up with some of the Ugly betty and cake making challenge video we had saved there - got sleepy, and we hit the sack shortly thereafter.

Positives: walkabout, moon pies on the road with diet cranberry splash, super good pizza, maybe a new couch soon, offered Amy a chance to come visit, ATW man, Further along on couch search, lots of nice time with BHK.

Negatives: The day was too short!

Final Score: Solid win. Comfy, Autumnal, lovey day.

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1 year ago - on honeymoon in SC, ripley's, voice posts
many pages of pictures taken that day! 1 2 3 4 5 Hooray for Honeymoon!

2 years ago - wilma update, peanuts meets lovecraft
more hurricane fallout pictures taken that day

3 years ago - adp and ri battle, kamal, punkinheads, clock change, katherine harris run over, willed body lawsuits

4 years ago - hospital trip, mr Charlie

5 years ago - babynamer, Drawbacks of a name, newt-tadpole pics, candy-corn thoughts, cat heroclix sculpts, PBS-SOP

6 years ago - musical coding, Network

7 years ago - Hanging out with buddies.

8 years ago - Newt's eyes begin to turn color

I want a pumpkin and chocolate doughnut.

Attention Christmas Decorations... BACK OFF! It's just barely October! Let me have pumpkins and harvest stuff for a while, why don't ya? Sakes. Lots of neighbors have purple and orange fairy lights out... pretty keen to be in a region with folks in the seasonal spirit.... a "haunted house" is being rigged up at two blocks over, and another at the local fire station... looking forward to that, too.

Speaking of which: I just remembered and trotted out the Halloween background for the website. I really need to work on that some more.

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Got another set of fillings today. Front teeth look a lot better now, though the doc couldn't seem to numb one of them... I had a distinct Dustin Hoffman / Marathon Man vibe going for a about 15 minutes.

Is it safe?

Ow.

That said, he did a great job aside from the pain, and I'm very happy now that there are no open nerves with easy air access in my head.

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On the way home, we visited "the man" at ATW - see prior entry for photo. He's Oktoberfesting!

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Trying something out - not sure if it'll be a regular thing or not. Depending on what the su