We rested the bulk of Saturday, but went out yesterday evening to hit good ol' Aardvark Comics - picked up the Showcase Jonah Hex, the 50th Anniversary edition of Diplomacy, and a few other nibs and nabs - BHK subscribed to her first book (Avengers Fairy Tales - 4 part series), and I got the latest All Star Superman. Good stuff, that Superman. Post Aardvark, we hit a local Japanese food place... benihana sort fo place with sushi. The stuff was better than most, not as awesome as Joss. Oh! I almost forgot! We stopped at Rita's for "fro-yo". I got the fat free stuff, and I think the chemistry hit my gastric centers a little too heavily. I'll be calling them diarRhita's for the foreseeable future. The problem resolved itself quickly, however.

Today, Lounged most of the morning, - Was going to hit the car show with Larry and BHK, but it was rained out. Left the house abuot noon, got a haircut, and then zipped off with BHK to have lunch with Cathi & Dave at Mexico. Mexico was a little off of their game, but it was still yummy. Post feeding, we paused at the Dunkirk Starbucks for a couple of hours of Apples to Apples over water, coffee and a little late dessert. (I won all games played... I feel a little bad about that, because I'm not really there to win, just to socialise and be silly. Psych-ops tactics work especially well with that crew.) Ended the day with a quick buzz of the local wal-mart, and then home to chill out and prep for Monday.

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1 year ago - walkabout pictures (DC area), SMIB

2 years ago - loki, fundraiser, 33 questions, morning pictures, palm post bro, tree dream

3 years ago - appointment, bro homeless, electron thoughts, videos, broken umbrellas, space 1999:waka waka, 300 island resort, typo on bus, walkies pictures, beaten barricade

4 years ago - smelly books, surreal compliments, passover joke, vampire game

5 years ago - sleeveless smock, downloadable toons, bunky kabalarians, colossal squid, CoC props.

6 years ago - landlord visit, green monkey pizza, pop pardoned the knights templar,nazi-looking stamp, Japanese business card etiquette, movies, tubers

7 years ago - Killer noise, looking for a job as a flaneur, Dave & Cathi Preggers

Dinner with Cathy & Dave tonight... say goodbye to any saved points when I have a slice of birthday cake. (sans army men). We played a bit of apples ot apples afterward, with Larry winning the first round, I won the second.

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Added image to "The Good Life" for photo Friday - me and Newt Snoozing. (#127 )

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50 things I've done meme continues with item 34. I...

34.'helped to plan, plant and harvest a family garden for the first time last spring. I really thought a 10 x 12 foot patch wouldn't produce more than a little vanity salad food, but we got a huge crop, especially of peppers, zucchini and cucumbers. My faves were the potatoes and zucchini.. oven baked goodness. BHK turned my lifelong disdain for zucchini into love with her baked veggies in soy flour, and covered in tomato sauce. Yum. Potatoes, I've always had a fondness for.

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I guess I'm coming late to this info, but per springheel jack - "RIP Basic (ad-free) Accounts. Your current 'basic' accounts are supposedly grandfathered (until they decide otherwise), but no new ones can be created. Communities too."

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The 8th Icehouse Game Design Competition is underway, and any previously unpublished game that uses Looney Labs’ Icehouse pyramids can be submitted. The deadline for entry is June 20th. Whether or not you enter, you can participate in the judging process. Details at the link above.

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Current day's eats:

Breakfast -

two breakfast granola bars

snack -

unsweetened applesauce / pretzel sticks
diet coke

lunch -

veggie pocket pie
veggies and rice

dinner -

3 slices of medium cheese and veggie pizza
Birthday cake and ice cream!

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1 year ago - kitty feeding, the host, no cable modem yet.

2 years ago - sleepy, newt playing and chitty chatting, palm doodle, wifi hotsync, safety ape, sex offenders, mulligrubs

3 years ago - hello tomorrow, Robots movie, found art pictures, alligator sounds/swamp witch, silly putty, pi day, IR webcam hack, free fonts, tallyhall, ashes scattered, polar bears, open records, memory meme

4 years ago - subpages broken, Shazam!, Dead Like Me, CS sucks as a tech, vamp game

5 years ago - walkabout pics, lovieness, got unreal server hopping

6 years ago - mush, Roman tub, dreams of owning a pet grooming store, insurance woes, and palm doodles

7 years ago - Happy b'day kundalinidreams (no longer ljing), Dkmfkmkglklkgbkvbkbv,looking for a job as demagogue...(I'll still take it, if anyone's wanting), happy unbirthday to me, uck!, edit this page (now dead),sop, a timeline of Scotto history,veggie lo mein, muppet trivia, and Rolf singing you and I and George

Humpday! Midweek, and it feels it. I was happy to rediscover that we get President's day off next month... Three-day weekends are a wonderful thing. Added bonus is that my b-day falls on a weekend this year, so that Saturday is mine, all mine!

BHK and Cathy got together today to do more straightening and space management at the house. One recent change is the move of the love seat from the office to the living room... newtcam archives show that Pye doesn't seem to mind the change of pace. 



Maybe we'll have room for some bookcases under the North-face windows, with the tops clear for kitty-climbing and general sunning.

Poor Pye must be a little chilly in that picture - he's all fluffed out. Cold, or resting off a horsing around match with Newt.

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"After eight years and some $65 million, the state of Maryland is taking its first steps to return to an accountable, paper-ballot based voting system. Governor Martin O'Malley has announced an initial outlay of $6.5 million towards the $20 million cost of an optical system which will scan and tally the votes while the paper ballots are retained as a backup. The new (or old) system is expected to be in place by 2010 — or four years before the state finishes paying off the bill for the touch-screen system."

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Had a bit of a nightmare about using the walker last night. Forgive my recycling of old doodles. Dreamt of being poked and prodded, cut open and stapled shut.

I've already had two surgeries.. one in 1994, and another in 2003.

Makes me twitchy, just thinking about it. After being cut up, I had to go shopping for tennis balls to put under the walker's feet.



Now I've got the phrase / title Walker, Texas Ranger stuck in my head.

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Random Self-portrait of the moment taken in the loo at work - Beard has bypassed the goatee stage for winter.

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I still remember the sting of asphalt embedded into my palms after the trip and fall 5 years back.

The voice of my first grade teacher is a strong memory, too.

Also those commercials for free catalogs....

Free Catalog
Pueblo, Colorado, 81009.

Is the only reason I know a zip code in Pueblo.

Hey...they have a website now.

I wonder if I'd have the guts to punch a Tyrannosaurus in the face.

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Milton Blahyi, a former feared rebel commander in Liberia's brutal civil war, has admitted to taking part in human sacrifices as part of traditional ceremonies intended to ensure victory in battle.

He said the sacrifices "included the killing of an innocent child and plucking out the heart, which was divided into pieces for us to eat."

There had been numerous rumours of human sacrifices during the 1979-93 conflict but this is the first time anyone has admitted publicly to the practice.

Mr Blahyi, 37, is better known in Liberia as "General Butt Naked" because he went into combat with no clothes on, to scare the enemy.

He is now an Evangelist preacher, who prefers to use the name Joshua.

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1 year ago - zombie astronaut, gun runner dream, paper moon pix,

2 years ago - missing cj, superhero dream, youtube b&B, fat bat cat, herm patient, pug in lucha mask, endless forest, birthday counter.

3 years ago - Chilly, doodle, facial morphs (monkey scotto is still my fave), food, height comparisons, a/b meme, warning labels, toybox mooch, scythes

4 years ago - happy Newt, nipples off, palm post - bus stop, tummy ache. penguin poop, giant nostril

5 years ago - Tests, truth, rumor, links and history, lj spam, Kev in court

6 years ago - I got my camera, Alvin gets fired from work for stealing overtime, unsolved mysteries, snap club, mcd's employees, nifty moon site.

7 years ago - Reflections on the old regime, The Litter Box Song *snerk*, Cow Saliva, "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme", rehiring some of the fire-ees

It seems that my curse on the most foul CompUSA is coming to fruition at last. (The whole fiasco with Compusa can be followed in the Compusa tag I have there... Started Nov. 10, 2005 - Ended March 20, 2006...over four months of limping along on lappie while big brain tried to get fixed... and that's with a Full service contract!)

CompUSA has been sold to an affiliate of restructuring firm Gordon Bros., and will close all of its retail stores.

Downside is that I have a full service contract that lasts until March of 2008... I guess that's only a few months away, anyhow. Next time, I'm building my own, or getting from a retailer I'm more happy with.

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Recent doodles -

at the doctor's office - bhk reads while I get my snooze on.

watching flyboys... not a terrible movie. Not terribly accurate, either.

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Had to do some catch up work today.... BHK made baked ziti and veggies for supper with Cathy and Dave. After chow time, we played a little wii sports... Dave slaughtered me at boxing... it was like beating up a little kid. We did better at Lego star wars and Rampage.

Once we tired of digital gaming, we trotted out the analog stuff.

Apples to Apples - I won one round, and BHK won the second handily. I forget who won the third game... either BHK or Cathy.

Hey, That's My fish - I won first round by well over a dozen, BHK won the second... by one fish!

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1 year ago - got the xmas tree with the inlaws w/pix

2 years ago - tmbg, bro in tampa, tolld a new motherboard, music, musical mice, windows live local

3 years ago - gorilla wake, dcf snag, favorite things

4 years ago - Yuletide toe-warmer poll, creepy news, Cute Newt Pic, Medicare, clucks

5 years ago - desert dreams, "no hands" kitty, palm doodles, nice cards

6 years ago - menstruation/bear attack, Bear armor, tic tac poll

7 years ago - hungrybaby/mcnoggin, Hello Kitty Smelting furnace, Asplundh letter, why web journals suck, meat hats, comic book wrapping

Cathy and Dave over tonight for Lasagna, conversation (they're moving to Colorado once the house is sold) and a couple of games of apples to apples. BHK swept the night by winning both games, despite Cathy's extending the winning conditions from 8 to 10, and then 12 cards on the 2nd game.

Oddball winner of the night - "Cuddly" - Al Pacino, Quicksand, and Warts. Pacino won over Quicksand by a smidgen.

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True or False - unasked for help is interference.

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via lore - Hey, I didn’t know that there was a blog devoted to redesigns of superhero costumes. That’s neat. Some are serious (in a fun sort of way), while others are a little more invested in subverting the superhero paradigm (also in a fun way).

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Current meme thingie -

Comment on this post. If you're interested, I will choose seven interests from your profile and you will explain what they mean and why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so that others can play along.

Christin picked - animal rights, exotic cuisine, horror, libraries, pyewacket, roadside attractions, vikings

• animal rights - Critters have been a pet project for me for as long as I can remember. Something just feels fundamentally wrong when folks don't hurting something - why not, if it's only a "stupid animal". I've been around a number of creatures that are more than just food or clothing, and would prefer that they be neither in a perfect world. I understand that it isn't a perfect world... but I try to treat critters well.

• exotic cuisine - I like new foods and flavors... it seems like every place has a different idea about what is tasty and what flavors work well together. I've developed a special fondness for some of the more commonly available ethnic foods... Thai, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian, Ethiopian, German, Italian all bring something spiffy to the table both in traditional and Americanized forms. Nothing that walks on more than one foot, or less than six to eat, though... thanks.

• horror - I enjoy the genre. More in literature than in film lately, though I can get into a scary movie here and there. Some of the best books I know shine a light at odd angles on stuff that lurks in my imagination, making the shadows large and frightening.

• libraries - worked in one the better part of high school and college. great places, lots to see and do - plus there are books out the wazoo. I have many fond memories from the library. It's where I first gamed, back in 6th grade.

• Pyewacket - he got his name from bell, book and candle (which in turn got it from this Pyewacket) - He's the baby of our family, 4ish to Newton's 7ish years old. He's very laid back, and when you pick him up, you can cradle him like an infant. He's been a wonderful addition to my family, and I love him dearly.

• roadside attractions - BHK and I stopped at a number of Ripley's Believe it or Not locations on the side of the road during our honeymoon, and there's something equally fascinating to me about oddball bits of Americana... Urban Ruin plus Muffler Men = wonder to my mind. Weird water towers, tourist traps and whatnot. The chintz factor bleeds over a little bit into horror for me, too. Best place for a zombie uprising is an old mini golf course. See also recent entries on the ATW man, or http://www.lostamerica.com/roadside.html
  

• vikings - Some people favor pirates... I lean to the more Norse cousins... the romanticized version, of course... sailing to new worlds in ships with serpent heads, burying an axe in your oath-breaking cousin, casting runes and thinking about times when the world was a still cooling body of a giant. What's not to like? The Norse Eddas are some of my favorite old stories.

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1 year ago - kissy pic - with ponytail and without, rockin little guy,

2 years ago - newton kitten war stats, nice compliment, newt nudges newtcam, pulp book d/l, quizzes, ND thanks

3 years ago - newt smokes, pelt fade, botmail, fake gyno

4 years ago - mobile phones destroy ghosts, lego casemod, LotR sand sculpt, Newbie/RI don't take call, bro care, Escher ,camel sim

5 years ago - work drama, october, finn/big boss, talking head thingie, wedding traditions

6 years ago - enterprise prem, simarena, headache, poll, birthdays, zugzwang &approbation, candy corn pops, macro for work, gator warning, rainthoughts, windows services

7 years ago - peace river, bro bails, exorcist, Song of Solomon 6: 8, bible porn, meanies, latin, sodaplay, road to wellville

A different employee got the database gig I applied for – primarily because he’d been at tech for 8 mos. I was told that otherwise, it was a tie.

That said, his position is opening up here now -- perhaps I can boost the next one that comes along.

Going to Cyn’s new space in DC on Good Friday – seems that the location is excellent and that there’s a Burlesque / Fringe fest thing taking place there soon.

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Dinner last night at Cathy and Dave’s – really yummy they always put out a good spread (Cheese & Crackers, Tortellini, spinach w/garlic, garlic bread, fruit tart – all tasty and dee-lish). It was the first time I’d been to the place during the daylight hours, so I got the full yard-tour of the back, groundhog hole, wildlife camera and all. Apparently they get quite a few deer and the occasional red fox when the time is right. We played eight hands of fluxx – 3 to Allison, 2 to Cathy, 2 to me, and one to Dave. Zoë-kitty was shy, but came out by the end of the night.

I’ve been missing BHK quite a bit while I’m at work. I hate to seem so clingy, but I just love having her nearby.

Looks like it’s going to be cold and rainy this weekend – I hope the cherry blossoms hold out until we get there on Friday. All of the trees are starting to show the yellow-green of new buds… Springtime seems so much more colorful in Maryland than Florida . Come summertime, the yellow aspect will fade to a deeper, more mature green, but for now there’s a lighter highlight to everything. Even the pear trees are replacing the white blooms with more interspersed green canopy.

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My Jellyfish-glass paperweight thingum

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1 year ago - vintage paperback covers, prophet vs prophecy, jojo, one word answers, $10, walkabout with flying parachutes, quizzes,

2 years ago - status, reality settings, fort lauderdale piccies & sounds, bad juju, looking at a replacement cam, philosophy of Just Utilitarianism, feeding tube, hips and collarbones, Kelly's heroes, Buprenorphine, w can be a vowel, yahoo vs google

3 years ago - Hellboy, Le Gren, Marlin Maniac

4 years ago - Bro issues w/LL, sponsored links, Meredith out front

5 years ago - Walkies, baby sharks, programming, local hones go to 10-digit dialing, Reality settings, Wolf files, army men, schoolhouse rock

6 years ago - SOP, enature, symbols, psa for my bio page, C++ DST bug