Todays entry, via wordle -



Getting quite a bit better - still have a rattle in my chest and more coughing but the muscle aches and weakness is mostly gone. I'd say I'm currently firing on five out of eight cylinders.

A/c is now fully charged again - the repairman said that we'd be really baking without any refrigerant by Friday night. I'm glad BHK was there to explain what had been going on to him.

Tried calling my brother today - his voicemail is full. I haven't heard from him since he was last bailed out. His hearing for the latest is in a week - I see in the public records that something was dismissed based on "Lack of Prosecution". Not sure if it's the same item, though. I need to research Thomas A Reynolds, it seems. Looks like his thing is real estate - probably an eviction notice long since passed.

BHK made ratatouille for dinner tonight, and the stars aligned for the movie to be playing on TV while we ate. Larry stuck with some pasta and sauce... BHK gave him some bake and eat tempura shrimp, too... He doesn't know what he missed... zucchini, eggplant, tomato sauce, some olive oil in there... it was really good stuff.

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Horror vacui:

Horror vacui is the filling of the entire surface of an artwork with ornamental details, figures, shapes, lines and anything else the artist might envision. It may be considered the opposite of minimalism.

I love that I can still learn new words and phrases every day.

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via dnw - Scientists discover how optical illusions work. All of them.

The short version: It takes a tenth of a second for images to get from your retina to the processing centres of your brain. People have known this for decades, but we still see things in real time.

The new theory says that what we're seeing isn't what's there, it's what our brain projects will be there in a tenth of a second - our brain is processing predicatively, showing us it's best guess for the future. And that's why optical illusions can fool it, by confusing it into predicting a future that then doesn't happen.

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1 year ago - many pictures from the garden, my dapper hat, evil jesus fish, thaumaturgic border protection,

2 years ago - monkey chow diaries, idea on how to make the world a better place - implemented tip jar for feeding the hungry, people want what they can't have, many quizzies,code monkey, podcaster legal guide, sympathy for the devil covers

3 years ago - On Call, Rainy, mouse ni the house, drop foot, audio books, santana, house info

4 years ago - full call weekend, 3-bean salad, adsense, monkey-money, exchange, canceled comics, Saw Ray Iglesias

5 years ago - D issues, simcamera, RIP TG, poem, North Korean Cannibals, rental warnings - things seen, minimizing pain, evil intersection, there -quest

6 years ago - MS Linux? Got my new office chair, fun day out with Dan, Tia's angry Email, anatomically correct teddy, what's better

7 years ago - evil news, computer problems, love boat theme for Sweetalyssm, haiku,got lovely post cards, Ornj & I speculate on a fellow journalist's sexuality, not so evil news, body hot, breakfast cereal poll

8 years ago - Privacy, web cam ftp issues, just figuring out it's over with April

Thank you to all the people that worked so hard to make my life as free as it is.

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...

pictures - ATW man salutes our fallen heroes, and I complain about the heat. (Not nearly as hot as it was in other locales, so I hear!)

Slept well on the new bed - I wasn't feeling so hot earlier, but a nap helped my back and headache quite a bit. Still a little nauseated, but not too terrible.

We had the in-laws over again and made more franks and beans for dinner, and this time, the bonfire and s'mores were a reality. Added bonus was blowing bubbles.

Opted out of the new town trolley to Pete Green's - The route is cute, and could be a lot of fun - two bits to ride can't be beat. I wouldn't mind just taking it for a little day-tour out and about where BHK and I can relax and take in the scenery. I suspect that the trolley's primary use will be for drinkers getting home safe... I'm all for it if it keeps the drunkies from behind the wheel.

I want to pick up a bike - the in-laws cycled up the beach for breakfast this morning, and I thought it sounded like a fun way to ge tout of the house for a bit.

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I still haven't decided what new e-books to put on the PDA - maybe I'll take a breather and stick to pulp-books for a bit.

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1 year ago - info about 20714, shaved ice man and diabetes, bake sale!, things going smoothly, satori quote

2 years ago - 2nd life upgrade, mm pickup issues, 26 letters about me a-d, wilma buiding, poo-poo ice, c-64 emu, super chicken, robot caveman

3 years ago - slack, WEP cracking in 10 min, forget me not panties, sithy meme, wiktrivia, Nosferatu download, writing assignment, how to fake fingerprints, sat maps make me think of people as ants

4 years ago - put motion detection on newtcam, last done meme, life on venus, AFMBE - Zombie Smackdown, FL Drugs, hummus

5 years ago - Memorial Day, freaky wind, There, superhero factoid, castrati, Skeletor and Gang, Chipotle, Joan Cusack crush

6 years ago - Gargoyle, </a></b></a>menstrualhut troll, comparison poll, memory from DC (my evil twin), yeti @ home, monster's inc good

7 years ago - monad of John Dee, Morikami, Shrek good, Pearl Harbor bad, lj-death hoax, icky stuff, good stuff, o Mousewheel event, flash ponderings

8 years ago - subject lines, Hunter thinks that my first icon looks like I'm in the phantom zone, age difference, I have done all but the car on that list, 125 things about me

Larry and I picked up the bed this morning - BHK and I napped a bit today. Feels good so far, but it is surprisingly high - maybe 6 (likely more) inches taller than the old one.

Picture, left - Larry, scrunched down a bit to magnify the "princess and the pea effect".

Post-nap, the gang did lots of yardwork - my blueberry plant is in the ground now, as are BHK's roses... and Chris's tomato plants.

Closed out the day grilling hot dogs for the family - in-laws brought beans, cole slaw and buns... nice Sunny day today. We passed on the bonfire and s'mores - we were too full of dinner to move.

Instead, we watched some recorded top gear and hung out for a bit... bedtime again soon.

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Current read - Gateway by Fred Pohl. Not bad thus far - got it free from the library bookmobile about a year ago... grabbed at random from queue when I realized that I'v epolished off all the ebooks on my PDA - will reload soon, but holding an actual tree-made book is nice. Funny that the paperback is older than Adam - Heck, printed in 1980 - it's 28 years old. 1980 doesn't seem that long ago, but I was 11 at the time.

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1 year ago - lime-vanilla candles, beehive / blueberry / raspberry thoughts, music to keep an eye on, earache, plato quote, zefrank interview

2 years ago - apollo's b'day, ask a ninja, atom ant, orange monkey hanger, godzilla mp3, singing fountain

3 years ago - bro stuff, lazy vibe, xanga murder, 3-d x-rays, sex offenders sans Viagra, church basement

4 years ago - messing with hello for pictures, blogspot for galleries, walkabout pics, How I feel about LJ politics, talked to a shoe-shine hobo, the pit, evil spirits. Got my wish for Doom Patrol on Teen Titans!

5 years ago - newtcam, lunch w/danny Teacher of the year!), Thracian Temple found, search test

6 years ago - talking with my bro about doing work as extras, played ps2, saw a raccoon, lj poetry (I miss that link.) , Apollo's Birthday (Speaking of scrying), laundry day

7 years ago - doppelganger, Civet in perfume, Happy-Lucky Chinese Restaurant Game, Sea Monkey Update, project Gutenberg (read Two years in the forbidden city), crap about font usage, pee-banners, caption?

8 years ago - Outings solution, Newt a little sick

It's the Weekend!!!

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NASA is bracing for “seven minutes of terror,” when an unmanned craft landing on Mars may wake a dormant robot army that could rise up to invade and crush our civilization… oh, wait. They’re saying the space ship might tip over. That’s all.

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Spent most of the day shopping for a new couch and a new bed - found the bed we wanted at a decent price - we pick it up tomorrow, and our old bed goes to the blue house for storage. We have a new Queen Size pillow top marshmallow (but firm) - feels good at the store - can't wait to try it at home.

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Gaming in my brain -

Next game I want to pick up is Hive. (with the mosquito ) I like the insect theme and bakelite tiles a lot - I'll have to see if Aardvark can order it for us.

Unlike the US government, Hasbro lets you print out your own Monopoly money. There are PDFs for 1,5,10,20,50,100, and 500 dollar bills.

Good for any money-handling game, really. Witch Trial comes immediately to my mind. (which uses our monopoly money more than monopoly does)

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From New Scientist Tech: (or, a better use of a Newt/Pye cam?)

To try and develop a more sophisticated model, the team recorded the responses of 49 individual neurons in a part of a cat’s brain called the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). The LGN receives and processes visual information from the retina, via the optic nerve, before sending it on to the cerebral cortex.

The data made it possible to build a software model of the LGN that can approximate how the neurons would respond to real scenes. The model was tested against scenes recorded from a “catcam” camera attached to a cat’s head.

“We chose the catcam because it was the most natural stimulus we could think of, the closest to what a cat would see when walking around,” Matteo Carandini told New Scientist. Because the catcam footage lacked elements moving independently from the rest of the scene, the researchers also used a scene from Disney’s animated film Tarzan.

The model’s predictions proved to be 80% accurate when shown artificial scenes, but this figure fell to 60% with the natural scenes or the Tarzan movie.

The ultimate goal of the research, still years distant, is to develop an implant that uses visual data to directly stimulate the LGN of blind people whose optic nerve or retina has degenerated from lack of use.

“For these people, a prosthesis in the eye doesn’t help,” Carandini explains. Only people who have recently become blind can benefit from such implants – currently being tested in humans – that stimulate the retina or optic nerve

Work on monkeys last year showed it is possible to stimulate the LGN using electrodes to alter their vision, something previously thought impossible. Software models like that developed by Carandini and colleagues would be vital for an implant to stimulate the right neurons to create a mental impression of vision.

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1 year ago - birth control, thursday, Catching up with TD, good stuff, gp and kat vanishment

2 years ago - man-bear, joker laughs, day off, but on call, if meme

3 years ago - Simple short film expressing life and death, first auto-post, bears, MP calls me, zombies, rapture, flip top box, cannibal, birthday meme, RIP Thurl Ravenscroft, 6 questions meme

4 years ago - robo-scotto, LLAP-Goch, arms, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Fire Cracker Labels, freaky man-made island, bro

5 years ago - yale bombing, kiwano, doodle fizzles, D & I in There

6 years ago - dead picture trail links, bad dreams, re: pus jars, long weekend, train and bus smells, wondering what sci-fi geeks will watch with Buffy and x-files gone. Hm... I guess smallville is it? I don't watch much regular TV, ikkyu poem, ARQuake.

7 years ago - blue rosebuds, gnomon, Herman the human mole, word association, evil news, scottsquatch returns, jelly jack, Joel gorilla

8 years ago - my first user icon - ,Heather outs Alex as a cheater and a bisexual (remember kids, post something publicly on the net, and the world can see it, even people you know.)

Happy Birthday, Kat78731 (and 2 years of journaling)!

If I could, I'd get you these Victorian "Gaslight Justice League" action figures - I think that Hawkgirl and The Flash are pretty dang keen, though my fave is the simplicity of the Martian Manhunter.

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BHK had to call a plumber. Shower was backing up / drain issues, turned out to be tree roots in the line, not the conspiracy theories of flushing feminine products, popsicle sticks, or live pelicans brought forth by the lanlord-in-laws. Also, no gorillas poo in our loo.

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Today -

Worked

Narrowly escaped a last minute trip to bowie.

Ordered Pizza online, ate that and the last bit of dream chocolate cake.

played 1.5 seconds of portal.

Watched the first Half of Spidey 3

Wrote this

Realised it was late at heck

Tucked in for snuggles with the wiferly

ZzzZzz

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1 year ago - KC's bday, moved a bit, dead and breakfast, hero quiz,

2 years ago - illegal to annoy, esp poll 2, superkitty icon, yahoo-webjay, meme, sliders farewell, Japanese spidey full 1st episode, more silly quizzes, dinosaur/archosaur, family watchdog for sex preds, eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

3 years ago - Mel's not fond of my music & helpful to caterpillar, OTR, evilcorp, FBI most wanted, long list meme, word use, that silly video, no conspiracy folks?

4 years ago - Blimp, bail, accents and the start of getting a mortgage, fog of war, newt pic

5 years ago - silly entendres, pygmy cannibals, pyramid mausoleum

6 years ago - gollum toys, prayer wheels, SOP, What's he gots in his pocketses?, gollum poll

7 years ago - supes, lyrics, ghosting

Got home tonight, and found out our water isn't draining properly. Larry came by and tried plunging, but to no avail. Tomorrow, he's bringing the snake by to take care of business.

I like that phrase... like an enforcer, "Tomorrow, the snake will take care of business".

Hm.. or something pornographic, maybe.

Not much today - Worked, a very long meeting midday. Got some solid brainstorming done, and possibly a good lead for some side help from BR.

Got home, and BHK made me veggie meatballs, salad, and best of all, surprised me with my dream cake of chocoate / chocolate with mandarin oranges as a garnish. Yumma.

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A nice demo of Portal is available free to NVIDIA customers - I have an ATI video card, but I also have the full version, so I can't complain... especially since ATI gave me Half-life: deathmatch and lost coast.

Speaking of which, if anyone's looking to add me to a game buddy list (counterstrike, hl2, team fortress 2, etc... - I'm scottobear there, too.

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ooh... lego batman video game. After I burn through the 13 or so titles I got for christmas, I'll have to look it up! Mario Party/Galaxy/HL2 are fine diversions until then!

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Absinthe is legal again how'd I mis shearing about this? I wonder if BHK will want some green fairy now that it's officially ok in the usa? I'm not a huge fan, but she's got the tingle.

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1 year ago - gave up on heroes and torchwood, assorted tv enjoyed, bhk and I work, took down xmas train, brown house

2 years ago - Letterman vs O'Reilly, Envisioning poll, Prof. Plum, Moon Worship, firefly crew, World Of Stuff, bike about and hoff, pictures, human skin books

3 years ago - mooshy, work hires, 300 fonts you should have (Note - porno bob, CS, sharon and jill all no longer work there)

4 years ago - Wonderful Prezzies from The East, Misc work hubbub, there.com hubbub, scary chimps, Ted Passed away.

5 years ago - Elvis, scrapple, lesbian book covers, smokers, pancake bunny passed away, Sweet comment from Rachel

6 years ago - walkies, toys, WordsEye, food

7 years ago - deoxy, st. mary's, noir

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

No Zombie Fluxx yet! ack! We'll be picking it up next weekend, hopefully. I'd like to have it in time for Halloween!

Went grocery shopping and then to get a Wii, but they were sold out - I nearly picked up a copy of Portal to tide me over, and may next time if the Wii isn't in stock- I hadn't seen any portal reviews on the new Orange box (Half-Life2 Episode 2, Team Fortress 2 (multi player), and Portal, plus previous releases of HL2 and HL2:episode one) I think it'll be worth picking up, possibly just for portal alone - TF2 looks pretty fun as well - I really like the "Incredibles meets First Person Shooter" school of art. I'll likely download it from Steam rather than pay for it at Target, unless the price is significantly different.

Post-shopping, we swung by the in-laws to watch The Natural with them and Louise. Not a bad movie... not as good as I remembered it, but maybe I was tired, too.

We went home, went up to our "treehouse" for a late supper of leftover Chinese food for me, and fresh cheddar on whole wheat crackers for BHK - watched the first episode of Journeyman - slow rolling but got better at the end. Quantum Leap redux - seemingly uncontrolled time travel, following a person to set things right, can bring items back and forth through time. He also seems to return to his home time, unlike Sam.

We also watched the Simpsons - corn maze / police dog episode. Poor to fair writing. I think the best part of the treehouse is just curling up with BHK and the boys for solid snuggles and comfort - especially nice at the end of the day.

It's a good thing I gobbled up what I did - our fridge is now officially *full*. I don't think anything else could be put in there, without knocking something over.

I wish I had Plastic Man or Mr. Fantastic's stretchy abilities... I really don't like running up and down stairs to the treehouse with stuff or just to see what's going on once I'm settled in and comfy.



1 year ago - mostly pics and video, gaming w/danny, election rigging

2 years ago - monster name, break dancing Dr. Zaius, Tarot meme, friday 5, 3 in a row picture

3 years ago - palm doodles, gray pumpkin 'shop, dollhouse murders, flashtub

4 years ago - Halloween

5 years ago - moon pie contest, luck theory, work issues

6 years ago - love song, nap-coma, Cosquilloso, por supuesto, admirer poll, 28

7 years ago - membrane keyboard, ladies man, R.A.Wilson, donations, dogma

One year until 08/08/08!

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I found out today that the family across the street from us has lived in that house for the last 23 or so years. Adam, the youngest son at age 18 has lived in the same home his whole life. I wonder how often that happens anymore? I don't think I've put more than five years of life in the same building - I didn't even spend more than 2 years in the same school until I hit 9th grade as my folks moved around quite a bit.

I'm not sure I can even imagine how intimately familiar a person comes to be with that sort of environment... that kid must know every stone and fence within a 10-mile area. He must've seen some very significant changes over the last two decades.. North Beach was a bit of a biker town before it got an influx of bay front property money. There is quite a cultural microcosm these days, but the upper-middle class seems to be taking the lead.

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Today's weather is *evil* - Current Temperature is 100°F, "feels like" 109. And that's at "partly cloudy". How much hotter would it be with full-bore sun?

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Totally random thought formed on the train - do the words cowherd (someone who herds cows) and coward (someone who shows fear in the face of danger) have a connection? I need to research that.

[edit - Well, I guess not. Word History: A coward is one who "turns tail." The word comes from Old French couart, coart, "coward," and is related to Italian codardo, "coward." Couart is formed from coe, a northern French dialectal variant of cue, "tail" (from Latin cda), to which the derogatory suffix -ard was added. This suffix appears in bastard, laggard, and sluggard, to name a few. A coward may also be one with his tail between his legs. In heraldry a lion couard, "cowardly lion," was depicted with his tail between his legs. So a coward may be one with his tail hidden between his legs or one who turns tail and runs like a rabbit, with his tail showing.]

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BHK picks up Em tomorrow!

She'll be visiting from Thursday through Sunday. I expect a *lot* of fun and a probably a couple of interesting challenges. (She's little, and will likely miss her folks on one or two nights.)

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After thinking about it, I feel that a variant of Oshi might work well with the Icehouse pyramids. (Other possibilities at the World of Abstract Games )

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1 year ago - priceline beats expedia, register to vote, Chinese Ghost Festival, exfoliate/defoliate, hangin' round the ceiling, walkabout/geocache plans

2 years ago - meetings, school restarts, club shuffle, thank you - sim-sim-salabim, danny the street, vidcam hacks, google total, unf. kids books, How bona to vada your eek!, teacher, miami storm pic

3 years ago - Bro health care, lj post issues, losing some gentleness, scotto-flaws& nice things, vintage newspaper strips, no jack black as GL, funw/google searches, older archives, deep sea images, phone safe,keylogger, slowed chipmunks, JL cartoon, character makeups, europreart

4 years ago - Teen Titans, Antidepressants, narghile, steve burns, ebonics, red kryptonite poll, bro health

5 years ago - ZIM!, fun fact, fumbuckery, added newt pic to bio, after he shocked me, site reboot that didn't come to fruition

6 years ago - some thoughts about gamers/negative side, including a dragon-con flashback (that caused some upset in the role-players community), who in a crowd?, Upside-down, RPG poll, caterwaul, Name Generator, dinos in your region, Wally Caught stealing, begins the end of the WDB era at IMT.

7 years ago - grumpy, in general and regarding TV

Netforum 2006/01 or /02? Upgrade is looking pretty essential. That's been part of my work lately, reviewing the next build and how well it'll get into place. I just want it to be as seamless as possible... minimise any growing pains.

Being a giant guy has the side effect of being used as a mobile landmark. I've had folks tell their kids that if the get lost, look for me in a crowd. Not for me to babysit 'em, just that my head and shoulders tend to bob above other folks nearby. Also, it appears that I'm one of those "hey, I know you" types. I look both kind and trustworthy as well as looming and scary. I guess it depends on if I've shaved around the goatee and am more awake than walking dead. (In that case, folks cross the street to get away from me.) I've been in Maryland for about eight months now, and my newest gig just one. I've already been invited to a lot of picnics, parties, etc.... I don't think it'll be too long before the combination of North Beach's small-townishness and other friendlies at work spirals it back up to a broader friends base. Right now I'm still a bit of "BHK's Hubby" or "Larry's Son-in-law".

Back in the old days (when I was in high school and thereabouts) I was Mr. connected. Everyone knew me, or knew of me through someone else. I'm not sure how that happened, but I suspect it's a side effect of the landmark issue above. I seldom bothered anyone, and folks rarely gave me any guff. I'm not as connected anymore - living in a new state, new job, etc. This came up during a little message exchange with Sirenity... regarding people who get talked to or "hey do I know you"ed a lot.

Dreamt of a white panel van with the word destruction on it. - BHK and I were hunting down somebody who sold us a faulty bed. We were pretty mad.... I wonder what we were going to do once we got the guy? That has no relation to the sailboat dream where all we had to eat was trader joes snacks that had gone stale. We were trapped on a catamaran with a big bag of stale crisps and candy-coated sunflower seeds... and no clean water.

Picked up a pair of new shirts, and two new ties. I never thought I'd ever own a purple shirt I could wear to work. I *really* never thought I'd ever wear a tie to work. Who knew? I actually enjoy putting on a corporate noose every here and again, even though it's not required wear in the office. It makes me feel a bit more professional and has the sense of a "uniform" to keep me a bit more focused on my tasks.

Sting from the Macaroni Grill wasp has completely faded.. .it really didn't feel like a sting so much as a very brief electrical shock followed by swelling.

Chore Wars lets you claim experience points for household chores. By getting a few people in your house or workplace to sign up, you can assign experience point rewards to individual chores, and see how quickly each of you levels up. Experience points are tracked both as weekly high-score charts, and as ongoing character sheets - every time you rack up 200XP of chores, your character gains a “level”, and their class changes to match the type of chores that they’ve been doing. (here's my character, if you want to invite me to your party )

Random notes on my lj, and communites maintained

scottobear- 239 lj readers - Journal entries:8,920 / Comments Posted: 57,182 - Received: 57,141
menstrualhut- 2362 members - Journal entries:8,104 / Comments:Posted: 0 - Received: 42,699
fishstories- 3 members -Journal entries:36 / Posted: 0 - Received: 181
haikuarena- 106 members - Journal entries:484 Posted: 0 - Received: 1,114
coloringbook- 174 members - Journal entries:154 Posted: 251 - Received: 688 (How does the community comment, or was that pre-conversion?)
live_journalia - 10 members - Journal entries:72 Comments:Posted: 0 - Received: 168

pseudofic accounts are all long dormant. Maybe it's time to start up the fish stories account again?

1 year ago - day moving fast, stop motion video, minimum wage variances, pumpernickel, 2-word meme, a-z meme, dvd decrypter, World Party - Ship Of Fools,

2 years ago - danny, bro, top40, riverwalk autostitched, farcry, sneak peak at Pirates of the Carib2: Davy Jones

3 years ago - Pictures, Newtcam, flipper, Miami population, picasa, alligator as weapon, flash, TMBG, Franco-Prussian war, TU, amber alert/web, php rant, meat hooking, ADP uppity

4 years ago - freeflow, dream, Superman, heart in hand, bear attacks sub

5 years ago - caving dreams, piracy, anagram server, no-longer newt-time icon, irrational deodorant mixing fear, fun hidden camera show, monopoly variants, true porn clerk stories, phobias, paperback cover gallery, 100 years of jell-o ads, missing scary link pic

6 years ago - carom, evil news, fave monopoly token poll, rude awakening, OTR, impressed with flash, and feelin' romantic

7 years ago - zoe's bday and loverlips adds

Restless night sleeping, accidentally booted Newt off the bed once, but he stuck with me throughout the night. BHK was restless too, but I didn't leg-sweep her out. Pye visited briefly, but high-tailed it after the barest commotion. I dreamt that BHK and I were hunting animals, tagging them for reference, and re-releasing 'em into the wild. A side effect of geocaching, perhaps?

Bugah & Neil went fishing - to no avail, as the water was too choppy.

Half day tomorrow! North Beach Fireworks are going to be something else!

via jwz - Search for Lonesome George mate is long shot

While scientists search for a mate for "Lonesome George" -- the last known survivor of a species of Galapagos tortoise -- some say the effort to fend off extinction may be in vain. Even if a mate is found, George has not been interested in reproducing in the past and may not know how, former keepers and others who have worked with him said.

"He has problems ... he probably never saw a female and male of his own species reproducing," said Swiss biologist Sveva Grigioni, who worked with George 13 years ago.

Grigioni, now back in Switzerland, said she could normally get tortoises to ejaculate within minutes, but spent months manually stimulating George and never extracted semen from him.

Age is not George's problem. He is estimated at between 60 and 90 years old, and could live to be 200 and still reproduce, scientists say.

The visual differences in tortoises from different islands were among the features of the Galapagos that helped 19th Century British naturalist Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution. Since then, the tortoises have been hunted by pirates for their meat and their habitat eaten away by goats introduced onto the islands. George, who weighs 198 pounds, was found on Pinta in 1971.

Reviewing Openads for the company's ad server for the web. it seems pretty reputable and reliable, thus far.

Fire drill this morning was a welcome break in the day - cool outside, everyone seemed laid back and calm - helped move the rest of the time that much more rapidly. the 2pm meeting went well... lots of good information for me to ruminate over the next few projects. I really dig that I'm in an environment that will allow me to use the skills I have! (Last gig wasn't bad, but a lot of repetition. This time, there's a lot of room for creative thought along with brute force.

Day closed with S'mores over a fire pit, some preview fireworks, and then Bugah and I played a bit of "Destroy All Humans". Not a bad thing.

Took care of bills and had a nap while BHK ran to the store for last minute provisions - guest feeding is important. I was really bushed after last week's Danny-visit, and was needing the makeup sleep.

Misc cool stuff - Earth and Jupiter as seen from Mars picture and Desktop Tower Defense game. The latter is fairly addictive.

First major foray as a handyman-hubby looks to be repainting / doing some tile in the #1 bathroom. The former owner painted over wallpaper, and the steam heat of showering has slowly started to curl and peel... not to mention get a little bit of mildew underneath... time to peel it up, put down some grout and tile that bad boy. (After our guests leave - BHK and I will probably start next weekend.)

I wonder why so many people update their journals primarily when they're annoyed - is it more cathartic to just get peeves out on paper (or on screen) than it is to write about more enjoyable pursuits? Maybe that's why so many people kill off journals periodically, too.

I'm enjoying revver more than youtube... primarily because the compression isn't as foul.

Newsoms got here without a hitch - it's always good to see 'em. The boys are planning on doing a little fishing while here, and the girls are looking forward to some non-fishing related fun.

Played some Godzilla Melee and Rampage with Bugah, who is always up for some city-stomping fun while other folks hung out. Good folks, nice times.

Tonight we had some hot dogs on the grill (giant ones BHK found, and some jumbo veggie-doggies for me), took a walk on the boardwalk and beach, picked up a bottle of wine or two and some chocolate, and returned home to play a little Hunter & Gatherers. Bugah won handily, despite saving his river-huts until near the very end. I think Carcassone H&G plays better with more than two players.

We had our pirate "battle royale" 3-way 100 points each pirate fleet combat... BHK was quite menacing with two giant crabs helping her ships, but Danny took the game in the end via gold. I got really tired the last hour of the game - the start delayed by abut 2ish hours due to our wonderfully "grand central station" aspect of the house... it is always preferable to visit with family and friends than to hunker down and play.

Tonights plans include eating home made mac & cheese, playing Hunter & Gatherers, Witch Trial and then watching Shaolin Soccer.

I really like having Danny over, but I am a bit fatigued by the work/play/sleep/repeat method. I look forward to just vegging out a little bit. After Danny launches, Misti and the gang are coming, and then Amy. July will be is a busy month.

Got good news regarding the condo issue - via some counter-commandoes

Yesterday I spoke with Harold Hyman, chief of compliance with DBPR here. He confirmed the good news that, as I was told last week, they had basically found everything dealing with the election scam in our favor and the decision was confirmed by his boss in Tallahassee. The report is being prepared and we should get it in a few days. He also added however that, although they are firm in their decision, the board can and probably will appeal. This will delay things by maybe a few weeks. Knowing Horst, Phoenix and Tucker & Tighe, an appeal (and maybe other tricks) would seem inevitable. Well, we will rid ourselves of them this summer no matter what they do!

We'll see. I am glad that the condo regime is getting a bit of a shakeup.

via Beaucoupkev - Life-sized Gigantor memorial to be erected

Kobe, Japan will be the home of a life-sized Gigantor statue.

The 18 meter high, 70 ton Ironman-28 will carry the price tag of 135 million yen. The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2008.

Debuting in 1958, Tetsujin 28-gō was the first “giant robot” series, which became a staple in Japanese pop culture.

The statue will serve as a double memorial, marking both the birthplace of creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who passed away in 2004 in an apartment fire, as well as celebrate the revitilization of the area, which was devastated in the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

[edit- dang lj is having html issues - kindly ignore the mess at the bottom of this entry]

Latest pictures from the garden. Starting to show progress on the potatoes, hot peppers, grapes, sunflowers, lettuce and so on.








Latest Newtcam Assortment... where's Pye?


Ordinary Jesus fish? I think not! note the upside-down cross! Spotted while looking for work clothes with BHK on Sunday.


Also, my dapper new hat.


Today, for your reading enjoyment, I give you Thaumaturgic Border Protection (355KB PDF), an apparent DHS presentation on the employment of witches, Wiccans, and neopagans to defend America against magickal threats both foreign and domestic. It’s an entertaining read, if you’re into such things. Link

Making a fresh toolkit for my new gig - good to get my updated software in order, etc.

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1 year ago - monkey chow diaries, food charities, tip jar, desires, quizzes, code monkey, podcasting