New Computer time

Finally looking to replace my old Dell Dimension 8200 system. It's been a peach but has been showing its age quite a bit as of late.

Went the complete route and I am going to send the components down the family line. The wife gets my nifty 19" Digital flat panel and speakers. My son is getting the tower. I am keeping the keyboard and mouse.

Starting off I got a 22" wide aspect Samsung monitor. Killer specs. on this. 1000:1 contrast and a 2 ms response G2G.

System I got is a Dell XPS 700. To start out with it has a 1k power supply. 1066-MHz FSB, Dual Core Processor 1.86. 250 gb SATA. X-Fi sound card 256 nvidea graphics, DVD burner.

It's an SLI compatible motherboard and has plenty of room for additional hard drives and opticals. I got 3GB ram for it and some nice Logitech speakers.

Should be really spiffy! Now to wait till it arrives.

World of Warlocks.

I play MMORPG's (Massivly, Multiplayer, Online, Role, Playing, Games). Which means using my computer I can log into an internet based game along with 8-million other people and pretend to be various sword and sorcery type characters. My current MMORPG of choice is World of warcraft (WoW).

In warcraft you can choose to be Good and tolerant Hoard or Evil and imperialistic Alliance. You choose a race and Gender. Hoard are Orc's, Trolls, Blood elfs, Forsaken and Tauren, all diverse looking and vast culture differences all comming together in a wonderful melting pot. The Alliance is almost xenophobic in its options of Humans, Dwarfs, Gnomes, Night elfs, and the Deamon spawn Draenie.

You can pick from different classes of characters as well. Warriors, Paladins, Rogues, Priests, Hunters, Shaman, Mage, Druid and finally the Warlock.

Warlocks are Warlocks were mages that delved too deeply into the roots of demonic power. Consumed by a lust for dark knowledge, they've tapped into chaotic magics from beyond the world. The Burning Legion now feeds them their powers, allowing them to channel destructive energies and call upon the powerful emissaries of their demon masters.

So not generally nice people and at the same time the most popular class currently. Having one along in a group can be very advantagous. They can fulfill many different roles and aid greatly in getting people to your location.

They can also get you killed. Recently I had the chance to have a warlock in my group. There was some terran that if able to bypass would have cut some time off of our journey through a dungeon. We tried to jump to a ledge that was just out of range for us. Not for the Warlocks demon though. The creature being seperated by elevation like that meant it would have to run back to its 'master'. This pet is a blueish void walker, that is known for being a threat and having other creatures attack it. This was the case as it meandered around the dungeon. It gathered up quite a few bad guys. When I say quite a few, I mean more then 10. Possibly 20 where lead back to our group of four...

We can take on several bad guys at once, four or five? No problem. We like keeping it to three or less. In this case out manned and out gunned thanks to our warlock buddy we had one choice. Die screaming. This is called a 'wipe' in the MMORPG world.

Never trust a warlock.

Faith = I have a pretty good idea.

First off I believe in God. I also believe that the biblical writings were divinely inspired. Further I am a practicing Catholic Born and raised. Just so ya know where I am comming from.

Subject: the Supernatural. Is everything in the universe explainable by the sciences? Or will it be as our knowledge of Physical science advances?

Are there things\ideas\concepts\phenomenon that exist outside of the realm of understanding?

If everything in the universe is explainable does that leave room for a God?

Let's assume that everything is explainable and all a function of various energies and chemicals. Human life itself was just a series of reactions that produced carbon based cellular constructs due to the way the universe works. In otherwords stuff happens in a cascade of reactions with no real purpose or plan. It simply is.

or

There is a pattern or order beyond our understanding that defines the scope of everything?

Cartoon Heroes - Aqua

This song came to me as part of dance dance revolution. It's a real kick:

We are what we're supposed to be
Illusions of your fantasy
All dots and lines that speak and say
What we do is what you wish to do

We are the color symphony
We do the things you wanna see
Frame by frame, to the extreme

Our friends are so unreasonable
They do the unpredictable
All dots lines that speak and say
What we do is what you wish to do

It's all an orchestra of strings
Doin' unbelievable things
Frame by frame, to the extreme
One by one, we're makin' it fun

We are the Cartoon Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh
And walked out on a piece of paper

Here comes Spiderman, arachnophobian
Welcome to the toon town party
Here comes Superman, from never-neverland
Welcome to the toon town party

We learned to run at speed of light
And to fall down from any height
It's true, but just remember that
What we do is what you just can't do

And all the worlds of craziness
A bunch of stars that's chasing us
Frame by frame, to the extreme
One by one, we're makin' it fun

We are the Cartoon Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh
And walked out on a piece of paper

Here comes Spiderman, arachnophobian
Welcome to the toon town party
Here comes Superman, from never-neverland
Welcome to the toon town party

You think we're so mysterious
Don't take us all too serious
Be original, and remember that
What we do is what you just can't do

What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do
What we do is what you just can't do

We are the Cartoon Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna last forever
We came out of a crazy mind - oh-oh-oh
And walked out on a piece of paper

There's still more to come
And everyone will be
Welcomed at the
Toon - Toon
Town - Town
Party

My Grandpa

My Pop's dad was a very interesting fellow. He did things his way. He lived through interesting times. Thanks to a few vacations back east and my Grandfolks heading out to visit I have quite a few fond memories and quite a few stories about them as well.

At one point in time I was in Florida experienceing humidity and swiming in lakes, trying to get the hang of shuffleboard.

I had an interest in performing magic and in talking with Grandpa he revielve that he had seen Houdini perform a straight jacket escape while suspended upsidown from a building.

Wanting a first hand account I pressed him for details. He went on saying there was a large crowd and you could barely see this guy up there squirming around like a worm on a hook then he dropped the jacket. My Grandpa was not sure what all the fuss about this guy (houdini) was.

Pretty much what you would expect from a first hand account of something...

I miss Grandpa. Shoulda talked with him more.

My mind

As I walk the two miles to work I have 30minutes to myself. So I tend to think. Having no first hand knowledge of how other peoples minds function I can only guess that mine is typical. I go from subject to subject in rapid succession. I get itdea's and store them or discard them as they get thought through.

I gain some insights into subjects, I simplify others and all in all just enjoy the tumult that goes on. Yes, if feels like I am observing my brain at work, Not sure if that makes sense to you or not.

On todays walk I jumped onto the often thunk issue of what I would do with the sudden influx of vast amounts of fundage. The thought occured to purchase homes near mine and give them to my friends, Hopefully setting up an interest bearing account to pay the property tax...

Anyways, having Shoo and Robert as close neighbors has a lot of appeal to me. And nostalgia. The families interacting would be a hoot and just being able to sit around talking over dinner or such would be a blast. Seeing as how I was the one that moved away from where they live I guess its some kind of compensation.

Then my mind goes into the situation from the viewpoint that Rob and Shoo are not just single guys, they are family men with wives and kids. Now I LOVE living in a smaller city (27k). I like the slower pace of life and the sheer amount of nature that we have around us. My question is how thier families would react if suddenly moved into this place. The shopping here is statistically nil compared to the OC. The venues for entertainment as well (we have two movie theaters or 11 screens). Companies here are 'different' as well. Most places dont have employees leave for two weeks to hunt Elk. The schools would be a dramatic change for the kids. There is a lack of diversity but a greater acceptence of people.

Hoard Warcraft dance video

Trevor and Lee go to Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT)

OIT is the only completely geothermally heated university campus in the United States. Which for a technical school is pretty tech...

Trevor was granted a scholorship and we are awaiting the results of the others we submitted for. He has already been admitted and so this was a first visit to the campus. We talked to admissions and Financial had lunch and got a tour. It is a modest campus on the hill overlooking Klamath lake. The Houseing is a large four story building right there on campus. It's small but functional.

Trevor really seemed to enjoy the tour and the prospect. He spoke to one of the teachers and was pleasantly upbeat about the prospect of learning to be a civil engineer. When asked he said it would be the most important four years of his life. Good attitude...

The support services is great as well. Its looking good

wierdness

I'm having a tough time with household repars as of late. Our new bathroom had the lights go out. Blown breaker. No big issue. Head downstairs and hit the switch.

It wont reset. Make sure that there is nothing plugged in or anything and still... It wont reset.

Moved the wires to another breaker and it worked fine. So its not an overload.

Now then. This particular breaker is a GFCI and will throw over if there is a grounding issue. So that immediatly puts the breaker as suspect... Add to that the fact that there is a GFCI outlet in the bathroom (I had installed that and was told by an inspector to get a GFCI breaker so I just left it).

So its possible that the two are interfearing with each other.

So off to the store and get a new GFCI breaker ($40.00 YIKES!) and a new standard outlet (with a large cover for cosmetic reasons).

I installed the new outlet and the breaker resets! wooT! done! solved!!

..............not so fast bucko..................

The GFCI throws later and that puts me into the position of opening and setting in the new breaker. Dangit... that was going to be returned... ah well..

Then the breaker wont reset. Umkay... whats going on?

So I re-re-wire it back into a backup non-GFCI breaker and call up our local electrical shop and he gives me some stuff to look for. There is some kind of grounding out going on. So now to check the fan and lights...

Whee!!


So I got a new doorbell. and guess what. The doorbell chime starts going off and WILL not stop! I have to cut it at the wall. .... Grumble....

I hate not being able to fix crap...

Good Parenting

Where do good parents come from? How do you judge if they are good parents or not?

If I had to narrow it down I would have to say. Consistancy in quality of Attention, Observation and Interaction all tempered with a deep affection and fear.

The only good way to judge a good parent is by checking out thier grandkids. So in my case the jury is out. But, Im not worried.

My parents are my Mom and Pop, The Bingo's, The Moores and Mrs. Vircsik. All of which are shapped concepts and idea's in my mind on how things worked and more importantly helped shape the essence of that aspect of my person.

Add to that life experiences of being the youngest of five and being an Uncle before I was ten years old. I had lots of interactions with lots of baby peoples on various levels.

So far I have three great kids and a very happy home and home-life. Our teens are very open and honest about thier interactions and thier teenage friends take a liking to us as well. The kids all do well in school and have an eye pointed towards collage. They think for themselves and are not afraid of questioning thier teachers, peers and elders.

So I am happy with our results so far. Good thing Tina is a better parent then I am eh?

Steve Story

I have a buddy from back in High School named Steve.

One time Steve needed to get some gear to the school for a chior trip around the state. At this point I was already graduated and Steve was a senior. The plan was: I would go to Steves, he would drive his gear over to the school, I would drive the car back to his house and head home.

Simple elegant etc. So its early in the AM I arrive. Steve is a little frantic as he was planning on getting up early and packing rather then packing the night before. So I helped him finding items and things while the clock ticked away. Finally with his luggage assembled and put in the back of the car he went to pull out into the driveway so I could get in the passenger side (not much room in the garage).

For some reason Steve decided to opt out of closing the driver side door as he backed out. Either he was showing off or thought he was saving the time needed to get in and out of the car, I dunno... Really I am at a loss to explain what was going on inside that brain.

Now as he backed out the door hit the edge of the garage door opening, and due to various laws of physical motion, Bent backwards.

So the car stops, Steve is looking shocked and puzzled and frenetic. The garage appears fine but the door is bent backwards at a good 45 degree angle. I myself am actively repressing the urge to laugh myself delirious. Steve locks eyes with me for a split second and with all speed vanishes inside the house.

The Door is truely bent, the glass is undamaged and the hinges as well. I am midway into this inspection when Steve emerges, fairly wild eyed, gripped in his hand is a standard bathroom plunger.

He moves to the door with steely determination and attempts to use the plunger to pull the BEND out of the door... yeah, BEND not DENT...

This fails and I voice the obvious. "ITS NOT A DENT ITS BENT"

So Steve has gone through the Anger, Denial, Bargining and hits Depression. He verbally tries to figure out how to cover his ass from his mom (who is working at this time and will NOT be home for several hours)

Steve himself will be on a trip for the next five days anyways.

So I assist him into the 'acceptance' phase by again stating the obvious: "There really isnt any way out of this one"

So we tied the door shut with a rope and traversed to the High School...

Cowboy

This is my current desktop picture at work. If you take a bit of a look at this picture you see a bit more then a boy on a horse. I see someone who is very comfortable and at home. It looks like this is something he does every day and its not a big deal.

In fact this is his second time riding this horse and it has been several months between rides. There is nothing I could write that would truly capture the joy he expresses. It really does make be happy we have this particular option available to us. Thanks Kraig and Nancy.

Worst Phonetic Alphabet

Please let me know if you can think of worse examples.

• Ate
• Bait
• Call
• Date
• Eight
• Four
• Gnome
• High
• Idiom
• Jake
• Knife
• Loofa
• Moon
• Noon
• One
• Phone
• Qatar
• Right
• Sea
• Tsing
• Uno
• Vex
• Wright
• Xerxes
• Yam
• Zander

Computers be funny peoples.

In my current post I talk to quite a few computer owners. On the fringes of owners I find you have the people who bought the lowest cost system they could and are expecting it to run every software out there at blazing speed. Counterpose that with older e-mail only user who buys a high end loaded system that has way too many features that they will never use.

Case in point. My buddy Shoo is what you would easily classify as a 'High End' computer user. Lord High Programing guru lord of the Dance kinda guy. He has multiple systems and one of which sounds pretty high end. Loaded with features that Shoo could easily take advantage of. However having the added complexity isnt always bestest. His Sound card appears to be capabable of doing many wonderful things. Shoo, really hasnt done much more then just let it run under whatever settings it had from the get go.

With our using VOIP for playing games his sound is doing some odd things. some very annoying. There is a complex number of settings and trying to configure it for both the game and VOIP can be a challange.

Last night he jumped on his older system and that sound works great for the VOIP. Probably a less sophisticated card as well, it works as expected.

Did you know?

85% of all statistics are fabricated?

good ole fashion war.

It must be really tough for a military leader now when a war has to be fought with great restraint. Putting your own mens welfare after the 'enemies'.

It did not used to be that way. Once upon a time it was two different leaders or governments have a disagreement and have people fight for them. The winner was the one left standing and they would then take the other leaders people and lands adding them to thier own. or they would decimate the others holdings making the value nil. Brutal and simple, Romans were good at this, Carthage anyone?

No real simple answer to the question are wars bad? Depends on the war, which depends on the winner, which depends on what the war was about.

'Wars are bad cuz people die', is a really bad criteria for defining wars badness.

I think the worst idea is to have a political body run a war.

Truth - a vanishing breed

Was thinking on my walk into work today. That truth and honesty appear to be laking. The TV news is agenda biased and would make Goebbels quite proud.

Newspapers have the same issues, probably cuz of AP. Science used to be about theory and proofs, until something becomes political like Global Warming or Stem Cell research.

Then its only enough 'fact' to prove your point. Recently I had someone tell me that lies and decet are a good thing as long as they motivate people to do conform to certain behaviour.

Pretty scary stuff. Very elitest as well. Be wary when someone says "You should listen to me and do what I say because I know better then you"

Trivia Answers for yaz!

Patrick "Eel" O'brian - Plastic Man

Ralph Digby - The Elongated Man

Monkey D Luffy - Manga "One Piece"

Reed Richards - Mr. Fantastick

The commonality is they are all shape shifters of the 'rubber man' variety.

memrys o durwood

Shoo and Rob both have younger brothers. Shoo has two, the youngest is Darren, pictured to the left in front of a much younger myself. (note: the stylish suspenders).

So once upon a time, we are at Shoos gaming, either Risk or early D&D. In the background is playing Queens album, A Night at the Opera. One of the more interesting tracks"The Prophet's Song" is a series of chants Brian May put together.

Darren at that time was in his playpen and after the song ended we heard this lone little voice chanting "now I know' over and over just like in the song.

Trivia Questions for yaz!

What is the commonality?:

• Patrick O'Brian
• Ralph Dibny
• Monkey D. Luffy
• Reed Richards

psyco

Not saying I ever would be so inclined. However, every so often. Usually after a particularly trying experience or dealing with a particularly trying individual. The kind of experience\individual that really tests your patients, resolve and endurance.

When times like this occur, particularly after a long day at work, I can somwhat start to understand, in some small mote in my mind, the incentive behind getting a high powered rifle and climbing up to a high perch.

Not sayign I would be so inclined.

Manager Spin

The company I work for tends to spin bad news as if it was good news.

Example: No no no, your not getting an enema, your getting a COLONIC!!! woohoo! its a good thing!!

They did a salary restructuring where everyone was 'leveled' to the same base wage before comission. This means that someone working there for two months got a big ole raise, while the people there for four years got a nickle or so more. This was a 'good thing' because everyone gets more money.

To me it wasnt a good thing because it devalued my knowledge and contributions in the past.

institutionalized

My friend Shoo's mom worked at a State Mental hospital. This was an mysterious set of buildings with a high fence and a large greenbelt (and golf course) between the fence and the campus. I went there once to help Shoo with a boy scout project and I recall being very ill at ease with the people there. I have some guilt around my feelings towards them, in retrospect, at the same time it was my first encounter with the 'mentally challanged' and I really did not have any idea what to expect.

I did learn that you needed to remove the cupcake papers before passing out the cupcakes and you can expect to get hugged.

I wonder if there was some social paradigm that certain people needed to be isolated or removed from view or if that concept came after the idea of having a ' safe place' for 'those' people.

Tina's works in a classroom with challanged kids and they have them participate in the various classrooms as much as they can. So you have a school full of kids that are accepting of certain truths of life. Seperation and isolation leads to lack of tolerance, and is caused by lack of understanding.

Environmentalism Jihad

Islamists and Environmentalists have provided serious perception issues for the masses.

Giants in our time.

Back in the non-pc days of the 60's our boy scout meetings used to end with a full contact game of capture the flag or british bulldogs.

For one reason or another Shoo (see link to the right) and I were masters of Bulldogs.

The game consisted of running from one side of a field to the other side without being tackled by the person who was 'it'.

I could stop Shoo solo and he could stop me solo. But, that was about it. More times then I can remember it would boil down to the two of us being the final and similerly being drug down by multiple people and even dragging them across the field as well.

My favorite story involved a particularly game where me and shoo would run side by side as a juggernaut. Shoo realized they were going to use this against us next run so we opted to seperate and moved to opposit ends of the line. At the call I started to run and broke right and was slammed and slammed hard. I lost my footing and wondered who the heck had hit me that hard. looking around I did not see my attacker however, about where the impact took place, laying on the ground was Shoo. We had blindsided each other. Of course per the rules neither of us where out, I gasped out an explination something like "Shoo, get up, your not out... It was me"... He Popped to his feet and we survived a couple more runs. I kinda wish my folks had let me play football on defensive line next to Shoo.
We coulda be Giants in our time.

Motorbike and me

Once upon a time I borrowed a friends motorbike. It was fun and it was transportation and it was something I did not want my folks to know about.

I was over 18 and... well... stupid, quite frankly.

My dad rode motor bikes, he probably would have been fine with it and mom would have begrudgingly accepted the idea after some discussion (banter). However, I sidestepped and paid a price obliquely.

I was heading up harbor blvd. and I ended up rear ending an LTD station wagon. I do not recall the impact, not even if I was on the ground or not. Directly afterwards I knew enough to get out of the middle of the road so I kind of scrambled to the sidewalk. Around the time I made it there I realized that I couldnt breathe, so I slowly sank to the ground figuring I was going to pass out then die. Looking up, from my prone position I saw a police officer, oblivious to my plight at the front of the light. Also, a car load of girls next to me, looking and possibly screaming at the cop.

Then I inhaled. Elapsed time, maybe 30 seconds total. The cops where there, the bike was moved to an ex-taco bell parking lot. The Ambulance showed up with a male and female EMT, the female had a tough time and damn near dropped me at the hospital.

Results. a wrecked friends bike, A bruise where the helmet hit my upper chest (full face helmet), twin bruses across my upper thigh (handlebars), missing the naughty bits by a couple centimeters. Finally I got a unique looking five horizontal evenly spaced scars across my kneecap courtesy of the cooling fins.

It was late and I did not feel that getting chewed out by my parents, even deservedly so, would be anything that could 'cheer me up'. So after release I called up Robert G. (link on the right). And interuppted his dial up connection to a BBS enough that he hung up the phone and I could catch a ride.

I recall getting into his car and it being a rather quiet ride home. Still it allowed me to save face till the wee hours of the morning. Then it hit the fan.

Thanks for the ride Rob. Sorry for being stupid mom and pop.

Oh, you should note that since that time no other young person has ever done anything stupid....

Mom .vs. Army part deux!

With my brothers tour of duty comming to an end there was much anticipation of Kraig comming back home. My mom was worried dispite him being in one of the more safer places during 'Nam.

Then a letter arrived. Due to a shortage of man power the relief for his base had been delayed so he would be there for an additional two to four months.

This prompted my mother to again pull out her pen and paper and send off a missive to the powers that be. "You took my son and that was fine, he has served his time and now I want him home. If you do not have enough people then draft more, my son has served and he is NOT going to stay one more day past his time" (paraphrased)

My brother was called into the CO's office and asked to take a seat. As one might guess he had an idea it had something to do with mom... The CO sat for a bit in uncomfortable slience.

"I am not quite sure who your Mom is or who she knows. but, somehow she has been able to do in two weeks Something I have been tryign to do for six months, get relief assigned here."

With that he informed my brother he would be going home on time and asked Kraig to PLEASE, inform his mother.

Personally, I would love to get my hands on moms letters to the army.

Skating

I have the ability to skate and to skate well. This, to me, means I am just as comfortable on my skates as I am on me feet. While I am by no stretch of the imagination one of those half-pipe, grinding, back-flipping, eXtreme skater. Still I am accomplished.

I have Mad Skillz.

I had a group of friends, associated with my Catholic Young Adults group who decided that adult skate night would be fun. I went along even though at the age of 19 I could not skate... at all..

As time passed none of them were skating, yet I was, then I started working at the rink. I bought a sweet pair of quads, stainless steel with a upgraded jump bar (that I still broke). My buddy Eric got me into a roller hockey team and I found out that Quads have no protection against hockey sticks.

So I got some hockey stakes. My last pair are really nice thick and tight but on occasion I will bruise one of my toes while skating. I think I need a pad or something above the little gap in the hard shell of the toe.

A couple weeks back I took Connor to a possible b-day party at the rink. Connor is athletic and over the two hours his ability and confidence grew remarkably. He really had a good time.

So Sundays they have a Parents go free with child. Diana and Trevor where in tow and again we had wheels meet wood. Connor continued to improve. Even would let go of my hand for a few seconds at a time.

The few laps I could do solo did bring back alot of good feelings that have been dormant for quite some time. Gotta go back again.

US Army vs my mom

Kraig, my brother was drafted into the army during the Vietnam war. He served in Okinawa, never saw any combat and learned all about real Humidity. During his tour he would regularly correspond with my mom. This was the pencil and paper with Envelope and stamp kinda missive. No Internet or cell phone or any such. Keeping in touch is much easier now by quite a leap.

I am not quite sure how it came about but I believe that in one of his letters he mentioned his feet were getting tore up because his boots did not fit well. Kraig had very narrow feet.

My mom wrote off to either our senator or someone in power and with poison pen in hand ranted on that here they took her boy across the ocean and despite all the tax dollars could not get him shoes that fit. This was unknown to my bro, of course.

A short time later the CO (commanding officer) called Kraig into his office. Wondering what was going on he was asked to sit down. The CO then took the new pair of Army Issue boots that were on his desk and asked my brother to put them on. Kraig complied, still not quite sure what to make of the situation. The CO asked him to walk around the office and see if they fit well. They did.

Then continuing in the same level voice the CO asked "Are you are satisfied with the fit of these boots?" He was, "Could you please... Inform you Mother that the US Army has now provided you with proper gear?"

To which Kraig replied with an embarrassed affirmative.

Lesson? Never mess with a Mom where her kids are concerned.

Connor Phunny

(Double Click Image for a better look-see) Caption: She got stuck in the rocks. Pull me! Help Me!

Joke I stole and one I recall.

A guy walks in a bar and starts drinking himself blind. After a bit the bartender ask him "Why so Glum?"
The gent looks up and answers "Today is my wedding anniversary. We got married because her father caught us fooling around. He told me that I could either marry her or go to jail. I chose marriage."

Bartender, "So, it's your anniversary. Thats usually happy. Why so sad?"

Guy, "If I had chosen jail I would be getting out today."

-----one I recalled---
She told me we couldn't afford beer anymore and I'd have to quit.

Then I caught her spending $65.00 on make-up.

And I asked how come I had to give up stuff and she didn't.

She said she needed the make-up to look pretty for me.

I told her that was what the beer was for.

I don't think she's coming back......

Ring o Ring o rosie

Well lesee, Tina go sick with a cold, then Connor got a flu. Then Tina got back to back flu. Then Trevor got a light case of the flu.

Lotsa sleeping being done around the house.

Kids Illnesses

Connor was under the weather over the weekend. He had a fever and was generally listless and did not do much more then lay in bed or on the couch.

Being Autistic he does not relay how he is feeling in words. This really makes you worry that your correct in him having a cold and not something more. Add to that the fact he is one tough little guy. I mean it takes something very painful to elicit tears from him.

keeping him hydrated was tough as he did not want to drink. Telling him its important would get him to take a drink. buying him Gatorade (a treat) helped out quite a bit.

You always hate to see your kids not feeling well. Not being able to confirm how they are feeling verbally makes it worse.

Loved this quote

Isn't arguing like a liberal the intellectual equivalent of throwing like a girl?

Dino's Ristorante Italiano

With the Feast of Saint Valentine upon us going out to eat falls under customary to manditory. Living in a smallish city in the middle of the woods tends to bring mostly blue collar fare. Kill it, Cook it, Eat it... with beer... is the typical.

Other then the obvious fast food we do not have many franchise places to choose from. There are some great places for sandwiches, breakfasts and pizza. The kind of fare that lumberjacks like to eat.

Then there is Dino's. This place stacks up to any fine food experience anyplace anytime. It's quaint and downtown. The service is very italian and everything about the place is for your senses. Book selves with various travel guides and picture books. There is an 'Actual' Dino who seats you and prompts you as two what the finer dishes are and the wine to match. We sat next to some of his picture albums showing how Italy is never far from his heart.

Depending upon when you go there is musical entertainment from classical, jazz to barber shop. With prior commitments we opted to go the night after the Vanentines day feast. Dino look noticeable tired. He was very open and friendly and moved with the slower pace that let you know this was NOT fast food!

We ordered and as the meal was prepared we had time to look at the books and pictures. As the food was prepared.

We must have looked hungry because Dino decided we needed some soup and brought out a bowl for us to share (on the house). It was a bean soup and very full flavored and savory. That was followed by fresh bread and finally the main dish.

OH MY GOODNESS it was good! Tina got smoked Salmon Ravioli and I got the special which was Sweet potato in a hazlenut sauce. I had to restrain my eating to make sure every bite was chewed to full delite. The Salmon was 'smooth' in flavor and in a cheeze sauce that was not heavy as you would think.

We ended with Black forrest cake. It is easy to spend two hours just enjoying the experience. As they are now an Icon and Dino enjoys 'teaching' good food to the Pac NW.

Words used in pervious posting.

Grat (graat) Interjection - Used to express extreme displeasure.

Chak (chaakk) Adjective - Use to modify a noun or pronoun; carries a negative connotation.

Blit (blitt) Noun - 1.) A person who is thoroughly disliked. 2.) An unpleasant difficulty.

Flak (flak) Multi-functional - Can be used in nearly any circumstance, often carries an intense or distastful meaning. As a person, place, thing or idea, as any action or event, as a modifier of nearly any verb, etc.

http://www.brandonmdennis.com/

World of Warcraft - Inventing Curse Words

Answers to belows post

In order:

Austin Powers in Goldmember: Nigel Powers (Michael Cain).

Yellow Submarine: John, George and Ringo.

Kill Bill 2: Beatrice Kiddo (the bride).

Zoolander: Derik Zoolander (Ben Stiller).

My Favorite Year: Alan Swan (Peter O'Toole).

The Matrix Revolutions: Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving).

El Dorado: Cole Thornton (John Wayne), Alan Bourdillion Traherne 'Mississippi' (James Cann).

Silverado: Emmet (Scott Glenn), Auggie (some kid actor).

Duck Soup: Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx)

Favorite Movie Lines (see if you can name the movie)

"There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch."

Person A: "Yes, dey do look very nice, don't dey?"
Person B: "Yes, dey do."
Person C: "Dey do dough, don't dey?"
Person A:"Yes, dey do."
Person B: "Don't dey, dough?"
Person A: "Dough?"

[after entering a cafe, covered head to toe in dirt] "May I have a glass of water, please?"

"Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking? "

"Damn you! I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star!"

"Mr. Anderson. Welcome back, we missed you."

Person 1:"Can you use a gun?"
Person 2"Well if I could I'd be using one."

Kid: "He was trying to get away. He fell off his horse... off a cliff."
Man: "Jake... [disbelieving] FELL off his horse?"

"I'd be unworthy of the high trust that's been placed in me if I didn't do everything in my power to keep our beloved Freedonia in peace with the world. I'd be only too happy to meet with Ambassador Trentino, and offer him on behalf of my country the right hand of good fellowship. And I feel sure he will accept this gesture in the spirit of which it is offered. But suppose he doesn't. A fine thing that'll be. I hold out my hand and he refuses to accept. That'll add a lot to my prestige, won't it? Me, the head of a country, snubbed by a forgein ambassador. Who does he think he is, that he can come here, and make a sap of me in front of all my people? Think of it - I hold out my hand and that hyena refuses to accept. Why, the cheap ball-pushing swine, he'll never get away with it I tell you, he'll never get away with it."

black hole information paradox

Steven Hawking tried to destroy the universe by making Black holes destroy Physical information!

This put us all at tremendous risk and is generally considered by Quantum mechanics to be an evil act.

Good thing Mr. Hawking made a great comback and saved the universe:
The Euclidean path integral over all topologically trivial metrics can be done by time slicing and so is unitary when analytically continued to the Lorentzian. On the other hand, the path integral over all topologically non-trivial metrics is asymptotically independent of the initial state. Thus the total path integral is unitary and information is not lost in the formation and evaporation of black holes. The way the information gets out seems to be that a true event horizon never forms, just an apparent horizon.

Whew! that was a close one!

I'm going to die.

Found out from the doctor that I am indeed mortal. Shocking eh? Fortunatly my soul is imortal but this body is just gonna wear out and stop at some point.

I have adult onset diabetes. I noticed I was having a tough time staying awake at times during the day. It did not matter how much sleep I had. Had a long set of tests done one morning on an empty stomach. I was told that loosing weight (I had balooned up to 280) would help and I was put on a daily medication and daily blood tests.

I got to the point were the blood test would only confirm how I was feeling so I went to weekly tests and then only when I felt 'off'. I added a couple of suppliments and a baby asprin to my collection of consumables and over time lost 40something lbs.

This week I go in for my first big set of tests since I lost the weight. As I was borderline last time I hope to be 'insulin intolerent' or better this time around.

My doctor is a pretty good one. He doesnt rest on his laurels and spends quite a bit of time reading the latests research and adopts them into his practice on a one off basis.

For instance he noted my 'bad' cholesterol is a bit high and that the Omega-3 fatty acids have proven reduction. So he recommended me look into Flax Seed supplimentals.

This versus putting me on some additional medication on a perscription basis.

I would like to get down around 200lbs. That was where I was in my 20's. I have about 50 lbs to go.

Driving Mr. Daisy

I dislike driving vehicles. For no other reason then I hate sitting there paying attention and going someplace that more times then not I did not want to go to in the first place.

I drive well and have always aced any driving tests etc. However, its just not something I opt to do. Being able to walk to work is great and having a wife that enjoys driving means I can read or listen to music or sleep on longer trips. Ah, heaven...

Anyways, at one point I landed a job with Bank of America, transporting proof of deposit materials from banks to proofing centers. This consisted of a four or five hour jaunt of driving all over Southern california. Eventually, I got a route change and started travelling into 1000 west temple which is pretty much smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles. This was three times a day two of which was rush hour. Yes, this was pre-internet when Fax was the king of transmitted data.

As time progressed I started to learn the personality of the freeways. The 91 is a hick, the 5 was uptight and easily annoyed. The 405 was more layed back, etc.

My route was pretty much the same. 405 to the 605 to the 5 to west temple and then head back. The thing about LA is there are many many ways of getting from point A to point B. So I developed alot of alternate routes. When the 105 opened that was a sweet ride and shaved quite a bit of time off the route. My knowledge of tunes went up as did my cool headedness. Being hourly and with traffic knowledge being a flip of the dial away, it was easy to kick back and let the snarl begin. I new surface routes and back alley cuts and could easily make it there and back again when the other slobs would barely make it a few miles.

Skating

I took Connor to the Roller rink Saturday. He is much better on skates at that age then I ever was, physically he is remarkable, great balance and sense of self. Clumsy is not Connor.

They played a couple of songs he likes, so we had to sing along. Barbie Girl being a biggie. He wanted to be out on the floor the whole time. This was not fun for my lower back but I survived with only a couple of advil, heating pad and a nice wifey massage.

I forgot to trim my toenails, which caused the msot discomfort. I have some hockey skates which are light, very stiff and a very snug fit. So for about two hours I was shoving the nail back into my toe and I didnt bring my nylon socks opting for the cotton ones that are two thick.

I do need to get some new laces as the three year hiatus has caused the old ones to not be the bestest. The wheels, while not the best, are still going strong and overall it was very nice and familier having them on my feet again. The way I skate they are really a natural extension for me now.

I watched Connor carefully and with out too much more time on the floor He would be solo, I'm sure of it.

Somthing really bad, usually has to happen.

The last two elections someone on CNN decided to start referring to the electorial collage vote, color states as the Red States and Blue States. I hear a lot of nay saying without any alternatives.

Our elected leaders are not leading they are reacting. Compromise or 'working together' is translated as 'You do what we want'. They keep harping on the Division of the country and how its worse now then ever...

Whenever two people get really pissed off at each other, sometimes the only way to get them united is for something outside of them occurs bringing them together. A disaster or a common foe etc.

The USA has always been a country of many different idea's and divisions. Some good some bad some open for debate. The USA has always been a country of people who cometogether for the common good, when the need arises. We the people will always extend a hand out to those in need and usually get pretty pissed off if taken advantage of (eventually).

Wouldnt it be great if the government all got together in the face of a common enemy? Like the Media....?

Dakota

Personally, I would never give an 'okay' for someone to film a rape sceen with any underage performer, even the suggestion involving my own kids would envoke a near violent response.

I have seen plenty of movies where the act is depicted off camera or admitted to in some setting and as I recall those were very powerful dramatic moment's.

Filming the act no matter how 'tastefully done' makes me wonder what the hell the entertainment industry is thinking. I'm sure contraversy sells. And the DA of North Carolina (where, I understand, filming a simulated rape of a child is illegal) signed off on it as well. I really hope people respond by not seeing or purchasing the film.

I would personally like to see this Sundance film go the way of ZYZZYX ROAD
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=zyzzyxroad.htm

GM'ing

In my past I have hosted and ran various dice and paper games, primarily AD&D (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons). It was a great reason to get together socially with my friends and provided many hours of entertainment.

I am lead to believe that I was pretty damn good at running the games, or being the Game Master to use the term. I would design and run the various storylines and sceanario's. It all started back at the local collages gaming club. I would go there to play and no one was running a game. I ended up running those games and eventually even ran games at convention tournaments.

I went from just running random games to making an ongoing event with static characters, finally started from scratch with brand new um... saner.. characters.

This went over a long period of time several years with many faces that came and went. Finally culminating in my retirment when I moved up to Oregon.

Now my riddled brain doesnt recall nearly as to what all happened over this period of time and frequently either my wife or one of my friends will recall an incident that strikes a cord but I have little to no recollection about.

WoW video (Weird Al Song)

This vid really captures quite a bit about WoW's kookier side. Note the reference to Chuck Norris and the impressive chat window dialog.

Entertainment??

The Film industry put out that Night at the Museum has grossed $192,094,485. Hollywood has a higher earnings then quite a few countries out there.

The state of entertainment

I cannot think of a new TV show that has caught my attention in about three years. Of all the movies comming out only a handful even looks interesting to me. The radio plays music that is so fragmented for the first time I cannot think of artists representing the sound of this current decade. There has not been a musical video in forever.

So what is up with the state of entertainment?

I'm thinking some kind of saturation point has been reached. In typical supply and demand economics we have an abundance of Entertainment and so Demand is going way way down.

It is going to get worse before it gets better. I keep thinking of the NHL as way of an analogy.

It used to be there was only six teams:
Montreal Canadians, Toronto Maple Leafes, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, and the New York Rangers.

The talent on these teams was first rate. So few slots and so many players made every team a team of all stars. The NHL finally expanded to stop upstart leagues from filling the Void. More teams the talent level dropped.

I blame Global Warming.

the Interstate is closed and snow is comming down in droves. The last time we had any real issues was in 1990 or so. Since that year we have had brief dusting of snow and it goes away within the next 48hours max.

Now this year is the first time since we have been up here that it snowed and it stuck around for a week. Now its snowing again...

To pull a page from Tim's playbook. It has to be Bush and global warming...

Trapped in Eugene

Connor has specific things he likes and wants. You have to be very clear, consise and consistant when it comes to him. Thanks to cartoon network (of all things), it is much easier to put things in cronological order and have him understand. "First is tickets, then is Froggy, later is the movie" allows him to get what whats going on. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Due to a conflict in schedules Tina and Diana had an appointment at the dentist the same time as Trevor. His being quite a drive away in the 'Big City'. So I took a vacation day and the plan was to make a day of it and hit the cheapie theater for a flick (flushed away, a movie Connor has been particularly interested in seeing) prior to the given appointment.

Best laid plans eh? We made it to the shopping mall but went to the wrong theater (two theaters in one shopping mall? whouda thunk it!!??). We head to the second one and there is a freeking line across the food court. I parked Trevor in the line and took Connor up to the front to see what was going on, Connor heared and read that Flushed away was playing so he started gettting very excited that he was going to be seeing the film! It turns out it was 50cent day. And a school Holiday. And the 2:00 and 3:00 show was sold out.

At this point Connor was fully expecting to see Flushed away and this would be our last chance to see it in a theater. So with heavy sigh I resigned myself to the 6:50pm show and we stood in the line for a good 30min. I explained to Connor the series of events for that day and he was perfectly fine.

Next we wandered the mall. I had forgotten my watch and so I hit Kohls and bought Trevor a timex ($10.00!). and we hung out till 3:30ish and hit Red Robin for lunch. I like this resturant as it has veggie burgers and plenty of French Fries for Connor. In an interesting change Connor wanted spagetti and french fries. Sure enough when the food came he ate it all. Usually at a resturant we will either try something and he usually doesnt eat or we get him french fries. Seeing as how going out is a minimal thing its not a biggie on the crap food input for any of the kids.

So food devoured we headed across town to Froggy's parking was a bear in the city and afterwards taking surface streets back to the mall was a pain. The streets are very non-intuative and tend to swing from North South to east west. Signs for Freeway offramps are vague and do not always point you correctly. Luckily Rivers and Freeways are pretty specific points in the landscape and I was able to navigate obliquely to the Mall in time for the movie.

Ardman Entertainment is Nick Parks company that produced the Wallace and Grommit shorts and movie. Flushed away is a computer animated version of Mr. Parks Unique style. It is well done and has a good portion of comedy and some pretty creative use of recognized items being used as boats, houses shops etc.

In an odd twist a Mime was pretty entertaining in this film.

So we got back in late Monday night. Connor was happy, Trevor commented that he liked the Clay stop motion as it had a more organic feel to it, as in being more 'real' and a part of the wonder of Nick Park.

I was just glad to be home and out of that freeking ass big confusing, overcrowded, traffic laden, no parking City. Gimmie small towns anyday!

Ice driving

Water in its solid form is amazingly dangerous. With my new vehicle I can traverse most ice in town easily enough. The danger comes from others who either cannot or do not take the conditions into account. Having a set of snow tires does not mean you understand the physical dynamics of driving on the stuff.

As such this AM I set out to head to work down our hill. I walked out and tested my shoes traction on the blacktop and was satisfied it was less then an icerink. I proceeded with caution, and used the brakes early.

I only had a couple of tire spins. I was more concerned with staying away from the other cars so as not to risk those drivers not using the same caution.

the 'N'-word

Recently there has been quite a furor over the 'N'-word. Some people calling for the banning of the word itself and even legal action for its uttering. When I was a child I recall my mother actually saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never harm me".

If I understand correctly I can take a voice recorder and have a mix of ethnical backgrounded people say the 'N'-word into the machine. Then if I play it to someone the criteria for it being offensive is which ethnic background uttered the word.

Isnt it a choice to allow something like a word have power over us?

Work Life Balance

One of the buzz words around here is Life\Work balance. Shouldnt we have more leisure time? Wasnt there some theories back in the 60's that our free time would increase with automation?

What kind of crock was that? 30 hour work week! thats the ticket!! Five weeks vacation a year to start! Bring back the Blue Laws! Day of rest! Sabbath time!

I got the option to go to four 10 hour days. Sounds sweeet? Three days off a week? What a deal! In practicality it doesnt work out that great for a dad.

I get to work by 7:30am. I get to see the kids briefly in the morning as we are all scrambling around. I get home after 7:00pm. Everyone is already engaged in the after dinner activities or have already left to do whatver it is they do.

Sit down dinners are out of the question. So I throw together what I can and eat alone or at the computer checking on the events of the day. Then its either chase everyone down. pick everyone up or just watch the tube or play wow. Get Connor to bed. Remind the teens is a school nite and then hit the sack myself for hopefully 8 hours before going again.

My copious day off is Thursday. Which I either have a project or its raining. I do some busy work, balance the books. Run some errands and wait for the kids to arrive.

So after a couple of weeks I am thinking five 8's are more suited to my work\life balance. Just have to convince my manager.

Meetings (a series)

Tina, my wifey. soul mate (thats the plan anyways). etc.

Met her at a church dance that she musta been really bored to even been too. Ah, Kismit. So its a church dance a friend of mine is running for her youth group. One of the members of her youth group is named Rick who is a good friend (lived up the street) from Tina's family.

I used to DJ dances with my friend Byron. We would get paid based on whatever they could afford and Byron had a set of lights and we combined our stereo's to get the sound. Poor Byron couldnt put a playlist together to save his soul so I would be in charge of what goes next.

My music collection while exoteric did not lend itself to your usual dancing mob so we advertised for peeps to bring thier music so we would be sure to play what they like! My actual first meeting with Tina was over her records as I thumbed through and commented how nice the various selections where. This won a few points I found out later.

Being a red head I had my work cut out for me. Unbenownst to me Tina had this biggotted predjudice against any and all red heads. She only watched the Lucy Show cuz it was B&W. Luckily my charm and incredible dance moves overshadowed my coif.

Actually, this crowd was a bit youngish for me and Byron was dance challanged other then a Heavy Metal Head bob. So with him set with his play list. I was gofer and went out dancing. With Tina. Occasionally I would go back and set the play list.

All in all it was a decent dance and Hey! we got paid! I enjoyed chatting with Tina and was more then a little dissapointed when she vanished. Although, she did come back later with 'decent' soda drinks.

I invited her to go roller skating that Sunday night. She had functional skates and had some skills. I ended up skating and talking most of the night with her. I even ended up throwing caution to the wind (my recently cut loose ex GF was at the rink.) and skated couples skate with her. Damn she must have been intersting that night. As she continues to be. Now we are 25 years later Married 19 of those in August.

And I cannot figure out how I ever made it through life without her.

Moving big rocks

Joe posted about Tim's passion for moving big rocks.
(see link to the right Joe Delta)
Thought I would post this for inspiration.

Rob tale of political battles

I posted the Shoo incident. I then thought about the Rob of the California Georges fisticuffs. Actually I dont really recall any other then one incident during elementary school leadership.

If I recall accuratly. Rob was running for class president or something against Roger. At one point this became a 'brawl' out on the playground with various supporters. (note: Even using the term brawl is overly dramatic. It was kids on a playground roughousing and using the election as an excuse).

At one point Rob and Roger found themselves facing off with each other. Neither wanting to 'start' the fight by throwing the first blow. Either they called it a draw or the bell rang.

No broken hands or anything but in retrospect, shows quite a bit of common sense for 3rd or 4th graders.

Shoo tale

My sieve like mind cannot retrieve the name of the guy, well he would be a kid then...

I'm back in junior high school. Which is a blending of 6th, 7th and 8th grade when there isnt enough room at the elementary school. Its a pre-high school high school social experiment that really gets the drama started.

I recall overhearing the above mentioned pre-pubecent talking about a recent scrap where he 'kicked someones butt' that somone being Shoo {see link to the right}. Now this kid was pretty messed up swollen face, with lacerations and contusions, claming victory.

If he won the fight and looked that beat-up I figured Shoo was worse. Out of concern I kept look out, finally spotting him a class or two later. He looked perfectly fine, uninjured. I conjectured the scabby kid had the wrong person named.

It wasnt until PE that I was able to corner Shoo and find out if he was in an altercation or not.

The first thing out of his mouth was. "Oh yeah, that.." which of course means he had pretty much dismissed the incident already.

"We fought at the park, I hurt my hand, told him he won and went home"

Sure enough, his hand was swollen and later dicovered he had broken it with other guys face.

Victories are not always pretty, or even victories for that matter...

Banned Words

During this new year please refrain from using the following words\phrases under the authority of Lake Superior State University. As the culture police of our society the LSSU is only looking out for the good of humanity by proffering this list. So utilize it under penalty of mucus or something..

• Gitmo
• Combined celebrity names
• Awesome
• Gone or went missing
• Pwn or pwned, a misspelling of “own” used by online video gamers
• Now playing in theaters
• We’re pregnant
• Undocumented alien
• Armed robbery gone bad or drug deal gone bad
• Truthiness
• Ask your doctor
• Chipotle
• i-anything
• Search
• Healthy food
• Boasts

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2007/01/01/banned-words.html

Came up with a Joke

My humor is usually more observational. Every so often I come up with an actual joke. So here it is.

Do you want to know the five magic words that will make nearly any woman take her clothes off?

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"Wow, your gonna wear that?"

Casual thought

French spaceship begins search for new planets. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1882048,00040005.htm

I'm reading this article and I cannot help but thinking I would rather have the Portuguese do the exploration...

Gerald Ford

President Ford passed away. He was an interesting guy. No one voted for him for the station he ascended too. He stepped into a roll at a time when someone like him was needed.

He was able to put a particularly nasty time behind us and move forward. A good man, a man of destiny if you will.

RIP Mr. President.

Fone whoas

Back in the dark ages, my town only had dial up access to the internet. Need to get phone calls made us get two phone lines (this was back in 1998).

We now have DSL and are happily cugging along like everyone else with an extensive home wireless network with multiple systems accessing the net and through the wonders of bandwith sharing, we can call on the phone at the same time!!!

Until last Wednesday a string of events lead to an even MORE interesting TURN of events.

I tried calling home and got a busy signal. We do not have caller annoy by saying hang on and trying in vein to access a second line (aka caller ID). Or any of those anti-social phone company extra's. So a busy signal is not uncommon. The next break being busy was moreso concerning. As my e-mail home proved that no one was online.

So when I got home I went through the typical trouble shooting. Unplugging the phones to see where the culprit was. When that didnt yeild anything I went down to the basement and started checking the various connections only to get a bag of mixed reactions.

This prompted me to put in a trouble ticket with the phone company. They came out and they went through and found I had not disconnected the TiVO. Dial tone came back and we were good to go.

Until....

The DSL and phone went out on Friday 12-22. I put in another trouble ticket and the guy came out and verified I had dial tone to the house. That means he can charge me to do phone line stuff. So be it. He replaced some stuff and re-wired some stuff and we had dial tone but no DSL. He was unable to determine why the DSL wasnt there as he was a 'phone guy' and did not have DSL stuff.

So I go to call up my phone service and put in a DSL fix request. Here it gets interesting. One of the inhuman (non-human) voice maze thingys asks if you are calling in to report the phone number you are calling in on....

thats confusing.... Lets do an EXAMPLE!

inhuman bodyless voice of doom-> I'm sorry your haveing troubles would you like to start a trouble ticket?

Hapless Human - > Yes, you souless machine!

inhuman bodyless voice of doom-> I did not understand your last response please say it again.

Hapless Human - > Yes. . .

inhuman bodyless voice of doom-> I see, okay will this trouble ticket be about (pause) 4..4..0..6..8..8..8..0..0..0..0.. or a different phone number?

Hapless Human - > um... a different phone... er.. wait...... (hangs up)

So you see the phone number the souless machine rattled off was SUPPOSED to be the phone number I was calling in from. It was my OLD dial in number.

My mind quickly figured out what happened, once upon a time there were several males living in a house across the street from an unammed institution of higher learning *cough* cal-tech *cough*. They had found a live phone line and would connect it and make long distance phone calls that would not be billed to anyone... (alleged, cant prove anything).

So my OLD dial up internet line had been lurking live under the house the ACTUAL problem with my phone line was up at the box.

If I put in a DSL call they would come out on January 2nd because DSL is a non-vital service (I do not understand that either)

So I opted to call back to the phone company and sure enough they got the guy back out to my house in about an hour and after a red faced explination they re attached the correct lines and said they wouldnt charge me for the line work they did.

So it ended well...

Ryan .vs. Dorkman (impressive amature FX)

Merry Merry...

So, I get into work today to find out that payroll made an error and are going to deduct the 200.00 sumptin dollars they overpaid me.

tis the season eh?

Corky and the Juice Pigs.

Insane customer day...again...

Actual Transcript of a voice mail message:


I am getting sick of this. I have left two messages and I need someone to call me back NOW! This is just poor customer service. Call me back NOW!

Third message same voice. no name no reference of any kind.

Tired of Being Alliance? FROST SHOCK!

Nintendo Wii .vs. PS3 (which is more appealing?)

“very credible”

This is just too good to not share:

Okay go to this website and read a bit: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/


..good..


Okay now go read this artical:
http://www.advance.uconn.edu/2006/061113/06111308.htm


Now either Laugh or bang your head against something. Your choice...

Nothing says love like online gaming

It was obliquely pointed out to me how cool it was that my wife enjoys computer games. At home we have two facing computer desks and regularly log-in as a duet. Most online games, MMORPG's escpecially, teaming up makes the missions go quicker easier and thus more fun.

The total being greater then the sum of the parts. This harkened me back to the time she first participated.

It was a sunday afternoon and I had logged into a game called Asherons Call (AC). This was a sword and sorcery setting game that had a pretty nasty penalty if your character died. You would be weakened (vitae) and your 'corpse' would hang onto a couple of your most expensive items. If you could make it back to your 'corpse' you could open it and take your items back. So getting back was paramount because some of the items were hard won.

Anyways, my perchance for exploration lead me to this volcanic dungeon. It was oddly empty and I was able to make it down to the depths before I found anything to battle. I lost and headed back. As I hit the room where I had 'died' I was jumped by several baddies and dropped more items. This particular labrinth had been cleaned out just before I had entered and now all the critters had respawned. I was now five deaths in and the bulk of my hard won gear was looking nigh impossible to retreive.

So, I sent out a message to some of my guild mates. Word got around that I needed a rescue and most of my guild enjoyed the challenge. While the forces where gathering the clock started working against me.

I had to go to a previous appointment that obviously took precident over any game. However with the people online gathering and my character so weakened I was actually torn about what to do.

Enter my wife. She agreed to help by running my character. I showed her the basics of the game and she explained to the guild her substituting. (no guild talking was around then).

To this day I am not exactly sure what all went on but over the next couple of hours Tina was able to recover all my gear and charm the bulk of the people in my guild who, in turn, kept insisting that she should 'roll' up a character.

And so she did. That evolved into a second account and later dual computers.

The golden ole days

Things, our way of life, is different now then it was when I was growing up in the 1960's. In talking with the elders in town, life was different in the 1940's then the 60's then now. In other words society evolves.

It used to be when someone moved away old friendships would be maintained by letter. Later an occasional phone call. Now you can have a six way conversation over the internet while you play an online game together. Or even have a blog where your friends and family can do a quick catch up on whatever is going on or any rant you have going.

In my mind maintaining a friendship on an active basis is better then sending letters.

When I was growing up, I could walk down my street and tell you the last name of nearly every family living in the various houses. I cant do that now. The reason why? My mom was a stay at home mom. She would be on her own while the kids are at school day after day. Our house was immaculate (she still can out clean close to anyone on the planet).

My mom, like most of the homemakers of that time. Would get bored and either turn on the soap opera's or go shopping or head outside and garden or go over to others houses and 'visit'.

Visits consisted of small talk and tea or coffee. Sometimes card games etc. The group would consist of various neighbors and the group would grow or wane depending on the day to day goings on.

In this way the neighborhood became a community and families would get together for various outtings because of the friendships these stay-at-home-moms would form.

Today, everyone works. Instead of being at home. Even if you were a stay at home parent you wouldnt likely be able to get together with other peoples because they are working as well.

So we evolved out of the nieghborhood format and a goodly portion of our social activities involved clubs, churches and co-workers. Or we just hang out with our families.

In my mind this isnt a great step in evolution.

Cold is as Cold Does

Cold means quite a different thing to different people from different regions. How many times have you heard someone state they are 'freezing' when you feel the temp. is just fine?

Growing up in OC I remember it dipping down into the 50's and people bundling up. Now in the Pacific North West. 50's is nothing, when it gets to the 40's I feel cold and the 30's I need a jacket and so on as the mercury dips lower and lower.

When it has been in the 30's for a good bit a wam day of 50 degrees allows you to go outside and bask a bit. In the early sprint 60 degrees means shorts and T-shirts.

This isnt a new discovery or anything. Just something I find interesting when I chat with my OC friends. I first noted that where you lived determines cold from Delta Joe. It was a brisk day in Pasadena in the mid 50's and he was in cutoffs and a t-shirt. At that time it was cold to me but not to Joe.

He had come from Alaska.

I have often wondered about someone who transitions from extreme conditions. Like from Edmonton to Atlanta...

I'm a stupid man

Today is my day off. As such I have to go in for four hours overtime. Then there are various errands to run.

The Van gets better gas mileage then my truck so I figured I would be smart and take that to work. The fact that I have the only keys for the truck or that my wife would be stranded at home never fired a single synapse in my grey matter.

I apologize hon.

Heroes

http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/

I like science fiction, likewise science fantasy, sword and sorcery. Movies, Books, Graphic Novels, Television etc. My personal favorite genre is the Comic Book superhero. As a long time comic book fan I have been very dissapointed in the horrible transition my favorite characters have made to other media. Until lately.

Maybe its the name 'comic' that gives people a preconceived notion that these stories are camp or two dimensional in scope. As my peers come of age you see the influence comming through. Wheadon, Kevin Smith, Loeb, Rami and many others have a respect for the media and have been able to provide the comic book style outlet to the mainstream. And it has been embraced.

The latest example is the NBC show Heroes. Each week watching it is like turning the pages of a comic to me. The background main story, the sub-plots the character building.

I even like the multi-media approach of being able to watch it online or do a two min catch up. They have a weekly comic online that helps connect the dots as well.

It's very cool.

Save the Cheerleader, save the world.

Mi Familee

For a time Tina and I were abandoned by our parents.

My family started an Exodus starting with my brother and no. 3 sister. My folks followed sometime later leaving me stranded in OC. Long before I met Tina, her elder sister had moved north. Her folks moved up to British Columbia, being Canadian it made sense.

So Tina and I spent some time in LA and OC before pulling up the tent stakes and moving north. We found a life in the pacific north west in a little city. Its about an hour from my nearest relative, so family get togethers with my side of the gene pool is frequent and annual.

Thanksgiving is our biggest get together. We have had over 40 relatives and friends at any given time. It's always great to see people and great to catch up or just have a laugh and good food together. It's important for me to know where my family has been and were its going. There are tid bits of information gleened from these outtings that make for a much better relationship with myself and the world. I deeper understanding, because like it or not something about the way we are assembled and the way our family members are built echo's why we are what we are.

I love my family quite a lot. We get along quite well and even the few moments of tension or just sibling rivalry always give way to laughter and genuine affection.

All in all my Folks did good. Great Parents, Amazing people. They raised five kids who are all upstanding adults with great families of thier own.

Going to family gatherings or just visiting with with them is the definition of a Great Time!

Meetings (a series)

Ronn of the Ronn show and I met sometime in Junior High School... I think... Or early in High school. The problem with my remembery is someone is insinuated early on and then they grow into recognician. So I knew Ronn in perifery and later it defined itself into a friendship.

In high school Ronn and I were in Swimming and Water Polo. Between classes and during lunch we would hang out. We mutually enjoyed the morning radio jocks Lhoman and Barkley. and the Marx brothers.

Ronn, like most of the guys I knew, would talk about the various hobbies he had and I held a goodly amount of belief I was being taken for a ride. I later found out that like the Eagle scout he was\is honesty was his virtue.

He raced moterbikes and was constantly rebuilding his. He taught himself rock guitar even gave lessons. Later he decided to become a chef, and he did. At one point he fancied himself a stand up comic and headed up to the LA clubs. I guess describing him as a 'do-er' is accurate.

Most of my HS life was based in and around Chior and 'hanging out' with the tech crew for the plays. My post HS life was based in and around my Church Youth group. Ronn was in and around for all of that.

At some point Ronn vanished off my radar. Only to be reconnected via Shoo and the blogs. I missed out on him joining the military and flying Helicopters. Thats Ronn for you. Seeing an oppertunity and going for it.

I do have a defining moment in my life that Ronn was directly involved in. I had a perchant to take myself way to seriously. I had a fear of being laughed at or doing something foolish infront of others. I would respond in anger.

One day we were hanging out at the high school near the Chior room and Ron was goofing around on a bike. He tried a move that ended up with him on his back. Some of the folks around me started laughing at him and immediatly I got mad that they would respond like that.

Before I could say or do anything I noticed that Ronn was laying there laughing at himself. In joining in the situation had filp flopped and the group was now 'laughing with him'. This diffused my anger and caused an epiphany. If I could just loosen up and see the difference between my being a fool and acting foolish, it would cause a lot less angst.

Ronn and I actually had quite a few adventures. I learned to Ski with Ronn. We were the cooks for a snow outting for the Youth Group. We had to figure out how to quickly defrost Turkeys. (I still have to find those pictures...

If anything I wish I would have adopted his follow through more then I did. Taken a few more chances.

Nice to be in contact again.

WoWing and Tanking

**MMORPG Geek Zone ahead (you have been warned)

So my gang has transitioned to World of Warcraft and its been quite a hoot. Very different environment from City of Heroes. We have a goodly variety of characters and we are all adapting to the learning curve.

The nice thing about all MMORPG's is the similarity. Once you are familier with the basics the new stuff tends to fall in line quickly.

As the teams Tank I am working from a very different mindset then my previous soloing warrior. As such reaching level 10 and getting defense stance and attacking for agro over damage requires a paradigm shift. Last night, for instance, I had logged into teamspeak and found out that Rob of the California Georges and his son were online levelling Robs mage to 10.

I hear this:
[Rob]>-- Here comes another one.

[Son]>-- Run!

[Rob]>-- okay.... shoot!

[Son]>-- Oh man, Dad, I am So Sorry

[Rob]>-- I'll start running back

[Son]>-- Whew, just made it

[Rob]>-- There were too many

[Son]>-- You have to stay back and not agro so much.

[Rob]>-- Okay, Im back.

[Son]>-- RUN DAD!

At this point I opted to help out and when I arrived I was able to keep most of the agro. I think it sped up things. Not being there before, I really cannot say. At least another player did add to the 'Kill X number' quest. And no one died. That is what a tank revels in.

To be a Tank you need alot of armor. So you need a shield.
You need to keep the Agro (or the Anger of the thing you are fighting so it stays focused on you)
Finally you need to protect the Healer and other Squishies.

I think I am going to need to get a ranged weapon to pull mobs. Probably a Gun, cuz Entrails can make me shot.

You know a game is well thought out when you can have two characters with the exact same class and still have a wide variety of play with that character.

No Wonder its the World of Warcrack...

OS recollections

One advantage about walking to work is your mind can wander about the wonders around. This AM my grey matter landed on the lauded Windows Vista release.

Microsoft (MS) rules the PC world. As such they charge a premium for thier product and they know it will be widely purchased and implimented. When your selling a bunch of ones and zeros you have to bring new things to market to sustain payroll and investments.

This lesson took awhile and many Operating systems (OS's) fell to the side of the road. Todays blog is about those pioneers.

CP\M (Control Program for Microcomputers). This OS was poised for greatness and in hindsite would have halted Microsoft from being the jaggernaut it is today. But, they freaked out about being linked to IBM and opened the door for MS-DOS.

Timex OS, Atari OS, Texas Instrament OS. <-> these probably ran CP/M or something. I just know that they were early computer systems (among many, many) that also fell to the wayside.

Commador and Amiga OS. These were innovative and lasted much longer then the others. Amiga really did some amazing things for the time and place.

IBM and MS worked together on OS/2 MS bailed later and IBM lost it touch when it went for the Microchannel and the industry went with EIDE (its hardware on the motherboards) The industry went on to not support either and went with PCI instead.

OS/2 became IBMs OS/2 warp.

CP/M became DR-DOS and was later bought by Novell in an attempt to be an alternative to MicroSoft. They may have succeeded if they had been more cut-throat and gotten pre-loaded contracts.

now we have Windows Vista which is really snazzy looking with lots of really cool funtions. Stable? lets hope, secure? lets hope.

You may note that I left Mac OS out. It and arguably Linux are the only other OS's out there offering an alternative. Even Mac has bowed to Windows, seeing as how thier current advertisements are showing you can buy a Mac and use windows on it...

Personally, I would like to see more alternatives out there. OS/2 Warp open source. If I was setting up a new office environment I would strongly look at getting Linux and Open Office over Microsoft. You could use a lower cost machine compared to Vista.

Its an interesting thought. Larry Ellison is making some rumblings in that direction as well.

Weird Al Video "Do I Creep you out"

Do I Creep You Out | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

WoW - The Undercity

**warning MMORPG geek zone ahead**

With my old gang I am playing a Warrior in WOW. Its a big hulking Man-Cow named Tuuk. My role will be that of a Tank. In otherwords, I will engage the enemy and keep their attention while the healer keeps me alive and the others dispatch the intended victim.

If done correctly a Tank is the only one needing healing as all the bad guys focus on him. Getting that kind of attention or aggro is done by a number of methods. Taunting or attacks that 'anger' the creatures AI.

This being the case Tuuk will need to use a shield and sword (Board and Stick in wow terms). Your average Tauren Warrior has two handed mace skills. So I needed to find someone to train him. After getting lost in Ogrimar (capital city of the Orcs) I finally Guided him to the weapon masters. None of which offered one handed weapon training. They did point me to the Undercity, which is the capital city of the Undead (who are allied with the Tauren).

As luck would have it there is a Zepplin that goes right to that location. Unfortunatly they do not provide railings and as the blimp emerged from the malstrom fog over the undead lands, I had Tuuk take an errant step and he did a faceplant from about 100 feet up.

..Dead splat..

In WoW when your Avatar dies he\she becomes a ghost and has to preambulate back to the location of the body. There are other options but they can have nasty results that I wished to avoid.

So Tuuks non-corpreal self trucked it back to his corpse and revived. Now to figure out where the heck he was. The map uses a technique called 'the fog of war' in which only shows places you have been. This being Tuuks first excursion to this gloomy place the map was about as useful as a political promise. I found a road and picked a direction. Soon I came across a signpost and a town of undead called Brill. The undercity was just a bit further.

**whew**

I made it to some castle ruins, I was a bit dissaponted... and premature.. turns out the Undercity is a true 'Undercity' it is massive creepy and oh so full of eye candy!

In the best tradition of horror films! Fun!!

Too fast!

I have experienced a rush of time passing as of late. My new sched is four, Ten hour days with a fifth day of four hours Overtime. The longer day at work hasnt phased me that much. This Friday will have me comming home around 11:00AM. Unless they cancel the OT.

The evening is now compressed much more. Lots to do and little time. Add to that the typical bussiness of life with two teens and Connor and I either seem to be missing things I shouldnt or I feel more of a passenger then the driver.

Its probably just a perception thing. I dunno. One of the casualties as of late has been date nite. After our meeting on Thursdays we were going to check out various eateries and just having a nice time the two of us.

I think we have been having Diana take over for Connor more then she should have to as well.

All in all I am looking towards Friday afternoon to decompress and get a handle on things.

WoWzers

I am a gamer. I like to game. What I enjoy most about games is the interaction with people. The Gamer group I enjoy interacting the most with is my wife Tina and boyhood buddies Shoo and Rob of the Family George (see links to the right) .

The games go back to Imaginary play with Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs and Legos etc. Paper and Pencil games followed D&D, AD&D (yes there is a difference), Paranoia, Gurps, Star Wars, Traveller, Phoenix Command etc.

Nowadays due to time and distance (Shoo and Robert live miles from each other in West coast traffic), we play MMOPRGs online. Last night we started up World of Warcraft (WoW)

We opted for Hoard and added Robs son and Shoo's Brother into the mix. The first night was fun and mostly around getting everyone online and in the same area around the same level. next up is trying some quests. Hopefully some real bad ass stuff.

We played City of Heroes and the great thing is we tend to know and trust each others gameplay abilities. Its good to know someone has your back. Periodically we would have a straggler join our group only to be freaked out at the level of the bad guys we were fighting. Only to find out we were more then capable of kicking butt.

I expect this trend to continue in WoW. There is a place called WarSong Gulch that I really cannot wait to try out with this band.

So if your ever in Azeroth and find yourself in Warsong and getting your Alliance corpse pwnd. Betcha its us...

I used to rock climb, but never like this!

Mountain Climber - video powered by Metacafe

Shirt Folding for Shoo

WoW mage Vending machine rant

WoW: AtkinsSwitcher - video powered by Metacafe

Transition

At work one of our motto's is 'live with ambiguity'. Sometimes its very irksome, othertimes sublime.

For along time I was on the 'Sales Outbound and Resolution team' (SOAR). This means I would call back potential sales and call back 'customer satisfaction' issues. I was a fixer, I fixed things. In this particular position I shined. Mostly because I was unafraid to break ouside of the box and look for solutions.

This particular program has just gone full circle and I got off the merry-go-round. It used to be that every sales team had a SOAR sitting with them. This became problematic because of misuse by managers and a general feeling of disassociation by the SOAR. A backup for sick days and being overwhelmed was also an issue.

They made some changes and pulled everyone into one Team with one manager. This worked out very well. One team on the floor was making 10% of the comissioned sales and dealing with customer issues that a typical salesperson would be lost doing.

Quantifying this was difficult, sales were put under the original sales reps name. They came up with a few different methods to track SOAR but all were pretty easy to fudge. They also worked to set up some kind of compensation based upon preformance. Then tweaked it every month since.

Due to head count changes the team got smaller and a 'new idea' sprung up that took the SOAR team down to about 1/4 of its original size. Still we did over 10% of the floors sales.

They put in a call back extension that people could call direct into our team and that really did work out nicely. Well as of tomarrow all that changes and each team is going to have a SOAR sitting with them. But, only the new teams. The 'seasoned' people are going to be calling back customers and handling satisfaction issues. With very little to no training on how to do this.

As for me I am going to be a Sales Retention Specialist trying to stop returns from happening. Wish me luck.

Big Blue Dress (Clever WoW music video)