Pumpkin Carving Day!

BHK did one similar to my Family icon, while I opted for a more traditional spooky face.
..

Discovered this afternoon that our debit card had been compromised – suspect the pizza place, as it was the card I generally only use for swipe and go type purchases (atm/gas/groceries) – we ordered a pizza and gave the numbe rover the phone… low security means high risk of theft. Fortunately, Wachovia was very understanding… someone did charges to tmobile, sprint, cingular, and swimdance… all purchased online, to sources we’ve never used before. Credit for those stolen charges is expected to appear in our account shortly.. I got a replacement card and number issued to me, and the old number is no longer valid.

I’ll be interested in seeing how/when/if the thief is caught. While I wait for my new card, BHK’s still is active, as are the checks. I can get cash from local branches, too with my ID.

Best Family Credo I’ve seen in a while – Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc (Means – “We gladly feast on those who would subdue us”)

Oh, you Addamses.

I keep hearing good reviews for Lars and the Real girl. It looks terrible to me. Is it the advertising that misrepresents how good it is, or are those people just enjoying something I would find boring at best? Let’s see… Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 76… and I generally trust them. I think we’ll end up seeing it.

Misc q&A meme:

Do you knock on wood? not for luck, but I do keep a beat sometimes

Are you drinking anything right now? Nope!

Do you have good vision? Not bad. No need for corrective lenses, though sometimes I get tunnel-vision. I tend to focus on tiny bits of a landscape or the whole thing, rather than bigger chunks.

Can you hula hoop? I doubt it, but I’d be up for trying. I suspect the fused vertebrae in my back would make it tough.

How often do you talk on the phone? As little as possible. I’d say I tend to do so about 1-4x a day.

What are you thinking right now? “What am I thinking right now?” also “Damn smokers having babies!”

Do you own a night light? Just the hall light

A movie you watched when you were little? Alien – first rated R movie I ever saw – I was 9. Yikes! Scary. Also the Jessica Lange remake of King Kong – cool.

Nose ring or tongue ring? I don’t have any, don’t mind ‘em, as long as I can understand you speak, and don’t see boogers on the jewelry.

Where were you at 3:02 AM this morning? ZzzZZzzZZ

What color is your cell phone? Black and silver with a little green send button and a red power button.

Do you own an iPod? Nope, but BHKs is pretty spiffy.

What was the first thing you thought this morning? Yikes! I’ve got to hop into the shower… I’ll be late!

What was the last thing that you had to eat? baby three musketeers out of the halloween candy. ruh-roh.

What was the last movie you watched? Deja Vu, yesterday with BHK and Chris

What food are you craving? I’m pretty full – just had dinner and a candy. I wouldn’t say no to some hot & sweet utz chips later, though.

What did you dream last night? I can’t remember… washed away in morning shower before putting to paper.

What’s the last tv show you watched? Ugly Betty catchup from last Thursday.

Do you always lock your bedroom door? Nope – it’s open with the hall light on to see. It closes when there’s company or the boys are in isolation due to a front or side door to the house being propped open for something.

Are you on any prescribed medication? I have an inhaler for pneumatic issues, some allergy meds.

Have you ever cut your own hair? Just the stuff on my face.

What is your favorite frozen treat? Ice cream is pretty dang good.

How many piercings/tattoos do you have? none… I have some surgery scars and the odd burn or stitch-mark though.

Where’s your favorite place to be? With loved ones, in a calm setting.

Who’s someone you haven’t seen in a while and miss? A few folks – Dave & Cathi, Ray & Kat come to mind.

Who was the last person to text you? Adam – looking for winxp w/ sp2 for his mac.

Do you care what people think about you? Generally only if I care about the people, or if what they think can hurt my livelihood.

Have you ever done something to make trouble? Not generally, but I imagine I’ve raised some hell at some point.

Have you ever moshed? Sure thing.

What do you smell right now? Newt-belly. Smells like powder.

Do you like ketchup? Yup – good on home fries, especially.

What do you tell yourself when times get hard? Things will get better. I’m not dead yet!

What color is your pillow case? Tan/brownish. (unless BHK slipped me the pink one again.)

If you could say something to your ex what would it be? Good luck. I hope you can be a better partner to your next or current one.

Who was the last persons stomach you saw? Newt’s!

Do you enjoy giving hugs? You bet, if it’s someone I like.

Have you ever been to another country? Yup! I’d like to go back to Germany to visit family there.

Have you ever suffered from bulimia, anorexia, etc? No eating disorders aside from gamer-gluttony.

What celebrities do people say you look like? I’ve gotten Silent Bob, Travis Tritt, Grizzly Adams… basically any oversized guy with a beard.

Does it annoy you when someone says they’ll call but don’t? Depends on the person. If it’s someone I’m waiting on for schedules and stuff, sure. If it’s just a social call, no worries, unless it’s an ongoing avoidance.

The Momster sent BHK and I a little Lillian Vernon goodie – a welcome sign to put on our door with interchangeable seasonal knickknacks. It’s very cute.

IF YOU ARE PREGNANT, PLEASE STOP SMOKING. I am sure it is difficult, especially with your hormones doing all kinds of baby maintenance stuff to your body… but for the love of the kid, c’mon.

The above compliant brought about by seeing an at least 7 months along lady having a puff at the train station. Makes me mad, mad, mad.

Babies born to women who smoke during pregnancy— (info from CDC, here )

• Have about 30% higher odds of being born prematurely.
• Are more likely to be born with low birth weight (less than 2500 grams or 5.5 pounds), increasing their risk for illness or death.
• Weigh an average of 200 grams less than infants born to women who do not smoke.
• Are 1.4 to 3.0 times more likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

So please… Quit it.

1 year ago – BHK and I arrive in FL.

• Many, many pictures taken on our trip home (note, we still haven’t developed pix from the disposable cameras) – ponce de leon, St. Augustine, ripleys, deerfield – 1 2 3 4 5 6

2 years ago – newt sleepin’ in pic, anarchy, wheat berry salad, frito bandit, hurricane stupidity, silly flickr pic mods

• pictures taken – rubble and newton photo-manips

3 years ago – coh badges, incredibles marketing, pauly shore in my head, jlu, Eileen Brennan movies that rock, cannibal ghost, printable masks, hotties for kerry, batstone, vlad the impaler = pron

4 years ago – making fiends, recovering from surgery, sarin trials, dreams, vamp stats, bro back to old habits, lite brite, cannibal, monster hoax, back pic, playboy centerfold blend, avp, martian hoax

5 years ago – Halloween eve poll, pokethulhu, my local voting plan, evil clown generator

6 years ago – escheat, diablerie, McDonald’s “Hispanic Menu”, fun private post,flying kitty, pleasant night, tropicon, random journals bad, cheapass games good.

7 years ago – cut gourds with Robbo, saw dingo, took nyquil for the dreaded cold
(via Scotto’s Wall Scrawls)

Hard to beat that last weekend – brief entry.

I’m still feeling a little squeamish about pay per post. I don’t know how long I’ll do it, if at all. We’ll see if I feel different after my first payment.

XKCD Cuddle mattress is brilliant.

I keep feeling the area on my finger where my ring should be… I have a phantom sensation of it being there.

Dinner with Chirs, as Larry was out at a school function – BHK made some tasty broccoli/cheese quiches… we had sliced apples to go with – plus apple pie with ice cream for dessert! (BHK also made halloween choco-chip cookies… yum yum sugar rush yum.)

After supper, we watched Deja Vu… not too bad, all told. I think it could’ve been better, but it did the job it needed to do. Denzel smiled a bit too much.. he seems to have a slight overbite. Odd to see Val Kilmer in such a minor role. I’d give it a 5 out of 10 – just average.

1 year ago – off to St Augustine, FL!, sissies in fear of mirages, pic of us at UNO

• day’s photos , and more photos – minigolf in SC, haunted ripley’s tour, fireworks hut and christmas bear

2 years ago

– walkabout pics, pagan god meme, business about back to usual with danny

3 years ago

– robotman punkin?, guild wars, tron rock opera, z-a meme, critter psa

4 years ago – back from the hospital, goodies, recovery… I get to shower in about a week and a half

5 years ago – dirndl thoughts, Newt looking like a puppet

6 years ago – MIS issues at imt, Great pumpkin on tv

7 years ago – Dracula joke, punkin carving, lj bumps, sniffy cold song, voting public, pope likes pizza (via Scotto’s Wall Scrawls)

scottobear: I have a headache! it must be 3:30. (via Twitter / scottobear)

Let’s see… to recap the weekend –

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.

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.

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.

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

(via Scotto’s Wall Scrawls)

The rain is making it feel even more like autumn.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet… I now own a pair of black crocs…. but without the massive amount of swiss cheese holes throughout. They’re pretty comfy, and good for banging around the yard. Mine are fairly conservative… but I’m envious of BHK’s multicolored comfy clown shoes. It’s really impressive to me that they’ve gained such huge acceptance.

Skull masks galore! – I’m a little partial to the Day of the Dead one, here. Another site for Skeletal art.

Vector Magic is still going strong. This site traces bitmap images, turning them into vector art. Just upload your image and they will convert it for you.

30+ Free MMORPGs

yahoo games on the wii

FEMA sets up fake press conference where all the “reporters” were in fact FEMA staffers asking pre-planned questions

1 year ago – honeymoon road trip bot post

• Photos taken – South of the border and Journey south, bruce moose

2 years ago – wilma curfew, distribution of ice, no power etc, Monkeys and Tiger Penis Wine, life rating, my wilma status, hulk help kitty, grammy b’day, bso overview, old tin can

• Photos Taken – Hurricane Damage to Fort Lauderdale

3 years ago – halloween thoughts, feeling bad for fictional lovers, static blue screen, CoH Halloweenies, blood color, newt battle pic, drone men, scruffy, LJ entry promotes a secret service bust

4 years ago – Twistyland, Hollow celery, New Dawn of the Dead cool Halloween lights web cam, Frankie served notice, body attack dreams, robot-made jack-o-lantern, dick, the albino bowler. palm observations in the office, driver-stink

5 years ago – moon pie contest, the ring, making the bed, Crazy chuck Heston, OrchidThief, imprints of joy, Electra to belly dancer painting begins

6 years ago – Clobbered, caravan dreams, primate psychology, Mexican wrestling game, broken cookies

7 years ago – yahoo hiccups, stupid, crazy & full of shit, Phish Movie

8 years ago – Newt learns to use the litter box

(via Scotto’s Wall Scrawls)

If you have been browsing a bit here and there in the blogosphere / lj-land recently, you’ve probably already seen an image something like this:

PayPerPost introduces people looking to get paid for reviewing services with services looking to pay to be reviewed by people. It appears to be a solid method – people get paid to review goods and services and the sellers get feedback on their product.

Some folks write what appears to be *pure* cut and paste from the advertising section of the place that they’re reviewing, but there are others out there that are willing to break things down into the nitty gritty of a real review- both good and bad. That’s what I’m planning on doing – Keep things honest, and well-rounded. (The official disclosure and ethics policy advises this, which also gives me reassurance.)

As I mentioned above, the business model looks to be a good one, and it seems that they will be able to keep link farmers out by filtering each journal and blog out by hand. It took them a little over three weeks from the time I applied to the time I got my approval letter. Since I got no negative response about doing paid posts every here and again, I figured that I’d give it a shot. I am a little nervous about losing visitors, but I hope that I’ll get some feedback one way or another before everyone leaves town.

It looks like you get better opportunities according to page rank – the more visible you are on the ‘net, the more lucrative opportunities become. It seems that most pay between $5 – $10, which doesn’t seem too unreasonable, given that most of the services reviewed are websites. Of course, if someone comes directly to you via the button above… you can set your own price. I set my rate at $5 to start, which may or may not go up, depending on the demand for such stuff. If anyone like me to review something, now’s the time while the price is right.

As a starting incentive, they also offer $20 to review the payperpost service itself, which is what I’m doing now. I’m still brand new to the service, and will likely return with an updated review whether they decide to pay me for the follow-up or not. I think that once I have a couple of reviews under my belt, I’ll be able to give more lucid thoughts about how things work as a whole.

An added bonus is that Payperpost can either pay you via paypal, or donate to a number of charities (Current list – American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and Alzheimer’s Walk) directly. This may be my newest ay of continuing to do good works, or just a way to pick up a new video game, depending on how well the finances flow.

The website is very easy to maneuver, and the help files/FAQ pretty much covered any questions I had. I’m looking forward to kicking the tires, seeing some new things and getting an opportunity to dust off my writing skills.

Links – get paid to blog

(via Scotto’s Wall Scrawls)