9408 – saturday

Beautiful day out this morning – we went for a nice 8am constitutional to check out the bay fest pre-opening. Lots of seagulls on the beach waiting in advance for folks dropping bits of funnel cake and corn dog, no doubt!

It got pretty hot by the time we got back – I left in a fairly creaky condition, but was ok, but tired once we arrived home. BHK and I lounged for an hour or two, and then I got a message that boiled down to my going into work on Monday. Too many issues with the project – can’t in good conscience take the day off, under the circumstances. I think that I was more disappointed about not getting BHK’s birthday off to treat her more than she.

After wrestling with that for a bit, we headed back to bay fest for some junk food, people-watching and a bit more exercise. While at the Bayfest I saw Kathy Bauer! I worked with her at Calvert county a little over a year ago, and she recognized me immediately. That crew was the kindest and most fun group of people I’ve ever worked with… a shame that it just wasn’t affordable to work there. We didn’t stay long, but got a couple of veggie egg rolls and some limeade and orangeade which really hit the spot. Between the ‘fest and home, we took another A/c break at Coffee, Tea and Whimsey and ended up purchasing a bottle of wine for the evening’s birthday celebration, some awesome horseradish/garlic dip, some goofy rubber monster key-toppers, and a keen Buddha eye-glasses holder for BHK’s nightstand. Pictures of those… and the ‘fest to follow.

More resting and just goofing around until six came… bhk and I were watching primeval and just soaking up some snooze-vibes with the kitties. I waited for BHK to hit deeper sleep, and went to sneak off to do some wrapping, but it wasn’t stealthy enough – but she relented to nap while I wrapped.

We went to the in-laws for dinner – BHK got her desired Chik-fil-a strips and nuggets, and Chris made her a cake, too. She managed not to be buttered, but Larry psyched her out a few times. Aside from the tasty dinner (I had eggplant, zucchini, and the best corn on the cob of the summer), a little room was saved for the cake.. it was a reduced sugar yellow with chocolate icing… pretty yummy!

Loot BHK got was – card 1 from me – made her cry, but they were happy tears, cards from her grandparents on Larry’s side – in-laws gave her a cat encyclopedia, a ruby and diamond heart necklace w/matching earring-studs, and $100 toward a sewing machine…. very, very generous and appreciated!

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The cake – pre-ignition. Don’t worry – BHK will be butter-nosed, yet, dear journal!

Day ended with us lounging at the in-laws living room – Hallmark channel vs the Rock.



Over at Gamasutra, Steve Fulton has published a massive 23,000-word history of Atari from 1978 to 1981, encompassing ‘… some of the most exciting developments the company ever saw in its history: the rise of the 2600, the development of some of the company’s most enduringly popular games (Centipede, Asteroids) and the development and release of its first home computing platforms.’ Best quote in there for Slashdot readers, perhaps: ‘Atari had contracted with a young programmer named Bill Gates to modify a BASIC compiler that he had for another system to be used on the 800. After that project stalled for over a year Al was called upon to replace him with another developer. So … Al is the only person I know ever to have fired Bill Gates.



1 year ago – sql programming, chicken doodle, Calypso and coconut shrimp, chittering

2 years ago – won psp, happiness, It’s hot in Topeka, mental jasmine

3 years agograypumpkin lj-ing, google desktop, gutter sniping the net, Whiums and sammy-talk, music meme mark II, paper toys, medicines to fight the sickies, carrot top bulks up, bill shatner, billy batson

4 years ago – more travel pix, Coconut Curry Tofu, coulrophagy, scream stolen, updated on JTD, pic of my workplace

5 years ago – broken photoshop friday, wanting to put a transmitter on bro, tidemarker, comic art, yawns, women in spacesuits

6 years ago – moonlight movies, a li’l grumpy

7 years ago – vertiginous, steganography, word association poll

8 years ago – smelly BK, political mailings cost the same Geotarget

9407 – Friday

Hell of a long day at work, but BHK and I started to make her Birthday weekend roll with dinner out at Saigon Palace for dinner. We’d never been there before, so it was a bit of an adventure… Our traveler’s luck served us well this time:

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The place was pretty empty for a Friday night… food was delicious and our servers very attentive and friendly. I’ll happily go back there again and again – lots of veggie goodies to try, and the Pho will be super come colder months ahead. (I got the bird’s nest, bhk got the lemon tofu. I think she won, but mine was mighty tasty, too!)

Hopefully this puts us on a solid roll toward Birthday goodness!



Ray Bradbury is 88! Happy birthday, one time great writer, now crotchety old guy! Dandelion Wine is still my one of my all-time faves. Thanks for that… I wouldn’t have a lime-vanilla ice, otherwise.



In an online survey, 42 percent of Internet users admitted to logging into other people’s email and social networking accounts without their knowledge. The poll doesn’t ask if passwords were found, granted, or stolen — which would make for further interesting results. The write-up summarizing the results defines the respondents as part of an “educated tech-readership” and questions the ethics of logging onto someone else’s account, and whether those differ depending on the person and relationship.”



1 year ago – local pictures of a local house coming down and Larry on his riding mower, stuffed peppers, Mrs. Pollifax – Spy, Quotes, Tired

2 years ago – tweaking web page, radioactive volcanoes?, wooley imbibe, venture bros, voice post burgers

3 years ago – forgotten nightmares, laughing puppets, sickies, gov rss feeds, paycheck to paycheck, audio hidden, i loves me some waffles, music, otr, 25 food hacks, smarts

4 years ago – no dwarf dice, swap shop instead, I live in a pulp universe, walkabout pictures, froggies, gorillas in comics, email post – image host

5 years ago – ACIM invites me back, new sound card, “don’t go there” is gone, DSA, keywords, gil gerard ages, commanding my minions, publix cancels home delivery

6 years ago – run tel dat, newt playing, gaming, cow teeth, trivia cookies!

7 years ago – ichnology, phantom blot, no-so-evil news

8 years ago – Newtcam, replicating interests Geotarget

9406 thursday

Tasty dinner of stir-fried veggies on more naan bread, vegetarian meatloaf (mostly garden eggplant) topped with sauce saved from our selby pickup! Super good, and uber-filling.

Dessert was a treat of choco-chip cookies!

BHK’s birthday weekend starts tomorrow, though her birthday is on Monday – I took the day off for us to play! … I think we’ll have a grand time!



Pictures from Last weekend. Larry’s Birthday, tigger talking, and us all walking on the boardwalk. As ever, clicken to embiggen.

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Me with my standard popeye sun-reduction look, Tigger gabbing some more, and a BHK odd-shot

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Tigger talking, moon over the bay
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Pirate ship playhouse at the bay, bhk, me, and Chesapeake beach
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Laryy & Chris, Moonrise, Larry and Tigger
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Adam!

This last one isn’t by us, but by another local named “this and that” on flickr… you can see what a difference better resolution and composition can make!

Bay Moon



Magpies can recognize themselves in a mirror, confounding the notion that self-awareness is the exclusive preserve of humans and a few higher mammals. It had been thought only four species of apes, bottlenose dolphins, and Asian elephants shared the human ability to recognize their own bodies in a mirror. But German scientists reported on Tuesday that magpies, a species with a brain structure very different from mammals, could also identify themselves. It had been thought that the neocortex brain area found in mammals was crucial to self-recognition. Yet birds, which last shared a common ancestor with mammals 300 million years ago, don’t have a neocortex, suggesting that higher cognitive skills can develop in other ways.



I had no idea that “the shocker” (description may be NSFW) had a name at all.. I always knew it as er…, um…  “dos en el color de rosa, uno en el hedor”. (Pardon the terrible translation.) I’m more of a fan of the Moutza as a rude gesture.



1 year ago – saw a bird of prey, heavy work week, icehouse game java, Luke / tacos / in-laws, sleepy, chessboard serial killer

2 years ago
– enthused, quizzies, cydonia vid, grab old comics

3 years ago – jenjen, rocko, more hee-haw, work-dream, indoor remote control flier, a little sick, cool song parts, religion facts

4 years ago – bro fade, there lives again, walkabout, spell of hoggoth

5 years ago – personality profile for work, seasonal pages, hippos and rhinos, lifesavers changes flavors, Pam Confirmation, guest map, vamp game, chat

6 years ago – grove scandal, togas, tulip head, haiku

7 years ago – Harvard classics, imprecation, Child’s Christmas in Wales, Love, great moment from Oz, Spoon

8 years ago – Put April on a bus for home, Gaming group with Josh Marquart and the Hunters, can you picture that Geotarget