Category Archives: Uncategorized
8876 – Fiat Lux: Ordo Ab Chao
At the Masonic House of Temple of the Scottish Rite in Washington DC.
1 year ago – bangs!, 70s nostalgia, net neutrality, heifer.org, zombie powered car, blondie, smothers brothers, hurricane, tv openings, far out space nuts, 3’s company, tomi’s vette, electrawoman and dynagirl
2 years ago – Going postal, free pie, Global Frequency, Who, Kim Possible, writing, JC & fish sammiches, mouse update, UN food force, Hav, Work Sanity, fridge cleanup, Chloe-pup, sweet farm girl mp3, Hunter-Newt face pics (vs. a paper strip)
3 years ago – Astronauts, Hound Dogs, doodles, $0.21, CoH rough, Camels vs Tigers, Hustler Store on its way
4 years ago – there-music, vampires, Bollywood posters, billy the kid
5 years ago – wondering about hover cars and jetpacks, mad shark, bad tattoos,rainbow in every teardrop, kid at work day, wondering about my own,Freedom force supers, misc bro & Danny get togethers
6 years ago – irenic & potatory, recovering from yuck, idea12, waving, coffee flavored cereals, evil news, html brad hoax, plucking out a worm, l-struck
7 years ago – fooling myself, Superman is JC, site poetry via cmdrtaco
8875 – Carcassonne
Carcassone (Hunter and Gatherers) is more fun than I’d thought it would be. BHK and I played last night, and we were neck and neck throughout. I suspect that there will be some good tactics developed over the next two or three plays – especially on land development. It’s not complicated at all, and the play is fast. (Not as uncomplicated as blink, which we also played… which might be better suited to play with kids aged 12 and under.)
I wonder how good the other games in the series are? More of the same, but with different art? I’ll be investigating. We’ll certainly be playing at least one game with Danny when he’s up for a visit from 6/20-6/27
8874 – Monday – pictures
[edit- dang lj is having html issues – kindly ignore the mess at the bottom of this entry]
Latest pictures from the garden. Starting to show progress on the potatoes, hot peppers, grapes, sunflowers, lettuce and so on.
Latest Newtcam Assortment… where’s Pye?
Ordinary Jesus fish? I think not! note the upside-down cross! Spotted while looking for work clothes with BHK on Sunday.
Also, my dapper new hat.
Today, for your reading enjoyment, I give you Thaumaturgic Border Protection (355KB PDF), an apparent DHS presentation on the employment of witches, Wiccans, and neopagans to defend America against magickal threats both foreign and domestic. It’s an entertaining read, if you’re into such things. Link
Making a fresh toolkit for my new gig – good to get my updated software in order, etc.
1 year ago – monkey chow diaries, food charities, tip jar, desires, quizzes, code monkey, podcasting
2 years ago – On Call, Rainy, mouse ni the house, drop foot, audio books, Santana, house info
3 years ago – full call weekend, 3-bean salad, adsense, monkey-money, exchange, canceled comics, Saw Ray Iglesias
4 years ago – D issues, sim camera, RIP TG, poem, North Korean Cannibals, rental warnings – things seen, minimizing pain, evil intersection, there -quest
5 years ago – MS Linux? Got my new office chair, fun day out with Dan, Tia’s angry Email, anatomically correct teddy, what’s better
6 years ago – evil news, computer problems, love boat theme, haiku,got lovely post cards, speculate on a fellow journalist’s sexuality, not so evil news, body hot, breakfast cereal poll
7 years ago – Privacy, web cam ftp issues, just figuring out it’s over with April .
8873 justice frozen in carbonite
8872 pretty full saturday
Woke up bright and early to hit the book sale, but we were waylaid enroute by 2 yard sales – one benefitting local kids charities, and one for the cancer cure walk for life.
At the first yard sale, We obtained a copy of pride and predudice on dvd for $1, and about seven ps2 games (Pac-Man fever is the only one played thus far, but it’s my sort of thing… a bunch of cute mini-games played on a monopoly-style board) for a buck a throw as well. Also obtained were bake sale choco-chip cookies, and an old star trek game for the pc.
2nd yard sale – got still-shrinkwrapped copies of rook, snap, and a wooden gameboard for 7 in one (actually 6-in-one, as there are no chess pieces) – Checkers, Chinese Checkers, solitaire pegs, mancala, backgammon, tic-tac-toe. again for a buck apiece. Bhk got a complete works of EAPoe for a buck, too.
3rd yard Sale – I score a ti-85 calculator, bhk gets some sharp nail polish
Book sale, we snag a big ol bag of stuff, including vegetarian cookbooks, some jim bucher / ray bradbury stuff, and some still-usable technology sourcebooks for about $25. That’s less than $0.35 a lb, give or take.
We swung by Fabulous brew for medocre coffee and slow service, but the pancakes and home fries were yummy. BHK’s Bagel looked pretty tough… it was gnawed rather than chewed by her.
Returned home to dust our loot and peruse more closely – Found out that we were going to miss jimmy’s B-day and Grad party due to a schedule conflict. I feel guilty about that – I hope that we can take him out to lunch and goof with him sometime soon to make up for it. Fobbed off those test doritos on Adam – made with lard, so I don’t want ’em. I suspect the secret flavor is “double cheeseburger” or the like.
Later, we went to see the DC Divas women’s football team crush Boston Rampage – 70 to zero. Had fun shooting the Breeze with TM and her crew. Pictures on flickr, will add to here later. Highlights include cheese thrown into the audience during the 3rd quarter.
yet another random survey Continue reading 8872 pretty full saturday
8871 The Grown Up Survey:
Had a lovely evening after work with BHK – swung by Aardvark, and got 3 new games – Carcassone (Hunter Gatherers), Lunch Money, and Aquarius. Afterwards, we went to Fred’s Diner for too much dinner and ice cream.
survey stuff Continue reading 8871 The Grown Up Survey:
8870 – pic by bhk – from our garden!
8869 – that 150 question wanna do / been done meme thing.
via eryx_uk –
Here’s how you work it. Copy it without the bold and italics. Bold everything that you’ve done. Italic the stuff that you want to do.
1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain (Well, walked up the side)
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive.
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you” and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon (I’d prefer a zeppelin or blimp, though)
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had an amazing friend
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited
55. Milked a cow.
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in
80. Gotten a tattoo (maybe)
81. Rafted the
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show
97. Raised children (well, helped extensively)
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over (well, that’s where my wife was!)
101. Walked the
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery (lip repaired)
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Ridden a bike
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113 Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life
8868 – tues
8867 – mon
A learned person gently comes, steps carefully.
– Shimizu Hiam
Gave my 2 weeks notice at the County today – Starting on the 18th, I’ll be at my new, non-temp gig. I’m really looking forward to it… a few HR things to iron out beforehand – what sort of insurance to choose, etc. I’m looking forward to having my own office again. The commute to Calverton doesn’t seem to be as horrid as most folks make it out to be. I commuted for 90 minutes back when I was in Fort Lauderdale. I’ll miss the gang at the county… really nice crew. I hope my new team is as nice.
Grilled up veggie burgers and dogs for BHK, in-laws and TM tonight.. it was true potluck – BHK did salad, including peppers form our garden, TB brought chips and buns, and the in-laws did the doggies and brought a big ol’ watermelon for dessert. Everyone was nicely full to the brim at the end.
Newest Reads are Fluke and Jamestown – from the cover –
Set in the indeterminate but not too distant future, JAMESTOWN chronicles a group of “settlers” (more like survivors) from the ravaged island of Manhattan, departing just as the Chrysler Building mysteriously collapses, heading down what’s left of I-95 in an armor-plated vehicle that’s half-schoolbus, half-Millenium Falcon. They are going to establish an outpost in southern Virginia, look for oil, and exploit the Indians controlling the area.
The story is of course based on the actual accounts of the first ten years of the Jamestown settlement from 1607 to the death of Pocahontas in 1617. Set against a cataclysmic backdrop, the book features the historical characters—John Smith, Pocahontas, her father Powhatan, John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and John Rolf—but in an act of wild re-imagination, akin to Baz Luhrman’s re-interpretations of Shakespeare (the great playwright of the Jamesown era!), Powhaton is half-Falstaff, half-Henry V (with a psychiatrist consigliere, Sidney Feingold); John Martin gradually loses body parts in a series of violent encounters, while John Smith is a ruthless and pragmatic redhead continually undermining the aristocratic leadership; and Rolf’s and Pocahontas’s romance is conducted by text-messaging, IM-ing, and ultimately telepathy.
Despite the grim sounding circumstances and large quantity of spilled blood, it’s a romantic book, a meditation on history and interpretation, told in language that is endlessly delightful—the jokes, the rhymes, and the rimshot dialogue throw the story’s bleak underside into brilliant relief. It’s a big book—a cross between the terrific maximalist novels of Barth and Safran Foer and the minimalist magical satire of George Saunders.
So Far, Fluke is the more well-written and interesting of the two. However, I’m less than 25 pages into both.
Comparisons of Baltimore vs DC … I do need to make a trip to the Yabba Pot sometime soon.
1 year ago – on call, giza pyramid, bunny hop pic, finger people, cosmos animations, fallentoad song, fantastic
2 years ago – full vs goatee, bro & PO, vs & rr try to hook me up
3 years ago – Local con, ADP fix it, free wifi, bro issues, Crew north, Cartoon stuff, rain, bad case
4 years ago – bro goes to ER, Tony & Caroline bad news, pt issues, brothel free to troops, pirate doodle, kraft offer, FIA hoverboats
5 years ago – fumigation drama, pelican preference, cricket magazine, Google labs
6 years ago – life roles, evil news, Paranormal investigation teams that I’d join, Allen Walton, hobo names, $10 webcam, classic Scotto lunch, nice dreams, mammoth riding.
7 years ago – figured out how to hack the info kiosk as the mall of the dead
8866 sun
Not so startling revelation – I have absolutely zero skill at playing SSX in any format – no matter what console, or sequel, I just don’t have the chops for it. Puzzle games and first person shooters, I can at least hold my own. BHK totally dominates.
Rainy, lazy day today.
Watched Pirates 2 in anticipation of the third film. Also enjoyed Spies Like us.
convert stuff to other stuff. how many newborn babies would it take to balance the scales with me on the other side? Just about 45., Lengthwise, I’m only 0.1629833488 the size of a T-rex… (or 19.25 human tongues tall)
pizza with in laws, lots of good eats eps
I want more Hawaiian shirts! BHK has me hooked on thrift store Hawaiian shirts. (properly cleaned, of course)
1 year ago – Iron Giant, Swarm, Cim-nim toast, cookie monster graffiti, ping pong kitties, bus stop sunrise, OTR, porch entry, graypumpkin gamecock, x4, on call, fruit pies, podcasts
2 years ago – Celine Dion as MJ, Tragic Darth, Boynton Tasering, great sunset, Firpo, MSK in NM w/UTI, look-around camera, sex-pred lj, chat w/sammy, tyrant in the house?, human trafficking, 20 questions meme
3 years ago – Dan visit and a caveman waitress, speaker scam, call me Q.
4 years ago – isketch, skeletor & gang, Scott-heroes, Wold Newton, I LIKE stuff, ugly Oz from MacFarlane toys
5 years ago – virus spam, moment of zen, gute fahrt, pet psychic, Crossing over guy,newtcam banner (Never did see it in rotation.), homepage design ideas
6 years ago – |337 translation guide, parse, fun turtle fact, ultrasonic cheesecharacteristics, Hello Kitty Douche, lj portal, long distance distress
7 years ago – nothin’
8865- sat
I forget where I found this picture of a psycho rodent, but I love it.
Nice long day of doing not too much – BHK and I spent the bulk of the afternoon sipping iced sun tea and reading our books – I polished off both Farewell Summer and Gavagan’s.
Farewell Summer was a nice re-visitation to the Dandelion Wine realm, but not nearly as great. I’d give it a 7 out of ten, which is still pretty dang good, with moments of fives and eights. Very minimalist text, and an ending which fits the story, but is still rather lackluster for me. I’m all for the bits about birthday cake.
Gavagan’s was idea-rich, solid centers but with a lot of weaker endings. Some really cute concepts, and one or two really good stories.
It was nice to spend a day of true rest. Our only trip outside the house was to get some rice for dinner – BHK whipped up some thai-style veggies in red curry. Good stuff. Photos to follow, most likely. TD will have to visit sometime soon, so we can make more. We drove by the boardwalk to listen to the live music, but my favorite sensory assault wasn’t on the ears, but on the nose… funnel cake was cooking up a storm… I couldn’t bear to eat any regular or tiny-pony brain type, however… the key lime bars had already saturated my powdered sugar tolerance for a while.
Danny got quite a boost as a result of his most recent teacher of the year award… a more than 35% pay raise, for one thing. Looks like he will be coming up to visit us sometime either this or next month for a week. I look forward to taking him out and about to DC and other hangouts, but especially to just being able to goof with him in person again.
Speaking of Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 misinterpreted.
Something I can use at the new gig – Flex-based SQLAdmin for Google Gears ( Google Gears (BETA) is an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality using following JavaScript APIs: – Store and serve application resources locally, Store data locally in a fully-searchable relational database, Run asynchronous Javascript to improve application responsiveness)
DocMorph, from the NIH, converts files into PDF, TIFF, text, or synthesized speech through a Web browser. Or download MyMorph software to convert multiple files.
Top 100 Network Security Tools
Readymechs are free, flatpack toys for you to print and build. They are designed to fit on an 8.5″x11″ page and printed with any printer. You’ll need double-sided tape, thick matte paper, and 10-15 minutes for build time.
1 year ago – mom and wilton project, a year without cable tv, o fortuna, castles, mr rogers rocks, friday 5, susp
2 years ago – June 3 is Free doughnut day, fog of war, one word movie (still fun!), blood, mp, I read to newt, bro telemarketing, book review, sloth defeats gluttony, killed comcast!, poor at philosophy, solar powered recharge backpack, deepest sender works, newt pic
3 years ago – pikachu combat icon, Weather, transit of Venus, GP call, Cult TV, tree, journal remix
4 years ago – First use of Thing as Blackbeard, Character Studio, My first hint of Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow, bro gets a new phone after a bike crash, photo-Friday “transportation”
5 years ago – Apartment Shopping, world’s smallest website, markers defeatcdprotection, sum of all fears, coming home fumigation, smile creators
6 years ago – SWAT Team visits my apartment, prompting me to move. (No-nose flips out, cam pictures, too)
7 years ago – newt recovers from Fritz’s Parasite, and I discover Imood.com
8863 – fri
They offered me the gig! I’m confirming my interest with them on Monday. BHK, the in laws and I went out to Asia Cafe as a little celebration. Added bonus – BHK picked me up a great Hawaiian shirt at the thrift store – volcanoes and bombers on it.. I feel most groovy. (She also got some great books, too… all of which need reviewing by me)
Massive network issues today – 2003 time sync caused serious trouble for everyone on multiple networks – login was denied for a good number of people, and those that could connect partially still couldn’t hit email, etc.
The Network team did a stellar job of taking care of business, but the influx of calls was a heck of a thing.
scrutator (skroo-TAY-tuhr) noun – One who investigates. [From Latin scrutator (searcher), from scrutari (to examine), from scruta (trash).]
Linkdump:
Tiny Animals on Fingers! awwww
The IT department as corporate snoop
1 year ago – positive mindset, but melancholy, lunch with momster, aardvark pic, superman cup, shirt scorch, 23 years worth of posting, bro visited work
2 years ago – club cast of characters, roadside hummer politics, keyhole turns into google earth, fed plantains, raining heavily, narc law
3 years ago – boogieman, hurricane season begins, diseases database, map24’s awesome zoom, WAKAW!, Dan Tardy visit, piccies of fembots & crane boats, found sounds
4 years ago – MacGuffin, New TV (broken), There Shirts, hoverboarding
5 years ago – new 2nd monitor, tasty tea
6 years ago – anchorite, Iraq frog missile, my first sighting of that annoying java kill email that fooled Danny’s wife, evil news, poll about how you feel about people, banjo player joke, rave reviews of Zone alarm & commentary about spyware, coprolite, I hear the first story about Ornj’s fish Genocide & panda hut
7 years ago – Awakened too early, used to have an embedded real genius sound file