Tag Archives: bugah

9023 – sat

Rise and Shine! Early Bird gets the worm! Road trip to Virginia today with BHK! (in-laws and Louise will caravan with us, in another car)

faceplode
One of the ideas that BHK and I bandied about on the road trip after making up random drink names… like “The devil’s shoelaces”, “Cool Breeze” and “Bag o’ Tremors”, we started thinking about magical drinks that replicate experiences – “skydiving”, “slap in the face”, “Karate victory” were some of the more tame ones.

Stopped at Sheetz to get a nibble mid-trip…
Observations:

  • garlic fries good but swimming in oil at the bottom
  • mac and cheese bleh.
  • Cinnamon pretzel needs no frosting.
  • Coffee drink was sort of weak.
  • How many teenagers lurk there as a social thing?
  • Cups leap out an attack patrons.

I think we’ll stick to pre-packaged foods next time.

While at Bugah and Em’s b-day, met Nana (great Gramma), The Gramma and Roy. We all went to an Italian place for supper – Joe’s. From the school of “HUGE portions of OK food” The spaghetti looked great, as did the lasagna. I tried a bite of the eggplant parm, which was a little bitter – my veggie sub did fine.

Speaking of the birthday, I was surprised to see that BHK and I were the only ones to get the 10 and 5 year old any toys! Next closest thing to a toy was a gumball machine bank. Oh, wait – I forgot. Louise got Em a toy cell phone and necklace. Bugah seems to dig the skateboard, but it looks like the learning curve may be a bit more steep than we had initially thought. I’m confident that he’ll be all over it soon.

After playing tanks and a few other mini-games, Bugah’s given me the Wii bug again. We may try and pick one up this weekend. I also played Destroy all Humans 2 on the xbox with Bugah, which seems to be a nice sequel to the one we have for our Xbox at home.

Em was a sweetie – leading me around by the hand – we played some concentration (using dominoes to match the number of pips) before leaving for dinner.

We made it back to our place about 11:30 – worn out from the day’s ruining around and socializing. My hip was a little creaky after the drive, but no ill effects aside from that.

1 year ago – work sickies, Internet lawsuit fraud, giant prehistoric Syrian camels, free hp Lovecraft audio books, john Mayer and Sheryl crow bear costume,

2 years ago – supercar, monkeytown usa, pi song, obey the bunny, nazi?

3 years ago – h-bot, walkabout pics, sammich girls, mockery troopers, living tissuejacket, ff2, dan dog, bro evicted, Eau de humanity, Templar

4 years ago – nightmare, tri-bloc embalming, bra sizes, angry kid, sex resource guide, sweetalyssm’s bday, alien abduction tags

5 years ago – restless, newt, poo-fuel, baby costumes, bike ride w/bro, chupacabra,laser jet temp tats, honest opinion, kung fu channel, quizzes

6 years ago – hector, ap bday, sleepies, landlord issues, luxury

7 years ago – kingdomality, jobs, ghost dog-bears Geotarget

9022 – fri

Ahhh.. now *there* is the October weather I’ve been waiting for! 55 degrees! That’s the stuff!

Random bit of fun – the other day I saw a cyclist riding around on a penny-farthing bicycle… in helmet, spandex shorts and so on. I would’ve almost preferred to see a bowler hat and waxed moustache, but the clash of modern and historical was even better, I think.


Halloweenie Survey –

Childhood

What is the first costume you remember wearing?
Masque of the Red Death

What was your favorite costume?
Tin foil robot was a fun one… glowstick eyes!

Best Halloween memory as a kid?
CANDY! CANDY! CANDY!

Worst Halloween memory as a kid?
Going to the Li’l Demon Disco way back when, and dealing with dumb older kids bossing little kids around.

Ever TP or egg a house?
Not houses… but we did egg some kids that were mean to us… see above. We got punished – rightfully so.

Did you steal other kids candy?
Nope… but I did make some trades that seemed awfully in my favor – I give you my smarties, and you give me your fun size snicker bars? sure!

Misc Questions

If you were a character in a horror movie, would you survive?
I hope so! I’d probably be the “safe guy” that dies after you think the monster was dispatched, but really wasn’t.

Would you live in a house that was rumored to be haunted?
Sure… I’d at least check it out.

Would you live in a house where someone had been murdered?
As long as the killer wasn’t around to repeat the crime, sure.

Other than a gun, name the first murder weapon that comes to mind?
Cinder Block. Oh, ouch. Why didn’t I think of poison or a knife?

Would you ever be a mortician?
Depends… I think maybe yes.

Do U fit serial killer profile?
I don’t think that I’m antisocial enough.

Do you believe people can be possessed?
No, I don’t.

What is something that will haunt you for the rest of your life?
Seeing my dad on his deathbed is pretty enduring.

How do you feel about death and dying?
I think that it’s something that happens – I can be pretty sensitive or pretty well-armored to it, depending on the situation.

Have you ever seen a dead body, other than in a funeral home?
Yup.

Were you afraid to go in the ocean after you saw Jaws?
I was, but I was a little kid! I got over it in under a week.

Would you eat a human if your life depended on it?
Probably. I hope I never have to find out.

What was your last nightmare?
I dreamed that my body was made of plastic squares, and pieces were left behind wherever I went… I was worried that I’d run out, because I couldn’t put the acrylic/lego type squares back on.

Rather be buried alive for a night or sleep next to a dead body?
Sleep next to a dead body.

As an Adult

Did you decorate your house?
Sure!

Did you decorate your livejournal/myspace/website?
Homepage, yes – lj, no.

Do you still dress up for Halloween?
Sometimes! I don’t know if we are this year.

How long have been thinking about this years costume?
Hasn’t leapt to mind yet – but last minute works.

Planing on attending any parties?
If we get invites yes… a kid-built haunted house is in the works!

What will you be this year?
Not sure… I might just be a candy vendor!

What was your favorite costume you wore?
Flaming Carrot

Favorite costume somone else wore?
Six-limbed gorilla!

Funniest Halloween moment?
Seeing a mime and a guy in a fairy princess outfit duke it out in the parking lot.

If money was not an issue, what is your dream costume?
I’ve wanted to be God before… with two hand puppets… right hand is a Jesus Puppet, left hand a Devil – Just me in blue jeans and a T-shirt with the word “God” on it. not that expensive… maybe a functional
ED-209 ?

Supernatural

Do you believe in ghosts?
I’d like to, but I suspect they don’t exist – at least not in any way defined that I’ve seen.

Have you ever seen one?
I’ve dreamt of them.

First thing that pops into your mind….

Murder weapon?
Cinder Block – same as before!

Scary movie?
Alien

Halloween?
Chernabog

Vampire?
Holy Water

Monster?
Sea Serpent

Haunted?
Mansion


The Small Press Expo will be held in Bethesda this weekend, Friday and Saturday. SPX is the biggest gathering of independent comic artists and cartoonists on the east coast and will feature many local artists from DC, Maryland and Virginia. I’ve got other plans (birthday party – even more fun, and pre-scheduled)


Movies I haven’t seen yet, but wouldn’t mind catching in the theater while they’re still out –

3:10 to Yuma
Darjeeling Limited
Michael Clayton
Eastern Promises
We Own The Night
The Dark Is Rising – yikes… really poor reviews. Maybe not.

Whoops – Dragon Wars movie is already kaput? That didn’t take long. I guess it’s just as well.

No movie tonight, however. We’re preparing for the previously mentioned party for Bugah and Em’s… we’re going to be pulling the in-laws and louise in tow, so it should be a humdinger.


1 year ago – autostitch selfport, lost city, acim guest speaker

2 years ago – amusement park pics, halloween card, paper batmobile, hello, fl deadly force law, lost on itunes

3 years ago – bro drama, holidays, frontiers, world atlas

4 years ago – big brain breaks, hunters / harvest moon

5 years ago – Newt tuckered, Mage knight, independent woman

6 years ago – mulct, poo-spray, error handling

7 years ago – syndicate wars, Doom Patrol, ups and downs, suffixes, sw quiz Geotarget

8934 – Wednesday!

So, it’s August… only a couple of weeks until BHK’s birthday, Father in-laws birthday, and we’re looking to have Emily over in a weekend – and then the all of the Newsoms over perhaps two weeks after that. Emily is about 5 years old now, and she reminds me of little bit of Wendy, way back when 9even though Wendy was maybe twice that age. I still remember acting like a monkey with

 for her, over a decade ago. Ook ook, extend the upper lip, scratch the noggin and the armpits, do a bowlegged walk… still brings a giggle to the young ladies. I doubt the Wendy would as be amused these days… she’s got to be 21 by now? maybe 22? She’s probably into more “grown-up” pursuits. I wonder how she and Marty are doing?

Thoughts for Emily’s visit.. Baltimore Aquarium, Blink (maybe try Uno?), Walking on the Boardwalk / Beach, Playstation, Fireworks, and the Candy Store. None of those are set in stone and there are other possibilities, too.

Hey, it’s August first! Happy Lughnasadh, the holy day of Lludd!
(If you celebrate it… I don’t generally do so myself, but do like to say the word Lughnasadh. )

To celebrate, here’s an agricultural pic from our garden, taken just this week.

Pepper pic from the garden – looks better large-wallpaper size.
DSCN5893

No relation to the holiday, but also recently seen –

Also seen – Dump trucks while I was riding the subway at about 60mph
DSCN5895

Been busy, have some game and book links, dear journal!

New joystiq review of Icehouse (also Enemy Chocolatier ), and as a result, found a place to play games online in real time.

You’ve got to download a small Java app (gamut ) (though they are working on an HTML implementation), but it’s clean, quick and fun if you can find folks to play with.

Back to reading on my ride in the subway…until I find some tv show that BHK doesn’t want to watch to put on the PSP. just finished Red Nails – getting my pulp fix on. Plenty free and legal to read here. Just scroll down to Howard,( Robert E. )

via uncert

  • “Turning Heat Into Electricity Through Sound”: pretty much what it sounds like. A group in Utah has made a gadget where thermal gradients drive air currents that produce sound waves, which are turned into electrical signals by piezoelectric transducers.
  • “All-Optical Magnetic Recording: a Dutch group has written information onto a magnetic material using polarized light rather than the usual magnetic heads (like in a hard disk). This could potentially allow faster disk writing on smaller scales than can be done with magnets. Just think how small your next iPod could be…

1 year ago – sharks don’t have knees, boiled eggs, yoga, map issues, Dave nose-operation, 4-sec frenzy, Theoi project, FOLEDs, grammar rock, man tosses a car, hungry ghost month, TS Chris

2 years ago – peaceful Sunday, Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla, PB-J time, Grizzly Golf Attack is true, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.”

3 years ago – Rob Shea Quote, appropriate for E-journals everywhere, I played with mercury, JL meme, music, Dave, Rain, Social entity, first hints at Mike-drama, search shortcuts, albinos of the 19th century, echolocation alarms

4 years ago – crazy dreams, Kate Bush, starmark poops but new gig, writing systems, non-castaways on gilligan’s isle

5 years ago – istockphoto, dead links, Shitou Xiqian, smiled at, fortune cookie, walkerbot, Liver Eatin’ Johnson

6 years ago – hungrybaby, New Apes movie lame, wiseacre, Champions stats for the Shadow, Dwayne Dibley?, Poul Anderson passes away, LJ moves in space

7 years ago – Everway character- wanders the storm pathGeotarget Geotarget

8903 – 4th of July!

Took Bugah & Co to Bob Evans for a farewell breakfast… MN was sneaky and footed the bill. We’re going to have to work out some sort of system of permissions for bill catching! Poor Boog didn’t want to head out, but Em seemed ready to head on home.

Relatively mellow after the fireworks on the 3rd. More grilling of hot dogs and veggie burgers (out of propane), Louise, Doug, Tina, Kendall, Adam and BHK all got together for some good eats and limited fireworks… every time we went somewhere to shoot off some airborne pretties, the police or a homeowner came out and said no sir, no sir. The fountains were quite pretty, anyhow. Areas we were blocked include the back yard, the private beach opposite the buildings, and “forbidden beach” which is public, but right next to some big homes. A fellow came out and took down the plate numbers of everyone parked there… sort of jerky behavior for the 4th. I can understand not wanting stuff too close to your house, but we were shooting the beach and it was just 9:30pm… not too late by any one’s estimation. Ah well, the food was good and we all got to hang out a bit, and enjoy a midweek day off.

There was a tornado watch in DC – just as well that we didn’t head to that mob scene. The National Mall was briefly evacuated around 5 p.m., forcing the thousands gathered for 4th of July festivities to take shelter in nearby monuments and federal government buildings. By 7 p.m. the Mall was re-opened, though everyone had to pass back through security checkpoints set-up in the area again.

We headed home – BHK and I just enjoyed a little peace and quiet come the end of the day… not a bad thing at all.

adam and em
[attach 4th of july google video here]

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8901 – Monday

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

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

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

via jwz – Search for Lonesome George mate is long shot

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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8899 – Sunday

We spent most of the day out and about, Geocaching with the Newsoms. They’re really into it, with a little over 100 finds in recent memory. It was fun tooling around a bit and seeing what’s what. I also dropped off tinkle pig in a cache… time for her to see the world. I retrieved a toy soldier cast from civil war bullets, who will ride with Bruce Moose and Gaytor until a suitable resting ground is found for him. The cemetary caches are almost always my fave – the woods were a hoot too, but ticks are a real fear for the kids, especially since Em was out sick just recently. (Heck, nobody wants lyme disease.)

A brief synopsis of Cache visits-

Dropped off placed Hula Wyvern (Travel Bug Dog Tag) in Little Southern Maryland School [visit log]
Dropped off placed “Wajima, Japan” Unite for Diabetes Travel Bug (Unite for Diabetes Travel Bug) in Little Southern Maryland School [visit log]
Found it found Little Southern Maryland School (Traditional Cache) [visit log]
Found it found Parkkin Cache (Traditional Cache) [visit log]
Found it found Flashover (Traditional Cache) [visit log]
Found it found Can you see the ghost?! Again! (Traditional Cache) [visit log]
Found it found Relaxation for Redlights (Traditional Cache) [visit log]
Found it found Book Worm (Traditional Cache) [visit log]
Found it found Time is the key (Traditional Cache) [visit log]

Aftwerwards, we took a quick pitstop at Aardvarks, had an ice cream and picked up kanoodle for BHK (I’m sure I’ll be playing it too.)

Spent a little more time puttering around Solomon’s Island, went to Stoneys for dinner. (their treat! yum!)

On the road between points, I got a call from my Mom, and it turns out that Bro isn’t in a work crew, but just a rehabilitation center. Taking classes, etc. Hopefully some of the lessons will stick, but if not, at least he’s out of circulation for a while.

After that, we paused at the Barker’s to water the Mom-in-Law’s plants, and to do a little dock-walking. I paused for a breather upstairs, but before I could get my nap on, Adam and Kendall showed up to say hi and to drop off some fireworks.

Man pummels vampire peacock

NEW YORK (AP) — A peacock that roamed into the parking lot of a Burger King in New York City was beaten by a man who insisted it was a vampire.

Animal control officials in Staten Island say the bird was beaten so fiercely that most of its tail feathers fell out and it had to be euthanized.

The seven-year-old male peacock wandered into the restaurant parking lot and perched on a car hood last week. Charmed employees had been feeding it bread when the man appeared.

A restaurant worker says the man grabbed the bird by the neck, hurled it to the ground and started stomping it. She says when he was asked what he was doing, he responded, “‘I’m killing a vampire!”‘

Employees called police, but the man ran when he saw them.

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8881

Bugah and Neil came over for a sleepover last night – while Neil went on a fishing trip, Boog, BHK and I all did as many summery type things we could think of on his first day off from school.

amongst the things done –

  • Trip to the boardwalk candy store to get all manner of bad things, including a pack of candy cigarettes (He knows full well how bad ciggies are, but they do have awesome powdered “smoke” and tasty gum)
  • Swimming in the pool
  • Playing tennis with Adam
  • Playing video games with me – (The Taiko drum on lost out to the donky congo bongos… a lot more of a workout, too. He’s also quite adept at SSX tricky, Godzilla Destroy all Monsters melee and Rampage.) It was especially nice to smash Tokyo, London and San Fransisco with him. I’m not as big a fan of Anguirus as I thouht I might be… both of us prefer 90’s ‘Zilla or Megalon.
  • Birthday / Father’s Day Cake cake for Neil (he qualified for both)
  • Crabbing on the dock
  • Watching the Fishing boats come in

(note to self – some cheats to unlock all the stuff for next time –

The following cheats are available for Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee on the Gamecube.

8880

Last day at the county gig was really sweet. I’d only been there a few months, but I feel like I’ve made a few good friends. They gave me an ice cream cake and a sweet card – they seemed genuinely sad to see me go. I’ll miss ’em, too. On the way into work, I saw a guy painting a picture of the courthouse… I struck up a conversation with him, and got a pretty detailed history of the area, how things have grown and changed. I really like Calvert County a lot.

Next on the list for the PSP is Hot Brain – releasing on Tuesday. I may wait and get a used copy, depending on how pricey it is, though.

Interesting article on how hard it is to afford living in DC… little wonder I’ll be commuting.

Good news for Jeff… he’s being paid full-time to maintain and upkeep hero machine! I’m glad he found a solid sponsor!

Neil and Bugah are coming up Tomorrow morning for a sleepover – Danny will be here on Wednesday to stay for a week. My new job starts on Monday.

BHK and I still have lots of prep work left to do, so I’ll catch you on the flip side, dear journal!

1 year ago – payday, mango fest, Phoenix uncomfy, Nonja the rude ape, elvis costello green shirt, chess piece poll,

2 years ago – David Sutherland RIP, trunk turtles, Easter walkies, chimp pics, paper toys, gCensus, Mothra Song, superhero TV themes, vet mixup, menstrual superstitions, 250 questions

3 years ago – Queequeg, Lizard (a knight anole) pictures, fixed calamity’s icon,Mycoprotein, Sammy doodle, sites for positive change, yahoo goes fromsix meg to 100meg (now at 1 gig vs gmail’s 2+gig)

4 years ago – Father’s Day, vampire game, wondering about a world free of psychoactive drugs

5 years ago – lovely long talk, South Park Scotto, Tea room, Replacement parts, star trek breast insignia

6 years ago – Predators of man, Apt seeking, Nothing sacred, sql/ado. pet quiz, pizza parlor, writing urge, Big Guy and rusty.

7 years ago – Nothing in particularGeotargetVisitor Map

8669 –

unpacked a little bit, made sure phone at the fl place was turned off, and discovered that Neighborhood Health doesn’t want to extend COBRA benefits because of my move out of the tri-county area. I’ve got a call in to the department of labor to take care of things – even if worst comes to worst, I know of a decent health insurance provider I can turn to if COBRA doesn’t cut it… or if I get a gig before that, the new insurance should be even better than Neighborhood’s in any event.

After taking care of the top-o-de-month loose ends, we took a little trip to tina’s and visited her and the kitties for a bit. doug was upstairs day-trading on his laptop, so kitties won the day for attention. kiki and chai are adorable little beasties, and it’s a shame that doug is allergic (I am too, so my visit with ’em was kept to a minimum. we meant to pick up a photo CD, but forgot take it with us when we left.

from there, we journeyed to goodyear for the replacement tire and settlement, only to find it was a different speed rating (A “H” rather than a “S”) so we get to return tomorrow for pickup and install. odds are best that it’ll cost half price due to our low mileage and goodyear’s desire to keep customers happy… I’d have preferred a freebie replacement, but it beats dropping $160-175 for a new tire.

picked up a few holiday ornaments for our not yet picked out tree – rainbow of colored bulbs and strung beads, with a punch buggy vw and heart ornament for flavor. lots of model train sets on display in MD at assorted locations- makes me crave building models and painting minis just a smidgen (but not enough to warrant the purchase of paints or brushes… I know if I dove back into the hobby, I’d just collect a lot of clutter and dust… not to mention I might bore of it again swiftly). Better to build a model or three with bhk and bugah at his house here and there.

tasty dinner of cowboy beans, goldfish crackers… talked to Danny briefly on the phone, in fact I’m calling him back once I finish typing this up.

Found a few really nice prezzies here and there, both primaries and stocking stuffers. no details due to readers who may be receiving them.

I finally heard “Crabs for Christmas”! Very cute tune, and I’d been looking forward to the groove for about 4 months now.

Newt climbed on BHK’s shoulder… that tells me he’s accepted her quite strongly. I believe the move here has mellowed any harsh he may’ve had against her. Or maybe he knows santa’s watching.

That’s about it for now dear journal! time to call Dan back, and see what he’s up to for a few. Later tater!

p.s. temps in the 20s tonight, and I’m digging it… at least as long as I’m inside!


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1 year ago

2 years ago

3 years ago

4 years ago

5 years ago

6 years ago

8666 –

went with misti, bhk and em to see buga and neil tote a balloon in the richmond christmas parade – had a great time – aside from the obvious perq of bugah, there were also tiny shriner cars, a really overweight darth vader, cowboys, balloons of odd things blowing like the hindenberg, and more sousaphones than even john phillips could ask for. Odd thing, since the giant balloons were being hoisted through downtown richmond, they had to be lowered to duck under the street lights every few blocks.

misc pictures from road trip to md (including newt in lockdown, south of the border, and electric palm trees, as well as the parade) click here.


bro still is where he is… writing him a letter tomorrow or first thing monday.


after the parade and a quick trip to target to look for some xmas lights, we visited with misti, neil & co, bfore heading to the in-laws for dinner. long day, but a solid one… on the way back, we drove through DC, and I got to eyeball the washington monument and nation’a capital from the potomac bridge. more photos from that neck of the woods soon.

with that, I’m hitting the sack. until later, dear journal.

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