Tag Archives: danny

8968 – sunday funday!

Still too hot to do much of anything out and about in the Crisco soup-like atmosphere, so we opted to take in lunch at the Sbarro’s in the Annapolis Mall and then hit a movie. Who knows why we woke up at 7:30 on a Sunday, but it gave us a solid head start.

We finally caught the Simpsons Movie on the big screen… I was surprised – it was a lot better than I was expecting… pretty solid TV episode from back when it was funny. We only saw 3 bits that would make it warrant a PG-13 rating – an instance of nudity, a curse word (or two) and some drinking / drug use. I could see them showing all of it after 10pm on network tv unedited, or without those three instances any time at all.

On the way home, we noticed that ATW has changed the sign again, as the search for “the man” continues. (atw is now a tag just for my ease of searching the story thread and pictures, now.)

Click to view larger
0826071649.jpg atw tv
ATW NEWSROOM
‘THE MAN’
BOOT RECOVERED
FINGERS POINTED
Police say ‘NO Statement – NO case’
Meanwhile, Man Sightings run rampant
Psychic to be called.

It was a good thing we caught an early show as the later part of the day was comprised of –

BHK Birthday Part II: Electric boogaloo!
allisonbdaycake

Party at Tina’s place… Mexican food! Both Meat and veggie protein varieties – Tina’s not a big carnivore, either. Matt (her new boy) seems like a nice enough fellow and I hope they have maximum fun / minimum glum together. He’s certainly more social and generally conversational than DR or W. Dessert was yellow birthday cake with chocolate icing, compared favorably to yesterday’s lemon cake with lemon icing. Added bonus, BHK’s mom didn’t absent-mindedly start slurping the frosting off of the removed candles like last night, rather than giving them to the b’day girl to taste.

Aside from Tina and Matt, Adam, Jimmy, Louise, Chris and Larry all made it to celebrate. We fit pretty comfortably at Tina’s townhouse… I wasn’t sure if we’d all be able to manage, but it worked out quite well.

BHK’s Loot received:

from Louise : Necklace and bracelet of multi-colored pearls.
from Tina : A pair of Peridot Earrings / Hello Kitty purse (which looks like ms. kitty is making a gesture I’m sure wasn’t intentional)
from Larry & Chris – Red Coral necklace and Earrings / and some lovely crockery
from Danny – A swell looking green-stoned ring in gold. (and he got Tina some yellow-stoned earrings, too!)
from my Mom and Wilt – Turquoise and silver necklace, Halloween Snow globe, a little cornucopia and a really lovely card.
from me – a lot of knickknacks – Grease & Grease 2, a pair of pink pseudo-crocks, some stripy socks that mismatch/match, a pink headband with little jolly rogers, bath scrubbie, black cat bowl, a green wire basket, some fuzzy slippers and a gift cert to scalped.

I’m the only person that didn’t get her any jewelry… she told me specifically *not* to get her any. Now, I understand why.

May’ve recruited Adam and Jimmy into a parlor game night. Who knows, maybe they’ll lure Kendall and Amanda into it, too, and we’ll have a big night of it sometime!

I don’t know if Matt is into parlor games… I do know he digs the Redskins and is willing to put up with chick flicks. come to think of it, I don’t know for sure if Tina is interested in boardgames or not… I suspect that she, like the in-laws aren’t really into abstract games. Louise is a good candidate, but is harder to reel in to a date or time than the teens. The last time we saw her was her birthday, about 6 weeks ago.

Poor Danny has students in his classes now – he’s back to running the Sci-fi club, and is incorporating Pirates into the after school program. I should send him a bucket of heroclix or mage knight commons/doubles as a donation. He really liked the Superhero stamps and Lord of the Rings Risk game we shot off to him a little while back.

1 year ago – back from an all too brief visit, nose buttering, bunny suicides, events of the day, liberty city psp homebrew hack, jojo the cannibal kid, maple cookies, folks, met Adam / Future In-laws

2 years ago – power out phone post, hurricane katrina aftermath pictures (and Newt), Bro out, Techs unavailable

3 years ago – BK heads north, random visit to a 2001 entry, behavior variances, quiet-please

4 years ago – sleep schedule, zombie game (poor thing aborted), monkey helpers, first lost child.

5 years ago – Deer Hunter, Apache, Equality/freedom Poll, Emerson, flying saucer, heroclix 200 point armies, McD hot dogs, wpoison

6 years ago – that piercing woman , lj vibe change, many links (not all work anymore)

7 years ago – Godzilla, quizzes, leftyrok added me, IMT threatens to move all operations north to Tampa, dean martin Geotarget

8913 – Thursday

Neighborhood shakeup tonight at about 7pm – A minivan chasing another – apparently the second vehicle had 2-4 people inside with the side doors open and guns showing. The vehicle being chased was honking and swerving all over the place to avoid being shot.

BHK called 911, and the response time was *terrible*, and she was never questioned by the police for a report on the matter. I’ll be investigating that situation more tomorrow after work.

I’m just glad that she’s ok.


Random factoids and semi-specific things about people I know (or knew):

My brother is *really good* at shucking oysters. At least 4-5 times faster than me, or 2-ish times faster than anyone else I’ve ever met in the service industry.

My wife is a superb analyst, and can get to the core of a matter quite swiftly. She’s going to be an awesome lawyer. (and dangerous gamer)

Steve Jacoby has some beautiful children, and has the makings for a pretty cool dad.

Tina keeps a lovely home… everything is crisp and neat, even with a pair of kitties, a bunch of birds, and living the software company lifestyle.

Bruce can make me misty with just a bowl of cheerios .

Ray has a very real skill at blending words and experience into story.

Kathleen has a great memory, to the point of us calling her queen index when we were gaming. If she doesn’t have knowledge, she can find it fast.

Cyn has a fantastic skill at illustration, both on paper and skin.

Doug Wu has a near encyclopedic knowledge of comics from the silver age. Knows more than anyone else I’ve ever met.

Danny is a mill that grinds slowly, but exceedingly fine. He’s a living example of “the devil is in the details.”

Father-in-law is loved by everyone he meets. *Nobody*, and I mean *nobody* has anything sideways to say about him. That’s amazing.. and due to him.

Mother-in-law is a superb cook. Some wicked good queso, for example.

Mother is a master multitasker. I’ve never seen her with too much on her plate.

Wilton is an excellent carpenter – can put all manner of stuff together with quality and speed.


Got a calendar? Circle this date: Sunday, August 12th. Next to the circle write “all night” and “Meteors!” Attach the above to your refrigerator in plain view so you won’t miss the 2007 Perseid meteor shower.


LONDON (Reuters) – Lawyers and judges are to break with centuries-old tradition and cease wearing horse-hair wigs of white fake curls in non-criminal cases, the head of the country’s judiciary announced on Thursday.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, said new dress rules would mean the requirement for the wigs, which legal professionals have worn since the 17th century, would not be needed in civil or family court cases.

Wing collars and bands can also be dispensed with in such cases according to the reforms, while judges will need just one gown in future instead of a variety of colourful outfits currently required.
The wigs will still be worn in criminal courts.

“At present High Court judges have no less than five different sets of working dress, depending on the jurisdiction in which they are sitting and the season of the year,” Phillips said in a statement.
“After widespread consultation it has been decided to simplify this.”

A review carried out in 2003 found that more than two thirds of respondents wanted to eliminate the wigs in civil cases, although most said criminal court judges should still wear them.

Opponents of wigs thought they were anachronistic, as well as uncomfortable and expensive.

A shoulder-length ceremonial wig costs more than 1,500 pounds while the shorter ones worn by lawyers cost about 400 pounds each.

However, the idea of abolishing them has been met with disapproval from some lawyers who feel the wigs give them an air of authority as well as anonymity.

“While there will never be unanimity of view about court dress, the desirability of these changes has a broad measure of agreement,” Phillips said.


1 year ago – venture bros good, lj ugly nav bar, bye bye black rhino, angel / shovel / burrito, simulated lost case-630am, Arvis book in comments!

2 years ago – Last Day w/Magda, invisi-bro, chrono-lifting, breakfast foods, zombies invade sca event, crab, autostitch bus, minor drama, commendation

3 years ago – KoL, Bollywood, Patriot Act, Felix the Cat

4 years ago – sleep troubles, Andromeda Strain, 4-legged man , system crash – modem drivers (Service pack 4 for win2k caused Norton trouble) , Stalin vs Hitler comic, newtcam pic, discovered title-tags, strickland a/c die-lemma

5 years ago – more swell chatties, Roanoke (including odd reply from Boughman), Dreams of Lake Conoy with zombie mist, sweet possum sugar, mother goose

6 years ago – Evil news, riposte, dream of the jungle, If I were… meme, time, sleepy, Dumbass Tenochtitlan Saucermen,chat, aura colors, personality disorder test, Louvre

7 years ago – Bad things with April, super power question Geotarget

8893 – Wednesday –

We are immersed in beauty but our eyes have no clear vision.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

It was broiling outside at midday… 95, but “feels like” 101! That’s some hot, swampy, yuck outside. Days like this are when I’m glad I’m not a roofer. I’m glad it’ll rain later on… hopefully that will cool things down a smidgen.

Poll thought – What’s more in line with what you like to read about in another person’s news / pop culture links?

Apple’s Iphone

Iraq

Paris Hilton

Michael Moore / health care

Gary Esposito.

Harry Potter

Danny and BHK went to see knocked up… both said that I dodged a bullet by going to work instead. Danny gave it a 4. Considering the fact that there were a couple of cute girls in it to ratchet the film up about 2 points, it must’ve really been terrible. BHK gave it a 1, saying that it’s possibly one of the two worst movies she’s ever seen. The two women behind them walked out of the movie, which is what BHK feels that I would’ve done.

I’m surprised; because those are the first two negative reviews I’ve heard about it. Hopefully BHK and I will have a better time with the new Die Hard movie. (or FF2 [even if doom is the weak point], Spidey 3, or Pirates 3, all of which neither of us has seen) It’s been a span since we last saw anything in the theater… Shrek 3, I think. I wouldn’t mind checking out 1408, for that matter.

Danny really enjoyed Shaolin Soccer, however. It is hard to say which he preferred between that and Kung Fu Hustle.
I hope he had a good time while he visited… he sure seemed to, save for a lot of commuting time and that just couldn’t be helped. He was a good sport about some minor tribulations, like the very hot green curry – BHK made some awesome mac & cheese which should obliterate any unhappy mouth-scalding memories. He got on well with BHK and Pye… declaring Pyewacket his favorite cat ever. Newton was a bit gruff with him, suspected so because Danny’s arrival almost always signaled my departure.

I was a little concerned about BHK this morning – between dropping me off at work and dropping Danny at the airport, she was in a minor collision with road debris that flew off of another vehicle – about the size of a hammer, it spun up and under the Love Cube. I’m just glad it didn’t strike her or the windshield.

I’ve come to realise that we have way too many pirate ships all over the place.. They need to be consolidated, sorted and put into some sort of storage system so we can create fleets off the cuff comfortably and with a minimum of space thievery.

More Port Authority info to chew on –

http://piers.com/

http://aapa-ports.org/home.cfm


Re-inking Thor pool in Flickr. Pretty nifty concept.

I’m thinking of trying Risus with BHK, to introduce her to RPG gaming. We didn’t get to do any RPG stuff while Danny was in town,but maybe next time. BHK and Dan played Hunters and Gatherers, and quite liked it.

Maybe do a mod of LCR , too? With blank dice , maybe.

Continue reading 8893 – Wednesday –

8891 – entered via palmtop at lunch

We had our pirate “battle royale” 3-way 100 points each pirate fleet combat… BHK was quite menacing with two giant crabs helping her ships, but Danny took the game in the end via gold. I got really tired the last hour of the game – the start delayed by abut 2ish hours due to our wonderfully “grand central station” aspect of the house… it is always preferable to visit with family and friends than to hunker down and play.

Tonights plans include eating home made mac & cheese, playing Hunter & Gatherers, Witch Trial and then watching Shaolin Soccer.

I really like having Danny over, but I am a bit fatigued by the work/play/sleep/repeat method. I look forward to just vegging out a little bit. After Danny launches, Misti and the gang are coming, and then Amy. July will be is a busy month.

Got good news regarding the condo issue – via some counter-commandoes

Yesterday I spoke with Harold Hyman, chief of compliance with DBPR here. He confirmed the good news that, as I was told last week, they had basically found everything dealing with the election scam in our favor and the decision was confirmed by his boss in Tallahassee. The report is being prepared and we should get it in a few days. He also added however that, although they are firm in their decision, the board can and probably will appeal. This will delay things by maybe a few weeks. Knowing Horst, Phoenix and Tucker & Tighe, an appeal (and maybe other tricks) would seem inevitable. Well, we will rid ourselves of them this summer no matter what they do!

We’ll see. I am glad that the condo regime is getting a bit of a shakeup.

via Beaucoupkev Life-sized Gigantor memorial to be erected

Kobe, Japan will be the home of a life-sized Gigantor statue.

The 18 meter high, 70 ton Ironman-28 will carry the price tag of 135 million yen. The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2008.

Debuting in 1958, Tetsujin 28-gō was the first “giant robot” series, which became a staple in Japanese pop culture.

The statue will serve as a double memorial, marking both the birthplace of creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who passed away in 2004 in an apartment fire, as well as celebrate the revitilization of the area, which was devastated in the 1995 Kobe earthquake. GeotargetVisitor Map

8890 – Monday

Pirates was played, but no witch trial. Instead, we opted to watch Kung Fu Hustle, because Danny has never seen it. Dan ended with appropriate fondness for the film. The only side effect is now I want to dance a bit like the leader of the axe gang. Next effort might be to show him Shaolin Soccer, but it might be a little less powerful than Hustle.

Marine Museum on Saturday – Pictures from the sailing time to follow… we had a nice time, but I fear we may have commuted a bit too much for Danny. He tires of travel easily. Clarkes Landing had some good din-din, and wasn’t as pricey as Stoney’s. Danny Loves Aardvark Comics, and would probably be there three times a week if he lived nearby.

On Sunday, we went out to breakfast in Deale, and then did a spot of fossil-hunting (piccies are in the entry prior). We all found a pretty decent collection of Shark’s teeth, beach glass and unusual fossil-matter. Almost went kayaking, but it got too hot. In evening, I won a game of super munchkin, and Danny won a round of pirates.

BHK made some very spicy Thai curry. Green stuff that was oh so hot… I loved it, but I needed a glass of milk to keep the heat bearable as I went. I’ve got a big bowl of it for lunch today, too!

New Slang words in use: Twerp-wad [used by BHK on a bad driver] – I responded by calling the same guy a douche-knuckle, and Danny chimed in with a Son of a Booger.

Saw a Falcon in our yard today… I guess that’s bound to happen when we have so many squirrels lounging about, chasing after peanuts we put out. If any make it, photos will follow.

Sunday’s Auto-transcribed phone message suffered a bit in translation… dark side of being at on the bay with static.

I need to get back into the habit of doing my 7,6,5,4,3,2,1 year ago thing. Once august hits, I’ll have a daily entry for seven years. Harder to stay on top of it these days, but at least I can fold in a quick one-liner or picture about places or things to remember.

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8886 – Thursday –

Danny arrived yesterday with minimal difficulties. He’s currently reading Childhood’s End (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood’s_End ) The original, not the revised 1990 edition. I wonder how he’ll feel about the ending? I remember being a bit disappointed when I read it, but that was back in the 8th grade or so.

Tonight was going to end with a possible journey to Inkygypsy’s solstice party tonight with BHK and Danny, but Danny was pretty tuckered out from his visit to annapolis (as was I from a full work day), so we stayed home to unwind and relax a bit.  We played a couple of games of monsters menace america, and ate tasty stir-fry type stuff that BHK made… quite yummy, but we had to abandon the garlic-type tahini… it had gotten far too strong. 


Learning more and more about the interaction of seaports and port authorities

(Primarily these – http://www.aapa-ports.org/, http://www.polb.com/contact/port_staff/default.asp, http://www.panynj.gov/DoingBusinessWith/seaport/html/apm.html, http://www.gaports.com/, http://www.panynj.gov/DoingBusinessWith/seaport/html/apm.html , but others as well)

and how they connect to other shipping arenas, like trucking and train freight. Currently, the whole gestalt is interesting – intermodal type transport certainly has advantages over sticking to a single method. I think that trains still hold the most fascination for me.

The more than 600 freight railroads operating today in Canada, Mexico, and the United States are vital to North America’s economic health. They form a seamless integrated system that provides the world’s most efficient, cost-effective freight service. North American railroads operate over 173,000 miles of track, and earn $42 billion in annual revenues.

Railroads remain the backbone of North America’s freight transportation network. In the U.S., railroads account for more than 40 percent of all freight transportation — and that’s more than trucks, boats, barges or planes.

Seventy percent of all automobiles produced in the U.S. move by train. So does 30 percent of the nation’s grain harvest and 65 percent of the coal, which, in turn, provides more than half of the nation’s electricity. Railroads move enough wheat to provide every man, woman and child a fresh loaf of bread six days a week… enough lumber to build almost three houses every minute of every day… and enough concrete to build 45 miles of new highway every day.

U.S. freight railroads are the world’s busiest, moving more freight than any rail system in any other country. In fact, U.S. railroads move more than four times as much freight as do all of Western Europe’s freight railroads combined.


“How Heavy Is Dense Reading?” Supplemental:
An Oxcart Full of Knowledge http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/gifbin/2007/0615oxcarts.html 


regarding new perm accounts – yeah, what he said. – http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2147714.html 


From Wikipedia, the metric system. Three countries use non-metric measurement systems: Liberia, Myanmar, and the United States. (image) Why are we still not using it?

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8884 –

Danny comes for his week-long visit tomorrow. He seemed to like Fantastic Four 2:electric boogaloo, except for the end.

Fun word – pogonotrophy (po-guh-NAW-truh-fee) noun; The growing of a beard. [From Greek pogon (beard) + -trophy (nourishment, growth).] (Pogonology is the study of beards and pogonotomy is a fancy word for shaving. ) Norma should look into that with her beard.

This has no relation to BHK’s shoe attitude. (youtube link)

The Agnostic’s Prayer:

Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to ensure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen.

Roger Zelazny, Creatures of Light and Darkness, © 1969

Day 2 of work went well… plenty to do and review. I can see some solid things ahead. The challenges are mostly in the documentation, and some of the the service providers we use. Our inside team and outer ring of contractors seem to be on the ball and on the same page.

Piccies of the outside

DSCN5368DSCN5369DSCN5370DSCN5371DSCN5372

Getting a little commentary here and there about how well dressed I am at work. It’s flattering.


1 year ago – bdays!, doing ok about dad, weaver dies, choco-dice, walking on air, monday meetings

2 years ago – pictures(motorcycle and newt), tut, lj interests, jbee b-day, gp dream, severe thunder, ft laud evacuation info for hurricanes, UFO tv losses

3 years ago – palm vnc, Newt Chroma key, paypal spoof warning

4 years ago – doctor’s appointment, time-traveler micronaut, lizard!, clear sky clock, baby dolphin beached

5 years ago – packing, location thoughts, bicycle, brushing newt-teeth

6 years ago – evil news, Jb’s bday, gadabout, lj-topology, time for timer, crown of crap, sambo’s

7 years ago – roadwork

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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

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 6/20-6/27GeotargetVisitor Map

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

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8844 – the ides of may

Ides of may. I miss my pop today – This is the anniversary of his death, but I’m not feeling as melancholy as I have in the past. It has been many years now since he passed away – 18 years, I think – just about half a lifetime ago.

Mom got a call from bro last night – he went before the judge and has 6 months at a work camp. He doesn’t know when he’ll be transferred, but he won’t have probation after that. I’m not sure if he’s getting off easy or hard.

Most of my challenges these days are physical or financial – those can bleed over into the mental, emotional and spiritual sides, but for the most part I’m doing quite well. I really like my new life here – I can understand why so many Florida expatriates have such little desire to return. There are some things that I miss, like the water taxi and a few of my more well-beaten paths around Broward & Dade, but they don’t hold a candle to the new stuff that I’ve been enjoying and looking forward to. Crime concerns are greatly diminished, not counting Baltimore or DC – and the people here have a small-town sort of feel. A lot of very polite and kind folks that are good about making me feel welcome can do wonders for any atmosphere, though the bay is beautiful in and of itself.

BHK and I are watching the dust slowly settle around the house – the blue house is pretty much empty save for a trunk and some light misc. I still have a few things in Florida storage, but aside from my bike, I don’t miss much of anything there. Most of what I miss about Florida is no longer in Florida . I miss gaming with Ray and Kat, but they’re in Texas , now. I miss goofing with Kev, but he’s in Gitmo. I miss hanging with Steve and Brent, but Brent died, and Steve is in Seattle . Doug is in Seattle , too. My Bro is pretty much lost to me.

Danny’s still in Florida , and I miss doing stuff with him. He should be heading out to us this summer during vacation.

BHK got me a Blueberry Vanilla Ice for after work – it was a welcome closure to the work day. Got a haircut in prep for tomorrow’s thing.

blueberry vanilla shaved icemild blueberry vanilla shaved ice


1 year ago – bird flu / monkey pox, walkabout, podcasts, newtcam pics, jack lemmon, hoot, saucermen, exploding pants, bus ride poll, hail,

2 years ago – MP gift, pabst t, won rum, don lapre’s vitamin, personality defect, walkabout pics, monkey at large/safety in numbers, vampire sugar fuel cell, florida medicine is stupid, I smell good

3 years ago – first palm doodle on new palm, wireless sync, pics from houstons (hypno-orb), Library of Alexandria Discovered, Bones Found In Bag At Florida Cemetery

4 years ago – palm doodles, dreams / reflections on the old crew, chicken hawk cards,mailbox mystery, lunar eclipse, first use of publix grocery deliveries,Teen Girl Squad #3

5 years ago – saw waking life, dream thoughts, prep for star wars expedition

6 years ago – evil news, tumor thoughts, astley gives me defective hardware, humors,hunger-poll, Tsarist Russia photos in color, Paid users get fasterservers, Florida JokeGeotargetVisitor 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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8660

Last day of packing before venture north… Newt seems to dig his little riding house, and we’ve got most of the supplies we need. Now it’s just a matter of sorting and storing today. BHK and I had a nice time at danny’s yesterday – I cleaned up at balderdash. Janet was pretty good at the fake out definitions, but I won with psychology and knowledge of what a howdah was.


phone is being turned off on 11/30, so if you need my number, email me or post here for it. I still need ot get a book or two from folks I lent to, and so on, but I imagine I’ll pick ’em up on my next visit down, if I don’t get them before I leave.


Bhk’s perspective on our trip north, with pictures. (originally posted in a dear friend’s private entry post, but this portion is suitable for public consumption.)

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