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8922 – Fridays 720

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Free Online Dating

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

  • sex (5x)
  • death (3x)
  • corpse (2x)
  • semen (1x)

But… it was Turtle Semen/sex! It was the Corpse-plant that smelled of death! C’mon! Kids can handle it!

I counter with a pink tongue from a
Simpson’s movie doughnut, nabbed at 7-11
/ Kwik-e-mart about a week ago.
0709071946b.jpg - quick-e-mart tongue
I think that picture makes me look like I have a giant head and a tiny little tyrannosaurus arm. Perspective.

I’ve never seen so much spoiler-fear as I have for the latest Harry Potter book. People refusing to go online, switching off emails, refusing to watch TV. I imagine some folks have abandoned the phone, too. A side effect of living in the information age, I guess.

Last night’s dinner at Mexico was good, but the slowest it’s ever been. Alberto (the manager) say with us and was very apologetic… we like him, and kidded back and forth about his brother out chasing skirts and drinking margaritas on the beach at the moment. Mother in law wouldn’t let us pay all the way, but finally settled on using the money to take care of Tigger while MIL and FIL are in Salem this weekend. (Our weekend’s going to be pretty busy, give that we’re also watching Tina’s kitties, having a Birthday party of Adam, Going to Sushi with Cyn and preparing for Amy’s visit on Monday.)

In-laws are in Salem as of tonight, so they can get the house one last bit of spit and polish before the renters move in on the 27th. I fear they’ll be more trouble than they’re worth, but you never know… sometimes it can be handy to have someone on-site to keep track of things.

“For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are that you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.” — Andy Rooney

I’m pretty dang happy. Every day, some wonderful stuff happens. Added bonus, BHK gave me a lollipop for my info page today!Aw… that’s very sweet! (no pun intended). I love her very much… each day I wonder more and more how I lived with Newt and nobody else all those years. Pye and BHK make the perfect additions to our family-team.

Last night I dreamt that BHK and I were hunting mosquitoes for the blood they consumed. Somehow, that blood was purified of known toxins, and if injected back into the original human hosts, they’d be immunized against all blood-borne diseases. I don’t know why we were grabbing them and putting the bugs in brown paper bags, rather than some safer environment. I did know that you could just eat the bug and be cured, but we didn’t know how many of these particular mosquitoes existed, and if the effects could be reproduced.

I’m wondering if I’ll ever go to Walt Disney World again? I don’t live in Florida, and the concept of “manufactured/processed joy” seems very different than “pure joy” pulled directly from the environment. I can have a lot of fun in the Westworld-type controlled experiment sore of scene, but there’s a different vibe in simply walking around, taking in history, art and nature as it is. Considering that I’m not really up for roller coasters these days, I don’t know if a journey to the more calm rides make it worthwhile. Pirates of The Caribbean and Haunted Mansion will always hold a special place for me… even if it’s just because they’re dark rides and are wonderfully air-conditioned after walking in the Florida sun for a few hours. I suspect EPCOT Center or Busch Gardens is more my speed for theme parks now, rather than the Magic Kingdom… or perhaps I’d feel differently if we just went and had fun. For a long while now, I’ve preferred exploration of the world around me… both on walkabout by myself, and now on journeys with BHK. I’m not sure if it’s wrong that I’m more entertained by urban decay or aquariums than by singing puppets… just that my tastes have changed a bit. I like the irony of Disney’s The Prisoner /Truman Show “friendly fascism”-style of better living in a plastic world… thanks in no small part due to hidden underground tunnels and secret police… but I’m also more than a little creeped out by it, too. I take it back. I find it *more* interesting as a result my irrational paranoia. I’d still rather wander a natural forest than a theme park, but Disney’s weird overlord aspect could be pretty groovy. The Mouse is a not-so-shadowy figure pulling the puppet strings across the Florida landscape and beyond.

After work, we took a little trip to Aardvark’s and let ’em know about the Strategist. He was cool – mentioned that he may have some out of print ice towers stuff that he’d be happy to hook us up with. We’ll still need to get the treehouse die and pyramids book, but that’s a good launching point. Meanwhile, we picked up Chez Goth to fool with while Amy’s over.

Too full of ice cream to go to Fred’s place for 50’s diner stuff, we hit the grocery for tomorrow’s party supplies and then the in-laws to babysit with Tigger for a few hours and watched 13th Warrior… by the middle of the movie we were read for eats – pizza worked for us. Tigger was a little sweetie.

1 year ago – world jump day, world party, mom heading north, netflix wakes up, availabot, electric bill, stress and sleep

2 years ago – pics, singing fountain, atarax, google moon, charity paypal link, digg, hurricane emily, operation predators, fishstories, ID badge, random wifi

3 years ago – I Robot, working with wimmin, Operation Valkyrie, moon landing.

4 years ago – bro, monkey mummy, teen titans, moon landing hoaxes, animal sounds asring tones, hunting for bambi, newtcam, consumer reports condoms,awesome earth image, pancakes

5 years ago – bike name poll, palm doodles, planning to visit Danny with his busted leg

6 years ago – rough night, slake, ambisinister, voice activated tech, how far would you go poll

7 years ago – counting days, finished first Harry Potter, books I repeat read, abortive attempt to track intake Geotarget

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8921 – Thursday

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For no good reason, a picture of Alan’s rug.
alan's keeno rug

Netforum 2006/01 or /02? Upgrade is looking pretty essential. That’s been part of my work lately, reviewing the next build and how well it’ll get into place. I just want it to be as seamless as possible… minimise any growing pains.

Being a giant guy has the side effect of being used as a mobile landmark. I’ve had folks tell their kids that if the get lost, look for me in a crowd. Not for me to babysit ’em, just that my head and shoulders tend to bob above other folks nearby. Also, it appears that I’m one of those “hey, I know you” types. I look both kind and trustworthy as well as looming and scary. I guess it depends on if I’ve shaved around the goatee and am more awake than walking dead. (In that case, folks cross the street to get away from me.) I’ve been in Maryland for about eight months now, and my newest gig just one. I’ve already been invited to a lot of picnics, parties, etc…. I don’t think it’ll be too long before the combination of North Beach’s small-townishness and other friendlies at work spirals it back up to a broader friends base. Right now I’m still a bit of “BHK’s Hubby” or “Larry’s Son-in-law”.

Back in the old days (when I was in high school and thereabouts) I was Mr. connected. Everyone knew me, or knew of me through someone else. I’m not sure how that happened, but I suspect it’s a side effect of the landmark issue above. I seldom bothered anyone, and folks rarely gave me any guff. I’m not as connected anymore – living in a new state, new job, etc. This came up during a little message exchange with Sirenity… regarding people who get talked to or “hey do I know you”ed a lot.

Dreamt of a white panel van with the word destruction on it. – BHK and I were hunting down somebody who sold us a faulty bed. We were pretty mad…. I wonder what we were going to do once we got the guy? That has no relation to the sailboat dream where all we had to eat was trader joes snacks that had gone stale. We were trapped on a catamaran with a big bag of stale crisps and candy-coated sunflower seeds… and no clean water.

Picked up a pair of new shirts, and two new ties. I never thought I’d ever own a purple shirt I could wear to work. I *really* never thought I’d ever wear a tie to work. Who knew? I actually enjoy putting on a corporate noose every here and again, even though it’s not required wear in the office. It makes me feel a bit more professional and has the sense of a “uniform” to keep me a bit more focused on my tasks.

Sting from the Macaroni Grill wasp has completely faded.. .it really didn’t feel like a sting so much as a very brief electrical shock followed by swelling.

Chore Wars lets you claim experience points for household chores. By getting a few people in your house or workplace to sign up, you can assign experience point rewards to individual chores, and see how quickly each of you levels up. Experience points are tracked both as weekly high-score charts, and as ongoing character sheets – every time you rack up 200XP of chores, your character gains a “level”, and their class changes to match the type of chores that they’ve been doing. (here’s my character, if you want to invite me to your party )

Random notes on my lj, and communites maintained

[info]scottobear

– 239 lj readers – Journal entries:8,920 / Comments Posted: 57,182 – Received: 57,141

[info]menstrualhut

– 2362 members – Journal entries:8,104 / Comments:Posted: 0 – Received: 42,699

[info]fishstories

– 3 members -Journal entries:36 / Posted: 0 – Received: 181

[info]haikuarena

– 106 members – Journal entries:484 Posted: 0 – Received: 1,114

[info]coloringbook

– 174 members – Journal entries:154 Posted: 251 – Received: 688 (How does the community comment, or was that pre-conversion?)

[info]live_journalia

– 10 members – Journal entries:72 Comments:Posted: 0 – Received: 168

pseudofic accounts are all long dormant. Maybe it’s time to start up the fish stories account again?

1 year ago – day moving fast, stop motion video, minimum wage variances, pumpernickel, 2-word meme, a-z meme, dvd decrypter, World Party – Ship Of Fools,

2 years ago – danny, bro, top40, riverwalk autostitched, farcry, sneak peak at Pirates of the Carib2: Davy Jones

3 years ago – Pictures, Newtcam, flipper, Miami population, picasa, alligator as weapon, flash, TMBG, Franco-Prussian war, TU, amber alert/web, php rant, meat hooking, ADP uppity

4 years ago – freeflow, dream, Superman, heart in hand, bear attacks sub

5 years ago – caving dreams, piracy, anagram server, no-longer newt-time icon, irrational deodorant mixing fear, fun hidden camera show, monopoly variants, true porn clerk stories, phobias, paperback cover gallery, 100 years of jell-o ads, missing scary link pic

6 years ago – carom, evil news, fave monopoly token poll, rude awakening, OTR, impressed with flash, and feelin’ romantic

7 years ago – zoe’s bday and loverlips adds Geotarget

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8920 – Wednesday

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This entry brought to you by:
A freaky rusted gizmoI saw in the marshes of Washington DC.
DSCN5855

Dan should be getting his river rocks in the mail by the end of the week. (We’ll ship the webcam and LoTR Risk by then, too.)

Enjoyed watching The Soup recap of 2007 with BHK over a late supper last night.. we were both pretty stuffed, and retired shortly after our meal. I’m impressed that they had so much fun, dopey stuff. Tonight’s dinner at the Macaroni Grill was nice, save for the hornet sting I got on my finger, brushing it off of BHK.

Check out this link, which takes a specified address and gives you the walking score for that address. The score assess the number of and distance to common destinations (restaurants, theaters, etc.). Pretty nifty stuff! (my current house gets a rating of 38 out of 100, or “not very walkable”… I disagree! I can carry groceries , go get food and whatnot within a mile of home. My old place got a rating of 83 out of 100… much more available within hoofing-it distance.)

Received this in the mail Tuesday night, not too long after posting the day’s entry. It’s in regards to Sunday’s entry, here.

My name is Josh S. Talley and I manage The Compleat Strategist in Falls Church, Va. Your journal entry was brought to my attention by my boss (one of the owners) after being brought to his attention by a Looney Labs representative. First off I would like to apologize to you and your friends for the lack of customer service you received (or didn’t as the case may be). I would also like you to revisit us sometime soon if possible. Second please let me assure you that my employee’s behavior is and always will be unacceptable to me. Third we can always try to order something if you don’t see it on the shelf and are happy to do so. We have many days that are activity days, but I have always stressed that the customer is to take priority and that product knowledge is a good thing to all my employees. I am working on rectifying the situation you experienced with the one employee and am truly sorry about your visit. I think you will find that we are a nice little store if you visit again. Granted we are not as nice as some stores, but considering the lack of “gaming” space and floor space in general, I feel we’ve done well. Please come visit again and as an apology for your first impression of the new Strategist, I’d like to extend a discount on any purchases when we next meet. I work any day but Wednesdays and Sunday, but will most likely be working those days soon in addition, heh.

Sorry again and looking forward to another visit, hopefully,

-Josh S. Talley
Manager of The Compleat Strategist in Falls Church, Va.

My reply-

Thank you for your speedy response. I appreciate your concern and desire to make things right. (I hope you don’t fire the sales guy on my account… hopefully he can be salvaged with a little customer service training.) We were pretty frustrated by the lack of salesmanship and pro-activity, given that we were actively curious and asked multiple questions about items on hand.

He wasn’t obnoxiously rude, he just didn’t attend to us and it felt like we were more an annoyance than a customer. I understand that a lot of your business likely comes from your events, but hopefully it wouldn’t preclude sales to new arrivals.

I really liked the size of your stock, and would be happy to try again in the near future… we’re still looking to pick up ice towers and treehouse (we’re pretty big fans of the looney labs catalog and love to support local businesses) , as well as a few other games. A discount would be greatly appreciated!

May I reprint your letter in my livejournal? I think it would please a lot of the folks that read it to know that you are interested in running a quality establishment.

Again, many thanks for your courteous reply. I have many fond memories of the Strategist in Florida, and would really like to have another one so close by to get my gaming loot from.

His last answer –

Hello again Scott, please feel free to insert my letter into your livejournal entries. I read through the comments and would love to see more people come check us out and get a good experience from their visit. You are correct though, customers come first, no matter what. I have stressed this numerous times and some get it, some don’t, but what can I do? I can lead a horse to water, but can’t make it swim…heh. j/k Oh and I am pretty sure that we can order the Classic Deluxe Illuminati box set from SJ Games, just let us know. As for Brawl and any Cheapass Games we have to special order those, Cosmic Encounter was supposed to be reprinted, but I haven’t seen it yet. Playing with Pyramids I would have to check on but would be happy to do so. Anyways, please come see us again anytime.

1 year ago – morning breaks doodle, sleepy, heat of the moment, training a tech, sailboat doodle, stop motion space invaders, voice pdf files, deaths

2 years ago – bro court, autostitch of an alley no longer there, graffiti pics, harry potter, zombie game, bards tale ends, mimiced, Reverse Polish Notation, top40

3 years ago – manatee trip pictures, Miami travel shots

4 years ago – Aol gives up on netscape, random poster form the past, I get fan mail from desert butterfly, reading list retreat

5 years ago – princess sultanas circle, hug meme, joy machine, angry corn ghosts burn police cars, hydrogen fuel cars, got tested for diabetes (none here!),baseball bat poll, Bush & Women’s rights, spooky patent office logo

6 years ago – evil news, arriviste, clochard & myopic, gilligan’s lessons,contraception myths, Leisa’s 2 months pregnant, zeppelins, tuck in thoughts

7 years ago – xanadu, sleep study prep, name meaning Geotarget

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8917 – Monday

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BHK took a what seems like a metric ton of our cucumbers and made an absolutely delicious pickle salad for dinner tonight. I grilled some veggie burgers and zucchini on the grill in some teriyaki sauce, and I’d say it was one of the tastiest meals we’ve had in a little while. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoy eating food we grew right out back. Come winter, I guess all we’ll be able to munch on is preserves and pickles – our own sort of dandelion wine, as BHK so charmingly puts it.

Harvest on Sunday night, pre-pickling
future pickles!

Newt and Pye were extra-bonus cuddly and sweet this morning… making even more difficult to get out of bed. Fortunately, they can be distracted by one another when I have to start getting dressed.

Newt and Pye play king of the hill
0713071433

My body isn’t nearly so creaky this morning, nor is my eye puffy at all. Still not sure what set those off yesterday… just summer heat and pollen, I’m guessing.

I finished Runaways – not bad, and I’ll keep reading, but I have my doubts about the next story arc. I’m going to reserve judgement though… I’ve enjoyed it thus far (Also not a big fan of Joss Whedon.)

Last night I dreamt about playing some sort of game with monochrome plastic big rigs. Perhaps a combination of The Transformers movie and Treehouse?

via LooneyLabs – Cheese contains casein, a dairy protein which contains tiny opiate molecules called casomorphins, which are “remarkably like morphine” and pack about a tenth of morphine’s opiate strength! (I also found it fascinating that cheese proved harder to give up, for people in this article , than ice cream, hamburgers, chicken, and even cigarettes.)

1 year ago – / 2 years ago – / 3 years ago – / 4 years ago – / 5 years ago – / 6 years ago – 7 years ago – Geotarget

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8916 – sunday

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Woke up creaking like the tin man, and my eye was aggravated by some sort of dust particle… between the swollen eye and bent over stance, I should’ve been ringing bells and screaming for sanctuary all morning.

Yesterday’s smoothies were so terrible that we went to the grocer, got some yogurt and fruit, and BHK made some jim-dandy, extra tasty smoothies for our breakfast supplemented by hard-boiled eggs and biscuits today.

Today we went to a place that held a lot of fond memories for me as a young gamer-geek. The Compleat Strategist… There was one in Hollywood, Florida way back in the 80s… a source of many fond memories. It was a sad day about 18 years ago when it burned down… even when some supposedly smoke-damaged merchandise appeared at the new Dragon’s Lair a few months later. I sometimes wonder if the “Dragon” reference was an inside joke about the fire. Rumors abounded at the time, though I don’t know of any actual validity to the same.

We landed at the Strategist in Falls Church, Virginia… and… well, I’ve been spoiled by Aardvark, I think. I was fairly underwhelmed, even though they have a huge amount of stock… probably four or five times that of Little Aardvark’s.

Nice thing about the Virginia place was that it was mostly clean – no dust on any of the good in the front, and the books were well-organized by game and title. If I’d been there looking for RPG stuff or Wargaming stuff, I’d have been set.

Unfortunately, I was looking for parlor games. The little corner in the back reminded me of the “pervy” section of old video stores. The light bulb overhead was dim, the packages heavily manhandled with cellophane and cardboard torn. The games were in semi-alpha order…. but not quite. Some stuff was on pegs, some on shelves, some boxes lay half open. I might’ve wept openly for the poor pente tube in the corner without a visible lid or board inside.

I can’t find a thing that I want. BHK spots Treehouse and Ice Towers on the wall… I get excited, and ask about some other games, almost sure that he’ll know something about one or more of these… almost all are major award winners, and have a pretty large following.

Do you have

Nope, nope and nope. We had money for a game or three more burning a hole in our pocket, and finally asked…

“OK, then… based on what we mentioned… what do you recommend? We like fun, fast-paced games with a mix of strategy and random chance. What do you have that’s cute with a deck of cards and a die in it?”

The proprietor was too busy playing mechwarrior with another regular at the store to give us any more answer than “if it’s not on the shelf, we don’t have it…”

Not a very talkative fellow, unless he was reciting how many bonuses he had to hit the other toy robot on the board. So much for me pumping him for info regarding the old florida store or reminiscing… I suspect that the Florida CS burned down when he was maybe three years old.

That sort of disappointed us… BHK asked him about a high school clique game, and he said he’d never played it, but a guy friend did, and didn’t much like it. That was the most extensive review we got from him… heck, those were the most words spoken to us at one time.

Still no other advice, so we browsed for about a half hour or so, found a few games, and noted to purchase them elsewhere. Chez Goth, Treehouse with Martian Coasters, Puerto Rico. That’s like $100 or so worth of games, I’d guess. He lost the only sale it looked like he might make that day.

The best aspect of going was that we got some freebie Star Wars constructable ship-combat game as throwaway swag. We got a spare for Amy, too, for when she comes up to visit next week.

{edit – We got a response to this entry from the manager of the store, shortly after it was published. See it here}

On our way to another game store in the Virginia area, Alan rang us up, and we all went out the the Lebanese butcher for some tasty falafel, hummus with pine nutes, and baba ghanoush.

Instead of dorking around, we trundled over to his place in the city… *very* nice. Alan has a real flair for design, and his home is like a showcase… TM, BHK, and I gabbed with him for a bit about Pollack’s strengths and weaknesses, including the Guggenheim dirt, and he played piano for us for a bit. He’s a very talented guy, and a kind host… I’m glad to have him as part of the family.

DSCN5850

See video of him playing here

We returned home, tired but feeling good about the day – it ended a lot better than it had begun.

1 year ago – furniture, kevin smith & superman, pocket windows (note- add to new flash drive), coral square mall pictures, fin fang foom, algorithm march w/ninjas, girls on walls

2 years ago – broward and fed autostitch, visited kev, walkabout pictures with rastas and shirtless, tell-tale heart in street signs, overheard

3 years ago – spidey, weather, let them sing it for you, freddy vs gb

4 years ago – remembering the keys, overtime psa, comic books, workman’s comp, prostate cancer

5 years ago – newt in sink, bro gets viper fins sponsor, pesky security, badly drawn images on a bumpy road, punquin finds my 125 item list

6 years ago – Evil News, bad joke, crux, random journals, nice thing poll, designer’s lament, laptop space bar weird, hatt-baby, email plain text

7 years ago – Enjoyed the X-men movie, 1974 memory visiting Florida, reprint of Scooby & the occult, insomnia Geotarget

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8915 – Saturday

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Nice restful day out and about. We took a little trip to College Park and actually drove past the heart of Looney Labs, in fact. (Saw the address in the phone book, and did a quick scan while in the area) Had we realised that the place wasn’t just a house, and was actually a office up above a home, I think we might have stuck our noses inside to say hello. They’re not too far off, so maybe another road trip is in the cards?

geekWe went to two comic book stores… the “Collector’s Crypt” and a Liberty Books and Games – “We’re a libertarian bookstore and sell comics from disorganised piles” – The stores were pretty messy… Liberty’s, fortunately had a few games right by the front door, including a trusty, if dusty deck of Chrononauts – just fine, as it’s wrapped in plastic (and was the primary reason we went there in the first place). Funny thing about that store was that all the libertarian stuff was neatly organized… though I suspect that was in part due to a lack of interest by the patrons. The comic books, vintage paperbacks and whatnot else were stacked more than a little haphazardly throughout the place. Standard stereotypical comic shop, not bad, but far from good – Plus was that the proprietor was more than happy to help us locate what we were looking for.

Upon leaving, we chanced upon a local Smoothie King. In comic book guy’s voice – Worst Smoothies Ever. I don’t know what was going on, but bleagh. The iced and blended tush-sweat from a llama… with a hint of blueberry. Something very wrong with those drinks… like picking a scab, I had to keep tasting it to figure out the worst aspect of the drink. Is it the metallic aftertaste? The vaguely compost-like banana? The brownish-color of our sludgy slurry? Oh, for a glass of water or kerosene to wash away the filth! Perhaps I exaggerate… but not by much.

At the Crypt, there was a lot of interesting stuff in a space smaller than my closet at home… however the hat-trick of:

  • no air conditioning
  • poor lighting / too dark to read covers
  • sort of creepy-skeevy proprietor

caused us to toddle out fairly swiftly. All other fears aside, no A/C in a tiny room filled with dusty books is just a recipe for a moldy sneeze fit. Crypt is indeed a good moniker for the place. Though it was disturbing that foodstuff (twist-tied bags of trail mix and malted milk balls) was stored in places that would give him some heath code violations, the proprietor (looking akin to the unshaven Spaulding Clown of House of 1000 corpses fate) was watching “Beyond Westworld” on a bootleg DVD, (it seems that the bulk of his business is out of print or third-generation gray-market copies of Japanese / Mexican Wrestler / TV pilots). BHK picked up some Andy Griffith Show trading cards to calm herself after tasting the horrid smoothies. Additionally, they carried no Treehouse /

We hit the grocer on the way home in the hopes that we can make some decent smoothies sometime tomorrow to finish counterbalancing the effects. Yogurt ahoy!

Well, enough of those parenthetical statements… perhaps I’ll take a page from Ldy’s writing, and incorporate footnotes. Nah.

1 year ago – rip webmonkey, skipping dragon*con, personal growth post recap, newt on porch pic

2 years ago – mp, kev, $, Rs, the love god mp3, update info about me, tag cloud, allergy

3 years ago – construction webbing, fonts, celebs, web cam fights crime

4 years ago – braced, zombie pumpkin fights, insanity script, insurance stupidity

5 years ago – dream about graypumpkin at the paint store, little people, domed 3d displays,great ape project, 28 things quiz, sue the teacher trend, mental comfort

6 years ago – cool mini or not, vatic, cool things about moving, smoothies, misc news, age poll, counter testing, chocolate bees, Victorian Sex Cry Generator, what’s for supper, coloring book concept germ

7 years ago – Newtcam’s own page posted Geotarget

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8913 – Thursday

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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

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8907 – Sunday – 8

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I forgot to mention that we picked up Hot Brain last night, and did a little walk-shopping in Barnes and Noble.

My current (one game in) abilities are: (on a 0-120 scale)

  • Logic – 118.03
  • Math – 120.00
  • Memory – 67.16
  • Language – 112.50
  • Concentration – 60.40

Average Brain temp – 95.618 – red hot… but a lot of room for improvement, especially in the Concentration and Memory Department. They’re pretty fun little logic puzzles.

Hot Pixel is next on my psp game-list.

Sunday was primarily about chores and getting to things that needed doing. My end of things included kitty litter, laundry folding, insurance forms, a letter to bro, amongst others.

Watched the good bits of Night of the Comet and then The Frighteners while folding clothes, etc. Makes things that much more wonderful. Super hot outside, so gardening was kept to the shade or out of the sun as much as possible.

BHK and I took took an all-too-brief excursion to a new candy store that opened about a week ago in North Beach. I suspect it won’t do as well as the other one, even though the older of them keeps banker’s hours at best. He simply has been there longer, and is right on the boardwalk strip. The new store is right where BHK used to work… I got to buy some gummi taperworms where she first IM’ed me about 4 years ago. Hard to believe that was a landmark moment leading to us getting together. Heck, it’s hard to believe we’re well over seven months married, come to think of it. I would never have guessed back then that I’d be living outside of Florida now.

At about the end of Frighteners, Louise and the in-laws swung by to chow down on goodies from our garden. Tina and Doug couldn’t make it as they were pooped from a the road trip.

Pictures of our garden’s bounty – beets, stuffed peppers, peas, green beans, potatoes, squash, zucchini. BHK makes veggies that even a little kid would gladly attack and consume. I didn’t think that I’d like the beets, but they were surprisingly good. I’m still not crazy about leeks.

0708071952.jpg 0708071952a.jpg

After supper, we watched Shag with the gang, ate a Klondike bar, and then called it a night. (Side Note – Annabeth Gish was a lot more cute back in the day than in her X-files period)

1 year ago – nearly naked neighbors, gray day, mob supply pic, newt pics,

2 years ago – talked to Arnie’s Sec, newt and graffiti pix, autostitch, wifi theft arrest, reality show premises, j-walk on podcasts, programmer joke, google maps goodies, flightgear, wifi hotspot backpack, my messy office, bear-knocking, sex pred info pages

3 years ago – combos/snausages , wisdom, serving sizes, ramen, Rockford Files, Planetarium pictures, weather, sock thief

4 years ago – call block, snapple, intelligence gathering, Batroc, flashback cartoon, addictive data

5 years ago – oz/floyd connection, pimps at sea, rss feeds start, cat dreams

6 years ago – cej returns, unpacking videos, 1992 tax info, the challenge, corn chowder, kubrick quiz

7 years ago – Rowlf sings, April actually kicks back a few bucks, pondering a new recorder Geotarget

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8905 – Friday the 6th

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Lots done at work today… a good ending to the week. I have to get with CS first thing on Monday (or after she’s back) about streamlining more processes. I’m pretty pleased with the current learning curve and the gang there thus far.

Outside of work – Autorealm – reminder to self – investigate other uses.

Tonight, we’d planned on a visit to see Sweeney Todd – but the venue wasn’t up to the task of seating us. However, we may make plans make it easier in the future. (Thoroughly Modern Millie may have better odds.) instead, we wandered around Annapolis, had a lovely bite to eat at Davis’ Pub (the onion rings were especially to my liking) and then went to see the latest Die Hard movie. Not bad… took place in Baltimore / DC (sort of a one globby city) and had lots of explosions and beaten up Bruce Willis in it.

We also got to visit the Maryland Kwik-E-Mart – pictures will follow of this nifty bit-o-advertising later in the week. Our Clerks were I. P. Freely, and Mae B. Drunk.

I would really like to get this… (via ectoplasmosis )

octo

During a routine underwater expedition, these unfortunate frogmen were attacked by a giant radioactive octopus! Will their harpoon guns, daggers and pruning shears be enough to defeat this terror of the deep or will they all be eaten alive? Each set includes twelve, 2-1/2″ hard vinyl frogmen and one, 9″ soft vinyl octopus that glows in the dark!

Frogmen vs. Radioactive Octopus

also via ecto –

Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was found dead on Monday aged 44, was a louche German aristocrat with a multi-faceted history as a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant waster and a reckless and extravagant host of homosexual orgies…

The great-great-grandson of Prince Otto, Germany’s Iron Chancellor and architect of the modern German state, the young von Bismarck showed early promise as a brilliant scholar, but led an exotic life of gilded aimlessness that attracted the attention of the gossip columns from the moment he arrived in Oxford in 1983 and hosted a dinner at which the severed heads of two pigs were placed at either end of the table.

When not clad in the lederhosen of his homeland, he cultivated an air of sophisticated complexity by appearing in women’s clothes, set off by lipstick and fishnet stockings.

Count Gottfried von Bismarck Obituary GeotargetVisitor Map

1 year ago – gamer soap, Christian Democracy myth, death bypasses convictions, ln quiz

2 years ago – Bard’s Tale, bro/snarly, solfeggio, Easter manatee rush, Tropical Storms Cindy and Dennis, heroclix, bro relocating

3 years ago – creepy Vizcaya pictures, cake man, Lego zombies, edible panties with twizzlers, Helped Danny set up website, JLU

4 years ago – harry potter quiz, history returns

5 years ago – bad sleeps, odd dreams, bed frame replaced, stats, LJ scam, villain supply, reading Earth, getting used to bro as neighbor, Scotto factoid poll

6 years ago – tirade, suberic, slinky/cult, evil news

7 years ago – got a nice letter from Christin, Emo Philips GeotargetVisitor Map

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8901 – Monday

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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

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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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8895 – Thursday

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Took BHK and her mom out for Mexican dinner last night, as the mom-in-law is a bachelorette while LB is in Salem, working on the house to be rented. I think CB will head up there with Tigger this weekend, and depending on how our guest plans pan out, perhaps BHK or possibly even the two of us will go up to help straighten things out as well.

I look at the commute to work with planner’s eyes lately… which I find funny, due to suspicions that much of Maryland’s growth has gone far outside any of her initial city / county-wide designs. The way a tiny village can swell to a small town and even a huge city like Baltimore is a fascinating evolution.

Perhaps it’s due to my new job and playing Sim City / Carcassone-type games, but looking at residential areas, how roads, rivers and rail act as amazing connection between homes, churches, businesses, farms, graveyards and whatnot. There are many relationships between people and terrain. I love how almost every church here has an attached bone yard, and how broad the space can appear be between the towns. Sometimes, it’s only one road into and out of town, which gives a huge sense of isolation, but also one of knowing that it is connected to *somewhere* else. The fact that I can wander around and see so much history (granted, the majority from the 18th century onward) fascinates me to no end. Sometimes when I look at places in Calvert County, I can mentally see what it was like before older structures weathered so much and the newer structures were put in between (or added onto the elder ones). Still-operating horse drawn buggies driven by the Amish frequently help with the visualization.

There are old bridge pilings without the road-sections across the top near 95 that look like ancient ruins; the new on-ramp doesn’t really match the travel route of the old path. I wonder how many abandoned roads and paths were lost once asphalt and gasoline-powered vehicles became the standard?

Sometimes it seems like each little town is made from the same (or at least very similar) parts from the one just before it, up the road a ways. That church was on the other side of the road, and the tobacco barn was brown, not gold… and about a half-mile to the northeast. The whole place was at the foot of the hill, not the top. Sometimes it seems as if the people are slightly interchangeable, as well. Soccer mom with stroller and dog. Old geezer picking up trash on the side of the road. High school kids futzing around.

The Suburbs are different than the Commuter Towns of Bowie and Waldorf… I prefer North Beach to either of those locations.

Don’t get me started on the DC roads. I don’t blame L’Enfant’s great design, as so many others came and revised the plans, but I’ll always prefer a two-way travel grid-type situation over curves for major city roads. One-way streets that curve up onto themselves and don’t simply run N/S or E/W is just asking for trouble. That said, it is a beautiful place to see.

Tonight’s supper of zucchini and squash parm with cheese tortellini and salad was fantastic. The soy flour really holds onto the veggies better than wheat. BHK really did a fantastic job! There’s a nice feeling when 80% of what’s on the dinner table is grown in your back yard – The only things bought were the salad dressing, cheese tortellini, flour, and drinks. I’m really looking forward to our potatoes and peas coming in soon… I’m also contemplating soybeans and a beehive for next year. And maybe a pair of overalls and a wide-brimmed straw hat. 😉GeotargetVisitor Map

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8893 – Wednesday –

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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.

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8891 – entered via palmtop at lunch

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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

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8890 – Monday

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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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