Tag Archives: games

9241 – Wednesday

Got home, showed BHK where the PSP charger was, and we gamed for about a half hour… She played Luxor, while I just got to Black Mesa East in HL2. (For a 4 year old game, I’m digging it – I’ve never played it, so it’s new to me… the only distraction is the voicework… Lou Gossett Jr and Robert Guillome are very distinct.) I’ll miss the airboat portion of the game… I had a lot of fun tooling around the canals.

Crashed out right after supper last night – 9pm and zonk! out like a light. I don’t even really remember what was on tv… Oh, right, Samantha who. It’s a cute show, but I get the feeling that it’s already jumped the shark.

Dinner was tasty leftovers – Stuffed peppers and pizza.



Quite enjoying all the loot I’m getting at http://drop.io/scottobear ! Thanks, dear journal!



D’oh! I’m going to have to miss seeing Tally Hall tomorrow night… I’d rather catch them than the pope! I’m not braving that traffic, even if the Beatles were jamming with the Grateful Dead (including George, John, and Jerry)

Good ol’ Banana Man. I also dig Good Day.



Lawsuits stemming from a series of fatal bus accidents in 2007 have forced Metro to set aside $43 million for settlements in next year’s budget, the most ever. via the Examiner



1 year ago – random access, punch buggy theory, eats, garden progress, VT shooting, bro probation, organic / haunted stones, deer meat.

2 years ago – easter peeps, Franciscans, freeware, bald headed cocktail sauce, lj top40, easter lunch, bugs bunny toon, newtcam action pics, SL easter pics

3 years ago – oona tested, remembering D, walker tx ranger, CD biz, Bulk License-Plate Scanning by Helicopter, Amityville Horror

4 years ago – Cheeburger Cheeburger w/Dan, Ella Enchanted, got dreamt about, LH started / CS trimmed down, Coh Reset, weird email correspondence with a person that thought I was some sort of pantheist.

5 years ago – JKG Job desc, Honda cog movie, walkabout palm art – thin lines

6 years ago – cube test, Dangerous labs, threebrain, work stuff (network names)

7 years ago – pulchritude, leitmotif, objectives. (sakes, is lappie 7 years old!?! at least it’s got windows 2000 rather than Me(h) on it now)Geotarget



9237 – Sunday

I forgot to mention what we did after getting my allergy shots yesterday! We stopped off at Giant, grabbed some rolls, cheese, mustard and turkey (last one just for BHK), then toddled over to Dunkirk District Park. Pretty cool place – has a nice skate ramp, lots of picnic tables, wooded areas, fields for baseball, basketball, tennis and lacrosse. I get the feeling that as it warms up, it’ll be the kids place to be.

We polished off our sammiches, and got back in the car just in time to beat the rain – it was still coming down pretty hard when we picked up our rosebushes – They look like bundles of dirty stick for now, but just wait a month… they’ll be in the ground by May 1… after the worst chance of another cold snap has passed.

Went to Sneade’s for some more seeding trays, a springtime flag for our pole (it’s cute – a beehive – “home is where my honey is” I need to check permissions for putting in a hive of my own out back this year), and a few grilly-items. Saw Larry there, and invited him and Chris over to do some grilling on Sunday… he reminded us that the United States Navy Band was playing – for some reason, we thought it was Sunday night… so we headed home, had a little nap, got cleaned up, and enjoyed some note-perfect music. It was a band, not an orchestra – BHK was missing the strings section, but made up for it by enjoying the percussion and giggling at the high cheese factor of the announcer / vocalist’s styling of Man of La Mancha.

The concert was only an hour long – we picked up Chris (who wasn’t interested in attending), and all headed to Thursday’s. It was quite good.

Anyhow – We did chores and stayed close to home today. BHK worked on the yard, while I got us caught up with last minute Taxes (That’s why Chris didn’t attend – running last minute scenarios.) My first year of filing jointly as a married sort of fellow – a bit different than filing alone. Lots of deductions this year – health care, homestead, school loan interest… I guess I’m a grownup after all. Good thing is that we’re getting some going back, not to mention the “gimme” from the govt that everyone’s getting.

We’ll sock some of it away, put some towards furniture, I suspect – a new mattress, or upholstering the coming couch, maybe?

BHK beat me at Hacienda again, but it was dang close. If I had one more turn, I might’ve beaten her. Alas, I did not! Still, it was a good game, and I think we had a lot of fun playing.

Rules of thumb – get as many markets as you can, as fast as you can! Don’t bother saving money… the three turn limit cuts what you can spend pretty hard.

I suspect I’ll sneak in a game of Wishes Were Fishes next week. Failing that – maybe if we go do paint your own pottery, I’ll make us a set of Tally-Ho! (I discovered it at Yucata… it’s close to a combination of my plans for Brier Patch and Pumpkin with Icehouse pyramids – likely a better play design, too)

Pizza and Nature documentary time with the in-laws tonight! Until Later, Dear Journal!



1 year ago – Friday the 13th, picture of me as hector hammond, talkers, palm doodle under the sea, eclairs, shocking cats

2 years ago – get together?, odds & ends mp3, reality settings, on call stuff, dr who remixes (& scooby doo), transit links

3 years ago – headhunter, dr who, hovering sombrero, little cowpoke didn’t take, Dworkin, Belle & Jen interested in remixed cds, ADP adds junk, KJ and Oona arrive.

4 years ago – easter afters, THC high enough to be considered hard drugs, rainy photo, leaping gnome scotto

5 years ago – bro issues, jkg, landlord

6 years ago – bigfoot research, local cams, lazy, SANTO!, Yellow pestilence, superhero movies, Bill & Ted

7 years ago – food & feelings, good friday, virtual omGeotarget

9236 – Saturday

After work yesterday, we intended to visit to Larry’s School and watch The Scarlet Pimpernel. No such luck- timing was against us, so we just grabbed some Mama Lucia’s pasta, and went home.

I’ve had very restless sleep lately, maybe getting only 2 or 3 good hours in a night. I’m hoping to play a little catch-up this weekend, and get my body back into a reasonable schedule.

Hard to say for sure, because it is dang nice outside lately.



BHK trotted out Hacienda today, and we played the analog (rather than online ) version.. she beat me soundly (by >40 points!), but now I have a better grip on the rules. She’ll continue to beat me, no doubt, but it’ll be more of a challenge for her.

Still waiting to spring Wishes Were Fishes… maybe tomorrow!


So… what ever happened to the Doom Patrol Movie, anyway? The TBA was set for 2008 . Hm. Says 2009 here. (They bought the rights in 2006.)

Ah Well, it’d be hard for me to see Cliff Steele and Negative Man (plus whatever other combo they dream up) in a live-action setting. Too surreal, maybe.

I’m still all for it, in almost any permutation, as long as it has Robotman, and Monsieur Mallah & The Brain. (Of course, I’d prefer Grant Morrison’s Team of Crazy Jane, Rebis, Robotman, The Chief (Not the Head) and with backup of Dorothy Spinner, Joshua Clay and Danny the Street, if possible.) Please leave all of the Rachel Pollack aping of Morrison’s run out, especially how she snuffed out Cliff and Jane’s relationship.

Sure, while I’m at it, hire me as an extra for a million dollars a day, plus craft service.

Side Note – it was rather neat to see a Larry Trainor cameo in Justice League: New Frontier.

Doom Patrol and GP’s more oddball games were some of my favorites – Z-squad, FOCUS and the like (Even HHH, for its brief existence) added a touch of the sinister and surreal to otherwise fairly boring fare. Funny how back in the day I’d have enjoyed identifying with Cliff or Josh, or even RPing an analogue – Rebis would be something too alien or powerful to be anything but a GM device, I think.. unless you were playing a very low powered one, and just let the ref take control every here and again. (Of which I’m also not too partial – I prefer to play my own characters.)
Best times were with miniMAX, but Zero, Run-around Sue and Le Grenouille were not too bad for a one or “two shot” quickie. I hear that they’re doing a Brave & the Bold cartoon – teaming Batman up with an assortment of “Hero of the week” types – Green Arrow, Blue Beetle, Aquaman, and whoever else they can toss in there. Funny about no mention of Superman. I really like the look of the art – silver-agey – kid friendly but still cool. Maybe they’ll work in elongated man or the Martian Manhunter, for a nice light hearted but solid detective episode. Looks like Batman will be in every episode, so it’s unlikely I’ll ge t acool Hawkman / Atom story, but who knows where it’ll go if successful? I really dug the Justice League and the transition it took to JLU – maybe lightning can strike twice.

Those were some of my most enjoyable games, GP running while Kat and I played – solid “Buddy Movie” dynamic, with plenty of time to get characterization and limelight in for everyone, every episode. Green Lantern & Dr. Mid-nite (I always wanted to see her Doc Mid-nite get together with Robin – perfect wholesome super-couple, miniMAX & Ghost, Trism & Kyoko (with sidekicks). I miss those games, sometimes – it was good, clean fun – you didn’t have to beat something up every session, and it wasn’t a bunch of fan wank, either.



1 year ago – rainy day, auto-deploy lj, tk experiments fail, small town feel

2 years ago – Newt in Zefrank’s video, yoink doodle, met with gp and kat, cool gifitis, squishie photos, kev at gimo, mady at chem lab, ab fired

3 years ago – new semagic, video shoot pics, RI calls me mouthy, neon sign, carrot flowers, robot guards

4 years ago – wanting a long weekend, GP mentions a detente, CoH, Butterflies of NA

5 years ago – Power out silence, ut2k3, there.com fun.

6 years ago – angry kid, baha men, freedom force, sniffing around for the girlie, Kidalicious gets a new Baby!

7 years ago – identifying with Sam the Sheepdog, people in your neighborhood poll, livejournal observation, chupacabra sightings upGeotarget





9235 – Friday!

Ah, the end of another week… I’m looking forward to a gentle weekend, this go ’round. Sleepy This morning.

Recent doodles –

Me in the office, post saying Shazam! Regarding Uncle Dudley/Uncle Marvel. During the classic era, an old man named Dudley (who was clearly modeled after W. C. Fields) claimed that he was not only a relative of the Marvels but also a Marvel himself, although neither was true. The Marvels took a liking to him and decided to humor him, and “Uncle” Dudley became Uncle Marvel, the Marvel Family’s manager. He’d make his “transformation” along with one or more of the others, but not by magic; rather, by quickly removing his break-away garments (under the cover of lightning that the real Marvel(s) called down) to reveal his homemade Marvel costume underneath. He explained his lack of super-powers by claiming he suffered from “shazambago”. In modern continuity, Dudley H. Dudley is simply a janitor at Billy’s school who finds himself involved in Marvel Family adventures, although in one story he was temporarily given Shazam powers to help round up the escaped Seven Deadly Enemies of Man.

Oh, my Shazambago!

Green monkey-alien in a bubble. He’s wearing his bubble summoning-belt, of course. He’s been climbing a lot, note his filthy hands and feet. I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a damn, dirty ape, however. I was thinking a little bit of Rescue on Fractalus recently, thus the cheesy lines and markings. The hammerhead alien Jaggi had great pop-up spook value in his day. Soft hearted for Planet of the Apes, Martian Manhunter, and Bubble-force fields all unwrapped into that, I guess.



Dealing with “customer service” regarding bugs, bug fixes, and time lines. I seemed to get only one word answers, with no detail as to where, when or how items would be fixed. I ultimately got it worked out, via my own trouble tree and specific questions, but it was like pulling teeth… on a rampaging hippo. I’m just glad that it’s now mostly functioning.



Dreamt of our bathroom being tiled with Hershey bars, and grouted with marshmallow. Hershey bars aren’t my absolute fave… why not milky ways, or mars bars? I guess the flat rectangle looks more like tile to my sleeping mind. Last night after work Chris, BHK and I went to Maerten’s, to check out the sale preview. Chris bought a ton of nice stuff… BHK got a cute pair of sterling bumblebee earrings and a little silver bean / bead on a box chain. Honestly, I like what BHK got more, though Chris’s items were pretty, too. Post sale, we hit Thai Inter for some yummy feed. It was a bit of a hike to return home late afterwards, but I think it was worth it – the gals had fun.



I can’t say as I’ve ever referred to anything as “a real corker.” I’d think that I might’ve, but probably not. I prefer “it’s a hoot!” or the like.



Pleased that we did get the 2007 homestead exemption after all, but looks like 2008 is a no-go. at least we have time to save up a wee bit before 4/15/2009.



Something to make BHK happy –

“The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday its Pixar animation studio will commit to 3-D by releasing all of its movies in the format beginning with “Up” in May 2009. Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter made the announcement in New York at a presentation of Disney’s upcoming lineup of animated movies.”




The Wall Street Journal says that a video production company that earned 90% of its revenue from taping Walmart’s internal meetings over the past 30 years has lost the Walmart account—but retained the rights to the video library.

Now the videos are available to anyone who wants to see them —for a price. Lawyers, reporters, activists and journalists are lining up at the production company’s tiny new office, cash in hand.



1 year ago – a day in the life animated doodle, bhk’s lasagna, feeling draggy, busy at work

2 year ago – mp3, gp & kat missed, b5 / dr who, blue tarps, cloud pic

3 years ago – tv-shoot, whale cam, regional anthropology, sesame street, dream Bhk & Pye, Gamer quiz, illuminati, little cowpoke, celeb diaries, i feel great, moist towelettes, astronaut jones, 9 years for spammer, bush toy

4years ago
– easter, peeps, image collages, pelicans, spidey-2

5 years ago – first 4 children in the vampire game, got my offer from JKG

6 years ago – Programmer / Engineer gag, lovely private entries, including Blackstone’s Reading.

7 years ago – pork taco brain worm, Power-puff Scotto, grove meeting, An open letter to browser sniffers, agogGeotarget

9231 – Tuesday.

BHK and I aren’t watching as much TV as usual… I suspect we’re hitting an ebb tide right now. However, things may change once the new shows start rolling in again. I believe that there was a new Samantha, Who on last night, and I imagine that once Psych and Burn Notice start to roll again, we’ll be watching at least a few hours a week.

After supper last night, we came home, had some razzles and read (or did Internet research on the Tidal Basin Inlet Bridge – had to find out what was up with this sculpture/grotesque on the side.)



50 things you’ve done meme continues at 47 – I…


47.’built more than a few models as a kid. Not always well-done…. but I always did ’em to completion, even if some got the lighter treatment for “battle damage”. At my youngest, I did snap-together models of cars that could be played with right afterward – pretty rewarding… the more advanced ones like aircraft carriers and tanks always had guns and tiny airplanes that would easily fall off or break if played with too roughly…. plus, dust and dirt wrecked paint jobs.


This might be why I’m a little attracted to Warhammer or just painting minis. Models you can play with are something extra special. I still don’t know if I want to do Warhammer Fantasy or some other system… meanwhile, I may just get some paints and work on army men / mage knight leftover figures that could use a little color or customization. I’m due to make BHK and myself some updated figures, as I don’t have long hair anymore, and I never did make one of her.


Maybe it’s time for us to investigate Fimo and the like, too? Image on the right is an ancient one of Danny and me fending off a few zombies on a papercraft bridge.



1 year ago – Easter doodle – eggs, sweetest thing.

2 years ago – math problem, kitten auth, triffid tree, walkabout thoughts

3 years ago – golf day, audio entry, ransom notes, Stuffed animal seven, google maps silliness, 3-coffin pope burial, pirates and fonts!

4 years ago – Religious notes, Super Mommy and Evil robo-lights, Manatee Escaped Tracking , Nevada, and stupid CS

5 years ago – Rachel, dreads, Easter

6 years ago – Rick comments about QaF, Happy to come home, yahoo dilemma, elephants, sleeping in airports, singing Eugene, virtual om

7 years ago – back talk, Dan’s spring break, got a grove gig!, beautiful worldGeotargetVisitor Map




9228 – Sunday

We rested the bulk of Saturday, but went out yesterday evening to hit good ol’ Aardvark Comics – picked up the Showcase Jonah Hex, the 50th Anniversary edition of Diplomacy, and a few other nibs and nabs – BHK subscribed to her first book (Avengers Fairy Tales – 4 part series), and I got the latest All Star Superman. Good stuff, that Superman. Post Aardvark, we hit a local Japanese food place… benihana sort fo place with sushi. The stuff was better than most, not as awesome as Joss. Oh! I almost forgot! We stopped at Rita’s for “fro-yo”. I got the fat free stuff, and I think the chemistry hit my gastric centers a little too heavily. I’ll be calling them diarRhita’s for the foreseeable future. The problem resolved itself quickly, however.

Today, Lounged most of the morning, – Was going to hit the car show with Larry and BHK, but it was rained out. Left the house abuot noon, got a haircut, and then zipped off with BHK to have lunch with Cathi & Dave at Mexico. Mexico was a little off of their game, but it was still yummy. Post feeding, we paused at the Dunkirk Starbucks for a couple of hours of Apples to Apples over water, coffee and a little late dessert. (I won all games played… I feel a little bad about that, because I’m not really there to win, just to socialise and be silly. Psych-ops tactics work especially well with that crew.) Ended the day with a quick buzz of the local wal-mart, and then home to chill out and prep for Monday.


1 year ago – walkabout pictures (DC area), SMIB

2 years ago – loki, fundraiser, 33 questions, morning pictures, palm post bro, tree dream

3 years ago – appointment, bro homeless, electron thoughts, videos, broken umbrellas, space 1999:waka waka, 300 island resort, typo on bus, walkies pictures, beaten barricade

4 years ago – smelly books, surreal compliments, passover joke, vampire game

5 years ago – sleeveless smock, downloadable toons, bunky kabalarians, colossal squid, CoC props.

6 years ago – landlord visit, green monkey pizza, pop pardoned the knights templar,nazi-looking stamp, Japanese business card etiquette, movies, tubers

7 years ago – Killer noise, looking for a job as a flaneur, Dave & Cathi PreggersGeotarget


9217 – sunday

BHK sick … Nothing serious, but she’s got a tummy bug. Party food and pizza was rough on her innards I think. After Alice’s party yesterday, we swung by Games Workshop – picked up a present for someone else and a warhammer (fantasy) rulebook for me. BHK looks interested in painting minis… maybe we’ll build an army or two, to add to the games closet?

I’m eyeing lizard men and ogres,(primarily for yhetees ) or my old standby of dwarfs vs orcs & goblins. (might get the battle for skull pass starter kit, comes with the latter)



Saturday, it was about 50… Friday, it was 76F outside.. the day before it was in the 40s. see-saw, much, mama nature?

I like David Horvitz‘s plan for doing things for mostly just the cost of expenses. The apologies and mailbox bit, especially.


Why I agree that detoxification is quackery.


Get to know me quiz-meme thingum – have I done this one before?

Where did you get the shirt you’re wearing?
Bought it at value city with BHK!

How do you think your last ex deserves to die?
Just by living her life the way she wants.


List three words to describe your mother.
Bostonian, Friendly, Bright

Do you want to get married?
Yep, and did.

Would you date someone you “met” on MySpace?
I dated and married a girl I met on LJ!

What do you think of internet dating?
Whatever works is ok by me.

If you could be any cartoon character, who would you be and why?
Plastic Man is good… as are most 3rd string supers.

Ever considered yourself crazy?
Sure – everyone is a little nuts.

When was the last time you saw your (biological) dad?
In the flesh? On his deathbed.

What make, model, and color was your first car?
powder blue chevy gran torino 440 four barrel. 4-door. you could hear the gasoline being slurped.

Did you ever believe you had a monster or ghost living in your closet?
A beast in the basement, perhaps.

Have you ever had a crush on someone younger than you?
Well, of course! I was pretty crush-happy for more than a few years.

Do you have any odd deformities?
nothing too odd. Back curves a bit, I’m a bit larger than most in height and width.

What is the blanket you sleep with like?
coverlets – cotton filled with synthetic stuffing. Newt and BHK keep me the most warm.

Have you ever gone to band camp?
No.. regular summer camp, yes.

If you could do something and know you’d never get caught or punished, what would it be?
I’ll tell you later, if I get the plans to work out.

Are you missing any body parts that you were born with?
my baby teeth, bits of spinal column.

Have you ever been a bully?
Not deliberately, but I may have steamrolled a few people by accident.

Have you ever been bullied?
Certainly.

Do your dreams haunt you?
No.. it’s hard to remember them, most days.

Have you ever had an anxiety attack?
Not medically diagnosed, but I have had a freak out or two.

Who is someone you wish you could fix things with?
I’d like to repair my brother’s mental state.. I don’t really have anyone that I need ot fix things with socially.

What does the last text message in your inbox say, and who’s it from?
better pic – picture of pyewacket on the shelf. from BHK via Larry’s phone.

What’s a happy time you’ve had in the past week?
A lot.. friday and saturday with BHK were lovely! aquarium, puttering, whee!

Is there anything in your past that you’d like to try again?
Not sure what this means.. redo? do again because I enjoyed it? I’d like the past to remain the same, and keep doing things that make me and my family happy.

Who do you spend your nights with?
BHK, pye and newt.

Are you an emotional person?
I tend to be.


Are you self-conscious?
I’m self-aware. I don’t really mind myself too much.


What’s something that can always make you feel better?
Snuggling with BHK and the kitties.


Do you tend to make relationships complicated?
I try to simplify things.


One thing you’re looking forward to?
next weekend, friday fun-day off


How do you feel about change?
I prefer folding money. I think change can be good or bad.. depends on what’s changing. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.


What are you not looking forward to?
getting up before 5am tomorrow.


What are your plans for your next birthday?
heck if I know. Probably cake, kitties and BHK in some combination.


Do you even care about your birthday?
Not really. I like family, fun and food anytime.


Do you think anyone out there loves you?
I’d say so! I’d say I’m nicely loved.


Do you still talk to the person you LAST kissed?
I just asked her if she wanted a drink.


Have you ever seen your best friend cry?
Yes.


When is the next time you will make out with somebody?
A little personal! When BHK is feeling better, no doubt.

Who’s the second person on your missed call list?
BHK – from when I made my voice post, ages ago.


Is anything bothering you right now?
my back, mostly.

Are you a cuddler?
I can be… I prefer to.


Has anyone disappointed you recently?
nothing new, same stuff with bro


Will this weekend be a good one?
I suspect it will! 3 day weekend!

Do you get attached to people easily?
Those I care about, yes.


What happened a year ago from today?
see below!


Are you looking forward to tomorrow?
Well, tomorrow night!


Whats one thing thats heavily weighing on your mind?
Back repair




1 year ago – view from my desk at calvert county, quizzes, geourl, bake sale!

2 years ago – MM talks to me, Danny Nominated, GP & Kat coming to town, German lesson, batman sound screencaps, zefrank starts archiving his entries, queen, quirk quiz, updating my geocode, Monkey Florida Fire News, plus whalesong

3 years ago – met mzkitten, poker spam, totem, Nostradamus Quatrain Generator, uv flower photos, doc ock song, david byrne

4 years ago – news registration, De Soto, missing digits, esp test, pirates, Nevada

5 years ago – Danny, keywords, Maryland Snow Day

6 years ago – stuff to look at, darkstar, panorama picture galleries, pulps, snap club, newt pics, troll, dragonball, RPS poll, Lj poll, easter egg recipes/cinnamon bunny bread, stream of thought – 3 minutes, cbs mystery theater

7 years ago – netcast, rent, palm tree, spaghetti-ohs, 7-up, key limits, parapsychology, slursGeotarget


Writer’s Block: If at first you don’t succeed… entry 9210

Chess. I love games, gaming, and just hanging out over a board with pieces on them… I’m quite good at checkers, pente, risk, miniatures wargaming (like car wars, Angriff!, OGRE or see icon of Danny playing Pirates), assorted icehouse and bar games, but…I simply stink at good ol’ classic chess.

I’m generally better at tactics than strategy, but I just can’t get an opening set of moves that is acceptable at all. I’m not sure why my skill with that particular game is so low – I suspect a mental block or some working of my brain just doesn’t visualize the pieces as well.Geotarget

9201 – thursday

Happy first day of Spring!!

 S6301505

Egg-dying went well… the white spots denote 4 eggs that cracked, and the ones TM took home for herself and MO. Adam took one – he’ll be giving it to a girl at school – and he certainly enjoyed the fajitas that BHK made. Larry and Chris (and mostly Adam and Tina, too) spent the bulk of the visit glued to the tube while BHK and I did the majority of coloring. My faves are the family eggs (there’s a Scotto, BHK, Pye and Newt in the mix) as well as a couple of oddballs – speckeld ones and hot pink / green… both of which are more vibrant than this photo shows. more in depth pictures later, possibly.


GP‘s got me interested in Encounter Critical. It’s by S. John Ross, an added bonus (I dig the mechanics of Risus, though I’ve never played it.)


twitterwise, I’m on the Orange Team. icons when in civilian duds, and on team business.

orangenewt - regular twitter icon.orangenewt2 - orange team icon

How could I choose another color?


I really want the cell phone legislation banning use of a handset while driving in Maryland to pass. The beltway is rough enough without people crimping necks and not looking at the road. Whatever happened to the idea of pulling over to talk?

I’d love to see some sort of magic technology that blocks non-emergency cell phone use in the driver’s side of a car while the wheels are moving.

Same goes for the front-seat DVD players, and audio systems that go louder than a range of safely hearing what’s going on outside of the vehicle, as far as I’m concerned. Color me a fascist, but I don’t need anyone being more distracted than they already are… If I could find a way to implement a breathalyser / urine tester for safe driving, I’d probably do that, too. And bumper-transponders that forbid tailgating based on the speed of the vehicles in question.

Heck, just use my magical wishing ring to stop all accidents – one of my characters, miniMAX first developed his size-changing abilities by trying to develop desolidity tech for vehicles… they never crash into one another!

After all those years, I still want a hyper-intelligent 4-inch tall talking ape to be my lab partner in fighting crime and solving the world’s ills… or clean, safe teleportation technology. Or a magic wishing ring that can put people in protective bubbles, and heal them when they’re hurt.

Thoughts about this is coming from the fact that I’m having trouble feeling a lot of sympathy for TM’s uncle…. he apparently tried to kill himself by driving his car into oncoming traffic. Seriously… I understand being in pain and lashing out, but there are *PEOPLE* driving and acting as passengers in the other cars! If you want to off yourself, I have no problem with that… but leave everyone else out of it.

I feel bad for TM, though – she’s been dealing with his nonsense for a long time, and right before this happened, she blew him off via the phone, and her other family did the same. I don’t know all the details, but I hope that once he’s out of the hospital he gets worthwhile treatment, and a maximum sentence for attempted suicide / attempted vehicular homicide / assault with a deadly weapon(car). I know his head is full of bad wiring, but I’m finding it very hard to forgive his behavior, no matter how sick he is. I just have to understand that he’s not in his right mind, and hope that he is removed from driving and doing anything that can hurt anyone else until he is sufficiently repaired.


50 things I’ve done meme continues with item 38. I…

38. ‘have written 9200 journal entries prior to this one, the vast majority of them posted publicly to the world. Some entries are only a line or two long, others are entire short stories, continued across a few posts, because each entry only holds a maximum of 65,535 bytes. (That’s about 16,000 4-letter words.) The journal will be 8 years old in just under two months.

39.’has owned scottobear.com since 1998… that was 10 years ago, March 12. It will need to be renewed again before March 11, 2013. I’ve got some time to scrape up the money to do so… it’s pretty dang cheap. My website’s look has changed a few times over the years, as has the content under the hood… it is quite due for a fresh coat of paint, and a revisit to the links contained inside. I started my first website with ol’ geocities in 94-ish, back when it was free, and before it was owned by yahoo. that arcane url is lost to me, maybe forever? Who knows if I can dig it up form the web sometime? either way, it was migrated to scottobear.com about 4 years later, and has remained there ever since.


From assorted sources (vchip, mgk, time) – a photo series of rival Kenyan tribes fighting for land with bows and arrows.

Look closely. This is Kenya, specifically a hill overlooking the Olmelil Valley, where Maasai warriors are clashing with members of the Kalenjin tribe on a regular basis. The tribal violence is a depressing comment on a country that only a year ago was promoted as a stable democracy in volatile West Africa. TIME has an interesting photo journal of the battles.

“We were using swords but they were not effective,” says Sylvester, 24, slashing a knife in the air. “In a day we can make between 80 and 100 [arrows],” he adds, refusing to give his last name out of fear. Community members pool money together to buy the necessary tools in secret; the arrows are then distributed within the neighborhood. Local leaders know about the arrow factories, but police forces do not.

Victims with arrows, sometimes poisoned, lodged in their heads and chests have become increasingly common“, say officials in Rift Valley hospitals.

“We cannot know the time of day when they (Kalenjins) will come. If they catch you off guard, you’re dead,” says Samuel, 25, holding a bundle of ready arrows.

Kalenjin elders train their boys how to use bows and arrows from an early age, the Kikuyu men say. But Kikuyus have had to learn quickly to fight back with the same tools. Several secret workshops employing 50 workers churn out bows and arrows for munition. “We have no other choice for now,” he says.


1 year ago – first full day at the calvert gig, bhk and I go shopping for work clothes, grownup table talk, spam attractive entry

2 years ago – rebis picture, deaf language, chacarron, math, phallic removal, open source, fake cigs as meds, prisoner comic book

3 years ago – Brady Kids welcome the equinox, shamrock shake, cosmic truth, mp3s,experimental gameplay, get your tasty hot sweet potatoes in Japanese,teen kidnappers, good advice, invisible mermaid airfare

4 years ago – openoffice, Visited w Dan, open door poll, people of worth

5 years ago – Al gore, Blue’s clues, Cranky Finn

6 years ago – Spring!, Socks, overturned issues, Linda let go from FMM, LJ directory, cool picture link

7 years ago – walkies, 2 chris-sites, both have long since been left dormant, lj brokenGeotarget

9199 – tues

Workity work lived up to its name – there was a lot of hustle today, still catching my breath at the bus stop.


I really want to see the John Adams series, but no HBO. I guess waiting and getting it on Netflix will have to do!


50 things I’ve done meme continues with item 36. I…

36.’was a pretty avid gamer, back in the day. At my peak, I was playing in 4 different groups a week. (Granted, some of the groups had crossover – GP and Kat were in two of ’em) I tended to compartmentalize my buddies back then – for whatever reason, I liked to keep the potatoes separate from the corn and the meat on the plate. Some friends-groups were linked, like GP & Kat, while others rarely even knew I was “gaming around”.

Best gaming group ever was probably with just GP and Kat… “Brave and The Bold” stories. Two heroes, each of us got as much airtime or limelight as we wanted, and precious little lag from pokey party-members. The 4-6 player groups were good too, but when you don’t have to wait so long for a turn in combat or a say in dialogue… it’s the best. My biggest issue with extended groups is dealing with loners (sure, works in comics, but everyone else has to go into standby while they’re off doing their own thing and hogging everyone else’s play time. Best solution for that is probably keeping a character journal, and giving the GM a *brief* list of character developments between sessions. It’s just not polite to go toddling off. I don’t mind it as much when it goes sort of hill street blues style, where groups split off together into 2 teams, dividing and conquering… but that can make things slow,too. 2 to 3 players is about perfect. (4 with a gm).. wait a minute, I think I’ve covered this a bit before.

It’s funny, but I have a mental block about most of PM’s characters I recall Black Lotus (because I ran solos for her), but I don’t remember anything more about harlequin, aside from the name. She had a swordy person, a ninja-y person, a horse-trainer, a shadow controller, some sort of fairy-friend in the Ars Magica game… but most of the names and personality slip my mind.. I think mostly because she kept her characters quite secret, though pretty heavily detailed if you did get a chance to read backstory or . I can remember Doug’s Kit, KW’s Chrysanthemum, and of course Danny’s White Bow and Man of Iron quite clearly, for good or for ill. Tony’s Silver Hammer and Russian Ben Grimm knockoff. All told, everyone had a good time.

Oh- Minglegrin… that was the name I was looking for. I can’t make fun of the name much… character names like miniMAX, Zero, Parabola, Trism, Luhki Hornblower, Doc Firestone, Chuck Hurler – not to mention character names I can’t think of off the top of my head… the albino ape from the earth’s core and the grumpy cop from the paladins game that was paired with Danny’s loony officer.


A very cool Planet of The Apes timeline. (movies, TV episodes, and etc) – GP, you might want this as a character reference!


I Am (No) Scientologist, Will Smith Says – Moviefone – I guess the boycott is off then for Hancock! BHK is happy, I’m sure.


1 year ago – Behind the Mask, Tigger Adopted!, whistle blowers get some clearance,

2 years ago – bethany, st patty plans sacked,

3 years ago – much work, webjay, Danny invite, George, potential condo piccies (many mock the pre-move decor)

4 years ago – Astronaut Jones, Square Bear, speak and spell, Frank R paul, I create an fdle syndicated lj

5 years ago – iwo jima in the rock garden, I start using jarhead, wish for peace

6 years ago – facemaker, cab stacking, poem tag, timeline, roles I’ve filled, cool bunker

7 years ago – cartoon logic that works, alice, I want tasty snack food, lone gunmen, workplace desiresGeotarget

9194 – friday

Dinner with Cathy & Dave tonight… say goodbye to any saved points when I have a slice of birthday cake. (sans army men). We played a bit of apples ot apples afterward, with Larry winning the first round, I won the second.


Added image to “The Good Life” for photo Friday – me and Newt Snoozing. (#127 )


50 things I’ve done meme continues with item 34. I…

34.’helped to plan, plant and harvest a family garden for the first time last spring. I really thought a 10 x 12 foot patch wouldn’t produce more than a little vanity salad food, but we got a huge crop, especially of peppers, zucchini and cucumbers. My faves were the potatoes and zucchini.. oven baked goodness. BHK turned my lifelong disdain for zucchini into love with her baked veggies in soy flour, and covered in tomato sauce. Yum. Potatoes, I’ve always had a fondness for.


I guess I’m coming late to this info, but per springheel jack – “RIP Basic (ad-free) Accounts. Your current ‘basic’ accounts are supposedly grandfathered (until they decide otherwise), but no new ones can be created. Communities too.”


The 8th Icehouse Game Design Competition is underway, and any previously unpublished game that uses Looney Labs’ Icehouse pyramids can be submitted. The deadline for entry is June 20th. Whether or not you enter, you can participate in the judging process. Details at the link above.


Current day’s eats:

Breakfast –

two breakfast granola bars

snack –

unsweetened applesauce / pretzel sticks
diet coke

lunch –

veggie pocket pie
veggies and rice

dinner –

3 slices of medium cheese and veggie pizza
Birthday cake and ice cream!


1 year ago – kitty feeding, the host, no cable modem yet.

2 years ago – sleepy, newt playing and chitty chatting, palm doodle, wifi hotsync, safety ape, sex offenders, mulligrubs

3 years ago – hello tomorrow, Robots movie, found art pictures, alligator sounds/swamp witch, silly putty, pi day, IR webcam hack, free fonts, tallyhall, ashes scattered, polar bears, open records, memory meme

4 years ago – subpages broken, Shazam!, Dead Like Me, CS sucks as a tech, vamp game

5 years ago – walkabout pics, lovieness, got unreal server hopping

6 years ago – mush, Roman tub, dreams of owning a pet grooming store, insurance woes, and palm doodles

7 years ago – Happy b’day kundalinidreams (no longer ljing), Dkmfkmkglklkgbkvbkbv,looking for a job as demagogue…(I’ll still take it, if anyone’s wanting), happy unbirthday to me, uck!, edit this page (now dead),sop, a timeline of Scotto history,veggie lo mein, muppet trivia, and Rolf singing you and I and GeorgeGeotarget

9193 – Thursday.

50 things I’ve done meme continues with item 33. I…

33. I did not punch a doctor in the face yesterday, despite his smarmy, holier than thou attitude, poor consult practice, shit-eating grin and “you could beat me up just by sitting on me” comment. If I were a less in control sort of guy, I’d have ripped his spine out via his neck, reversed it, and shoved it back into him rectally.

Adrenaline-removed details below.

Dr. D really took quite a lot of wind from my sails yesterday regarding my back. I’m more than a little disappointed and dismayed, but I am happy that a fix is available, contrary to my prior concerns that I have no options.

The short form – I have gained back much of my former lost weight – I’m at 364 lbs. Pulse 82, BP 148 / 88 (far higher than my usual 120/80)

BMI is 42, according to my height vs weight, which is in the very [edit: morbidly] obese category – I obviously need to get back on the stick, health-wise. (some shortcomings of this reference)

His bedside manner was lacking in the extreme – said that I was in a lot of trouble, that my spine has some severe damage that needs to be repaired and the rub is I have too much mass to properly operate on me… he can’t get down past all of the tissue, (both fat and muscle) to take care of it.

I won’t go into his overly condescending talk about weight loss, but the bottom line is that he feels that he can’t work on me now… but he’d prefer that I come back to him in a year after I’ve lost about 100 lbs – then he thinks that he can repair the damage to my spine and fix the nerve short-circuit in my leg. Meanwhile, I’m going to have to suck it up, and just deal with the pain and numbness issues a bit longer… I don’t mind getting on a healthy diet and workout regimen.. it’s just a shame that his idea of finding a good one is “pick up a magazine” – rather than guiding me to a trainer and / or dietitian as I’d asked.

So, part of my journal is going to be recording and tracking my weight / workouts again – I’m going to resume my points-based WW program on the palmtop, and we’ll see if I can get myself into fighting trim at a reasonable and healthy rate.

I will continue to see that doctor until I find a better one – but meanwhile I’m just happy that there is a chance for repair in the future. I’m disappointed that I still haven’t gotten a cortisone shot, but there is a chance of one next visit to my general prac.

After much stress at the Doc’s, we swung by the local Games Workshop store (right across the street). It was odd to see a store devoted to just mini wargaming, specifically warhammer fantasy, warhamer 40k and lord of the rings miniatures. Apparently the Glen Burnie site is the USA headquarters for the Games Workshop with dozens tables of goodies set up for play. I was surprised to see the one in Annapolis hopping with people – mid-afternoon on a Wednesday… I’d figure everyone that would want to get in on it would be at work or school. I was impressed by the quality of the paint jobs on the armies… a lot of labor of love going on there. BHK and I both really dug the red and yellow lizard men.

We picked up a very late lunch at Lemongrass Too – it was excellent as usual. More tofu with peanut/curry vibe and spicy-sweet green beans.

We were going to check out Be Kind, Rewind – but it was too late. The only showings at the Bowtie were at 3:30 (missed it) and 9:30 (not on a school night!) – So, while we were in the plaza, BHK shoe shopped – she really liked the keen ones… Timberline, venturea, and malibu styles. note to self for future presents!

On our way out of Annapolis we did discovered the ATW man got gussied up for St. Patty’s Day (pictures to follow)… and he also has a myspace page ! Lots of pictures that I didn’t have of his past exploits – we went inside ATW and got a floor mat… the reciept mentions where to locate him on the web. I’ve added him as a friend, but he hasn’t reciprocated yet.

Dinner was boiled eggs, salad, and leftover veggie taco “meat”. good stuff, solid for the end of the day.


As for today – went to work, worked, got on the bus, headed home, wrote a long entry on the ol’ PDA.

BHK made some amazingly tasty split pea soup, with chick peas, carrots and cabbage. Lovely for St. Patty’s.

Point budget is 35, using the weight watchers points system. I still can’t abide weigh-ins and meetings, but the plan has worked for me in the past. Monitoring using the wwcalc program on the palm.

I’ll export the results here in the future.

I can bank a few points for the weekend, where I’m pretty sure I’ll go over when we dine out.

Misc health info –

10 minute brisk walk to the bus, light level. not worth any points, really.
10 cups water – just healthy.

Researched utility of using company gym during lunch – distinct possibility. 3 bikes, a treadmill and some free weights that might do the trick.
Bring gym clothes, allot 20 min for lunch, 20 for workout, 20 for changing/shower.


1 year ago – wrongly accused have to pay back rent for jail time

2 years ago – sunday walkies, path and pics

3 years ago – calle ocho, aroo, writing, chronic, tulips, mummified head of Mata Hari,Idahos mugshots, Girl Scout cookies remind me of Katt and Wendy, Monkeyhot or not, fonts, cool tools, Yu-Gi-Oh! suicide

4 years ago – CoH, Batroc, Bro, uncles, crazy yarn, comic styles, DP reboot (dang Byrne), dance cyclopedia, people as mexican food (metaphor)

5 years ago – Nordis = el sucko, LAN setup, Bellsouth, Lovely gifits from Dani, palm update

6 years ago – Applelard’s BDAY!, the moon, cadbury craving, dead website linkies,bilhicks, hairball poll, skijump, silly supers, network names

7 years ago – sweet dreams, evil news, why blowing up buddha isn’t so badGeotarget

9185 – Thursday –

Last night, we decided to try out a place that just opened up – Bilvil. It wasn’t what I was expecting – the subname is "A Beachfront Cafe".. I somehow expected more coffee and casual fare.

Oddball hours, closed on Tuesday… from the outside, the place looks clean, fresh and new! I look forward to taking the wife there tonight… when it’s open!

We returned the following night, Wednesday.

The setting was nice, if a little noisy…. estimate that the place was about 1/2 to 2/3 full at 25 people sitting.

There’s a limited menu right now – they opened right at the top of March 2008. Two weeks in, and the dust is pretty well settled, though.

The roasted beet salad with feta cheese and walnuts was tasty (My wife’s favorite part of the meal!), as was the citrus salad, made with oranges, grapefruit, watercress, broccoli, cauliflower and mustard dressing.

The main course for my wife was the pork loin and beans/greens combo… maybe a bit over-savory. my Crab cake was really fantastic, however – it was a good size and the fried potatoes and broccoli went well with it.

The dessert left a little bit to be desired. choice of three when we went – carrot cake, crustless cheesecake and chocolate mousse.

we both went for the carrot cake – no raisins… but maybe no flour, either. It has a nice taste, and was dense… with an a rubbery / fleshy texture.

There was nice wine list, and a fair selection of beer.

Our cost was about $80 for the two of us, there’s a way to combine three items (in our case, salad, main course, and dessert) for a set cost of about $32 each, before drinks.

I think that they’ll be a place worth hitting regularly, if the price comes down a bit, and the menu expands some… for now, it’s off to a nice start, and I look forward to seeing it grow.


Sometimes, I see a flicker in my vision in front of me – where I’m walking, and I wonder if it’s a future image of myself passing that spot. I wonder if I’d feel the same way if I saw the flicker behind me… would I think that light reflecting off my jacket was just slow to catch up?


I’m really getting into playing loco roco in the mornings… levels are short enough to do on the bus… and I think my newest unlock (the black one with the little tooth buds, lower right ) has some awesome music and reminds me a bit of pyewacket. I do my journal writing on the ride home, generally, unless I really want to polish off a round. Themini-games aren’t bad, but the meat is the primary puzzles. However, now I’m near a net-hotspot, and the PSP has streaming radio these days, a journaling I shall go. (see also)


Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta are now claiming to have identified and located the speech center of the chimpanzee brain. Lead by Jared Taglialatela, the team used a PET scan to image activity in the brains of three chimps after doing two tasks. In one, the chimps asked for food by making grunts and other noises. In another they passed rocks out of their cages in exchange for food. The former activity lit up a specific area of the chimp’s brains that the latter did not.

So what does this all mean? Simply put, it means that as soon as some scientist decides to experiment with aiming a gamma ray cannon at that hemisphere of a chimpanzee’s brain, we’re only a few thousand years away — max — of Charlton Heston screaming "It was Earth all along!" in front of the ruined fragments of Statue of Liberty. Great. Thanks again, science.

What Separates You From Chimps [Live Science]


50 things I’ve done meme continues tomorrow with 27.

Instead, a quickie – answer in 3 words –

1. Where is your cell phone?

on my belt

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend?:
is my wife

Continue reading 9185 – Thursday –

9078 – sunday

Blueberry Pancakes for breakfast! A good sized crew was here earlier, David, Larry, Chris, BHK and I all scarfed down tasty flapjacks… Before that David and I played a little lego star wars on the Wii while BHK prepped in the kitchen.

After Breakfast, BHK busted out the a sailing ships and seafaring puzzle, to work on while David and I finished out game… after he headed out, Larry and Chris high-tailed it… so BHK and I were left with about 994 pieces of the 1000 bit puzzle to put together.

I took a little break midday to rest my back, as it was still pretty sore, but got up at about 4 to have some late snacks (too late for a full blown lunch), and watched the soup, some eddie izzard, and we went back to the ol’ puzzle. More Izzard in the background while we sorted pieces and just had some nice family time.

I’d say we got about 90% of the puzzle done before I started to really ache again… we rested in the living room and caught up with a little more tv, and now it’s time for bed. Hot showers and heating pads seem to help the most. Larry and Chris never came by to have supper with us, but Larry did drop off leftover chinese food… BHK did Beans and rice, while I had tofu and broccoli.


1 year ago – we first meet Tigger (I thought she was a he), happy in NB, eclipse, running bear & white dove

2 years ago – Newt Checkup, 2nd life, Lent, Demonic tots, RPG cliches, poor lunches, schizo-art

3 years ago – netflix, avdp trimming, ann nortons, superhero motivationals,euro-seekers, I scream-you scream, new term, disney fonts, viva browardpix, florida school study, poor applicants

4 years ago – Newt-clipso, ADP did poorly her first night, Spiders dine on their master, Gators, lj-spam

5 years ago – Newt Better, pc virus, pioneer 10, Balloon v1.0, lotr quizzes, cool motorcycle helmets

6 years agoNewt at the vet pics, shadow govt, my first panorama, stikfas

7 years ago – CJ adventure (filtered for submissions), up late, newt checkupGeotarget