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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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8900 – fire drill! 070207 1012a.jpg – No smoke, no fire

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0702071012a.jpg, originally uploaded by scottobear.

fire drill… it was fun going *DOWN* 11 flights. thank goodness we can take the elevator back up! Nice morning for it.. cool outside, maybe 72F. Beats summertime noon.

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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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8867 – mon

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A learned person gently comes, steps carefully.

– Shimizu Hiam

Gave my 2 weeks notice at the County today – Starting on the 18th, I’ll be at my new, non-temp gig. I’m really looking forward to it… a few HR things to iron out beforehand – what sort of insurance to choose, etc. I’m looking forward to having my own office again. The commute to Calverton doesn’t seem to be as horrid as most folks make it out to be. I commuted for 90 minutes back when I was in Fort Lauderdale. I’ll miss the gang at the county… really nice crew. I hope my new team is as nice.

Grilled up veggie burgers and dogs for BHK, in-laws and TM tonight.. it was true potluck – BHK did salad, including peppers form our garden, TB brought chips and buns, and the in-laws did the doggies and brought a big ol’ watermelon for dessert. Everyone was nicely full to the brim at the end.

Newest Reads are Fluke and Jamestown – from the cover –

Set in the indeterminate but not too distant future, JAMESTOWN chronicles a group of “settlers” (more like survivors) from the ravaged island of Manhattan, departing just as the Chrysler Building mysteriously collapses, heading down what’s left of I-95 in an armor-plated vehicle that’s half-schoolbus, half-Millenium Falcon. They are going to establish an outpost in southern Virginia, look for oil, and exploit the Indians controlling the area.

The story is of course based on the actual accounts of the first ten years of the Jamestown settlement from 1607 to the death of Pocahontas in 1617. Set against a cataclysmic backdrop, the book features the historical characters—John Smith, Pocahontas, her father Powhatan, John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and John Rolf—but in an act of wild re-imagination, akin to Baz Luhrman’s re-interpretations of Shakespeare (the great playwright of the Jamesown era!), Powhaton is half-Falstaff, half-Henry V (with a psychiatrist consigliere, Sidney Feingold); John Martin gradually loses body parts in a series of violent encounters, while John Smith is a ruthless and pragmatic redhead continually undermining the aristocratic leadership; and Rolf’s and Pocahontas’s romance is conducted by text-messaging, IM-ing, and ultimately telepathy.

Despite the grim sounding circumstances and large quantity of spilled blood, it’s a romantic book, a meditation on history and interpretation, told in language that is endlessly delightful—the jokes, the rhymes, and the rimshot dialogue throw the story’s bleak underside into brilliant relief. It’s a big book—a cross between the terrific maximalist novels of Barth and Safran Foer and the minimalist magical satire of George Saunders.

So Far, Fluke is the more well-written and interesting of the two. However, I’m less than 25 pages into both.

Comparisons of Baltimore vs DC … I do need to make a trip to the Yabba Pot sometime soon.

1 year ago – on call, giza pyramid, bunny hop pic, finger people, cosmos animations, fallentoad song, fantastic

2 years ago – full vs goatee, bro & PO, vs & rr try to hook me up

3 years ago – Local con, ADP fix it, free wifi, bro issues, Crew north, Cartoon stuff, rain, bad case

4 years ago – bro goes to ER, Tony & Caroline bad news, pt issues, brothel free to troops, pirate doodle, kraft offer, FIA hoverboats

5 years ago – fumigation drama, pelican preference, cricket magazine, Google labs

6 years ago – life roles, evil news, Paranormal investigation teams that I’d join, Allen Walton, hobo names, $10 webcam, classic Scotto lunch, nice dreams, mammoth riding.

7 years ago – figured out how to hack the info kiosk as the mall of the deadGeotargetVisitor Map

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8837 – We are not without compassion.

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Examples of local news – The Saltine Bandit. Much better than Broward, I think.

On 4-28, between 8:00 AM and 3:47 PM, an unknown culprit forcibly entered a residence on Coyote Ct., Lusby, and ransacked several rooms. The only thing reported stolen at this time is a box of crackers. TPR Chirichella is handling the investigation.

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Sleestaks! Rockin’ Mix. via jwz

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1 year ago – mongolia head, sleep, black hat, hurricane info, battle of the beasts

2 years ago – Mother’s Day, Bro, heath, hugs, a sticker, walkies pics – graffiti, mission field, vehicles, bernie dexter, hitler’s ghost

3 years ago – Laser belt, mental health supporter, quiz of Doooooom, busy bee, nice night out, Disney tour, naked mole rap, duality issues, Newt pic

4 years ago – PT gig jkg, mr rogers asteroid, x2 good reviews, mh about half what it is today (997 vs 2196)

5 years ago – Neuro appt, my magnetic head theory, original thoughts, MRI

6 years ago – weird news, slow wake, old paranoia, bad food from my childhood, ljer herd pollGeotargetVisitor Map

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8835 – Sunday

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On our way to the store, we drove past a nearby graveyard and region of greenery that was amazing. The photos don’t do it any justice at all, but some shots were kind of nifty, anyhow. I dig the one where we’re in motion and looking backwards from the car. (the 2nd and 3rd from the end)

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Free Comic book day yesterday was extra bonus awesome at Aardvark. Free comics are even better when you can double your haul when you bring a partner with you – 4 books each! I think the winning books were the Umbrella Academy (Hellboy meets nextwave) and Charlie Brown ones. Aardvark is pretty cool… ice cream/ video / gaming / comic book store in a prime location. Friendly, knowledgeable manager/ owners, too.

We picked up a copy of Monsters Menace America for half off… I can take it off of my amazon wish list now.

Also obtained were a few packets for the Bella Sara game. Nice untapped market for card games… young girls from 5-10 years of age. We stopped at Moes for a tasty Mexican-ish lunch to open and review our cards.

Finally met Alan… I’ve heard a lot about him, and he was quite nice. I look forward to getting together with him and meeting JC in the future. We had veggie taco/ burritos for din-din.. I got a bit ill, but all and all, it was a nice night.

1 year ago – ze sings, free comics, air show pics, compliment… sort of.

2 years ago – no bro, pervy on lj arrested, phillykat back!, local public service net-casts, users deleting, rainy 5/5, woman jailed for faking her death

3 years ago – RIP Rod Roddy, Black magic death, 4F, a friend suffers

4 years ago – poser5, South Florida vodou, python, song lyric

5 years ago – good smells, bro-doc, great books and classics, monsters, I wrote thepuppyfrog poem, long ol’ survey from a while ago (the same one I did the other day), e-prime mentioned

6 years ago – movies, newt’s middle name, Architect. hot air, lcd drops, writing exercise, quotes, newt-happies(tmi?)GeotargetVisitor Map

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8815 friday – four-twenty, duuuuude!

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Quickie – Spent the bulk of today at work prepping for the grand opening of the tiki bar. (Cyn sums it up nicely here)

Speaking of Cyn, she gave us Loreena McKennitt tickets for Tuesday! Too bad Kev isn’t nearby.. he’d love to go.

BHK feeling under the weather last night – tucked in early. I tried to get work done, but that DNS issue horked those plans but good. Upside, she’s feeling mucho better now, so our trip to visit Amy should still be AOK.

I’m going to be attending a seminar on metallurgy and geological studies with BHK, CB, LB, TM and the spaghetti lady. (ie: Some party being held for VIPs from the jewelry store) All of the aforementioned came over to our house last night for pasta, and to watch Borat and Matchstick Men. Food was good, and the movies were fun (Matchstick Men was interestingly acted, though predictable, plotwise).

DRAGON and DUNGEON to Cease Publication – The license with Wizard of the Coast is being allowed to lapse, by mutual agreement. WotC will be moving to an online model of providing D&D material, but further details are unavailable. While I haven’t been fond of Paizo’s product and haven’t read either magazine in years, it’s kind of sad to see these magazines go. The last issues will be cover dated September 2007. I really liked that in the old days there were all kinds of fun game inserts, like snit’s revenge.

Unlocked all of the “utilities” in WTF – still about 5 games left to go.

1 year ago – re:grammy, getting warmer, ad-levels in lj, sesame street, greedy greedy, politics, alzheimer’s

2 years ago – there.com still the same, random objects, little red munkee, swat monkey picture, steadfastness, bad breath, Lunsford bill passes, Detective won’t stop seeking justice

3 years ago – big brain better, no dice with GP, goof gallery of life, Man eats own toes, online commerce

4 years ago – 420 Easter, evil thought

5 years ago – palm update, bro being good, cats & dogs, Phantom patriot, little red munkee expands

6 years ago – Tired, Cheese crackers, warm fuzziesGeotargetVisitor Map

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8810 – RANDOM ACCESS

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Work is interviewing for the network position today. I wonder when or if they’ll be asking me to sit with them today? I’m curious about the number of applicants.

When playing punch buggy my eyes tend to detect color first, then shape. I’m much less likely to see a white, black, gray/silver or navy blue bug than standouts like yellow, red or the brighter variants of blue and green. However, The “toaster” look of the Honda element is a good standout for me over colors. I can lock onto one of those much more easily than the bug. The dual-color ones seem to be easier for me to spot than the one-tones.

I have to dig up my birth certificate in order to get my driver’s license. It seems that my Florida state id isn’t enough. Bah.

Didn’t mow the lawn, and didn’t roto-till the garden, as it was too wet from the lovely rainy weekend. That’ll probably happen next Saturday.

Tomorrow, I’ll have been working for the county a month. That seems odd to me, somehow. I guess Friday will be a true work-month due to days off, etc.

Tina’s back from points elsewhere today, so we’ll probably have her over for an early dinner of falafel tonight. After that, I’m going to have to get one the stick, regarding the quest for more continuous employment.

Limited News source says that there are 21 dead at Virginia tech [edit- 32 dead, 28 wounded] – I don’t get how this happens. How broken in the head does a person have to be to run around a campus and start killing people with twin 9mm pistols? Sadly, my first mental image was that of the Shadow, with twin .45s barking out hot metal justice, but he’s a pulp fiction vigilante, not an actual insane non-fictional type being.

Found out that bro is breaking his probation already – Mom and WV went down to where they’d set his apartment up, and discovered that the place was empty. His probation officer called her looking for him, so it’s only a matter of time before he’s back in the clink. Turns out neither his rent, cell phone bill, nor his car insurance have been paid, so he’ll be driving with a suspended license in an uninsured vehicle. I’ll be checking the net periodically to let me know if he’s back in the pokey. [edit – he was evicted on 4/11]

I think I like stones and jewelry made from organic substances more than inorganic.

Pearls, amber, mastodon ivory, bone in general all had some sort of life-aspect about them before they were put into settings or whatnot.

Could the ghost of an oyster / tree haunt pearls / amber?

JD offered me some deer meat that he got while hunting. He bagged 13 last season, gave 10 to the hungry, and kept 3 in his freezer. The county electrician is apparently a great butcher.

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

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

3 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.

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

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

6 years ago – pulchritude, leitmotif, objectives. (sakes, is lappie 6 years old!?! at least it’s got windows 2000 rather than Me(h) on it now)GeotargetVisitor Map

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8808 – sat the 14th

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Annapolis !

Had a nice little day out and about, BHK picked up the original SSX (snowboarding) for the PS2 and I got WTF (work time fun) for the PSP. WTF is a very appropriate abbreviation of the game, and I look forward to playing it for quite some time. Swung to Potbelly’s for some sammiches and enjoyed ‘em quite a little bit. The primary objective of our day was the B.I.G. book sale at the old tobacco warehouse – I think that I got more books than BHK this time around. We got there early (after going to bed at about 3am, post-Grindhouse) and the book dealers hadn’t attacked it too roughly yet. I scored a lot of good fill-in Bradbury stuff, and a smattering of Dashiell Hammett and about four of Ian Fleming’s 007 titles. Not found were any of the Harry Dresden books, but I did get the novelized version of the Buckaroo Bonsai movie. Lots of misc from a fundamental magic trick book to Wally Wood / Chas Addams collections of art to a nifty old tome on word origins, as well.

We also saw llamas, and a slug.

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or, According to BHK – my journal in a nutshell:

I tell you my day….
I get up early.
I buy book.
Book by Martha Stewart.
She have red baboon butt.
No matter I like her books.
I try to read book but book have big words.
I no know what a hors d’oervereere is.
I no even know how to spell it so I eat book not read it.
It have tasty pictures.
I still hungry.
I ate sub.
It good.
It very good.
I folllow wife ’round home goods store and try not show butt to other shoppers.
I accidentally show butt in excitement over flying monkey display.
Wife beat me with stick.
We go home and I fling poo.
That um my day.

1 year ago – hanging out at murphy’s, dan plans, music sharing, quizzes, good friday, commander usa

2 years ago – work, club visit, poorhouse, Tomi visit, mai kai tiki torch night, figa, aliases, admiration meme (999 entries ago)

3 years ago – memory sparks, adp issues with new hire

4 years ago – jkg, stikfas, pictures

5 years ago – library cats, vending machine art, The Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures, Signs, & Body Language Cues, plants, middle earth poll, poop

6 years ago – touch of evil, dsl, love, spermGeotargetVisitor Map

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8806 – Thursday –

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Rainy, wet day today… but that’s just all right with me. The gray skies throw the greens of the local flora into sharp contrast. Today is also my first official payday since 2006. I think that the last 3-4ish months were something else, but it’s really good to be back in the saddle and getting something accomplished that puts some coin in the bank. This one doesn’t quite cover the mortgage, but it’ll surely help. Next one will be even better, since it’ll be nearly 2 full weeks (less Good Friday).

Last night, BHK and I totally slacked off after grocery shopping. We nibbled on chips, cookies and soda-pop in front of the Tv for a bit, before.

Whoopsied on my auto-deploy for the lj entries – I’ll have to go back and redo the dates for m/t/w. Queue dropped them in a timely way, but not backdated how I like.

Grindhouse may be a possibility this weekend if BHK is into it.

Today’s lunch is pretty dang good – Cashew Butter on Hawaiian sweet roll, the last of the heard-boiled easter eggs, mac & cheese, last of the green beans, and a pair of cherry coke zeroes.

4:29PM – I’m doing telekinetic experiments in my cube. So far, nothing has levitated. Ah well, time to go!

Door codes were changed again when one of the team unthinkingly gave them to the air conditioning repair guy. It’s a shame, because the old code was very easy for me to remember, because it had good obscure geek significance for a 5-digit number … the one prior had a nice, fast keypad pattern that worked well. This new one is easy enough to remember, because of something totally unrelated, but it’ll be hard for some folks to hang on to. At least it’s not a 10-digit sequence.

The funny thing was people talking about other folks hacking the code … the easiest way to get any number is by social engineering, and the folks are so friendly and unassuming here that I think someone fairly slick could get it without anyone even knowing that it had been picked up. That’s one of the things I like about this place, though … sort of a small town feel, where everyone knows everyone else. It fosters a strong sense of community and camaraderie.

1 year 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,

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

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

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

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

6 years ago – identifying with Sam the Sheepdog, people in your neighborhood poll, livejournal observation, chupacabra sightings upGeotargetVisitor Map

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8800 – fore sex

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Added a new word to my lexicon – SMIB– southern Maryland inbred.

Apparently they can be seen at k-mart in St Mary’s on Friday nights.

Journey to DC on our Good Friday Vacation day! Lovely long walk… Assorted photos from the trip. Hover for details, or click to embiggen.

Rosslyn stationRosslyn staiton with blurry wifedc metroeaster island head - smithsonianhiding from predators.replica headtreasurywashington monumentcanopywoodpeckerboy talking to ducksreflecting poolabe lincoln memorialwashington from lincolnlincon memorial - detailvietnam memorial - detailbhk and I at the vietnam memorialvietnam memorialpear blossomspear blossomsweeping willowweeping willowrobincherry treecherry with bhkwwii memorial - north africawashington form wwii memorialwwii memorial starswwii memorial stars 2glory star at wwii memorialwwii memorial - eaglesbhk and I - washington monument - facing lincolnbhk and I washington monumentlooing up at the washington monumentsmithsonian and capitol from washington monumentsteam under washington monumentwashington monument from belowdc metro in motiondc metro - detailnew carrolton stationnew carrolton stationnew carrolton station - with amtrack high speed train

I really dug the subway and metro system – Cherry blossoms were fairy roughed up due to the cold patch, but the monument walk and time out with BHK was really quite wonderful. Ended at the Pentagon mall, had some johnny rockets fries and such, then headed on home… (but not before stopping at a really great deli to get some easter cookies and treats!)

1 year ago – loki, fundraiser, 33 questions, morning pictures, palm post bro, tree dream

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

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

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

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

6 years ago – Killer noise, looking for a job as a flaneur, Dave & Cathi PreggersGeotargetVisitor Map

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8799 – fo’ fi’

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3d movie entrance - day with robinsonwent to see meet the robinsons in 3-d – it was great! I think that BHK and I were the only adults in the theatre without a kid in tow… I highly recommend catching both it and the chip and dale / donald duck cartoon in 3-d at the beginning. (the Donald Duck was a Stereoscopic movie from the 50’s- 3D like the old sterogram style viewmaster reels.) Picture on the right is a cute little entrance folks made for the movie – 3-d glasses and large letters 3 and D on either side of the door.

text update – rewind – Another day at work, or another 7 hours, anyhow!

Was told by JD that there might be snow flurries this weekend on Saturday? So much for any roto-tilling or lying down of mulch I might’ve had planned. Hm, that sounds pretty darn domestic. Maybe I can get some studying in for my driving permit. I think that my back is in good enough shape to do so. It’s been over a decade since I’ve done any sort of parallel parking or a 3-point turn, but hopefully it’ll come back to me quickly.

The crew at my current gig is pretty sweet. Everyone seems to get along quite well, and is personable. JD and RD are brothers (25 and 17, respectively) and are very cool. KP digs the icanhascheezburger type sites like I do, and is worried a bit about the CDC’s Cancun hemorrhagic fever warning. DL is an old-school tech – knows his stuff and is on top of his game. KB is my immediate supervisor, and seems to be an amazingly kindhearted lady… Scouting, family oriented. JM got moved to the DB admin gig I was looking to, but I have no hard feelings about that. He knows his stuff, and has been here for 8 months, so they know him. Some recent rough patches in his life… lost his sister last weekend, has been sick, and lost his mother fairly recently as well. I hope the clouds part for him soon. SP is the Network head here, and she has her old painted character figurine from the D&D days… her kids are embarrassed for her, but I think that’s pretty spiffy. She also has 2 orange cats and a black one, so there’s plenty of critter talk there. KE is the sheriff’s sister in law, and is friendly and cracks the occasional joke here and there. WL is in the CAP, and I may join him at local meetings. GIS staff is also nifty, though I haven’t learned all the names over there yet. There are a few people I wave hello to when I pass them in the hall, but I have no idea who they are form the Dept of Aging and the Substance Abuse folks.

A? in the State’s Attorney office looks like Peewee Herman. No, Really.

Bake sale by the SO today – I wonder if the goodies will be as tasty as the Methodist stuff from last week. We still have about 1/8 of a pound cake that we got last go ‘round that will be hard to beat. It’s not too shabby to see Officers wearing bunny ears.

The plant life out here is shucking petals like crazy. It looks like someone spilled a massive pile of packing material and frosted flakes along the sidewalks and gutters… the wind from behind trailing cars or the occasional random breeze makes it fly up and whirl quite prettily. I pity folks with hay fever, however, as the trees are really sexing it up. Speaking of plant-sex, lots of fat, fuzzy little bumblebees are traversing the clover in our side yard lately. I really wouldn’t mind starting a hive out back, just to get some polish on my api-skills. Buzz buzz buzz. A little honeysuckle might be nice to add to the wildflowers around the fence out back, too. Mmm… I do like honey, like all stereotypical bears. (Actually, I’m pretty keen on Berries and pic-a-nic baskets, too, Boo-boo. Fish, not so much – Salmon are safe from me. I prefer Veggie Sushi)

Update – D’oh! I missed getting anything at the bake sale. It only ran from 8:30 to 11am, and I was in meetings or off site during that time. Fortunately, RD brought in doughnuts, so my pastry craving was sated. What will we do with BHK? No cake for her. Perhaps she’ll settle for me making a tasty din-din supplemented with an ice cream sammich for dessert.

BHK and I played the karaoke ps2 American Idol game last night… a lot of fun, more than I’d expected. Apparently, my skills are in the Tom Jones / Kim Karnes / Duran Duran / Everly Brothers arena, while BHK is more of a Billy Joel / Build me up, buttercup sort of singer. I blame my scratchy voice and poorer scores on remaining cough, but that’s just an excuse. BHK is superb at the thing, and I’m just pretty good. We’ll see what practice brings. Perhaps we’ll have a karaoke-off with Tina, Jimmy and Amanda for Easter.

On that note, we’re due for some egg-coloring in the next day or three, and egg salad or deviled eggs shortly thereafter.

Given that there might be flurries on Saturday (mid-20s to mid 40s Fahrenheit forecast), perhaps I’ll skip the sunrise Service on Sunday at the beach. Bay winds after a possible snow seem a bit too brisk for me.

I’m carbo-loading for lunch today. Toasted cheese bagel, some baked ritz-chips and a chocolate pudding snack pack. For the love of the children, why did I skip vegetables? I’ll make a point of getting some apples or grapes for next week.

The region I work in is near an area called Plum Point, but there are no plum trees. Pear, apple and cherry abound, not to mention fields of corn, soybean and tobacco (though tobacco is being phased out, even though it’s a big portion of Maryland history, down to the Calvert County flag). Also, there’s an area called Sam Hill… so now I can ask “What in Sam Hill?” with hope of an actual answer.

Here’s what new TV is on my PSP – US version of the office, Season one.

1 year ago – zombie horde counterstrike, pyramid house, bugs bunny, tmbg, devo, tom delay, top40,

2 years ago – Badge shape pref poll, flickery power, Jasmine, stupid comic deaths, Dr Who episode 2, KANG KANG KANG KANG!, Monkey awe, hukilau, driver 8 pic, 23/5 bibliomancy

3 years ago – Itchies, chocolate dodge, Miami fires, sweetalyssm.com goes down due toa hack. (sadly, never to return), palm-doodle entry, Denny’s lunch

4 years ago – hung out with ldy & grrwoo, JKG wants me, prep for TAG

5 years ago – Freedom Force, Poem tag, new tech, THE poll.

6 years ago – morning walk, goals, online people, people that didn’t want my help, kindness triage, cartoon stereotypes, Hey, The Dusty Miller, hair color pollGeotargetVisitor Map

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Back is a bit better today… I think that I just pulled a muscle, thank goodness. A few pain spikes during the day, but nothing totally debilitating. I should have no problem by tomorrow afternoon. BHK is on the wost part of her cold… Hopefully she’ll mend up quickly under Dr. Scotto as I did under her care.

Pics from BHK and my driveabout on Saturday – Lookout point in Maryland
confederate monumentLookout point barnlookout point - crab traps, and a possumlookout point - foggylookout point - beach

1 year ago – made a couple of bucks, Hero dial, tree zoo, ladybug, shin splints, quizzes

2 years ago – danny visit, moskau, balloon wizard doodle, slugbaby snowsuits, Jarvis Sow Bung System Model VC -for the cutting out of sow bungs, Caffeine contents per serving, coconut bonk, taser rick Sanchez, famous homosexual quiz, Jesus-scented candles, finger-wendy’s

3 years ago – Newtie-reaper, policy almanac, GP&K coming to town, Parkland cops bad, cargo ship aground, wandering piccies

4 years ago – Sickies, schoolhouse rock, bro dating

5 years ago – hydrant, alton brown, Halle Barry Freakout, weird emma, annoying cabbie, aa, tcup, Disney/Dali

6 years ago – plh, grumpy at boss, maple cologne, slackerjack, treatsGeotargetVisitor Map