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9213 – Thursday

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Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness You’ve got to dig proper arrow placement.

Where did all the daffodils come from? One minute, it’s all brown grass and stick trees, the next… *DAFFODIL CENTRAL* – and tons o’ ducks. Geese before, but now there are mallards en masse.

So, there’s a new B-52s record out? Are they still called records, even on CDs and mp3 players? I guess they’re all recordings. I’m looking forward to hearing it. They’re going to be at the 930 club in April, and DAR in June… I’ll have to see who the openers are… Cyndi Lauper is opening for ’em in June.

Per Ze’s Request in colorwars (i’m still teamorange!)

A picture of when I was a little Scotto – Age 9 –

scotto and derek - 1978

I’m on the right, Bro on the left at about age 7. Even then, I didn’t like to wear ties. To keep in that vein, I’ll mention something about that age in the meme below.

More pictures below the cut.



A year earlier –
scottoandderek-1977

Us, a few years later – 2004, maybe? Near Bus Station in Ft. Lauderdale.
bmc-svd


My favorite recent picture of me? Honeymoon – October 29, 2006 St. Augustine, FL – at Ripley’s. See also, BHK.

bhk & scotto in a hollow tree trailer - ripleys!

She brings out the little boy in me.



50 things you’ve done meme continues at 43 – I…

43.’was a sergeant in the safety patrol in elementary school. The big trip to Washington DC was no big whoop to me back then, as I was living in Richmond or Alexandria, VA at the time. I’m back in that boat now that I’m living in Maryland… but I don’t have the cool reflective orange belt and shoulder sash with a badge anymore.. I had to turn it in at the end of the school year. My duties were to assist the crossing guard with kids in front of the school.. .holding the stop sign and making sure that everyone made it over OK. The guard was a soccer mom, and gave me my first taste of coffee that I liked. I think that she put 3x sugar and 3x cream in it. I got her a Santa coffee mug for Christmas that year, and she gave me some cupcakes with red and green sprinkles on ’em. I don’t remember her name, but she had a cool van… all earth tones of brown and tan… could probably tote 12 people comfortably. I can proudly say that there were no accidents on my watch, despite some nutty drivers.


MIAMI — The Miami-Dade police department will begin experimenting with high-tech drones as law enforcement tools beginning next year.

Although the military has been using unmanned aircraft systems for years, this will be the first time they are used in law enforcement.

“We are aware it is a great responsibility. The FAA is looking at us to see if we can professionally manage this program,” said Lt. Cliff Nelson of the police department’s aviation unit.The flying camera is called a Micro Air Vehicle made by Honeywell. The MAV is remote controlled, unarmed and unmanned and can soar over 10,000 feet. (See the Micro Air Vehicle here.)

Miami-Dade police said only licensed pilots with the aviation unit will operate the devices because the airspace in the county is so busy. Only the Miami-Dade police department and the Houston police department were given permission by the FAA to experiment with the drones. “The capability of the unit is phenomenal,” said Miami-Dade Detective Juan Villalba.

The unmanned aircraft will be used during SWAT team and tactical operations, especially when officers need video of a heavily armed suspect.

The Miami-Dade police department has not yet taken possession on its drone, but the Houston police department has and is already conducting tests. Miami-Dade hopes to use grant money to pay for the MAV. Officials said the units are pricey. Depending on the complexity of the system, they can cost several thousand dollars to more than a million.


I can easily see a well-placed weapon mount on that thing. My first thought was of those flying combine drones in HL2, taking your picture, and later attacking you with saw blades. See: Scanner / Manhack. The video link above is very cool… I’d be interested in seeing how long it would take to automate.

1 year ago – back mending, bhk cold fading, mission impossible squirrel video, blogger death threats, larry and tigger vet trip picture

2 years ago – V movie, political ramble / revolution, boca/popular comics, pictures from walkabout, newt playing fetch pics

3 years ago – Easter, Deadbolt, Danny recap, K, piccies, personality test, heard from everway gamers, kitties video, walking octopus, waterbus

4 years ago – Procrastination, Henchman, search warrants/LA, booger eaters, vacuum cleaners, Brian Blessed, heroclix, zombie pinups

5 years ago – jkg, TAG, souls, Bahá’í, soul & body, leaving FMM

6 years ago – dream, dented the door with my mitt, sleepy and grumpy, how I sleep w/newt, small hands=rude, army men, Dan Bfast, lab grown meat, dali museum, secret fun spot, 2 dead celebs

7 years ago – lj bump, baby newt pic, one ring, mush, thebot, palm art, John DenverGeotarget

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

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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

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9209 – tuesday

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Gentle day yesterday, for the most part. We had a little trouble at the ol’ Subway Sammiches joint… the sandwich-maker had a lot of communication issues. Both BHK and I couldn’t get across to him or his partner what was wrong with what they made for her. I ended up getting my sandwich, but BHK went home with nothing… made a turkey sandwich here, instead. I think she came out ahead, but so much for her not having to put something together for dinner.

13 reasons why you should not be a freelance writer .

My weaknesses are certainly in the marketing department – but the big one for me is the need for security. I really don’t want a gig that doesn’t give me a regular check as my main (or only!) source of income.

In the “News I didn’t get on time category: William F Buckley died ?

Also, how come I didn’t hear about the Hillary fib on St. Patty’s until today?

Clinton’s tale of landing at Tuzla airport “under sniper fire” and then running for cover is simply not credible. Photographs and video of the arrival ceremony, combined with contemporaneous news reports, tell a very different story. Four Pinocchios. [edit/update – she admits that she “misspoke“.]

I found an interesting list of flip flops from both democratic candidates, too – (and, not to be unfair – McCain’s flip flops are whoppers, too.)

Thanks for nobody to vote for, team Democracy!

Note to Self – remember some gym clothes for midday work out.

50 things I’ve done meme- 10 to go! I…

40.’have portrayed Santa Claus many times in my life, not just when overweight, either. It started in 7th grade, Mrs. Glenning’s Class – a organization for mothers of twins asked me if I could do the job – in 7th grade, I was already about 5’9 or 5’10. Later, I did it for the children’s reading group at the library and bookstore where I worked… finally, I have been Santa for the ‘borgs twice. So.. that’s 5 times I’ve helped Kris Kringle out by being a body double. Kids tend to dig it, and I tihnk I do a pretty good job. I can let out with the HO, HO, HO’s, and most kids think it’s cool that santa is head and shoulders taller than their mom and dad… I didn’t realize that was an issue until one little boy pointed out that I was taller than his mom, voice full of awe.

41.’ have tried to be slow, in the Hoss Cartwright manner of slow…

Slow to raise a hand in anger;
Slow to judge a man.
Slow to jump to conclusions.

I have some days that are better than others. I try though, and often succeed. Once I make it to “Succeeds as much as a sane man can” I’ll be pretty happy with that.

1 year ago – newt, pye, tigger and a spongebob ice pop in the sun pictures, bro drama, hot fuzz preview, springtime cough

2 years ago – porch entry, newtcam pic, consulting work, zeppelin hotels, hornsuit

3 years ago – dr who leaks out, tree, death as a doodle, in the news, tmbg-bloodmobile, missing a brown-eyed girl, squirrel names, pirate vote

4 years ago – playing with icons, palm doodles, magical flesh fearing saw, bro still in the pokey

5 years ago – throat tickle, possible gig, FMM stuff

6 years ago – yahoo kills pop3, Can Asians Think?, llamas!, spring break, Egyptian musk, cat-recognition flap, rice dreams

7 years ago – Green Eggs & Hamlet, moody, China, Sophomore Uses List Context; Cops Interrogate

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9201 – thursday

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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

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9200 – Wednesday

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Egg-dying tonight! Tina, Adam, possibly in-laws and BHK for coloring chicken ovals! Pictures to follow tomorrow, no doubt. Chris is a bit late picking me up, so I can keyboard away at this for a little bit.

Haiku in my brain –

that piece of paper
covered in doodles and such
where did I put it?

50 things I’ve done meme continues with item 37. I…

37.’was the data librarian for the Atari computer club, back when Atari actually made a home computer or twelve that were actually useful as office-type gizmo as well as game machines. I had an 800XL with a bank of happy chip modded 1050 floppy drives that I used for a BBS, but I also had an Atari ST, that I learned the bulk of my first usable programming knowledge on. (LOGO on the TI-99/4a notwithstanding – come to think of it, I did some Spirograph stuff on the ST, too.) When the club dissolved, I was left with a huge crate of free software… including some nifty CAD stuff, and a pile of MIDI music software. I dabbled for a while with both, but the programming was more interesting to me at the time. I suspect if you asked me now, I’d be fooling with a keyboard and midi cables. I built my first homebrew sound digitizer on the ST, and used it mostly to do startup, shutdown noises.. not to mention the occasional silly soundboard program.

Chewbacca is quite the dapper Victorian don’t you think?

Via sci-fi scanner – Doctor Who Originally Conceived As an Insane, Malevolent LSD Junkie

 

Everyone knows Doctor Who: He’s the malignant alien time-traveler hopping around the galaxy in an invisible UFO, right? With eyes filled with madness and a heart dripping with hate, he constantly pops tabs of LSD to relive the horrors of his immortal past. When he’s not under the throes of a hallucinogen-induced bender, he is using his time-traveling UFO to pop into the past and stop the caveman from inventing the wheel, Isaac Newton from discovering gravity and Gutenberg from inventing the printing press… all to consolidate a horrific vision of the future that is entirely of his insane devising. Right? Right?

Well, no, of course not: The good Doctor is a benevolent force who hops around the universe in his TARDIS, trying to do good deeds and help the people he loves whenever possible. But bizarrely, this was not the original idea for Doctor Who, as the notes coming out of the BBC’s archives make clear. Rather, he was originally brainstormed to be an insane, malevolent LSD junkie.

“A feature of the new Doctor will be the humour along the lines of the sardonic humour of Sherlock Holmes. The metaphysical change which takes place over 500 years or so is a horrifying experience… in which he relives some of the unendurable moments of his long life…” the archives read. “It’s as if he has had the LSD drug and instead of experiencing the kicks, he has the hell and dank horror which can be its effect.”

Needless to say, the producer shot this idea down, giving us the good Doctor we’ve all grown to love. But, my god. I would kill for this vision of the Doctor: an insane, time-traveling Dr. Gregory House.

A reactionary on a bad LSD trip – Doctor Who?

Say what you want about Obama, but that’s a heck of a speech right there. No doubt I’m the 1,795,403,543rd news source to mention it this morning.

1 year ago – newt and pye on cam, first day at county, Ze:The Show is over, squid vs yellow submarine,

2 years ago – condo area pic with duck, i don’t like cricket

3 years ago – Lunsford, Atlantis, car crash test, voice post

4 years ago – club 977, Wine & Food, itunes, lj spam, Fri-5, nearby donations,First hint of New Dr Who, Newt big-head pic, color associations

5 years ago – heat, bad job recruiter, UT

6 years ago – city relic quiz, got into an argument with Astley, work nonsense, happy ending

7 years ago – awake but paralysed for surgery, com ideas, animal eyesGeotarget

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9199 – tues

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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

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9196 – sun

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0316081029.jpg

Reading an autobiography about Gene Wilder (Kiss Me Like A Stranger) – bhk thinks it looks like he’s in bed with the kitties.

Went to Lowe’s with BHK, Larry and Chris to grab a bit o’ tile for our bathroom, and hit the store to grab Chris some tax software. Stopped at Cheeseburger in Paradise on the way home – had a late lunch at about 4:30. That’s about the size of things for our slow but comfy Sunday

50 things I’ve done meme continues with item 35. I…

35.’honeymooned and visited all of the Ripley’s / Oddity museums from Florida and Maryland. BHK and I both have a huge interest in oddities, weirdness and general WTF observation. I think the Ripley’s in St. Augustine is the vastly superior one, plus, St. Aug is a wonderful place to mill around. BHK and I drank from the fountain of youth while we visited the Ponce De Leon region… so I guess I’ll be doing the journal for quite a span.

Götz von Berlichingen had a problem. It was 1504 and, at the tender young age of 24, the plundering knight, mercenary and all around bastard had the upper part of his right arm torn off in a cannon blast. As someone who made his living off war and already had a sizable enemies’ list, Götz needed his killin’ hand.

So he got another one. Made of iron.

That’s one awesome prosthetic.

In addition to green, the new five dollar bill is purple and yellow. The colors of my old black-lite army, back in the day.

Tips for photographing the cherry blossoms.

Water: 3 Veg/Fruit: 7 Milk: 1
Points: 30.5 Adj: 0 Act: 0.0 Rem: 1.5-6.5
Bank: 15.0 Adj: 0
Bank Max: 15 Point: 15 Act: 4
Vitamins: Yes

Breakfast: 11.8 points
1.5: Cheese
1.1: Rice; white; glutinous; cooked; 1/3 cup
0.0: Veggies
2.0: Egg; whole
2.0: Egg; whole
2.0: Egg; whole
1.6: Bread; whole wheat
1.6: Bread; whole wheat

Lunch: 0.3 points
0.0: Garden Salad (w/o dressing)
0.0: Garden Salad (w/o dressing)
0.0: Fresca; Large
0.3: Sauce; teriyaki; ready-to-serve

Dinner: 16.6 points
3.1: Cheese; cheddar
1.9: Garden burger
1.3: Sauce; BULLS-EYE Original Barbecue Sauce
4.0: Shrimp; breaded & fried; fast food – 1/3 serving
3.0: Cake; other than all butter
3.3: Ice creams; chocolate

Snack: 1.8 points
1.8: fat free milk 1 cup

1 year ago – got the Calvert County gig, more shamrock shake, Louise & in-laws, monkey cap, Raines, The Riches, The Microscopic trout and the Machiavellian Fisherman

2 years ago – grampa poll results, RS taught to burn and forgets, folks go to brazil, ultrasound critters, Marvel Florida, gg winding up for an exit,

3 years ago – Freedom force, Thumbkin, Josie Conell, moot back (he’s been gone awhile again), regional wifi scan, netflix queue, account locations,making fiends, Lumbee updates, pinecone

4 years ago – Danny Solo, Devilfinder, Paper toys, elephants-Yeah!, pages back up, COH

5 years ago – lovey, storms

6 years ago – palm-doodle dreams, guest map, location poll, Bert’s Love Song, decent left, menstrual hut memo page

7 years ago – evil news, got a permanent accountGeotarget

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9194 – friday

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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

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9187 – Friday

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Rainy day, as my voice post previous can attest.

50 things I’ve done meme continues with items 27-29. I…

27.’ran my own BBS system back in the early 80’s – an Atari 800XL with two ways to connect – a 300 and a 1200 baud modem…later I added a third modem that ran at 9600 baud. It used 3 floppy drives to share data. It boiled down to a simple message board with a few instances of trade wars on it. I was also the co-sysop of three other atari boards out there – the community was small, but there was a lot of signal – very little noise. Brent had his own soapbox on there.. “Kaiser’s Korner” where he did goofy right-wing rants – primarily to bait people into responding. His section didn’t last long, thankfully. My bbs eventually faded into a website, and then after quite a bit of rattling and rolling, a place for my own journal. Livejournal and current blogging software is a lot easier than hand-rolling every html page and uploading it.

28.’have a mortgage, and own (with the bank) a condominium in Deerfield Beach, Florida. I have been considering selling it, or keeping it as a backup crash pad of friends and relatives that want a place to be while in the sunshine state. It’s a one-bedroom on the third floor, with a huge porch. I’m especially fond of the iguanas that live out by the lake in the courtyard.. the ibis are a fave, too. Newton prefers the squirrels.

29.’Have been member of both the Civil Air Patrol and Boy Scouts – both were pretty positive expeiriences, and I’d advise anyone to try both, despite the boy scout complaints about deisim or sexism.

Guy on the bus yesterday evening reeked of old sweat, recent booze and other items too gross to go into. It wasn’t so bad, except that he got up, changed seats and sat directly in front of me… with no escape mechanism for me. My nose was tingling for about an hour afterward. brings to mind the following – Bus trips from DC to NY- Free wifi for the trip, too. (sort of like dc2ny ) I wonder how long they’ll stay “clean and fresh”?

Secaucus, N.J.-based Boltbus, a division of Greyhound Lines Inc., said tickets went on sale Monday for the service that will start March 27.

Boltbus will run between Metro Center at 11th and G streets NW and two stops in New York City — near Penn Station at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue and in south Manhattan at 6th Avenue and Canal Street.

Boltbus will compete with the Washington Deluxe, Apex Bus, Vamoose Express and DC2NY, a service that started in July 2007 between Dupont Circle and Penn Station in New York with a stop at the McPherson Square Metro station.

DC2NY launched in July and marketed the service by offering free water and high-speed wireless Internet service onboard.

Boltbus is not only also offering wireless, but it is also using a first-come first-serve incentive to sign up riders.

The company said one-way tickets start at $1 plus a 50 cent booking fee and become more expensive as the bus gets full. Also, Boltbus is offering a free one-way ticket for every eight round trips purchased.

Tickets for each bus company vary, but are typically between $30 and $40 round trip, which is significantly cheaper than Amtrak’s cost of about $140 and up for a round-trip ticket.

The buses tend to attract travelers and students who are looking for an affordable way to get between the cities.

Boltbus said it will offer eight trips daily, starting at 7:30 a.m. from D.C. to New York.

1 year ago – Cathy’s b-day, fawlty towers counterstrike, sleep pose quiz, hits map,

2 year ago – sunburn better, fliff, ubuntu, wendy/uber, top ten accidental discoveries, senior year, luthor, poll 4/5 truths, glow plants

3 years ago – LDMs, RI high-tails it, elevator prank, screaming turtle, sunburn recovery, doctor d, pelican memory, ghostbusters/gaming, weather tracking, first mention of google video, record bro, freeware alternatives, interaction quiz, Burdines dissolves into Macys, Florida gambling, greyhound rescue

4 years ago – visited with Kev, 12 things meme, bro, CoD, train ride pictures, Newt Healthy

5 years ago – Wakeup, SS card, LAN party, classifieds

6 years ago – groceries, cloud makers, Lj folks, virus PSA, mapmaking

7 years ago – fly me to the moon, edelweiss, web-gamesGeotarget

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9185 – Thursday –

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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

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9184 – Wednesday

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BHK’s taco salad din din last night was awesome, in taste, health, and the ability to produce flatus. Veggie meat, two kinds of beans, and certain garilicy veggies are just asking for a bit of methane production. The yummy factor was the biggest win, however.

Tonight, we’re headed to Bilvil the Beachfront Cafe for supper – review to follow tomorrow!

Looks like Clinton is still in the race after Texas and Ohio. Ah well, at least this will give Chris and I something to debate about some more on the road to work. I get sort of stuck with Obama, mostly because he’s the other contender for the Dems.

Happy 75th Birthday, Doc Savage !

50 things I’ve done meme continues – 21-26 I ran out of time! Will continue until I hit 50 if I can as the week progresses. – I …

21.’was part of a team that coded a geopositioning system to help find missing kids. Basically, find a point on a map, call everyone within a certain distance on the map with a pre-recorded message alerting folks to be on the lookout. In addition to finding missing people, it has been used cross-country for evacuations, fire alerts, boil water, and other trouble items. Sadly, the same type of software has been put to more commercial use by telemarketing campaigns including politicians and localized ads. Biggest issue – the calls tend to originate from a VOIP or difficult to track location, so you have trouble contacting them to be put on the do not call list… unless the message you get includes a contact number. I guess any tool can be an offensive weapon in the wrong hands. I use hammers to build things, not to cave in skulls… I promise!

22.’made the final leap to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian in 1990. Last hot dog was on 7/4/90… tried being vegan for a year, and didn’t like it. Sorry Milk, Eggs and Cheese… you get eaten. I sometimes lapse on things that have more than 4 legs, or less than 2. (Conch, Clam, Crab, etc.) Despite my diet, I still am of considerable size, both height and circumference. I am taller than I am around by a reasonable facor… I’m not a sphere.

23.’have been homeless for approximately a month, living on the beach in South Florida. It’s not fun, it’s not like camping, and I don’t care to repeat it ever again. I can’t imagine it in winter up north. If I ever meet that kid (last link in my entry here ) that said it’s just a question of attitude, I just might be prompted to introduce him to what that sort of fear, depression and hopelessness feels like.

24.’saw my brother sink from happy, healthy and smiling guy to a conniving, manipulative, strung-out and sick junkie.

25.’submitted myself for product testing when money issues were especially tight. Toothpaste was worth $20, use for a month and get paid after a tooth check. I got in on a big study – It was a pretty sweet deal at the time. Given an asprin, put in a sensory dep tank a few times a day, have blood drawn each time you come out. I got $1700 for it, a month’s worth of food and board, and electricity to play on my Atari ST during the downtime. The downside was that I was confined to the grounds for a month and very few of my friends at the time came by to visit. I could call out and say hello, but seldom did anyone call me…. which caused me to review my friendship with those people quite a bit at the time. I shared a room with another study member, but he left a day into the testing because his son passed away. I still feel bad for my first mental response – “I get my own room! Right on!” The biggest problem wit hHazelton was that it was frequently confused with hazelden, a drug rehab center.

26.’told a ghost story to my brother about a monster in the basement that was so convinicng, neither of us ever went down there again without an adult escort. I was about 7, my bro was half that. I was glad when we moved out of that house. Sadly, the story isn’t really that scary to an adult… or that original. I suspect I saw that Dr. Who with the crawling pentacle hand – “ELDRAD MUST LIVE!” Side note, I had a little-kid (non-sexual) crush on Sarah Jane Smith for quite a span. I wanted her as a babysitter more than my actual one.

so, only 24 more to go? ack!

The company that made “Airborne,” — a supposed remedy for colds — have settled a lawsuit brought by customers who were upset to learn that the “clinical trials” that proved that it worked were faked.

1 year ago – interviewed at calvert, flew kites

2 year ago – animated newtcam archive, bhk chat, bat-folk, Friday 5, tmbg

3 years ago – scottobear.com renew, trip to deerfield, free fonts, chat crash w/bhk,gp puts me on to spidey bible, what? WhaT?, H2GT2G, Chimp attack, giantsteps

4 years ago – blogspam treatment, work, serial adder, 7-eared kitty, clown sweater, Ephemera, visited bro

5 years ago – book meme, palm doodles, picture issues

6 years ago – mopey, bro helping out, Dick Hymen – Master of Jazz Piano, super tugboat, Newton’s name, pet name poll, magic ingredients

7 years ago – Perseus tools, loved ones sick, flying monkeys, The 30 Least-Quoted Lines from Shakespeare, nosepilot, 5k compGeotarget

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9058 – weds

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I need to call Val and wish her a good b’day… also the mom-in-law’s birthday. We went to Mama Lucia’s, and then back to headquarters for cake and gifts. She got Becoming Jane, the Jane Austen Book Club, a box of girl scout trefoils, and a load of mushy cards.

Power went out this morning, but was back on by 6ish. Lots of high winds and cold… another ice storm on the way late tonight? The roads weren’t as bad tonight as yesterday.

Crime scene template… I covet it, and want to get one for BHK. I was amused by the inclusion of nun-chucks.

Cool history of the moment – The Cadaver Synod – Pope Stephen VI, consecrated in 896, ordered the rotting corpse of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, be exhumed and put on trial for various crimes against the church. Poor bastard was nine-months dead when they dug him up. Stephen dressed the ripe stiff in papal robes, propped it up in a chair, and proceeded to scream unintelligibly at it for several hours in front of a rapt audience. Afterwards, Formosus was declared guilty and his body was dragged through the streets of Rome, then thrown into the river Tiber. Not surprisingly, the morbid spectacle turned public opinion against Stephen. Rumors spread that the dead pontiff had washed up on the banks of the Tiber and was performing miracles. Stephen VI was eventually deposed and strangled to death in prison.

– Coilhouse was kind enough to remind me.

The only game idea better than velociraptor safari (you’re a velociraptor tooling around in a jeep, trying to run over raptors with a ball and chain hanging from the back of the vehicle) is jetpack brontosaurus. (Self explanatory.)

I heard the state of Virginia referred to as “Vajayjay” on the bus tonight, talking about weathe rand not getting to vote in time. That’s just got to stop, or my brain will explode. Oh, the pain. The pain!

Speaking of voting, I want to remind myself in the future of something. I’m not happy with *any* of our current candidates. Hillary is the most evil, but that doesn’t mean that I’m Obama‘s big fanboy. He’s just not as bad as she is. McCain is the least evil on the republican side, I feel… not that it’s hard to be the least evil in that batch.

I’m glad that the polls in Maryland stayed open an extra 90 minutes to allow for everyone stuck in the wet traffic yesterday.

The creepiest person you’ve gamed with. There’s a reason I’m picky about gamer pals. The story of Jack. Not for the squeamish. I can honestly say that to the best of my knowledge, they’ve all gotten up to use the restroom.

Thread stats here for more etc. I’ve mentioned some folks I’ve encountered over the years.

1 year ago – local wildlife pic, ice storm coming, feeling better

2 years ago – chilly?, swollen uvula, nohari, bongos, GND moving (she’s since married… as have I!), cookies?, auto stitched comic spread, super squid

3 years ago – ren-fest thoughts, bro-religion scam thoughts, lair, pretzel prefs, grocery store, lj-buddy collage, valentines zod, moris tepper, elektra barbie, unix cheatsheet, lj user a sexual predator

4 years ago – Ft13th, urban beasts, photo memes, workers screwing up, Joel Veitch (Elephants, Yeah!), Mage knight with Dave

5 years ago – bro mooching, gas prices , newt’s Problem solving, Nice email, scabby palm pics, space giants, Walter adopted

6 years ago – Alton Brown, Melting pot month, ornj on the mend, talky newt, sleepy day, condiment museum

7 years ago – lost empires, pipe-smoking monkey sings Sanford and sonGeotarget

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9048 – sat

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Happy Birthday to me… 39 years old today! Also, Happy Groundhog’s Day. Saw my shadow this morning – More snow, I guess! 

You're older than you've ever been and now you're even older
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
You're older than you've ever been and now you're even older
And now you're older still

Time
Is marching on
And time
Is still marching on

This day will soon be at an end and now it's even sooner
And now it's even sooner
And now it's even sooner
This day will soon be at an end and now it's even sooner
And now it's sooner still

You're older than you've ever been and now you're even older
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
You're older than you've ever been and now you're even older
And now you're older still

First Present was a box of chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons from BHK by way of the cakery yummo.

Still sickly, so I spent the bulk of today in bed, resting after getting back from my allergy shots. BHK is bouncing back much more rapidly than I am. Big day out will be next weekend, most likely. Heading to Baltimore’s National Aquarium and maybe the B&O railroad museum, if Larry comes along.

Dinner of tasty veggie meatball subs and baked potato – nom nom nom

Birthday cake is dark chocolate, with white icing… and gummi green army men fighting to the top! Pictures to follow as available.

Presents from Kev-o: Godzilla Cartoon – Vol 1, Babylon 5 – The Lost Tales, and Family Guy: Blue Harvest goodie sets.

From Mom& Wilton – $50 Barnes and Noble Gift card.

I get to cut the cake and open my other presents tomorrow! Superbowl Sunday… I’m in a pool, but I really don’t follow football, even if my home team of the Patriots are playing.

BHK buttered my nose sneakily on a sneak behind this morning, after a failed attempt to get my beak while I was showering.

It’s Robb’s birthday today, too… I hope he’s having a dandy one as well! Happy Un-birthday to everyone else!

Oh, come on.. the voice of Bart Simpson is a Scientology supporter, too?

Ugh and yuck. Recent donation list.

  • Nancy Cartwright (Bart and Rufus the Naked Mole Rat), 50, Patron Laureate Award: $10 million.
  • Kirstie Alley, 57, Diamond Meritorious Award: $5 million.
  • John Travolta, 53, Gold Meritorious Award: $1 million.
  • Kelly Preston, 45, Gold Meritorious Award: $1 million.
  • Priscilla Presley, 62, Patron Award: $50,000.

I’m still trying to figure out how Kirstie Alley can afford a $5 mil donation.

I wonder if there will come a time where I boycott all movies because money is going to that organization. Dang Scientology.

Diet Chocolate Cherry Dr. Pepper…. My Closest approximation? It tastes like you’re drinking a chocolate tootsie pop. Not really Chocolaty… oddly synthetic. Cherry Vanilla wins far and above over this, but it’s an interesting variation. Still better than that “Berries and Creme” variant, that I’m not missing at all. Jone’s Chocolate Fudge soda is better, but not much.

1 year ago – I’m 38, Feb 2 across the board, birthday cards / images received, no shadow, nose butter,

2 years ago – I’m 37, dance monkeys dance, afterlife quiz, kind wishes, 40 faces, ID, Danny Sick

3 years ago – I’m 36, no shadow, cleaned Mel’s system, under the bed, birthday type pics

4 years ago – I’m 35, Birthday factoids, walkies

5 years ago – I’m 34, the Museum F Art, Tinkle-pig, Newt, and other palm-cam pics, Groundhogs seek sex, not shadows

6 years ago – I’m 33, saw my shadow, blah day, daredevil, nice end of day

7 years ago – I’m 32, many holidays, nice ecards, saw my shadow, got my moonmama penguin pic

8 years ago – I’m 31Geotarget

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9045 – Thursday

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Feeling better, but not at 100% Maybe 60%…. Better than the 15% yesterday. – went back to work, mainly because I had far too many meetings I couldn’t afford to miss. Accursed Bronchial tubes!

Physically achy from the coughing, but otherwise doing ok. Got a nosebleed right before my 10am teleconference… that was a hoot.

Later tonight, after dinner, I got to replicate my hulk icon from yesterday… so… there we are. *Blarf*

Heading to bed at 9:30 tonight good rest will mend me up. Poor BHK is coming down with it, too.

This afternoon, I thought to myself … “Wow… Aimee Mann sounds a bit like the chick from ‘Til Tuesday“… then I found out that she *IS* the chick from ‘Til Tuesday.

Duh.

“This week a sub-$100,000 rocket belt was unveiled and will be on sale this summer, but that’s the sad thing: it’s still not a real jet pack. Here’s a fascinating inside look at the human-flight industry, full of law-suit scandals, technical difficulties, fuel-economy woes and endless delays. The good news? It all points to the next generation of rocketeer research, with real applications for medical rescue and military technology actually coming on the horizon. From the article: ‘With a little patience, and a little funding, we could actually have the pleasure of grumbling over regulatory issues we never dreamed possible. Like being limited to specific kinds of air strips, because the jet strapped to your back is classified by the FAA as an ultralight. Or being required to wear a ballistic parachute, because Amarena’s Thunderjet design could reach altitudes as high as 10,000 feet (and, for the record, speeds of up to 160 mph, provided someone can solve wind-resistance issues).'” – via /.

Favorite joke of the moment –

The Secretary of Defense is giving President Bush his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: “Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed.”

“OH NO!” the President exclaims. “That’s terrible!”

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and asks, “How many is a brazillion?”

1 year ago – swim meet, sci-fi writer meme, dead valentiner link, misc sentence finish meme,

2 years ago – G0DLAND, Tchuby Tchuba, Bangles, Angel Eyes Newt, Unicorns LA, Bullfight Just Desserts, Ham the chimp / space monkeys

3 years ago – Newt and I relaxing pics, Scotto playlist, Lazytown, bro issues, how they did singin’ in the rain remix

4 years ago – DVD burning, RenFairies, Prez-match, pop-up books, first touch of firefly (I still think Zoe is an overused name)

5 years ago – New moon, new year coming, Charles Dickens joke, skull sales, Job at FMM ends, Bday prezzies

6 years ago – Fiscal responsibility, Ghetto voices, online “privacy”, Marine Park is a bad and disreputable online store, newt lovies

7 years ago – being mushy, schedule issues, The Invisible Men, flax seedGeotarget