Hi

I'm sure by this time that even The Bat isn't watching this page.

It's been over 6 months. I stopped posting for a few reasons: I have nothing to say, I've been doing nothing interesting and my outlook has become increasingly gloomy. In case you haven't heard everything seems to be going down the tubes.

So what have I been doing? Well mostly playing video games, reading and watching DVDs. See. Nothing terribly exciting. Much to The Bat's annoyance I've been playing the hell out of Pokemon Diamond, Emerald and FireRed. I'm actually trying to catch them all, or at least all but one (I think it was only released in Japan). Right now I am at 73.4% caught (I created a handy spreadsheet to keep track). I've almost reached the upper limit of which ones I can capture on my own. Now I'll have to start to trade them online. It's a bit of an effort. So far I've only been able to trade one. Trying to coordinate times with some one in the UK is a bit of a pain.

I've also started watching Ken Burn's Jazz and started listening to jazz CDs from the library. I guess this really started with the credits of Jerry Seinfeld's Comedian which had Susannah McCorkle's rendition of Jobim's Águas de Março. I enjoyed it so much that the next year was declared the Year of Bossa Nova. While I still enjoy Bossa Nova, I've started to branch out. Mostly into Cool Jazz (so not really all that far) with Dave Brubeck.

With some effort, I hope I can become a jazz tool and turn my nose up at all other music. Even jazz! I just have to make sure I don't fall into the Smooth Jazz trap, the most deadly and shameful of all jazz. I suppose I've already slid a bit down that slippery slope due to my like of Steely Dan.

Oh, I completely forgot about working a lot. We opened two new expansions at work that both took (and continue to take) a large chunk of my attention.

I'll leave you with this.

What I Miss

Oh crap. I might be turning into Andy Rooney.
The other day I checked out a library book that had the little pocket in
the back to hold the card that they would stamp the due date on. I have
seen them in years; everything is barcodes now. At the first public
library I went to they would stamp the cards then photo graph them with
this huge machine. I can't imagine having to store all those film
canisters or even have to go back and find a book. I wonder if they had
to use them in some sort of torrid checkout dispute.
In junior high and high school, especially high school, I spent a lot of
time in the library. I'm pretty sure that I was the only one in jr high
that knew the school acutally had a library. I checked out quite a few
book, probably confusing the student assistants by forcing them to do
their jobs. I would always check the card and see how full it was, how
often the book had been check out or even when the last time someone had
it out. I felt particularly good if the book hadn't been check out in a
while. Maybe the book was lonely.
I remember reading lots of military airplane books and teen sci-fi
novels. I especially liked the reference books. They were special
somehow. You couldn't check them out so they had to be special right?
Anyway, the lack of checkout cards make me feel that I'm the first
person to crack that volume. that little weird link with readers that
have gone before is gone. Not a huge loss, but a loss none the less.
Ah crap, I forgot to make a witty,crumegonly joke at the expense of kids
these days.

Jobs With Hats

Jobs that have hats associated with them:

• Policemen - peaked caps
• Rangers - campaign hats
• Firemen - helmets
• Construction workers - hard hats
• Conductors conductor cap (which is like a peaked cap I suppose)
• Chefs - toque
• Cowboys - cowboy hat

You get the point. Some careers are known of their hats. The last time you thought of a matador a montera probably popped into your head. My career choice has no hat and that sucks. Though I can't imagine what it would be. A beret? No, too snooty. A straw boater? Neat, but no just doesn't make a lick of sense. A fedora is the most logical choice but also cliche. I think I'm stuck with a just baseball cap. . . sigh.

Hats let people you know business. They say "Hey, I know enough about the thing that this hat is related to that I wore the freaking hat!" They project authority. Think about airline pilots; their hats let you know they are in charge (of your life!) Heck, carry something career specific in your hand (say a red cape) and you can ask anyone to do anything. I have a few clipboards in my office for this very reason.

We have an active construction area were I work and I have to walk it frequently. That means I have to wear a hard hat ("Safety First") and I couldn't be happier. About 2 years ago we had our first construction project and we needed hard hats for the staff. I went down to Home Depot to score eight of them. They had a few different types but the average-Joe hard hat (the one with the visor in the front) was the cheapest. Personally I wanted one with the brim all the way around. It looked very 40's and looked a bit like a pith helmet. It was pretty awesome. But it was a bit more expensive and to purchase one different than everyone else's would be vanity. Also at the time it appeared that only supervisors had those kind of hats and I didn't want to upset the natural order of things (this isn't the case).

Thankfully they had only 7 with the peak so I would have to get one of the other styles. I was pretty happy about it. On the way back to work I was wondering if anyone would care or if they wanted the "special" hat. What if someone else coveted it too? I'd have to play it all cool and be like "Eva. It's just a stupid hard hat. Take it." In retrospect this was just dumb. Who the hell cares? No one with any sense.

When I got back I handed out the hats but kept my special hat for me. The one comment on the hat came from a coworker who made an off color joke dealing with a turtle's attraction to that kind of hard hat.

So for the next month or so I'll get to wear a job related hat. Hopfully I won't have to take advantage of all its features. That will mean something has fallen on my head.

Farewell Queek

I'm sad to say that Queek the guinea pig passed away last night.

Two things were true about Queek: he loved the little fuzzy ends that came in his hay and he loved the ladies. He could much through those fuzzy ends like nobody's business. It was fun to watch how he sucked them down. I think he would judge a batch of hay on the number of fuzzies it had. Once he zipped through those, he was done with that batch and squeak for more.

Queek and I had an OK relationship; I fed him and gave him scratches (and the aforementioned fuzzies). We'd chat about stuff. He was so-so on his former pen mate Magnet. They never really quite got a long and each had to have their own pigloo. I think he didn't really care for us because we were guys; Queek was a ladies guinea pig. He would get very excited whenever The Bat, Barnelia or The Bat's Mom came in the room. He'd run to the front of his pen and tilt his head up just waiting for a pet (which they often gave him). He got so excited last time he saw Barnelia he nipped her (clearly out of love because he wasn't a mean spirited piggy).

The Bat and I said our goodbyes and buried him in the backyard next to the new flower bed. He'll get a sunflower when it comes time to plant.

Thank you everyone who took care of Queek and Magnet while The Bat and I were away.

Everything I Know I Learned from D&D

or Rest Well Gary Gygax

As you probably have heard the creator of Dungeons & Dragons passed away. I can't think of many people that I never actually knew that had such an impact on my life. D&D and games in general have been my main hobby since I was a teen.

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons in sixth grade when I met a few kids in the gifted and talented classes who "played." I say it with quotes because they didn't really know any rules and they didn't have dice (just a Sucrets container with tiny slips of paper in it numbered from 1 to 20). They just told stories to each other in the guise of D&D. Not a bad thing mind you, just less structured. I begged my parents for the Red Box (it came with real dice! I still have my first well worn d20) and it took off from there to other RPGs, computer games, table top games, miniature games and card games. D&D was a gateway drug for me that led me into a world of nerds, dorks and other socially awkward creatures. I have spent more money and time on games than I care to think about. But I don't regret it.

I feel that D&D gave me a love of reading, the ability to understand complex systems, helped me explore creativity and imagination and allowed me to explore what was right and wrong, good and evil in a safe environment. D&D was my sandbox growing up. While most players probably built castles and pillaged villages, I remember that I played a time traveling monk (hardly D&D cannon) who spent most of his time building a museum, a very scholarly priest who spent most of his gold on building a huge library and inventing new inks to illuminate texts with or a rogue who sought to learn the funniest joke from the gods. I wouldn't be who I am, for better or worse, with out Gary Gygax's creation.

I grew out of some gaming; I just can't quite take RPGs as seriously as I used to and I don't have a group of friends to support a steady gaming habit. Now I mostly play World of Warcraft and other video games but I do miss those few years of Gaming Tuesdays before I left the Sunshine State.

Tonight, as Teodor (my Blood Elf Frost Mage in WoW) was flying to Gadgetzan I noticed all the mechanics that Gygax introduced to storytelling to transform it into a game. (Hit points, classes, levels, experriance points, etc.) What he started with D&D was everywhere and these stories are much more fun and engaging because of him. As soon as Teodor landed he poured out a mana potion in salute of the first GM's passing.

Airports and David Byrne

I'm in the Cleveland airport traveling for business. It is a nice clean
terminal and I hva e a nice cup of coffee. We got here early so that
just added to long layover.
Right before I left got David Byrne's Grown Backwards but haven't
listened to it untill now. Its a good CD so far but better in an
airport. Both are terribly interesting and slightly absurd. Maybe it
is his voice that fits the venue. I don't know but I'm enjoying it.
Wonder if he has ever considered a concert in one. That would be cool.
If you timed it right you could get there and see it with out ever
leaving the security zone. Not exactly ecologically responsible but
very absurd.

The Year of Blame

Just before the new year, The Bat and I were at a nicer seafood joint in a nicer part of town. We had been there before and ate a lovely meal of fried everything. We don't eat fried food that often, but this was a nice treat. Non-greasy fried food is hard to come by. The second time around was good, but not as good as the first.

The couple in an adjacent booth had ordered a bottle of wine and it came out in an ice bucket. This wine bucket was on a stand (I've never seen a table top model) in the aisle by their table. A woman who was leaving plowed into it, sending ice and wine all over the floor. Everyone just stared at it for a bit. The woman said "Well who put that there?" What the hell? That's where wine buckets go moron. The guy who was with the woman picked the bottle up and said, "Oh, there wasn't much in it." Sure, not after your water buffalo of a wife knocked it over. The couple then just shuffled out. After a minute the waiter came by to clean up and got them two glasses of replacement wine. So all ended well.

I was clearly (sarcasm) not her fault and even it was no big loss, it was empty anyway. They should have offered to replace the wine. Hell, they should have at least apologized.

This made me realize no one takes blame any more. Everything is some one else's fault or the situation is to blame or it is a flaw in the materials. Sure sometimes it is these things, but some times it is just YOU. Maybe you put yourself in that situation or you were using something out of spec.

So I ask you, in 2008, stop and consider that it might just be YOUR FAULT. If it is, be a decent human being and own it. Don't blame God or Fate or Luck or the Force.

Pobricita Hard Drive

On Friday my hard drive of five-ish years crashed.

I think I had that reaction of everyone this happens to: I should have backed up. Ah well, shouldn't cry over spilled milk. I didn't loose that much and I still have yet to see if I might be able to get into it to see what I can recover. I think I will have lost some photos, documents (all my library stuff certainly) and a slew of half-played game saves.

But it's Sunday now and all is well. I've installed a new HD in this gracefully aging rig. Thankfully I was able to install all my drivers and software of the internet and I even uploaded all my music from my Vision:M. Warcraft took the most time to reinstall; that is one huge program. I'm going to try to use open source stuff instead of using various Adobe products, but I don't know how far I'll get with that. And I still have to work on my sound car; I can't seem to get back the same functionality I had before.

So I've resolved to move most of my data to Google Docs or Notebook. I'll need to get my del.icio.us account up to date to take my bookmarks. That way not much will be on my computer. But the stuff that is there, I'll back up. Promise.