June 2004

E-Mail is Blog Fuel

Send me mail and I update more often, apparently.

Look, more responses to Blog entries!


--- Paul Meyers wrote:
> In response to that last line, about people actually reading, well,
> you'd be
> surprised.
>
> I'm just some random nut (as good a description as any) who frequents
> that
> Gaia messageboard site (which you may or may not recall. Either way.)
>
> Mouse (as was her name there, so far as we knew) was someone a few of
> us
> had, if not gotten to know, at least we had felt somewhat comfortable
> with
> her occasional postings. Think (almost) anything you like of that,
> but I
> check into your site every week or so, seeing how she's doing, and
> giving
> the updates to the few others of us who remember and hope for her
> speedy
> return to good health.
>
> Why do I write this now? ...no clue. Just felt like something that
> had to be
> said, and that recent bit was enough to actually make me write to
> someone
> who thinks (correctly) of me as a complete stranger. Also, the news
> that
> she's (by this time) out of the ICU is news we're glad about. Let her
> know
> some of us Gaia-nuts she sometimes talked to care, and are glad she's
>
> getting better.
>
> May your car spontaneously repair itself and/or you win the lottery,
> or
> powerball, or...something to take care of the bills.

You're not a total stranger, Sparksol, I remember you as the only other person who would post things in "The House of Mouse and Blake." It's nice to see that there are still people from Gaia that remember and worry about Kelli, A.K.A. Mouse. Getting e-mail like this is truly appreciated.

Thank you.

-Blake

Books and Boats

Kelli's now at University Specialty Hospital - about 2 blocks from Baltimore Inner Harbor.

(I'm now getting e-mails from people who read this blog, and half of them said they check it to see how Kelli's doing. Ok, so that's 2 people who've seen the blog and one of them said this. In any case...)

While it says "Hospital" in the name, it's a physical rehabilitation center. They have Kelli doing exercises & stuff to help her get her strength back. Right now they don't have her leaving her bed yet, but that day will come ... bwa-hahahaha!!!!!

As I said, she's only 2 blocks from Baltimore's famous Inner Harbor. It's where my class went for it's senior trip, and it's simply a great place to go. Of course, my main hangout will probably end up being the 2-story Barnes & Noble store they have, even if their little cafe sucks. (It's geared for Starbucks - sipping yuppies. I don't hate yuppies, I'm just not one of them.)

I like books. I've always liked books, from the first day my Mom hauled my butt to Nazareth Memorial Library so I could pick my reading material for the week. I could spend a whole day in a bookstore and not get bored once, although I might clear out my bank account in the process.

As it is, I bought Father's Day presents for my Dad and Grandfather, as well as Leo Laporte's 2004 Technology Almanac and a book on creative writing. That's enough for now, I think. Next few times I go there, it'll be for the atmosphere. No, really, it will!

In other news:
My sisters came down to see me on my birthday (the 19th) and a good time was had by all, except for the fact that Beka totaled her car the next day. She's such a copycat!

Beka gave me a little chess set from England that had me grinning like a madman. Gretchen gave me her demo tape with songs on it that made me cry (She's just that good) and a mix CD with a variety of music on it. I don't normally want mix CDs because of my opinions on file swapping, but I'm OK with this one because within 24 hours of hearing the CD I had purchased my own Dropkick Murphys CD. Working class ex-soldiers with Irish backgrounds singing punk music ... what's not to love? ^_^

Kelli called me on her cell phone while I was writing this. She's getting a little better every day!

Ack, they found me!

The following is an e-mail sent by Stephen Heintz, creator of Acid Zen Wonder Paint. Apparently he read the write-up I did about AZWP in my Web Site Reviews section.

-=-=-

--- "Stephen H." wrote:
> Hey, thanks for the nice write-up on your bloggy thing! Criticisms
> are
> totally boss, they help me grow as a person.
> I appreciate the link, and I'm glad you like my crap to any degree.
>
> Just thought I should mention about the atrocious spelling-- I almost
> never
> update before three in the morning. And by that point in the night,
> I'm so
> damn tired I can't be bothered to type into MSword and see if any of
> my
> disjointed yammerings turn up underlined red.
>
> If it's worth anything, it bugs me too, and I'll probably go through
> the
> archives with a fine-toothed comb and straighten my words out one of
> these
> days.
>
> G'day!
> -Stephen H.

-=-=-
My response follows:
-=-=-

I assumed your late-night updates (or early morning, depending...) were the reason for much of your humor and spelling. In fact, I think that's what helps make AZWP work so well.

I'm a big fan of kitschy humor on par with the "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey" skits that used to be on Saturday Night Live, so when I saw the link to it in Return to Sender's forums, I just had to read all of them and enjoyed the fact that there are other people out there doing stuff like this. (It's too bad I read most of them at work ... oh well, deadlines were meant to be broken, I guess...)

This is also evidenced by the movies I make from time to time.

By the way, how did you discover that I had linked to you? Are people actually READING my blog?

-Blake Emrys

Posted by Blake Emrys at 6:07 PM
Categories: Rants, Reviews
|

Cloudburst

A cloud with a silver lining is still a cloud.

Best news first: Sometime this morning Kelli will be OUT OF THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT!!! Boo-YA!

She'll be going to a live-in rehabilitation facility, but it will be her first time out of the hospital since before Valentine's Day. This is a BIG step forward.

Worst news second: I wrecked my car. Long story short, 3 cars, only mine got smashed. It will run, but the radiator is ... relocated. I couldn't see what other damage their might be since the hood was similarly readjusted. I've no idea as of now how much of a hassle this will be for me finantially. I also have a nasty welt on my right arm where the airbag hit me. Beka was kind enough to offer me a lift from the body shop back to my apartment, Thanks, kid sister!

In other news:

Beka's now a Marylander. Thanks to her degree from PSU she now has a Montgomery County based job where she can torture poor defenseless lab animals. Well, that's not really her job, but it's fun to pick on the vegetarian. ^_^ It's all good, I have a gift for her that I know she'll like (because I already told her what it was).

My Grandfather is moving in with my parents. He didn't want to spend another winter alone in his house, so he moves in tomorrow. Oh, yeah, and he's bringing his cat. This should be interesting, as my Mom already has 4 of them.

I want to get rid of my fish. I never liked fish as pets, with the exception of my Beta - and even then I'd be willing to part with it. I just don't want to drop them all off at a pet shop, but nobody's willing to take them in. Oh, well.

Acid Zen Wonder Paint

Stick figures ... from HELL!

Ok, so this site has all the ingredients for failure .. nothing but stick figures drawn in MS Paint, the spelling is often atrocious, the text is disjointed and non-sequitur, and that blue background is just so ... blue.

... so why can't I stop laughing? Because it's darn funny, that's why!

Acid Zen Wonder Paint: http://snipehunting.rydia.net/

Mouse in the house

I have company, or to be more precise, I am company.

In University of Maryland Medical Center's large waiting room appropriately called the Garden Plaza, there is a mouse.

I know, because in the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning, when I am the only person there, I've seen it scurry about from couch to couch. I've seen it climb down from one of the many trees scattered throughout the garden. I've seen it peek out at me through the lush greenery that extends across the length of the room.

This is not like the domesticated mice that I used to breed for pet shops years ago - large and plump from scientifically calculated mixes of seeds including processed food pellets fortified with every nutrient they could possibly need, not to mention the occasional delicious sunflower seed for desert. This is a wild mouse, smaller and thinner from a lifetime of scrounging around, never knowing where it's next meal is coming from.

It's an ideal place for a mouse, actually. The deep potting soil covered in plants offers places to hide, burrow, and gives the added bonus of absorbing the odor of mouse urine.

Of the many waiting rooms in this hospital, this is one of the closest ones to the food court. This means that every day food is provided by children and adults too lazy to get off their butts and put unwanted food in the proper trash receptacle. A veritable mouse paradise.

I'm not the only person to have seen it - other visitors have noticed it as well. I dare not tell the hospital staff, as they would probably try to hunt it down and catch it. This IS a hospital, after all. It should be kept sanitary.

But the mouse is not in with the patients. Why would it want to be? There's no food there, and there are too many people walking around moving things to find a good hiding spot that will stay there for any length of time.

I like this mouse. I feel grateful that it has accepted me enough to allow me to see it. If it wanted to it could very easily stay out of my sight the whole time I'm there. I hope to see more of it in the future.

I'm tempted to bring it some sunflower seeds the nest time I come to visit. After all, everyone who stays in the hospital deserves a treat now and then.

Mr. Combs, you will be missed.

There's one less Mac user in the world. Yesterday morning our technology teacher Mr. Combs passed away. I don't know all of the details, but there were many tears shed today over him. He was more than a coworker, he was a friend. He's also the 2nd coworker to die this school year. There is too much misery in this school.