Divine Aesthetics: The Blog

I love my wife

Me: Hey, this is a good packing snow. Kelli: Yeah, but I don't want to send it anywhere. Me: ... Me: I'm blogging this.

WARNING

Those who know me know I'm a sucker for cute little animals.  That being said, do not click on this link if you have anything that needs too be done soon.

The above link contains silly jokes, sick jokes, stupid jokes, cute jokes, internet slang, random geekiness, more random geekiness, and more cats than I've ever seen on one web page.

Ever.

Should I be worried?

from a conversation with Cristi

blogger blogger blogger blogger blogger blogger blogger blogger

podcast! podcast!

blogger blogger blogger blogger blogger blogger blogger blogger

aggregate! aggregate! RSS, aggregate!

Things I can't do in an RPG Campaign

2. A one man band is not an appropriate bard instrument.
21. No longer allowed to recreate the Death Star Trench Run out of genre.
22. There is no such thing as a Gnomish Pygmy War Rhino.
25. The green elf does not need food badly.
35. I am not allowed to convince the entire party to play R2 units.
38. When investigating evil cultists not allowed to just torch the decrepid mansion from the outside.
44. Not allowed to spend all 100 character points on 100 1pt skills.

I could go on, but how about you just read the whole list for yourself.  This stuff is funny.

Only in my playlist...

...would "Dead Puppies" by Ogden Edsl be played between two Christian Rock songs.

No, I didn't have iTunes set to play songs randomly, either.

Home Remedies

My sister sent me this. We are certainly a strange bunch. 1. If you are choking on an ice cube, don't panic. Simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat and presto, the blockage will be almost instantly removed. 2. Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away. 3. You can avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat just by using the sink. 4. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use an egg timer. 5. A mouse trap placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button. 6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives. Then you will be afraid to cough. 7. Have a bad toothache? Smash your thumb with a hammer and you will forget all about the toothache. 8.Sometimes, we just need to remember what the rules of life really are: In life, you only need two tools - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move but should, use the WD-40. If it should not move and does, use the duct tape. 9. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. 10. Never pass up an opportunity to go to the bathroom.

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, radioactive Spider-Man!

Your results:

You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 85% Superman 55% Robin 50% Green Lantern 50% Hulk 50% Iron Man 50% Supergirl 45% Catwoman 40% The Flash 35% Wonder Woman 30% Batman 30%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Kim's was better.

Wait, what? Let's try that again...




Um, can we go back to that first one?

that'll do.

powered by performancing firefox

Outa here

We're done packing (I think) and will soon be leaving to spend the next 48 hours in PA visiting the family and in-laws. Dialysis and Kelli's job conspired against us, so now we get the abbreviated (read: rushed) version of the trip north.

Neither of us is bringing our laptops with us, so the earliest we'll be back online will probably be Tuesday night / Wednesday morning.

See ya later!

Sucker for the cute

Best. Nativity. Ever.

Of course if I knocked nativity figurines I would get in trouble, but who can say no to that face?

(I can, but I've had lots of practice.)

oh no!

No good can come from this!

But I want it anyway.

Israeli Army Hates D&D

No, really!

It's apparently an old and slightly exaggerated story, but still...

Captain Obvious

On my cold medicine bottle:

"Warning: Sedatives and tranquilizers may cause drowsiness."

...

Ya think?

Happy Birthday, Kelli!

By the time you read this, you should already know what I got you. :)

This story's just six words long!

No, really! Wired has done it again.

My favorite:

"He read his obituary with confusion."

- Steven Meretzky

Yup.

That's about right.

Feeling Nostalgic

Remember the flying toasters?

Want them back ?

Ah, the good old days...

Splatterbot Plans

Just when you thought you'd be doing something constructive today ...

You do want to make your own Splatterbot paper sculpture, don't you?

Discovered truth.

When the cutest puppy in the world pukes on your sister's lap...

It's still puke.

True Story

Kelli: Oh, no! I'm giving you grey hairs!

Me: What?

Kelli: This hair right here - it's almost WHITE!

Me: Really? SWEET!

Evil! EEEEEVIIIIIIIIIIIILLL!!!!!!!

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories - Lego Abominations

Best Spam Ever (doesn't say much)

I found this while checking my spam folder to see if there were any false positives:

---

Your website (www.gmail.com) on top positions on Google, Yahoo and MSN search!

We will get your website (www.gmail.com) to the top positions on all major search engines.

Use our great value offer:

We will submit your website (www.gmail.com) to 890 Search Engines, including Google, Yahoo and MSN. you

SAVE £ 50 blah blah blah...

---

So let's see ... this spam is offering me a way to make a Google owned product rank high on Google. Brilliant! This guy probably sent the same email to Yahoo! Mail users saying they can get Yahoo! to rank high on a Yahoo! search.

This is what you get when you let an algorithm write your spam for you.

Leo, Chris. Chris, Leo

One of my favorite podcasts it Tips From the Top Floor, which talks about digital photography, and one of my favorite podcasters is Leo Laporte.

So I was just thrilled to find out that the two of them met at the Podcast Expo. I'd love to see an interview between the two of them with more substance, though.

New LotGD Stuff

It's been a while, so I've added a few new modules to LotGD. I haven't tried these out, so I'm hoping for user feedback to let me know if they're worth keeping:

Forest Encounter (Special):

*Penguin Overlord [UPDATE] Fought the Penguin Overlord. Killing the Green Dragon was easier for me. I like this module.

*Slap Challenge

Races

*Centaur

*Dark Elf

Village Encounters

*Random Bandit Attack

*Village Thief

Travel Encounters

*The Sphinx

I've also installed a module that will allow me to add some graphics (including variant graphics for those who get drunk), but I've yet to configure it.

In perpetuity.

Lawrence Lessig found a great icon that depicts the copyright laws of today accurately.

I'd be amused if it wasn't so annoying. True, I like that my works will be protected for years to come, but for 70+ years after I die? That's a bit much.

Dangit.

I always tried to shoot that lousy dog.

Need more furniture!

This weekend we're heading up to PA to clear brush. Maybe I should bring some nails, too.

Where are they now?

1990: John Kimble is the Kindergarten Cop.

2006: John Kimble runs for the US Senate!

Man, he really let himself go...

More foolishness

" I personal respect and welcomes immigrants ... But I strongly opposes efforts ..."

Now Kelli suspects that English may not be this guy's first language, and I'm known to have a typo or three myself.

That being said, when you're running for an office you should have someone proofread what you write (or what someone writes for you).

Things best left unsaid

The Maryland Primary is tomorrow, so I'm researching candidates in some of the less publicized categories.  I don't think I'm qualified to vote for someone if I don't know where they stand, after all.

At first I was thrilled when I read that this guy had a lot of tech in his background.

Then I remembered what his site looked like.

Boys and girls, if you're going to put "Web Developer" in your resume you had darned well better not be using blinking text on your FAQ page!

The animated GIFs on the home page weren't that great, either.

Steve Irwin lives on

Just saw this while playing LotGD:

You have encountered Green Alligator which lunges at you with Crushing Jaws!

Level: 7

Start of round:

Green Alligator's Hitpoints: 22

YOUR Hitpoints: 134

Your stallion fights with you!

Your luck is holding!

You execute a power move!!!

You hit Green Alligator for 66 points of damage!

Searching the lifeless body of Green Alligator you find a Wooden Nickel.

Crikey! That thing could have killed you!

You have slain Green Alligator!

You receive 5 gold!

You receive 85 total experience!

User Friendly on Net Neutrality

This is one of the most ammusing takes on Net Neutrality I've seen in a while.

Creature Creation

In my last post I mentioned that I had a version of Legend of the Green Dragon up and running. I've been tweaking it and installing various modules in between searches for affordable cars, and one thing I've found I can do is add my own monsters.

And that's where you come in. I want to add a lot of things that are strange, original, or downright funny, but I need ideas. The information I need for each creature is as follows:

Creature Name
Weapon
Death Message
Level (1-18, the larger the number, the more powerful it is.)

Here's an example of one of the ones that came with the game:

CN: Cherubically Charming Child
W: Curious Questions
DM: You think it was the alliteration that did him in.
L: 1

I'd like to offer something in return for the good ideas, so ... umm ...

How about this - I have a module installed that lets me give out "Donation Points" that can be used to purchase special items like extra turns, vampire's teeth (those turn you into a vampire), etc. It was set up for people who use PayPal to donate money, but I can award points for anything I want.

So if you have an account in the game, I'll give you 10 Donation Points for every creature you suggest that I end up using. If you don't have and account and don't want one ... well, I'll still be happy to take your suggestions.

LORD, er, I mean LOTGD

Some of you may remember Legend of the Red Dragon (LORD), an amusing BBS game from way back that was released as shareware.

Well, there's a web based version called Legend of the Green Dragon that's been put under a Creative Commons License.

Aaaand since I now have access to a server that gives me unlimited MySQL support, I installed it.

Ah, fine nostalgic gaming experience.

RIP

Just when I thought my car troubles were at an end, it died on me.

And I don't mean it went quietly in it's sleep, either. No, this was a death that involved smoke, strange noises, flashing lights, and brownish blood spread out over the asphalt.

That brown fluid was, among other places, in the oil pan.

Remember, I had the head gasket replaced in June to the tune of over $1400. I couldn't afford that much then, and I can afford it even less, now.

If this keeps up I might just go emo.

Or goth.

Hm...

"Life is pain."

Nah, doesn't work for me.

I'll just go and blow some things up now. Violent video games for the win.

Minatures game for the cheap

Swiped from Sparksol:

Toymallet 40¢

It's like Warhammer 40k ... only not.

Linkity Linkety

After a week away from a DSL connection, I'm slowly catching up with all of the links I normally check. Here are just the highlights, narowed down from a list of @200 blog posts. I still have more to look at, dangit.

LEGO Guitar

Escher's "Relativity" in LEGO®

Matchbox Pinhole Camera

Macro Atachment for pocket digital camera

DIY Softbox

How to Build a Panoramic Tripod Head for $10

High Speed Photos

Macro Cell Phone Lens

Super Cheap DIY Camera Wrist Strap

Make Video Podcast: Weekend Projects - Make a Pinhole Camera and Darkroom ( Instructions)

Make Podcast: Weekend Projects - Picnic Geometry ( Instructions)

DIY Messenger Bag

DIY Cardboard sets for Playmobile

Mathematically optimum way of shoe lacing

Silk Painting Direct Method Tutorial

Coin Wrap Rolls by Dimitrios

DIY - Build a Glider from a Fastfood Container

DIY Camping lighting & sound system

make a paper bag book

Vinegar/Baking Soda Grenade

This just in:

Scientists connect mouse neurons to robots. France and Wisconsin tighten security on their cheese supplies.

RIAA goes to court.

I'm not a pirate.

I've never used Kazaa, I don't burn CDs for people, I don't strip copy protection out of DVDs, and when I use BitTorrent it's for files that the content creators want to be shared.

(I think it was Lawrence Lessig that said "I don't think people should download Britney Spears for free. I don't think they should download Britney Spears for any price." The man's a genius.)

With that said, I'm very happy that the RIAA recently took a dive.

To make a two year long story short(er): RIAA accuses mom and daughter for sharing music online, demanding $5000 or they'll see them in court. Mom says "Prove it, name the songs and when we shared them." RIAA doesn't, and tries to withdraw it's case. Judge Lee R. West thanks the RIAA for wasting his time by making them pay the mom and daughter's legal fees. RIAA sucks a lemon.

I love happy endings.

Yous sure yous wants out?

A burly man in a sleeveless shirt that exposed several tattoos came to our door today. He said he had spoken with us a month ago and asked if we were still happy with [cable company A]* or would we like to try [cable company B] again.

I told him he was mistaken, as we've been using [cable company B] for quite some time now.

Turns out he was at the right apartment, but the wrong street. Still, this makes me wonder if [cable company B] is hiring muscle to keep it's subscribers.

Just when you think you're out, they pull you back in! ;)

* Names have been removed because I don't think either company deserves free press, whether it's good or bad.

All I see are cards!

I spent a good portion of today making cards for that little project Paul and I have been working on for ... years. It's taking forever, but I really like how they're turning out. (Paul, IM me sometime. I know how you can help out.)

Tomorrow, I intend to spend a good portion of the day making Artist Trading Cards. They're sort of like a cross between collectable trading cards, business cards, and random artworks.

I gave them out during the convention I attended last month, and I intend to do it again at this month's next week's shindig.

1st Annual ISAC Day

In honor of my sister, I now declare this - the fourth Friday of June, to be International Slap A Customer Day. (Or ISAC Day, if a customer is within earshot.)

Festivities are up to you, but as law enforcement agencies frown upon assaulting people no matter how little common sense they have, I recommend using inanimate proxies.

And there was much rejoicing

Ahem:

I've got my car back! WOOHOO!

Thank you.

Save me some cake

Happy 28th birthday to Garfield the Cat.

Also, happy birthdays of undetermined amounts (Yeah, like I'LL be the one to tell you...) to Devon and Sara. Their birthdays aren't TODAY, but they're close enough.

I think I've forgotten one more birthday, but I'm sure it's not that important.

Isaac Newton and the Philosopher's Stone

File this one under "so strange it has to be true." Apparently the good Sir Newton was into Alchemy, and wanted to create the Philosopher's stone.

They're even doing a NOVA episode on it. You can hear 7 minutes of the interview here.

More Car Woes

The garage (a different one from yesterday) checked the car.

If everything goes well, it'll cost @ $1,400 to check the new head gasket.

They suggested it might be better to buy a new engine. Depending on several factors an engine could run me anywhere between $2,400 - $3,900

My car only cost $3,700.

My bright and cheerful mood is going south fast.

Blow a gasket.

Yesterday on the way home from PA my car's engine started to shudder a bit. It also blew some white smoke out the back that smelled a bit like burning plastic or rubber.

This morning on the way to work it did the same thing, so I dropped it off at the local repair place. They're not the best, but they're in walking distance of work so they're convenient.

Near as the mechanic can figure, it's a leaking head gasket. A quick Google search found me a description that said the head gasket should last as long as the car, which is disconcerting for me since it's got less than 100,000 miles on it and I've had it for less than 8,000.

Ouch. At least they topped off my coolant before telling me I had to go see a Ford dealership.

Don't mess with the Marines.

4 teenagers with two guns tried to rob a cook who had been a marine in the first Gulf War. Didn't these kids ever watch Under Seige? It's the cooks you have to watch out for.

With nothing more than a pocket knife, he fended off the would-be muggers after his attempt to run away was unsuccessful. Two of them got stabbed, one of them fatally. He doesn't even harbor any grudges, saying that he was only trying to defend himself and he's sorry it came to that.

Trigun? Not quite.

Which Character Are You? Find out Here!

Random items.

A few items to discuss:

1. This guy has some issues. It's people like this that give gamers a bad name. (Still, I cannot help but wonder if it was staged...)
2. I've now forwarded 3 story-type emails to Kitsune. I would be pleased with myself if it wasn't for the idea that my spam filter is breaking down.
3. Condor Condor Condor Condor Condor Condor Condor Condor.
4. As I was typing this, Kelli came home with a pizza that has no tomato sauce. This means I can eat it. (I love my sweetie.)
5. Punk Kitty!
6. Kelli and I saw Over the Hedge last night. It wasn't the best, but it was good.
7. I've started playing Second Life off and on. That game could end up being a money pit if I let it, but it's still free to play if your main activity is roaming around as a virtual tourist. If you run into Blake Omegamu, say "Hi."
8. BESMd20 update will occur shortly.

Rule #1 in Life

File this one under stupid criminals.

When paying for merchandise with a stolen credit card, make sure you're not using the checker's own card.

I now have an excuse.

The American Visionary Art Museum sent me a free admission coupon because of Teacher Appreciation Week.

A return trip to Baltimore's Inner Harbor should be planned.

Mwa-hahaha.

Ugly details ensue.

I'm sick.

I don't know what I have, but I'm sure it's a cold of some sort.

It started on Friday with just a sore throat, even though it was a planning day and I spent most of my time not talking at all. After helping my youngest sister move yesterday some of my family members didn't feel too well either, but they said they felt better after breakfast this morning.

I wasn't so lucky. When I got home this morning (after midnight counts as this morning) I downed a dose of nighttime cough syrup and zonked out, feeling a little better, but this morning another dose of cough syrup did nothing for me as evidenced by a series of throat tearing sensations as I hacked up plenty of mucous. I ate some ice cream to ease the pain and went back to bed.

... and stayed there for most of today.

I know I'll be better tomorrow, though. Why? Because I'm teaching tomorrow and I refuse to take a sick day for myself. Inventory time is approaching fast and I need every day I can muster.

I saved/will destroy the world!

Yanked from Paul and Gretchen

Let the running gag commence.

Obi Wan goes to Red Lobster.

Arr!

If you were a Pirate! by TheHalveric
Username
Yer Pirate Name!
Name yer ship!
Why be ye a Pirate?	Damned pansy Navy wouldn't take me!Revenge against the establishment!I like booty!!!I'm really good with knots...Cause lawyerin' be too cruel.Chicks dig eye-patches.Buggery on the High Seas!All the rum you can drink!!!
Yer First Mate!	spiffymouse
Yer Cabin-boy! (or girl)	nviiibrown
Ye're chief rival be the Dread Pirate	wfdragon
Ye'll be pursued by Admiral	kitsune_the_rad
Cut to ribbon in a freak cannon accident...	blakeemrys
Yer pirate captive to use fer yer wicked pleasures	sparksol
Number o'ships ye'll sink and women ye'll plunder!	428
Chance ye'll be hanged... or worse.: 89%
Quiz created with MemeGen!

"Freak cannon accident?" Crap. At least Admiral Kitsune didn't get me.

Repeating Itself?

Whatever side of politics you take, the story of USA's first "real" election (14.5 MB mp3) should be interesting to you. (Deja vu?) If you like the format of this recording, you might want to check out History According to Bob. He's got some interesting stuff on his site, which is built around his podcast.

Celestial Meme

Find your Celestial Choir

April Fools Day Fun

In honor of April 1, Wired has produced an article detailing 10 popular internet spoofs. My personal favorite is the movement to ban Dihydrogen Monoxide.

Still, I'm a little disappointed. Only a couple of the webcomics I read did anything to celebrate today. The best one was acomplished by Ian from Mac Hall. (Read his rant space below the comic for details about his WOW hoax.)

More Meme

Lifted from Paul and Gretchen.

Chapter 1:

Your Intials: Real name? ABS. I thank goodness my parents didn't make my middle name begin with an S.

Middle name: Benjamin

Sex: guy

Date of birth: 6/19

Current location: Earth

Height: 5'9"

Hair length: long enough

Hair color: Brown with red highlights. My dad tried 3 times to have a redhead, and I was the closest result that wasn't helped along with a bottle of dye.

Piercings: None that were intentional.

Chapter 2: Background

Do you live with your parents? no.

Do you get along with your parents?: yes

Are you parents married/separated/divorced?: married and very much in love

Do you have any siblings? two younger sisters

What pets do you have? none in this apartment, but at my parents' house there's a cat that's emotionally mine.

Chapter 3: My Fav.

City: Baltimore, if only because of the Inner Harbor

Ice Cream flavor: vanilla, but variety is good.

Season: fall. good camping weather

Shampoo/conditioner: whatever's cheapest - my hair is very forgiving.

Old nickelodeon show: Mr. Wizard. I apparently knew more than many of the kids he had on his show.

Color: Forest Green, Navy Blue, earth tones.

Cheesy pick-up line: "So, come here often?" (I only use this one on Kelli. She has yet to hit me hard enough to make me stop using it.)

Chapter 4: Do You

Sing in the shower? sometimes, but the walls here are rather thin so not so much.

Write memos on your hand?: only if I have no paper

Call people back?: Call? Um, I'll be right back....

Have your driver's license?: ::checks:: Whew! Yes.

Believe in love?: For many years now, yes.

Sleep on a certain side of the bed?: When Kelli's home, yes. On the rare occasions when we're not together, I hog the whole bed.

Think you're attractive?: Eh, sorta ... but I wouldn't date me.

Wear glasses or contacts?: glasses

Have any weird pet peeves?: yes. I hate when people don't finish their

Chapter 5: Have you ever

Broken a bone?: arm, near the wrist

Had stitches?: upper inner leg, when I fell on a rusty pipe

Punched someone in the face? No, but I've been punched a few times.

Skipped school?: One or two college classes, but I always made up the work.

Taken painkillers?: I try not to, even when doctors prescribe them, but yes I have in the past.

Gone SCUBA diving?: nope

Been stung by a jellyfish: nope

Been stung by a bee?: No, but I once stirred up a yellow jacket hive by hitting it with a weedwacker. Two other people got stung when they tried to get those things off of me.

Thrown up in a restaurant?: nope

Written a letter to Santa Claus?: used to make collage letters with pictures of the toys I wanted

Had detention?: In elementary school I rarely did my homework. That was apparently worth several detentions.

Been sent to the principal's office?: oh, yeah.

Been called a Hoe?: No, nor have I been called any other garden implements. Having taught high school for four years I've been called a lot worse, though.

Met someone famous?: Neil Armstrong. He signed my hall pass. :)

Chapter 6: Random

One thing that hurts your feelings?: When people I care about don't care about themselves.

Do you prefer blonde hair or brown hair?: Brown, but hair color isn't one of my top concerns.

Chapter 7: Love

Are you single or taken: very much taken

Do you believe in love at first sight?: I believe that others believe in it, but I don't think it's love until you KNOW the person.

Ever been in love?: Yes, currently.

Last person to tell you they love you?: Kelli

Ever had your heart broken?:yes

Ever broken a heart?: doubt it.

Last time your heart was broken?: YEARS ago.

Best love song?: First & the Last, by Clann Zú. (It's a free download off their site.)

Chapter 8: Last

Last thing you ate?: Chick Fill-A chicken nugget

Last thing you said?: "One of the questions asks what's the last thing I said. Now I'm going to be silent until I answer that question." (Said to Kelli, when describing this meme.)

Last song you listened to?: Bring Me To Life, by Evanescence.

Last person who called you?: Kelli

Meme Time

Stolen from my sister.

1. What does your LJ name mean?

It's a combination of two fictional characters I created years ago. Blake Ambrose and Marwood Emrys were polar opposites. In reality most of us are somewhere in between.

2. What does your LJ head line mean?

Divine Aesthetics are what I look for when I hunt for things to photograph: Subjects that look so nice, they have to be Heaven sent.

3. Elaborate on your default photo:

A while back I tried making a webcomic. I couldn't stay interested, but I got some icon fodder out of it. As for the text ... I saw it on a t-shirt and thought it was hilarious. If you don't get the joke, I won't explain it.

4. What's your current relationship status?

Very, very happy. Going on 5 years.

5. What exactly are you wearing right now?

Brown sweater, green cargo pants, leather shoes.

6. What is your current problem?

Financial, just like the rest of the U.S. if you listen to the news.

7. What do you love most?

God, family, and friends. Beyond that, my job and really cool art.

8. What makes you most happy?

Time alone with loved ones, long walks through the woods with my camera. (I need to do more of those.)

9. Are you musically talented?

Sometimes I can sing a song perfectly. Other times I'm glad I'm alone in the car. I also used to be able to beat on a drum, but I haven't done that for years. More recently I've played around with Apple's GarageBand program.

10. If you could go back in time, and change something, what would it be?

We would have never spent a year in our "apartment from Hell."

12. Ever have a near death experience?

If I did, I was too young to remember.

13. Name an obvious quality you have?

Sarcasm. It's a family trait.

14. What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?

Ultimate Showdown. (Damn you, Paul!)

15. Who will copy and paste this first?

Maybe Kelli. She was asking about this while I was filling it out.

16. Name someone with the same b-day as you:

Garfield the cat. Seriously. He's one year younger than me.

17. Have you ever vandalized someone's private property?

Only my own property, but I guess that doesn't count.

18. Have you ever been in a fight?

I've helped break up a few.

20. What's the first thing you notice about the OPPOSITE sex:

Her face.

21. What do you usually order from Starbucks/RITUALS?

No coffee for me, Dr's orders. Besides, why would I pay so much for so little coffee when I can't taste the difference between them and the powdered swill they serve at Wawa?

22. Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?

Does pulling out a hangnail count?

23. Say something totally random about yourself:

I'm in love with RSS feeds. Thanks to that little bit of code I can read over 100 blogs a day and still have time to procrastinate.

24. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?

I've had students tell me I look like Jack Black. (Those kids were young enough that I was surprised they knew who he was.) In high school I also had kids tell me I looked like "That guy in the cab on Mtv." That was not a compliment.

26. Did you have braces?

No, thank goodness.

27. Are you comfortable with your height?

Yup. I'm happy when I'm taller than my students.

28. What is the most romantic thing someone has ever done for you?

Been there for me. I won't elaborate here.

29. Do you speak any other languages?

I speak just enough French to make people who don't speak French think I speak French.

31. Have you ever been to a tanning salon?

I've walked PAST one....

32. What kind of magazines do you read?

I don't. Magazines cost money, and websites are free.

33. Have you ever ridden in a limo?

Yes. Last time was when Kelli and I had just started dating. We were both in my brother-in-law's wedding party. Oddly enough, Kelli and I didn't use a limo. We're still married, but his wife cheated on him and they divorced.

34. Has anyone you were really close with passed away?

Yes.

35. Do you ever watch MTV?

When I was younger my parents wouldn't let me. When I got older and moved out they had stopped playing music on Mtv, so it wasn't as interesting. Now the only reason we have cable is because Kelli wants it and pays for it. I'll watch Mythbusters and a couple other shows, but otherwise the internet is my entertainment center.

36. What's something that really annoys you?

Educators who have forgotten why they chose their profession. Lucky for me the K-6 environment has fewer of those than the 9-12 scene.

37. Do you give random hugs and kisses?

To my wife, yes. Also, Kindergardeners will often give me random hugs. When five or more do so at the same time they can take most people down.

38. What's the latest you have ever stayed up?

Once a couple years ago I stayed up all night because Kelli was in the hospital. I just didn't feel like sleeping. That's also the only all nighter I ever pulled.

39. Have you ever been rushed into the emergency room?

Last year I sliced the tip of my thumb in half, right through the fingernail. At the hospital they superglued it together.

40. Would you ever marry a relative?

If you marry someone, then they're related to you. If you were related BEFORE you got hitched, then ... eeeeeeeeew.

Ha!

My sister enjoys redneck humor.

No, I will not explain.

And no, I'm not poking fun either.

More Cuteness

Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda

Bamboo! Bamboo!

Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda ...

Former President's Earwax Spoon On Display

Just when I think I have nothing to blog about, I go and see this in my RSS feed.

Must be a slow news day.

Another Quiz

Another forward from Mom. This time I plead the 5th concerning my score.

World's easiest quiz. Passing requires only 4 correct answers....a measly 40%. 1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 2) Which country makes Panama hats? 3) From which animal do we get catgut? 4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? 5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? 6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific is named after what animal? 7) What was King George VI's first name? 8) What color is a purple finch? 9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? 10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane? All done? Check your answers below! Scroll Down ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ 1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years 2) Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador 3) From which animal do we get catgut? Sheep and Horses 4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November 5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? Squirrel fur 6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific is named after what animal? Dogs 7) What was King George VI's first name? Albert 8) What color is a purple finch? Crimson 9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? New Zealand 10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane? Orange, of course. What do you mean you failed? Pass this on to all of your "brilliant" friends.

WOW: the Text Adventure

I may not play World of Warcraft myself, but I still know enough about MMORPGs to find this article highly amusing.

One Question IQ Test

My mother forwarded this to me, and I'm happy to say I passed.

One-Question IQ Test Here's a one-question IQ Test to help you decide how you should spend the rest of your day...... There is a mute who wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing one's teeth, he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done. Now, if there is a blind man who wishes to buy a pair of sunglasses, how should he express himself? Think about it first before scrolling down for the answer... He opens his mouth and says. "I would like to buy a pair of sunglasses" If you got this wrong - please turn off your computer and call it a day. I've got mine shutting down right now.

Misinformed

Today I took a sick day to go to a lab and have lots of tests done in an attempt to see if I can give Kelli one of my kidneys. Johns Hopkins sent the paperwork (including a list of tests that was more alphabet soup than anything I could decipher) and a box with some test tubes, and Kelli called up a local lab.

She was told that I did not need an appointment, but I should try to get there before 10 AM since one of the tests would take two hours.

She was told wrong.

I got there at 8:30 and, after waiting half an hour, was told:

1. I needed an appointment because one of the tests was two hours long.
2. Because they would have to send the blood to Johns Hopkins for processing their lab wouldn't get to do anything. That meant they wouldn't get paid. They don't draw blood for free.
3. One of the tests requires a "24 hour urine sample" before the blood is drawn, so even if points 1 and 2 weren't problems they still wouldn't be able to do anything. I also had not received any containers for said urine sample.

I'm a bit ticked off right now, and I'm sure it's only made worse by the fact that the instructions I DID receive said I couldn't eat or drink anything for 8 hours before the tests.

I took a sick day.

That sick day cannot be made up.

My whole schedule is pushed back one day, and there's nothing I can do about it.

I think I'll play some violent video games to blow off some steam, then catch up on my paperwork. No sense in wasting the day completely.

My Week

+ I was actually getting caught up on my paperwork.
- ... until a strange noise began emanating from my laptop.
+ I recognized the noise.
- It meant my hard drive was dying.
+ I have TechTool Pro™!
- TechTool Pro™ saw the problem but could not fix it.
+ I managed to back up all important data onto my iPod with some space left over.
+ I know how to replace a hard drive.
- I don't know how to get to my laptop's hard drive without breaking something.
+ Kelli managed to drive my laptop to the local repair place.
- Repair center needed to order the new drive.
+ New drive will be larger than the old one.
- For the price, it better be.
+ Ordered drive showed up on Friday.
- They didn't have the time to install the drive on Friday.
+ I have other computers I can use.
- My laptop is better than most of those other computers. (7? year old Compaq running Linux is the 2nd most powerful comp at my disposal.)
+ I'm going to a technology conference this weekend!
- ... without my laptop.

IMing about BESMd20

I think most of you won't understand why I thought it was so funny.

Well tough, I'm writing it ayway.

-=-=-=-

Blake: darn typo demons

Paul: yeah

Blake: I was tempted to write a typo demon into the plot, but I decided I have enough villains for the moment.

Blake: even if one of them got killed

Paul: lol

Blake: If I keep adding more it'll turn into a Ronin Warriors episode.

Paul: QUAKE WITH FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAR

Blake: dangit! I was eating cereal!

Blake: I almost laughed milk out of my nose!

Paul: YES

Today one podcast, tomorrow...

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out a couple of my songs were used as background music in a podcast.

Clips from Chaotic Battle and Lullaby were used by the Television Radio Department at Ithaca College. You can listen to the podcast in question here or subscribe to it in iTunes or your RSS client of choice using this link.

Captain Obvious

We're watching the beginning of "Without A Trace."

Kelli: She's gonna disappear!

Me: Well, duh!

Nostalgia Search

This morning I decided to do a nostalgia search, where I looked around for any signs of some of the people I knew in high school. (This is opposed to an ego search, where I try in vain to find mentions of my name that don't actually refer to people much more famous than myself.)

Some people have dropped off of the face of the planet, but I guess that always happens. After braving the ad covered wasteland that is classmates.com I decided it wasn't worth the gold membership to see a few extra lines of text and a couple of reunion pictures. (We skipped my 10 year reunion, mainly because Kelli and I don't like bars that much.)

Turns out I did find some people:

• Barry Mlodossich is alive and well in Easton, but to be honest I knew that already thanks to Sara.
• Craig Laubach spent some time in Japan (I think) before getting a job in LA and fronting for a local band in his free time.
• Matt Roseman is residing in parts unknown, but has worked his way into an IMDB.com entry. (At least I think so ... the age is right.)
• Amy Steckel is teaching biology and coaching field hockey at East Stroudsburg High School North.

and the last person I found before I got tired of searching...

• Zane Zeiner now drives some very fast cars.

Not a bad mix of results for a bunch of kids from Nazareth, PA. :)

Whoops!

Allright, who left the water running?!



... someone grab a mop, please. And a bucket.

Hundred Percent Juice

I'm starting to find more and more video blogs online, so I thought I'd give it a try as well.

Low quality
High quality (iPod compatible)

So much for laundry.

Today my toilet overflowed and my shower also had fluid bubbling up from it's drain.

I was not in the bathroom at the time.

One frantic call to maintenance later a crew came out with some machinery. Apparently the whole building (12 apartments) is backed up all the way to the manhole cover. The equipment they brought can't undo the blockage, so they're turning off the water and calling a plumber.

Joy.

Thump Thump

Some thoughts about the origins of the noises coming from my upstairs neighbors' apartment...

• Bowling.
• Moving furniture. Every day.
• Practicing for the Olympic Gymnastic Team.
• Digging for gold.
• Digging to hide gold.
• Cracking open walnuts by dropping large rocks on them.
• Indoor backyard wrestling.
• Installing a new carpet. Every day.
• Informing me that I'm typing too loud on my computer and I need to turn it down.

Happy Birthday, Gretchen!

I'd like to take a moment to wish the older of my two younger sisters (what?) a happy 26th birthday. You're OLD now, Gretchen! OOOOOOOOOOOLD!

Some jobs are better than others

Gretchen emailed me this rather amusing Windows Media file and I just broke out laughing. NSFW due to some rather strong language.

Still Not Dead

I've been a little derelict on my blogging duties, I know, but I thought I would take some time today to give some updates.

Stomach Problems:

Turns out it's some kind of inflammation, most likely caused by bacteria but I haven't heard back about the biopsy results.

I must say the day they shoved the camera down my throat was quite interesting. The doctor was kind enough to print out some pictures for me, but since he showed me while I was still mostly under the effects of whatever sedation they gave me for the procedure I only remember seeing some pretty colors. Kelli took good care of me that day, as I was zonked out.

As an aftermath, until this whole thing clears up I'm not allowed to eat spicy foods, fatty foods, fried foods, foods with tomato based products, foods with peppermint oil, citrus, caffeine, and I think there's a few things I'm forgetting right now. Essentially almost everything I like I can't have. Boy, I feel old now.

Oh, and I'm also taking a medication called Protonix. Check out the side effects. Apparently a drug I'm taking because I have stomach pain could possibly cause stomach pain. Good times, I say, good times.

Tooth Problems:

The tooth is feeling much better now that a dentist has drilled out all the pulp and capped it with a temporary filling. I'm going in on Tuesday to have something more permanent put in place.

School Problems:

There are none. I love my job. Where else can you get paid to go into a room with thirty 1st graders, watch a movie on dinosaurs, and then play with paint? Mwa-HAHAHAHA!!!

Computer Problems:

Paid too much money to find out I just needed a good defragging. After I got my new iPod video I used it as a back up hard drive and did a total reinstall. The system runs much faster now and I didn't loose anything that I didn't want to be rid of. I think in the long run it was a good thing, since I'm now making a lot of changes I was too lazy to make before.

Kelli's Problems

Health-wise I think she's doing better than me right now! She's looking for a new job and once she gets one we'll be getting a 2nd car again. If Kelli wants me to be more specific she can always blog it herself (hint, hint...)

BESMd20 Problems

I need to update more often. I know. I'm getting to it.

RPG: TGC Problems

34 out of 255 cards now have illustrations. That's a small percentage but 32 of them were completed in the past two weeks. I'm going the M:TG route and not using a common style throughout all of them, but I'd like to try and have as many of them as possible contain original art. Once I've driven my muse mad with ceaseless demands I'll move on to Creative Commons licensed art that specifically allows commercial use. (See, Paul? I'm not a total slacker.)

Farewell, Bravenet

Up until 5 minutes ago I used Bravenet to see who was coming to my page from where. Their pages have a lot of ads on them, but they're free so that's ok.

Unfortunately, it's not ok anymore. For the 2nd time in 24 hours while checking to see who my referrers were my web browser started downloading .exe files without me requesting them. Before I managed to force-quit Camino (A browser based off of Firefox) 94 different install files had been tossed onto my desktop. I don't know how they were able to do that and frankly I don't want to know.

If I wasn't using a Mac, I would probably have had my machine infected with spyware.

Free is good, but it's not worth that. I filed a complaint with Bravenet but since they allowed this to happen I've decided to remove all the Bravenet.com code from my webpages.

UPDATE: One thing in Bravenet's favor is the fact that their tech support responded to my complaint faster than any online company I've seen in a long, long time. I don't mean a computer generated something, I mean a living human being asked me to clarify some things and then responded again once I did so.

Bravenet might yet redeem themselves. We'll see.

Rained Out

On Columbus Day Weekend my family and I tried to spend the day at Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm. Tried, because it was the first time in about 30 years that their Harvest Festival was rained out. It was cold, the rain did not stop, and I would say that a majority of the farm was under water.

A good time was had by all. Would you like to see the photos?

It continues...

Badger badger badger Santa Santa Santa ...

One Step Forward.

We recently got back from the hospital, where Kelli had some outpatient surgery to close up the hole in her neck left over from last year's traecheostomy (no, that's not a typo) which wouldn't heal shut on it's own.

Our day started at 4 AM, and we were at the hospital by 6. We had plenty of waiting to do, but we still managed to get home by noon so they were relatively quick.

We'll have to go back in to have the little (coin sized) drainage bag removed, and the stitches come out in a week, but now Kelli's almost as good as new.

Now, Kelli's neck doesn't wheeze whenever she talks. YAY!

Do not press.

Can you resist the shiny red button?

Role Playing

You know you're a geek when...

I've Been Scanned

A while back I went to my doctor complaining about some chronic abdominal pains. He prescribed antacids.

The antacids did nothing.

I went back in, and he referred me out for an ultrasound to get a better idea of what was going on inside me.

He said "ultrasound." The referral form said "ultrasound." When Kelli called them up to schedule it, she told them "ultrasound."

What the overpaid secretaries heard, however, was "CT scan." And that's what they scheduled me for.

Oblivious to this development, I took the two containers of barium sulfate and drank them at the specific times they told me to drink them. Barium sulfate, for those of you who have never had the pleasure, tastes something like kool-aid mixed with milk and then left out on the counter for a month. The instruction sheet they gave me said I couldn't eat or drink anything for 3 hours before the test, so I couldn't even wash the taste out of my mouth.

Imagine my surprise when I got there and was told that I had scheduled myself for the wrong test (because they SURELY couldn't be the ones at fault...). They couldn't even do the ultrasound now because apparently the barium sulfate made ultrasounds hard to read. They called up my doctor and got permission for the CT scan, and I went in to take the more expensive and invasive test.

I say invasive, because ultrasounds don't require you to sign a waiver before being injected with iodine to make sure you light up like a Christmas tree while you go through a machine shaped like a giant doughnut from the future.

So, that was my day so far. How was yours?

Photos from back in the day

I'm not done with this yet, but I thought I would share it anyway:

Back when I was starting to become interested in digital photography but still to cheap to buy a digital camera, I used to get all of my photos developed onto a disk as well as photo paper.

The other day I searched our apartment for as many of those yellow-clad disks as I could find and moved them all onto my hard drive. Since then, I've been slowly uploading them to my Flickr account.

I still have a ton of pics to upload (I haven't even touched our wedding photos yet ... maybe I'll just let Kelli put them on her own account), but you can check out my journey into the realm of nostalgia here. I must warn you that not all of these pictures turned out artistic or even nice. Still, I felt the need to upload them for posterity.

If you like them, check back in a couple days. There'll be more then.

Redesign

Ok, so I played with the CSS for the site and made it into a 3 column blog rather than a 2 column one. To fill up that new empty space on the right side I moved over my "Blogs I Like" list and added some links to some of my favorite items in my store.

I think I need to add more designs to my shops. I've got enough pictures, but it takes some time to make each shop. I might also change the color scheme - the blue's getting a little old.

Freedom!

Kelli's orthopedic "goth boots" are off for good.

Thought you might want to know.

Current Playlist

In an effort to examine the less explored reaches of my hard drive, I set up an iTunes playlist containing only songs that have a playcount less than 50 and threw it into the "Party Shuffle." This is what I saw.

1. Build It Up,Tear It Down / Fatboy Slim 5:05
2. The "Proximity To God Index" / Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie 1:13
3. The Tide / Newsboys 5:00
4. WooHoo / Newsboys 3:15
5. I'm Alright / Jars Of Clay 3:40
6. Praying to different Gods / Ikarus 4:52
7. Step Up To The Microphone / Newsboys 3:43
8. Imaginary / Evanescence 4:17
9. Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had A Deal / They Migh...3:48
10.Deep End / Newsboys 4:05
11.Nightgown Of The Sullen Moon / They Might Be Giants 1:59
12.Link / Collective Soul 3:04
13.The Last Place / McKrells 5:12
14.Soul Surfing / Fatboy Slim 4:56
15.The World's Address (Joshua Fried Remix) / They Might Be ...5:42
16.Staring At the Sun / Simple Kid 4:02
17.All I Really Want / Alanis Morissette 4:44
18.This Way / Jewel 4:17
19.Death March / John Holowach 6:08
20.Never Be / Carman 3:55
21.She's Actual Size / They Might Be Giants 2:05
22.The A**hole Song / Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie 1:45
23.The Gauntlet / Dropkick Murphys 2:57
24.If Tomorrow Never Comes / Garth Brooks 3:40
25.Tomorrow / Avril Lavigne 3:48
26.How You Remind Me / Nickelback 3:43

Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score

Your Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
Category	Your Score	Average
Hacklust	74.53% Enjoys the occasional head-lopping	53.5%
Sensitive Roleplaying	75.95% Will talk after everyone important's been killed	54.5%
GM Experience	72.46% Ran a module once or twice	69.4%
Systems Knowledge	94.77% Played in a couple of campaigns	90.3%
Livin' La Vida Dorka	66.67% Goes nuts on the weekends	63.2%
You are 77.85% pure Average Score: 68.8%
Take The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Test and see how you match up!

OOOoooooh

As if I actually had any free time to waste with online multiplayer games, this site lists a bunch of free ones!

Full of myself?

One of the things that iTunes does is log how many times you've played each song. It's not it's best feature, nor it's worst, it's just there. Last week out of curiosity I clicked the button that sorted all the mp3s I've got by their play counts, and I found out that number one is Lullaby with a grand total of 450 times played. I'm embarrassed to say I made this song myself while fiddling with Apple's GarageBand.

Now this of course doesn't include songs on my mp3 player or on CDs I burned to use in the car, but it did make me wonder if perhaps I'm a little too self centered. Then I realized: It's in the playlist I listen to when I'm trying to fall asleep, along with most of the songs played more than 200 times.

So I hope this means I'm not self centered - only that I'm lazy ^_^;

OOC Conversation

Paul: synchonized zombie attacks
Paul: makes sense if there is someone controling them
Blake: true
Paul: c'mon - how many things "shamble"
Blake: they could be drug-addled bums
Blake: or they could all be wearing orthopedic shoes
Paul: true
Paul: or they could be drug addled zombified former football jock bums
Blake: or a collection of squirrels in people costumes
Paul: wearing othropedic shoes
Blake: :D

You know you've picked the right RPG when...

You find statistics for weilding cars, dumpsters, and even busses as projectile weapons. (Big Eyes, Small Mouth d20 page 98)

Poking and Prodding

Today is a "Doctor Day." We have two Dr's Appointments in the morning (one for Kelli, one for me) and a dental appointment in the afternoon that is all for me. :P

Kelli's visit is just for a routine check-up, but the reason for my own check-up has to do with the sebaceous cysts on my head and the stomach pain I've been having for months. The first diagnosis for the latter was heartburn and I was told to take antacids which did absolutely nothing for me. This trip will probably get me a prescription antacid and maybe an ultrasound to see how the stomach looks (that's what the doc said would be the next step when last we met), but we'll see.

The sebaceous cysts are a little more gross. I've got three of them under my hairline, and one of them's getting bumpier so I'd like to get them removed. My dad's gone through the same thing more than once over the years, so I know what to expect.

An amusing side note: in the middle ages nobody knew what these cysts really were, so they were left untreated. The things grow slowly, but if left unchecked they eventually burst through the skin and look like horns. This was taken as a sign of possession by demons and the unfortunate individuals often met unfortunate ends.

In Advance of the Suck

The situation:
I've had a DeviantArt account for over a year now, and so far I've liked it enough to upgrade to a paid account and even spring for the ability to sell prints.

But all is not well in the land of random artworks.

You see, one of the cofounders recently got the boot. Several other staff members have also left recently, but Jark was so well liked that a sizable portion of the DeviantArt community is now up in arms about it.

There are a lot of rumors, but so far I've gathered the following things:

• Jark did not want to leave.
• The reason for his departure has not been released "for legal reasons."
• There was one user comment deleted by a staff member and one forum thread deleted by the person who started the thread. The staff member was "working independently," but now there is a lot of fear mongering about accounts being banned and journals being deleted.
• There is a lot of support for Jark, with users turning their icons yellow to match Jark's icon, removing their art, and making artworks that support him.

Things have sucked before.
Some of you may be too young to remember some of this, but back in the '90s Hotmail was a really nice web based email client with living people in charge of tech support. Then Microsoft bought them out and within 3 months the tech support was replaced with a F.A.Q. that didn't answer any of my questions. They may have made some improvements since then, I don't know and I don't want to know.

Geocities used to be the best free web hosting service out there, including ftp and pop3 support. Then Yahoo bought them, and it was all downhill from there. They're among the best free services again, but only because much of the competition has also gone downhill.

DeviantArt has not changed hands. To my knowledge they have not even changed business plans. However, they have gotten rid of one of one of the main guiding forces for the company and are unwilling to say why. This has gotten a large portion of the user base quite angry and, since their user base is also their bread and butter, and to me that seems like they're cutting off their own foot.

The Retaliation:
So what can people do about it? Not much, really. Companies wait out bad PR all the time with little overall damage to their pocketbooks - our collective memories are more short term than long term. The Jark fiasco will blow over, the petitions will collect many, many signatures yet achieve nothing, Individuals will leave to come back in a month or two, or if they don't then they'll be replaced by new members who never knew about Jark in the first place.

Alternative services:
Now there are of course other sites that serve the same purpose as DeviantArt. I myself have (free) accounts with both Ourmedia.org (Which uses Archive.org to store all your files. I moved my animations over to there already.) and Flickr, and I think both of them are excellent services that are building a sense of community - especially Flickr, in spite of it's recent purchase by Yahoo. My sister also uses Photobucket.com and is quite happy with it. All of these allow you to use them for remote hosting, so you can post pictures there and have them show up in your LiveJournal or wherever.

Of course DeviantArt also has a very nice prints service. How do you replace that? Simple: CafePress.com. They have a much wider selection of products, and although their prices are a bit higher you don't need to pay anything to open up an account.

So am I going to leave DeviantArt?
Maybe, maybe not. I wouldn't be the first or the last to do so, and I doubt it would make a difference to them one way or another.

But it would make a difference to me. I prefer to use services I can respect. (I'm willing to pay for them as well, if I see the paid version is much better than the free one.) And right now I'm trying to decide if I should respect DeviantArt or just switch to something else.

3's the charm

Say hello to Jocelyn Smith, who will be played by Kim. I henceforth promise to no longer be whiny about not enough people playing to make it a good game - I'm sorry if it was a bit much for some of you.

Everything's to be falling into place ... Mwa-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ... er ... sorry about that.

Seriously, it looks like we'll be starting the game on Wednesday.

Another BESM Update

We've got a new character up on the page: Gavin Sizemore, who will be played by Nate. There will also be a new NPC (the spoiled brat that raced Fatt's character and is the nemesis of Paul's PC) as soon as Paul puts the finishing touches on his character.

Deck Rebuild and BESM Update

I rebuilt my Rolo-deck, taking it back up to 100 cards and fixing a mana imbalance. I also added some cards that I'm not going to talk about, since it'll be more fun to see people's faces when I play them. (They're not THAT good ... just different.)

I also surprised myself by building my first black deck in a long time. I call that one my "Pests" deck and, like all new decks I build, I have no idea how well it'll work.

Why the sudden deck building? I'd say it's 50% hold over from our recent gaming binge in Scranton and 50% waiting for characters to roll in for the BESM d20 game I'd like to run. When I first started telling people about it I was quite happy with the number of people who said they might play, but so far I only have one character submitted and one more potentially on the way. I suppose I should have expected a turnout like that, but oh well.

If you've been thinking of joining my campaign and just haven't gotten around to making up a character, please give the free rulebook a gander and send something in. Otherwise, I'll be starting next week with the 2 players I have so far.

Big Day

Kelli gets the stitches out today. She'll still have to wear the boots for another 3 weeks, but this might help her walk with less pain.

Beginning of the end.

I saw my first back to school commercial today. My days of sleeping in until noon are surely numbered.

Attack of the quotes!

"I want a hunka chunka peanut butter" - Beka

"I'll explain it later, if you're bored." - Me

"I probably won't be that bored." - Gretchen

"I'm a ninja today! HIYA!" - Gretchen

"You shouldn't speak with my mouth full." - Me

"Have you seen a weight bearing camera?" - Beka

3 things

1.
We went back to the hospital today to check on Kelli's ankles. First a nurse looked at them, then a doctor, than two more doctors, and finally yet another doctor. Then one of the previous doctors came in and wrapped them back up in ace bandages and put them back in what I refer to as the "Goth Boots." Everything looks nice and the stitches should come out in two weeks.

2.
My sisters and I are doing a get-together in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Gretchen wants to see the cute sharks in the Aquarium, Beka wants to see the American Visionary Art Museum, and we all want to stop at the Discovery Store and play with the toys. Of course I'd be happy just visiting the 2-story Barnes & Noble they have.

3.
Filibuster hits the nail right on the head.

4.
There is no 4th thing.

Face from Space

You know that whole bit about a face on Mars? Looks like the Martians have something to look at, too. (Thanks, Google Sightseeing!)

Ups and downs

Yesterday Kelli had her surgery, which at best would have been an ordeal. Best case scenarios rarely happen, however, as we learned the hard way.

On Kelli's medical records show that on 6/20 her scheduled time for surgery was changed from 9:45 am to some time closer to 2:45 pm. Nobody bothered to tell us this, however.

So naturally we showed up at 7:45 am (We were told that we should show up 2 hours early just in case.) and were told we would have to wait all day. We couldn't talk to the surgeon himself because he had already scrubbed up for another operation, and the secretary was essentially asking us if we wanted to go back home to wait.

We expressed our extreme dissatisfaction with the fact that they had 8 days to tell us that the schedule was changed but failed to do so. I filled out a customer satisfaction form, and in the meantime Kelli still had not been allowed to eat or drink anything since midnight the night before. (I was worried she'd get dehydrated.)

After some scrambling and apologizing they fit her in for a 9:00 am spot, which was fine by us. We found out the schedule change came not from Kernan Hospital (where we were), but University of Maryland Medical center (Where Kelli's feet got screwed up in the first place).

Flash forward to 12:00. Kelli came out of surgery and the surgeon came out and told me how everything went. The operation went well but not perfect (it had to be a little more invasive than he wanted it to be and he was a little concerned with some bleeding factors), but I could go back and see her in a half hour.

At 3:00 pm, after asking several other staff members, they finally let me back. The nurses said the doc should never have said half an hour, but oh well. Kelli was sweating and tired, but that was expected as a side effect of the anesthesia.

The whole time they had Kelli on a saline solution IV, which had overhydrated her. The docs were concerned about there being extra fluid in her lungs, but they had pretty much done everything but admit it was their fault there was fluid there. Still, her oxygen levels were decent and only one doctor wanted to keep her overnight.

That one doctor added a few more hours onto our stay. After seeing YET ANOTHER doctor who looked at Kelli's stats and said she was borderline but ok, we signed some papers and finally got out of there around 8:00 pm - over 12 hours after we got there.

So, now Kelli's home and taking pain meds every 4 hours. She can't put any weight on her feet for 2 weeks, and she can take off her orthopedic boots in 6 weeks. I'm glad we waited until summer to do this, so I'm now around to cater to her every whim.

Plotting

(I'm playing Warcraft III again. Just when I think I'm out they pull me back in!)

Ok, so we planned on visiting friends up in NEPA this weekend, but due to two totally unrelated factors we didn't get to see Stana or Paul. :P Still, summer is still young ....

Also, I seem to be following a usual trend. When I have a new toy , I play with it. A lot. Lucky for me I'm familiar with Tri-Stat BESM and D&D 2nd ed, so the transition to BESM d20 isn't TOO much of a jump. I'm currently working on a possible adventure, but I have no idea when I would be able to run it as most of my friends live in different states/countries (the double edged sword of the 'net, I guess...). More likely I'll just beg ask people if they want to play via AIM, Skype, or some other such free technology. I remember being in a play-by-email game run by Paul that worked well for a while, so I might try that was well.

We'll see what happens.

More Quotes

Submit to the funny! Submit! Everything here was actually spoken.

• You break it in half in the middle. -Blake
• I can't hear you over your throat. -Blake
• Your nose holders are wet! -Kelli
• Only fly this plane if a creepy guy is behind you staring at your butt. -Blake
• Honey, can I- -Blake
• No. -Kelli

Evils of DandD?

I've seen other incarnations of the audio file in this flash animation, but it never stops being funny. Anyone who's played tabletop RPGs is bound to get a kick out of it.

Cleaning the fridge.

Could someone explain to me how an unopened container of eggs was able to stay in the fridge for over a year after it's expiration date with nobody noticing?

I think someone broke in andswapped our good eggs for their bad ones.

Anna Mae? Arr Pee Gee?

Attention, all random philanthropists:

I want this.

Thank you.

In other news, I found a nifty little gaming comic that for once does not mean the characters are obsessed with video games. If you play RPGs at all I recommend it - the art is great and it focusses on humor in the (various) games as much as it does with humor among the players.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

School lets out (for teachers) on Friday.

In preparation for this, I've been washing my hands more and spraying EVERYTHING with Lysol. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have done enough.

You see, I've been developing a slight cough of late. At this point it should be at it's worst just as Summer vacation gets started.






... nuts.

Some random quotes

Apparently I'm not cool enough to play RPGs on a regular basis, but every now and then something is said that is still really funny ... at least for friends or family. For example:

• It's pick on Gretchen day!
• 15 pound cat in a shoe box.
• No, it was for boots. She won't fit in a shoe box.
• Oh, she can make herself fit.
• Gabe.
• Pasqualiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
• Indiana Jones and the Retirement Home of DOOM!
• With the Viagra fountain of youth! O_O;
• I'm a pop sensation!
• Two grown men can amuse themselves with a 25 cent bouncy ball.
• How many family members can you take out while saying "Peace of the Lord be with you?"
• It's unnerving to see someone lift their arms in celebration after they exit the bathroom.
• Would you like to ride piggy-back? (Asked before going up for communion.)
• You mean you don't want to ride the shopping cart?
• I have a protective layer of sunburn.
• Yeah, the ash of burned skin protects the muscle underneath.
• Today is an ice cream day.
• That's yogurt.
• I don't eat the chocolate, I just open up the bag and smell it.
• Why is it every time I visit I break the things that are already broken?

If I think of others, I'll post again later.

EDIT- I said I'd add more.

• Look out! It's a SPOAPT with a tazer!
• "Jimmy sit down. Jimmy sit down. Jimmy! *ZAP!* "
• Would you like an ice cream sandwich?
• I'll take the ice cream if you eat the sandwich.
• And we will wait with baited breath .... or perhaps we'll use some mouthwash instead.

Hello, I'm an idiot ...

... may I take your order please?

Let me preface this by saying that I have several friends that work in the food industry. These individuals strike me as intelligent, respectful, hard working people and I have no complaints about them. They do their jobs and do them well.

That being said, 95% of all employees (including management) of fast food restaurants have no working knowledge of the English language. It has seriously gotten bad enough that there are many places (*cough*McDonalds*cough*) to which I refuse to go unless I know the person in the kitchen.

Don't believe me? Well the following transcript has happened many, many times. Different franchises, different states, same words.

• Me (ordering for my wife): Yes, I'd like a hamburger with ONLY pickles, nothing else.
• Idiot: Would you like cheese on that?
• Me: ...
• Me: ONLY pickles.

Then when we get the burger, it has cheese on it. Or catsup. Or anything other than just ONLY pickles. Was I asking for too much?

Now you would think that management would be smarter. In some cases this is true, but I had a shift manager telling me my credit card didn't work (and asking if I had any other cards that might work) before I told him he was swiping the card upside down. Then he typed in the wrong price. Another manager tried to convince me that the strawberry milkshake he handed me was really the vanilla shake I had ordered.

"Don't worry," he said, "Sometimes they look like that."

Yeah, and sometimes vanilla tastes like strawberries. Right.

Now if English was in fact a second language for these people I could understand some of these errors, but these individuals don't even have the faintest hint of an accent. Those places I go to where immigrants do wait on me, guess what - those are the people who get my order RIGHT. It's not about race or country of origin, it's about listening skills and work ethic.

Sara's a bad influence on me.

CATS IN DRESSES!!!

... that is all.

So long, Hobbes ...

... and thanks for all the snuggles.

Many, many years ago, back when I was still getting public education rather than giving it, we had a cat.

This is not that cat's story.

This is the story of one of that cat's kittens, Hobbes.

It was me who gave Hobbes her name, thanks to her orange and black markings and my love of the work of Bill Waterson. Her cuteness instantly won over 80% of our family, with even my father (the guy in the picture) caving in eventually. (He justified the bending of his will by claiming that Hobbes was, in fact, a dog in a cat's body.)

Being the type of person who always liked to root for the underdog I spent most of my time with Hobbes' sister-in-crime Daisy, but I was still unable to resist the occasions where Hobbes jumped onto my lap while I was doing schoolwork.

Hobbes went through a lot. Back when my mom still let the cats outside Hobbes didn't come home right away. Later that night she managed to drag herself back to the porch, having been shot twice with a .22 rifle. The vet who treated her said that the angle of the more serious injury was the textbook angle for taking out most of the internal organs in one shot. As it was only the lung was damaged, and that wound had been cauterized from the heat of the bullet. If cats could play the lottery, Hobbes should have bought a ticket that day.

Flash forward to 2005 and Hobbes is getting very skinny and week. The vet broke the news that she was having kidney failure. Now for humans we have multiple forms of dialysis and even kidney transplants, but they apparently just do not do these things for cats. My mom was given some medications and special food to improve Hobbes' quality of life, but we all knew the end would come sooner or later.

The end came this past Friday. Hobbes had gotten so weak that she would only eat tuna in water and her breathing was very shallow. Sometime around the middle of the afternoon, she passed away. My dad made a small coffin for her and buried her in the yard near our old clubhouse.

Use the forks, Homer!

You scored as Obi Wan Kenobi. Obi Wan Kenobi 78% Chewbacca 72% R2-D2 61% Anakin Skywalker 58% Darth Vader 50% Mace Windu 39% C-3PO 39% Padme Amidala 39% Clone Trooper 36% Yoda 36% General Grievous 36% Emperor Palpatine 11% Which Revenge of the Sith Character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

I love DSL :)

Verizon was supposed to turn my new DSL connection on at 6:00 on Friday, but I got an email at school today that said it was already on. After delving into the guts of my (free) wireless router to configure the encryption and whatnot, I can announce that my life on dial-up is a thing of the past!

...Until I visit friends or family in Pennsylvania and have no other choice.

In any case, I think I'll spend some time off and on uploading some files to archive.org and deviantArt. I have lots of files on those sites already, but it's so much nicer to use a high speed connection to add more.

Haircut. Yes, a haircut.

Went to the mall today and got 10.5 inches cut off of my head. It was getting a little too long to manage, and I like the fact that I can donate hair to Locks of Love. Last time I donated 13 inches, but we can't always outdo ourselves - it took 2 years to grow it that long!

Now when I went to get it cut I said I still wanted to be able to pull it into a pony tail. I like pony tails because they're a low maintenance way of keeping my hair out of my eyes / artwork without shaving my head. Unfortunately, some of my hair is now a half inch too short to make sure it stays pulled back for more than five minutes. Oh well, it'll grow longer again.

On a side note, you should have seen the bystanders who were taken by surprise when some guy got half his hair hacked off. One lady stood there with her mouth hanging open for no less than half a minute. It was indeed quite comical to watch.

Ok, it's almost 12:30 now. Time for bed.

Pipe Dreams

I'm sitting here waiting for Kelli to finish dialysis, so I have a little time on my hands. I'm making good use of it by working on that card game Paul and I are designing. Our current card total is 189 for the core set, and we feel we'll be ready for playtesting when we hit 250.

I keep thinking back to when we first came up with this idea and I was puttering away, trying to make all these cards in AppleWorks. (Now I'm using Photoshop Elements and it's much nicer.) We spent just as much time trying to figure out the rules as we did making cards, and both changed a lot.

Our concept of the game has changed a bit over the years. I remember in the beginning the core idea (for me) was to create a game that could be 100% free and downloadable. I still want the majority of the core set to be distributable that way, but Paul is making some valid arguments for charging a small fee for the cards. Expansion sets are a different story. Assuming the game becomes popular, we'll be charging for those - especially if we include material or characters copyrighted by others, since we'd be paying royalty fees.

-=-=-=-=-=-

The other day when visiting Jim and Julie in Reading we spent some time talking about gaming shops. (I'd just recently taken my first trip to Adventure Games in Scranton, a trip I had thouroughly enjoyed.) Jim and I started talking about what products we would use to stock the shelves if we actually owned our own store.

Then the scary part started. You see, Jim is a computer guru who also does taxes. He started talking about how such a business could actually be set up and where it's optimal location would be. For a breif moment we went from whistully describing our ideal store to taking giant leaps towards taking out a small business loan.

Of course I already have student loans of my own to worry about and Jim has mortgage payments so nothing will come from this ... yet.

But still ... that would be so cool.

Update - Fear the pretzel!

Looks like Kim updated her quote list within 24 hours of me posting. Yeah, I'm also called "Spiffy." What can I say? It's an old college moniker that stuck.

Moratorium on Death and Other Quips

Well we're home from visiting friends & family in Pennsylvania, and a good time was had by all. We spent most of the time at Kelli's Dad's house, although we did have a nice time visiting Gretchen for Easter along with the rest of my family, hanging out with Jim, Julie, their daughter Joanne, & Susie in Reading (I got to hear gunshots and get my butt kicked at Magic: The Gathering) and as an extra bonus, I took a drive to Scranton to hang out with my old college roommate.

Hanging out with Paul was a blast. Apparently the local shop called Adventure Games that is a popular hangout for freaks like us. Naturally we spent some time pummeling each other with our M:TG decks, but we also played a session of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Role Playing Game. That's right, I played a game with the word "Buffy" in it, and had fun doing it. As corny as the original movie was, the TV series made good fodder for an RPG and the rules were quite easy to manage.

During our trips to AG Paul got to introduce me to a variety of interesting people, including a potential play-tester for a CCG we're developing and someone who prommised to put the quotes from our Buffy game online, although I don't see them there yet. (Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.)

I don't remember if I discussed our CCG yet, but since I'm procrastinating writing my lesson plans I might as well say something about it now.

It all started two years or so ago when Paul and I were discussing the high price of CCGs. Long story short, we decided we could create our own CCG, so we've been doing just that. We've had some setbacks along the way, but our core set is almost ready for playtesting.

I'll write more about that when we've made more progress.

Pomp and Circumstance and New Toys

As of this week I have finished all the course work I need to graduate ... again.

That's right, I'm going to have another degree under my belt, making a grand total of ... two. This time, it'll be a Masters of Education in Curriculum & Technology.

Me like playing with shiny things.

Of course this means that my student loans will be coming due. We already dumped our federal tax refund (That's right, we filed early and got it back already. BOOYA!) into them before interest could accrue. The refund isn't much compared to the total amount owed, but every little bit put towards principal means less interest for me to worry about later.

To celebrate, Kelli and I are spending money. Yeah, dumb idea, but we can't help ourselves. Kelli's getting a 256 meg MP3 player while I'm springing for the drool-worthy 1 gig model (We got a discount for buying both at the same time). They're not iPods, but if you compare them to the shuffle (The only way to compare apples to apples here) they have a lot more features (built in FM tuner and microphone for voice recording) for the money spent. They can't play stuff from the iTunes store, but most of my music is ripped from CDs or uploaded by indie bands anyway.

You can be sure I'll be talking about them again when we've had some time to play with our shiny new toys. I myself am personally looking forward to playing around with the recording features. If the microphone's halfway decent I might even start doing podcasts. Maybe.

Boring? Natch.

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Interview with a Kindergartener

Here's a little discussion I had with a Kindergarten class today while trying to have them draw farms:

Me: And what could farmers plant in their fields? Kindergarten Kid #1: Corn! Me: That's right! What else? Kindergarten Kid #2: Chicken! Me: ... Um, not really, the chickens wouldn't like that. You have to plant plants, not animals. Anything else? Kindergarten Kid #3: Cows! Me: No, they wouldn't like that either. What PLANTS would a farmer plant? Kindergarten Kid #4: Chicken! Me: ....

Ah, the innocense of youth! :)

The cartoonist got it right.

Ian and Matt from Mac Hall recently produced a wonderful commentary on college education from the student's / alumni's perspective. I'm not sure how many of you read webcomics, but this particular comic I'm sure has takem place time and time again.

Back in the day it was enough to just provide knowledge and skills in school. Now, however, a school must switch gears and start teaching students how to learn. Give a man a fish, and all that.

It's only common sense, after all. Look at all the cool commonplace technology we have now that people never even thought about 10 years ago. Do you think that schools back then could have possibly trained people to write RSS code for podcasts today? No, those skills were learned much later and were in most cases self taught.

Snow Day Comics!

Due to circumstances beyond my control (Snow on Thursday + Snow on Monday x Marylanders can't handle a little snow on the roads = 5 DAY WEEKEND!) I have a little time on my hands. I could use this time wisely, cleaning the apartment, taking out the garbage, doing school work, etc., but instead I think I'll start off by reading webcomics.

I've already talked about some of my favorites, but I've discovered another one (I dare not say it's "new," as it's been around for years...) by a very talented photographer / illustrator who's also done his time in the trenches of substitute teaching.

Wapsi Square, as it's called, is the story of a woman who works in a museum and her close group of friends. A lot of this 5-days-a-week comic is influenced by real life, although there's just enough fantasy and mythological gods thrown in for good measure.

As I read through the archives I found myself laughing out loud and showing comics to my wife on a regular basis. In my mind, this is an excellent barometer for how funny a comic is. Still, it's not something I would expect to see in a newspaper.

Nor should it be. While there's no nudity, there's still a little swearing and a regular attention to subjects that, while not profane, are more appropriate for an adult audience. Still, if you're a mature, laid back person, this is a great read.

Zug Zug!

With the dawn of Kelli's new computer, she's been going through all her old CDs and installing all kinds of goodies. Language programs, The Sims (although she uses the Macintosh version, of course...), Catz, Dogz, and one of my all time favorites, Warcraft II.

Yes, I know that there are bigger, better games out there, but WC2 creates in me a sense of nostalgia. It brings me back to my college days where I would literally spend hours downloading and playing game demos. Duke Nukem, Quake, Civilization, you name it, it was out there for free.

Well, a teaser version was out there for free at least. The idea was that we would get so hooked that we would just have to buy the full version. With Warcraft, the concept worked. My roommate was as addicted as I was so he even chipped in half the dough. (I knew he loved the game, he was willing to use my MACINTOSH to play it. Trust me, that IS saying something.)

I've put off installing WC2 onto my new computer for a year now, knowing that doing so would suck up much of my free time. Leave it to Kelli to inspire me to give it a whirl again.

Update

Yes, I know I haven't been updating this blog as much as I would like. I've been busy, trust me.

For one thing, I finally took the plunge and bought my wife a really sweet computer. It's not the best or worst on the market, but I pumped it up to 512 meg ram and a 60 gig hard drive so it should be more than she'll need for some time to come. FedEx willing it'll be on our doorstep this week.

I've been spending the rest of my time working towards my graduate degree, getting our taxes done (yes, we got ours done in February - you may hate us for that), and spending lots of time reading educational blogs. I also found a new webcomic that I like, but I'll post about that later.

Another Bandwagon

I'm switching my RSS feed over to Feedburner because I'd like to know how many people subscribe to it and, let's be honest, we all like to jump on bandwagons.

Because of this, I would appreciate it if those of you who are subscribing to my RSS feed would delete the old feed link and repace it with http://feeds.feedburner.com/DivineAesthetics. The old feed won't last much longer.

Thanks.

More Napster

Looks like bloggers aren't the only ones who did the math and came out with different numbers than Napster. The Washington Post has a very well written article on the subject.

I didn't intend to revisit the Napster issue again since I buy very little music online to begin with (I get a majority of my tunes from unsigned artists), but this article was too nice to simply ignore.

Remedial Math

John Gruber over at Daring Fireball wrote a biting review of Napster's new subscription service. It's not the first such article to appear on Daring Fireball, either.

Now I won't simply repeat Mr. Gruber (I'm sure you can read his stuff on your own), but he does make some nice points. I'm inclined to agree with him, although he seems to be a lot more hostile towards Napster than I am.

Napster's advertising campaign is centered around the premise that customers will be willing to rent their music rather than buy it. That's right, rent. If you stop paying the subscription service, all the songs become unusable. Want to burn to a CD? That won't work unless you pay an additional 99 cents, which (when you account for the fact that you're already paying subscription fee) makes it more expensive than iTunes.

Don't get me wrong - iTunes isn't the best at everything. I dislike the fact that I can't play songs downloaded from iTunes on my Palm Pilot (my MP3 player of choice). But then, I wouldn't be able to play Napster songs on there either, would I? I would only consider Napster to be worth the subscription rate if I decided to buy more than $15 of music every month. For the rest of my life. Anything less than that would make it literally cheaper to own than it is to rent.

They may have that nifty little chart that has you doing their math, but any decent math teacher could point out that they left out the fact that that chart assumes you WILL be buying 10,000 songs to fill your iPod or MP3 player of choice. Honestly, who does that? Assuming an average song length of 3 minutes it would take you over twenty days (without breaks for sleeping) just to listen to all of that. It's the 1,000 free hours from AOL all over again!

Bottom line? Forget iTunes, forget Napster. Buy the CD so you can make genuine mp3 files or go to places like MP3Tunes.com or IUMA. Better yet, try downloading some podcasts for a change. IUMA and podcasts are both free, and from what I've seen podcasters love having their work freely distributed.

The sequel to MP3.com

Michael Robertson seems like quite an interesting fellow. Remember MP3.com? No, I'm not talking about today's gutted, souless version. I'm talking about what it looked like two years ago - with thousands of free mp3 files recorded by independent artists. I dare say that most of my music came from that wonderful corner of the web.

...and then Cnet bought it and trashed it.

But my point is, that was Mr. Robertson's baby. He also has Linspire, but that's a whole other story.

In any case, I found out that he's starting up a new music site called MP3Tunes.com. On this site he intends to sell mp3s for 88 cents and albums for $8.88. That's a good deal already but here's the best part - you can copy the mp3s as often as you want and play them on anything that can handle mp3 files! Naturally this feature will scare away the big labels, but it wasn't big labels I was after when I surfed the original mp3.com.

I'm looking forward to this site starting up. Until then, You'll catch be browsing over at IUMA

Database Fights Diploma Mills

Online universities can often be a blessing for everyone involved. Students can get degrees faster and cheaper than at a traditional university, colleges save money and resources by not having the classes on campus, and professors can make an extra buck or two by teaching a college course in spite of wherever they may be located. (I myself am a grad student at University of Phoenix, although I almost applied for Penn State's online graduate program.)

Unfortunately, not all online college diplomas are worth the paper they're printed on. By now I'm sure you've seen a spam email or five promising a college diploma on the cheap - so cheap, you wonder how they can afford to teach you anything. They don't have to afford it, because they don't do it!

Lucky for us, the U.S. Department of Education is creating a "White List" of acceptable educational institutions in order to weed out the so-called diploma mills. About time, I say! The more we exclude those institutions hat aren't up to snuff, the more credibility the REAL universities will have.

Bandwagon Jumping

Ok, so I've signed up for Blogazoo. They're not as good as BlogExplosion, but every little bit helps, I guess.

Will Richardson, you've got your "Amen!"

Mr. Richardson posted a fabulous article about blogging & education over on his site, Weblogg-ed. If you're a teacher, or know someone who is, you might want to take a peek.

I love how near the end Mr. Richardson begins to associate blogging with every subject area that exists in our public schools - mainly because I've been saying the same thing about Art Education since before I became a teacher. If a (good) Math teacher reads the article, they might say that Math relates to every other subject, and so on and so forth.

Over the years we seem to have divided our education system into neat little compartments, not unlike the old sturdy plastic lunch trays I remember using when I was in elementary school. It's almost like the powers that be were finicky about their lunch, and didn't want their mashed potatoes to touch their green beans. It's too bad that the real world isn't sectioned off as neatly. Oh, some people try to varying degrees of success, but all it takes is one heaping portion of gravy to show that all those little indentations in the tray are all related to each other.

One of the things I love about teaching in a K-6 environment is that the subjects can tie together so nicely when the same person (or small group of people) is coordinating the lessons. In high school, where inter-departmental conversations seem limited to the teacher's lounge during lunch, such integration is a rare thing indeed.

It's too bad, really. It seems we're frontloading our students with the best teaching techniques, then slowly forgetting about them as they grow up.

Comments!

I've now added the functionality of comments to my blog - let the spamming begin!

Seriously though ... I had more than one person tell me that this blog should have a comments section, and to be honest the lack of such a feature was the only thing prohibiting me from abandoning LiveJournal entirely. It took me a while to figure out how to add it, but now it's here.

As an added bonus, I've got Gmail invites ready to go for the first 6 people who comment and ask for one. You've got to use a valid email when making the request, of course - how else can I send you the invitation?

You guys are smart!

This just in: Internet Explorer's market share has dropped to 90.3%, by some surveys even more. Are it's lack of innovations and susceptibility to security flaws finally motivating the average computer users to switch, perhaps? From what I'm told Microsoft DID add a pop-up blocker with Service Pack 2, but that still doesn't put it on par with most of the other browsers out there.

9 out of ten users still seems like enough to make any malevolent hacker happy, but I checked my own site's statistics and found the following:

46.79% of you are using some form of Explorer, including the built in browser included with AOL.

48.01% of you are using some form of Mozilla, including Netscape & Firefox.

That leaves 4.08% using Safari (Mac only) and 1.1% using Opera 7 (Yes, I know you math experts have added it up and only gotten 99.98%, but don't forget there's been some rounding.)

My point is, with these statistics it seems over half of the people who look at this site are using a decent, relatively secure browser - good for you!

... and if you're still using Explorer ... do yourself a favor and protect yourself from viruses and spyware - try out one of the alternatives listed above.

Barry? No, can't be ...

While reading Obfuscated Networking, I encountered this flash animation. I mention it only because the song is catchy and the lip-syncing gentleman resembles a friend of mine from public school (and later college) of whom I've since lost track. He was also just the kind of extroverted person who would do something like this.

Drink Pepsi, get iTunes

Woohoo, they're doing it again! Starting at the end of January, I'll be drinking lots and lots of Pepsi.

Real Geeks Wear Silly T-Shirts

You know you want one.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know what "leetspeak" (or "134+5p34k") is, you might want to check this out. Knowledge is power. :)

If you like this one (or perhaps if you don't), you might want to check out some more of my stuff.

Look both ways before blogging

They're apparently building a list of "organizations that have fired, threatened, disciplined, fined or not hired people because of their blogs."

One more reason for me to love my job: it's not on the list.

Well, this explains a lot.

Looks like our capitol has lead in the drinking water. And you thought they were crazy for no reason.

Mac Tablet (iTablet) Petition

I'm passing this on, because I think it's darn cool:

"The goal of this petition is to demonstrate, that there are more than enough Mac users (or potential Mac users) that would just love to buy a tablet computer IF IT ONLY WOULD be a Mac!

Today the only choice, if one were to buy a tablet computer, is to go and buy a Tablet PC running some Windows XP Edition. We feel that this is plain wrong, given that Apple has spawned the whole PDA industry with the ingenious Newton Message Pad product family and still owns all that incredible know-how and technology. Some of that know-how, like the Inkwell handwriting recognition technology, has already made it into Mac OS X. And boy does it work!

With Inkwell being fully integrated into the operating system, handwriting input in basically any Mac application to date is already realized - not to speak of our traditional favorites such as Photoshop, Illustrator and the like, which have plenty of additional built-in features to make good use of a pen input device. It only takes one more little step, building a sleek slate style chassis in which to fit one of the smaller iBook or PowerBook motherboards and voila - we have our Tablet Mac.

So Apple, Steve, anybody, give us a Tablet Mac, please."

If you want a Tablet Mac from Apple, sign the petition & pass this link to other Mac users around the world.

LiveJournal's been sold!

Seriously, the guys who own Movable Type just bought them for an "undisclosed amount" of cash.

This scares me, as I still remember how Geocities was so cool before Yahoo bought them out, Hotmail was much better before Microsoft picked them up, and don't even get me started on TechTV's demise at the hands of G4 and Comcast. Now it's true that innovations have been made after some of those purchases, but it seems to me that immediately after such a sale the buyer looks at the purchase and says "Ok, let's strip away anything on here that's cool so all the old users will leave and the new users won't be able to remember the way the old company did things. Either that or it's "Change for change's sake," which is just as wrong.

Guys, LiveJournal isn't broke - don't try to fix it, okay? Thanks.

Of course I may be overreacting. This may be a good thing, who knows? I just haven't seen a buyout be a good thing very often.

Go, Bill! No, really - GO!

Listening to Leo Laporte right now. Apparently, Bill Gates was giving a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show, and he crashed Windows once and Xbox once ... DURRING his presentation! Kevin Rose then came on and mentioned that ALL of the Microsoft demos were crashing. Fortunately Conan O'Brian was there to help lighten the mood.

And yet my Mac hasn't crashed in months .... hmm.

Of course the media thought very little of this - after all, it's normal for Windows to crash, isn't it?

Aw, crap!

Literally. Who buys these things?

Changes

Due to deviantART no longer allowing images to be viewed on other servers (I'm surprised it lasted this long, actually...), I've had to make some minor changes to the "Artwork of the Moment" section. All images have now been replaced with links to the appropriate deviantART pages.

Sorry about that.

---

UPDATE: I'm slowly moving thumbnail pics over to my own server so that you can at least see a small version of the picture without having to click a link. I'm starting from the most recent entries and working my way back.

Boycott Monster Cable

How do you endear yourself to your customer base? Howabout you sue every company that uses the word "monster," in anything, anywhere. Jerks.

Crap TV

Just when you thought reality tv could sink no lower, this show's so bad some affiliates refuse to air the thing.

Everyone else is doing it...

So many people are talking about tsunamis that I don't think I need to say more than "donate." 'nuff said.

Cool story

Anyone with an interest in Math, hacking, programming, or the history of Apple computers might find this story amusing. I know I did.

What, sick again?

In what seems to have become an annual tradition, I've come down with a cold just in time for Christmas. I was careful to wash my hands before, but now I'll be extra careful. I don't want Kelli getting sick again.

I'm waiting until it's almost time to go home, then transporting art supplies to the next building in my rotation and going home. I feel like crap, but I can't complain too much - I remember feeling much, much worse.

Scapegoats on isle 5

Ok, suicide is a terrible thing. I have a friend who commited suicide. But when medical records are confidential, you can't sue the company that sold the gun to the suicide victem!

Oh, wait. Apparently, you can.

Look, lady, it's a horrible thing that your daughter died, but let me fill you in on a little secret: People who commit suicide don't limit themselves to one method only. Prevent them from getting guns and they'll use pills, slit their wrists, drown themselves, jump in front of trains, or any one of countless methods. Add to this the fact that those who sold your daughter the gun SIMPLY HAD NO WAY OF KNOWING the gun's intended purpose, and your lawsuit is nothing more than finding a scapegoat.

I know you're greiving, and this is a way to cope (I've had to cope with many things myself over the years) - but when you actually spend money in your attempt to blame innocent people, then you have to find a better way.

Cheap laptop doesn't do Windows.

Ok, I think I'll still stick to Macintosh products that cost twice as much, but even people who dislike Walmart with a passion have to admit that a $500 laptop is a good deal.

True, it's not the most powerful laptop on the market by a long shot, but for the casual or business user it's a more than adequate machine, especially wen you think about the added security feature -it's not Windows.

Let down.

Well we only had a 2 hour delay, which sucks because it throws my whole teaching schedule out of wack. (It wasn't even a decent snow, just ice.) I'm going to end up taking a personal day on Wednesday to set up displays and do paperwork, but my ulterior motive is to push the schedule around so I don't have to teach on our half day on the 23rd. I wouldn't mind teaching that day, just not as my first day in the next building of my rotation. Instead the 23rd will be a "travel day," where I transport my supplies to that building and finalize all scheduling concerns.

If memory serves, there were a lot of scheduling problems last time. I expect more of the same this time around.

White Gold

It's snowing, it's snowing, IT'S SNOWING!!!! If we have a snow day tomorrow (I doubt it, but a man can dream...) I'll be out taking pictures of the winter wonderland.

Prince George's County Public Schools Survey!

The PGCPS Board of Education has placed a survey online. Anyone may take the survey, although I think they would prefer people who live or work in the area.

Three things that annoy Art teachers.

I warn you, the following is a rant of the three most common mistakes seen in an Art class. Humor me, it's been a while since I did a true rant.

---

These are three things that drove me batty when I taught high school. As such, I am trying to stamp these things out in elementary.

1. Stick figures are evil. Never draw them when there is ANY viable alternative. If you have no alternative, then learn one.

2.Say it with me: "Sky is blue, clouds are white." Would you want the windows of your car painted while the metal remains bare? No? Then don't mess with the laws of physics.

3. On a related note, a blue stripe at the top of your paper is a blue stripe. When you were five a blue stripe made a wonderful sky, because you used the right color. You're older now, so look out the window. Do you see a white space between the sky and ground? I didn't think so, so don't leave that space empty

Water! Water!

Mother nature owes me $1.50. We had a water main break somewhere right in the middle of the load of laundry I was doing. Since our laundry room is coin operated, I'm a little annoyed.

"Mom, I need an iPod for school!"

"No, really!" At least that what some students get to say.

Now, I'll grant the size, power, and aesthetics of the iPod (original or extra fruity) make it a very desirable product. Put one in someone's hands for five minutes and they'll want one too, it's just that good. I'll even grant that I've been an Apple fan since the Apple IIc came out.

However, there are plenty of less expensive alternatives out there with comperable storage capacities. I think it's cool that schools are integrating technology on an increasing basis, but when brand loyalty is stressed over best bang for the buck, it's the students that loose. (Even if Mom and Dad bought them an iPod.)

Power, or lack thereof

Woke up yesterday morning to a very dark room. Normally there's a little light cast by our two alarm clocks, but apparently the storm from the previous night had knocked down a bunch of power lines.

On a premonition, I made sure to place a 9-volt battery in one of the clocks in case the power went out. It's something I'd been meaning to do for ... well ... two years now. Lucky me, I did it the night before I needed to.

Incidentally, it's not fun to take a shower in the dark when the knob that turns off the shower feels the same as the knob that ONLY turns off the cold water. Grr.

Shopping Chart of DOOM!

Kelli = 50% done


Mom = 75% done


Dad = 90% done


Gretchen = 50% done


Beka = 90% done


Kelli's Dad = 0% done


Uncle Terry = 90% done


Chris = 100% done


Suzie = 100% done


Alexandria = 100% done


Other = 0% done

Kelli, Counter, Cam, Calendar

Ok, so it's been a while. Can you blame me? Kelli's been home since the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I've been more interested in spending time with her than posting here.

But now I'm making a comeback, slowly but surely. You may notice a small change on the front page of the blog - I've now added a small webcounter courtesy of Bravenet.

Also, I may soon be moving my "webcam" to the blog pages as well. Webcam is in quotes because it's updated less often than the blog and it's not really a web cam, just pictures taken with my regular camera.

Also also, anyone wanna buy a calendar?

OOoFf (OpenOffice.org & FireFox)

Looks like Microsoft is going to take another, albeit small hit to their monopoly. It seems Linspire (That company that named their Linux distro "Lindows" so the resulting Microsoft lawsuit would give them the kind of publicity that money just can't buy) will be offering OpenOffice and Firefox in retail stores.

Am I all for it? Yup. Do I use either of these products?

... No.

OpenOffice is a great alternative to Microsoft Office - you can do almost everything with that FREE program that you can do with MS Office with very few compatibility issues. I downloaded it and tried it out for a while, but I just didn't like the feel of it's interface. I would have kept using it anyway, but I already had a copy of MS Office so I just went back to that.

Still, if you don't have MS Office you now have very little reason to buy it.

As a browser, Firefox is all that AND a bag of chips. Pop-up blocking, 90% compatible with all the web sites out there (I'll explain why that 10% was a good thing), almost no security issues (Compared to Explorer having several problems discovered every month or so) and free for all platforms, what more could you ask for?

As for it not having complete compatibility? Only Explorer has ActiveX built in, allowing web sites to access your computer as if they were programs on your hard drive. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. When it's good it's so-so, but when it's bad, it's VERY bad. No browser can have ActiveX compatibility and be considered secure.

As good as it is, I don't use FireFox either. As a Mac user, I just stick with Safari. It's quite similar to FireFox in every way that counts, and I can sync up my bookmarks with my .Mac subscription.

In the news ...

The good news: A 9/11 style terrorist attack has been averted, thus proving that security measures are working.

The bad news? This happened in England, not over here.

---

Every now and then dolphins prove their benevolence by helping to save humans. I'm sure my sister Gretchen is upset because another shark has gone hungry.

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 5.

No, 3! Seriously, if you can read this, then I've successfully modified the settings on Thingamablog to let me update a little easier. I hope. We'll see.

Well? Did you?

Of course, nobody I voted for in the local elections seems to have come out on top. My voice to be heard was a whisper among shouts.

One way street?

Further proof that there is no good candidate running for President this year:

Apparently there are people claiming to be GOP representatives making phone calls to people and saying things that just aren't true. The article focusses on the claim that Kerry will make gay marriage legal if he's elected - something which Kerry denies. A spokesman for Kerry said they was appalled that Republicans would stoop so low in the last 48 hours of the campaign.

I wonder what he would say about Kerry's claims that Bush will reinstate the draft, in spite of the fact that every branch of the armed services except for the Coast Guard has exceeded it's enlistment goals AGAIN this year.

And the pot calls the kettle ...

Addendum:
Looks like the misleading calls are happening on both sides of the fence. Spokesmen for both sides are of course fervently denying endorsing these prank calls, although some of them seem to be perpetrated by people who know who's registered in which party.

Vote Early, Vote Often!

... And if you happen to have iTunes, you can download all three Presidential debates and the Vice Presidential Debate for free.

More News Rantings

Just when you thought it was safe to use Mozilla...
Security Flaw in Browsers Poses Phishing Threat! Lucky for me I have a Mac and am therefore immune to all but the smallest percentage of security issues.

Speaking of which...
There's a worm now for OS X, although anyone/thing trying to install this puppy on your computer needs to already have root access. (In other words, unless your system's ALREADY compromised.) The threat's very minor, so long as you've got a password for your main (root) account.

Got a digital camera and a good eye?
The end of this article mentions just how cheap it is to get a decent custom photo book printed up for you - some of them in hardcover, no less! Christmas shopping just got that much easier. :)

Well it's about darn time!
The FTC is starting to take down the spammers, starting with this peddler of unsolicited garbage.

Say What?
I'll leave you tonight with a quote from this article on human hypocrisy:
"Myanmar's military ruler Senior General Than Shwe met with the Indian leadership saying democracy was the only path to peace and prosperity, just days after he sacked the country's premier."
Hello, I'm stamping out democracy in my country and would like to start a democracy in my country. WHAT?!

Guess who has 'Net access?

Kelli does! She doesn't always get to go online, but she just updated her LiveJournal. Boo-Ya!

In the news today

It's a two post day it seems...

Why I use a Mac...
The thing about Windows is: Even when they try to fix a problem, they can't fix it correctly! Wasn't Service Pack 2 supposed to put all the spyware protection people out of business because it was so good?

Why we shouldn't have bothered helping France ... TWICE!
Muslim Girls Expelled Over Wearing Head Scarves - A big deal over something so trivial, yet it was still wrong for us to attack terrorists. Explain?

Stupid criminals:
Calgary pair found guilty - When beating up the homeless after abusing alcohol and huffing hairspray, make sure you record everything on video so the trial can move along faster.

Put the fun back in funeral

My sister Gretchen sent me this:

-=-=-

February 3, 2003:
What with all the sadness... and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the almost unnoticed death last week of a very important person.

Larry La Prise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey", died peacefully at home. He was 93.
The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin.
They put his left leg in... and then the trouble started.

-=-=-

I have spent the last two minutes laughing. May you fare the same. ^_^

Back Pain and Birthdays

Let me start off by saying I LOVE MY JOB!!!!

I was in rare form today, laughing and joking with the kids while they made wonderful artworks (and learned at the same time, but don't tell them that). My smock acquired a couple new "battle scars" from the 1st graders when the painting lesson went awry, but 'twas all in good fun.

Yesterday was .. not so good. My back hurt for most of the day, and as a result I was a little more snippy than I should have been. Yesterday I taught all the 6th grades and I think that might have made matters worse, as I don't always "click" with that age group. I don't know why ... maybe they just remind me too much of high school.

Kelli is doing well - she has a new special (expensive) boot to help bend her right foot back into it's correct position. The docs say her left foot is too out of shape to fix without surgery, but they said that a month ago and have yet to tell us WHEN they intend to do this.

Her birthday's on November 1st, BTW. I've some ideas for what I want to get her (just looking for the best price before I buy) but I'm still looking for other things keeping in mind that Kelli will still be in the hospital at that time.

Good News / Nad News

Bad News: The brownies I made taste funny. ;_; I think the mix was stale or something.

Good News: Kelli's time that she's allowed off the respirator has been increased to 24 hours. That's right, she's off it COMPLETELY! WOO HOO! HUZZAH! BOO-YA! INSERT NONSENSICAL EXCLAMATION HERE!

Now, she still has a stream of oxygen being blown at the hole in her neck (she still has a tracheostomy - that's sorta like a tracheotomy except the only difference I can discern is the inclusion of a letter "s"), but she is in fact breathing on her own 24/7 now.

One step closer to coming home.

Don't lick the bowl.

I made brownies tonight, because I could. I remember back when my Mom baked cookies & stuff I got to lick the beaters, etc. - this was before I heard of those two slackers named Sam and Ella.

But now I do know about them and I can't afford to get sick, so some nice looking brownie goo went down the drain. :( At least the finished product looks good.

If this batch survives long enough I'm bringing some in for Kelli.

Items of noteworthy nature.

Behold my 100th deviation, in all it's glory! Most of my pics are photographs, but I couldn't resist drawing this.

Still have Gmail invites up for grabs. Reply if you want one.

I've more to say, but I need to go to work now.

Open letter to the people thinking up new reality TV shows

Dearest reality TV producers,

Please stop.

Best regards,
Blake Emrys

Rambling, with links.

Greetings from the land of fire (outside) and ice (my office)!

-=-

Teaching is going well, and while I'm still sick, I'm getting better. Kelli's having good days and bad days, but any time I compare now to a month ago I see some good progress.

-=-

I was thinking about what kind of vehicle I should get next, as I can't keep driving Kelli's car when she's out and about. At first I was toying with getting a Jeep, but my Dad (who happens to have a Jeep) managed to talk me out of it. My price range of $5000 just wouldn't get me a Jeep newer than 10 years old, and who treats a Jeep NICELY for 10 years?

I think it can best be summed up in a conversation I had with Paul (and a few others):

Me: But Jeeps are really rugged! My Dad's Jeep kept going even after a wheel came off!

Paul: Yeah, BUT THE WHEEL CAME OFF!

-=-

I still have a bunch of Gmail invites. Reply to my LiveJournal (No more Anonymous accounts, please) if you want one. First come, first served.

-=-

My most recent graduate course ends today. Does that mean I'll have free time? Of course not, silly! It means I'll have time to start doing all of the other crap I've been putting off. However, I have found a particular geek culture forum that's been sucking up some spare minutes every day.

-=-

At the time I'm writing this I now have 99 pictures on my deviantART account. I would like to do something special for the 100th picture, but I've no idea what. Suggestions, anyone?

Who wants some?

Gmail accounts, that is! I've got 6 invites for the first 6 people who want them - just reply to this entry and give me an e-mail address to send the invite to.

Bow, BOW to the silly cucumber!

I apparently woke up with a cold this morning, as I was quite congested and my throat was sore from my chronic post-nasal-drip acting up. I'll speak no more on the subject except to say that 12 hour Aleve Cold & Sinus works for no more than 4 hours.

While picking up the aforementioned medication I saw this and bought it without hesitation. Childish or not, I've been a VeggieTales fan for years. (Although Chaeval was watching them long before I was.) I even managed to get Kelli hooked on it as well. The DVD is still sealed, as Kelli and I will both be watching it tomorrow in the hospital. I love the fact that laptops have DVD players in them, don't you?

Purple Fingernails = Bad

So yeah, it was so cold in my closet, I mean office today that my fingernails were literally a purplish blue. This is not a natural thing to encounter when the weather is 80 degrees outside.

I'm a little bummed because now I've taught every class in my base school and I have to move on to school #2. But at least a higher percentage of teachers handed in their forms this time around. I sent a reminder out, so if they choose to still do nothing I guess they don't get art and I can return to my base school all that much faster :P

I also met with the local Arts Coordinator for my base school's town's Department of Recreation. They have a pretty sweet setup going on right now and a $500 we'll-match-what-the-PTA-gives-you grant to throw around. My only hesitation is from the fact that more then one person has pulled me aside to explain the politics of the situation. I hate politics in school, unless they're part of a Social Studies lesson.

Kelli did well this weekend, staying off the respirator for over twelve hours at a time on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday I brought pizza, then we went for a walk & roll (I walked, she rolled in a wheelchair) down to the gift shop and I bought her a smiley balloon. On Sunday we called her Dad to wish him a happy birthday.

This weekend I also tried to install Linspire onto Kelli's old Compaq Presario since they're giving it away to DeviantART members. I think I may even enter the contest, although I haven't gotten this thing to install yet. There's a version that boots off of a CD, so I'm going to try that too. I'm in line for it to download as I'm typing this. (Number 52)

The other night Gretchen had an away message on that said she was quite angry. (Except she used a different word than "quite" to describe her mood.) She was too mad to go into details, but hopefully everything will work out in the end.

Beka got her new Powerbook (Woot!), and just in time as she is now being sent elsewhere by her job. I forget the state, but I do believe she's flying there. Up, up, and away!

My Dad's B-day is the 19th. I already got him a present but I'm not sayin' what, even though my Mom knows which means he probably knows already as well.

Nurses

Occupations in the medical profession should be careers, not jobs.

Bagging groceries, flipping burgers, and stocking shelves are jobs. They pay bills, but not much else.

Teaching, healing, fixing, building - these should be careers. Nobody should walk down those paths unless it is something they would do in spite of the salary.

After several run-ins with nurses at Kelli's hospital doing nothing or looking indignant when they finally got off of their butts to do their jobs, I must assume that nursing for them is a job and a chore, not a career. I have even heard them hold a conversation for several minutes while ignoring call buzzers.

As such, they should either quit or be fired before Kelli has to spend one more day waiting for essential medical care while they do heaven knows what.

I have made my opinion known, and have gotten supportive responses from everyone except those who are supposed to supervise the $*&@-ups who dare to call themselves nurses.

I'll stop now before I work myself up again.

Why I'm not a Democrat.

Ok, there are many reasons, but I'll only mention one here. Remember Clinton? Yeah, that guy. I'm not interested in his personal life, but remember when he said he would raise taxes on the rich?

My taxes went up.

Remember when George Bush #2 handed out the tax breaks?

Now as I listen to NPR I keep hearing the Democrats screaming that it was a tax break for the wealthy.

Let me set something straight here: I AM NOT RICH! Most of the time I'm living from paycheck to paycheck while trying to scrounge up a little bit of savings for the big purchases I know I'll have to make. (Including a car, since I can't keep driving Kelli's all the time.)

Unfortunately, the Democrats that are deemed important enough to have a microphone put under their nose seem to think that someone who made ends meet this summer because HIS YOUNGER SISTER LOANED HIM MONEY is rolling in dough. Don't these hypocrites have fund raising diners where the admission price is more than my annual salary?

No wonder the No Child Left Behind act is so important if most elected Democrats (& their staff/advisors) can't master simple mathematics.

Now before anyone flames me, keep in mind that I don't always agree with Republicans either. Heck, I wanted Towsend to be the next Maryland Governor - and she's not just a Democrat, she's a KENNEDY!

I just look at it this way: If someone tells you they will only attack people with no internet connections, then they stab you while you're reading this, wouldn't you be just a tad more ticked off at them?

12 Hour Work Day

I didn't have to work that many hours, but I wanted to get as much student work on the walls as possible today.

Kelli was off the respirator 12 hours yesterday (a new record!) but not at all today.

Beka also had a bad day. She should get a blog so she can rant about it as well. She's getting a Powerbook soon, so I think she should. :)

Happy kids make me smile

Well, we got through our first week of school and aside from little kids getting on the wrong bus, etc. everything seems to be going well. I met with all of my various schools on Friday and I still like my base school the best - so much so that I'll be doing Art Club with them! The PTA will be helping with fund raising and supplies for the club, so I hopefully won't need to worry about that so much.

One thing I noticed as I was walking around being introduced to various teachers & students was how everyone's face lit up when they found out I was the new Art teacher. Now you see, THIS is why K-6 are the best grades to teach. Everyone loves art.

... now I just need to finish all of my lesson plans. :P

Floating Around

Halfway through the first week of school, and I finally met with my supervisor to plan out my next steps. (I'm not blaming her for the delay - she has a TON of work on her plate and I would never want her job.)

Today I passed around sign-up sheets for Art so classroom teachers could pick their best times for me to come in. As they're handed back to me I'll be assigning said times. I'm only going to be in this building for another two weeks after this week, so this needs to be done pronto.

Oh and I finished setting up my bulletin boards today. My principal, supervisor, and school councilor ALL made a point of stopping in and saying I did a good job with them. You can check them out with the links below:

Art is everywhere!
September's Artist of the Month

I'm happier with the "Artist of the month" one because it contains a link to my education website where I go into more depth about the artist. Boo-YA!

That's all for now - I need to get out of here before they lock the doors!

35 Minutes!

That's how long MapQuest says my commute should be to my new school. I know that's not entirely accurate, but when you consider that my old assignment was an hour commute, things are really looking up. ^_^

The downside is that tomorrow is the last day before students show up and I haven't seen my building yet. Due to the playing of musical chairs I spent the last 4 days as an Art teacher for a different school roughly an hour and a half from my apartment. That school's Art stuff is all ready to go now, including a bulletin board.

Now I've got one day to do a week's worth of work. No pressure.

Long Day

Got up at 5 AM today, just to see if I could do it, since work and insane commuting times start tomorrow.

With the free time I had that early in the morning I took a walk around Baltimore's Inner Harbor and, well ...

I'm not a Wi-Fi virgin anymore.

There's apparently a free Wi-Fi access point near one of the harbor's shopping centers, so this morning I tried it out - very sweet connection, in fact. And at 7:30 in the morning there's almost nobody out and about (since most shops don't open 'till 10) so it was nice and peaceful as well.

But now I'm home and on dial-up. *sniff*

In other news: Kelli's still making progress. She was off the ventilator for 8 1/2 hours today and managed to sit up for over an hour, although an attempt at standing backfired. I brought her headphones so she can listen to MP3s on her Palm Zire at dialysis tomorrow.

My Dad's a Hero (Not a sandwich)

Here's a little conversation for you.

AIM IM with my sister:
8:50 PM
Beka: dude!
Beka: daddy is a hero
Blake: dudette!
Blake: how?
Beka: we went to this place today to go walking, and this guy turned blue and fell over
Beka: he knocked me over, and daddy started cpr
Beka: i called 911
Blake: so you're a hero too.
Beka: the guy took a couple of breaths on his own... it doesn't look good for him, but daddy kept him breathing until the medics got there
Beka: it was so scary...
Blake: But he didn't die on you.
Beka: no... but he's not going to live either... probably
Beka: but we did all we could
Beka: daddy was so cool... i have never been so proud of him
Blake: :D

Temporarily evicted.

I've been using iBlog to do my blogging for a year now, thinking it was a pretty neato program.

Last night it decided to stop saving entries in HTML format for me. A reinstall did not fix the problem, nor did my Disk Utility.

So now I'm in the market for another blogging program that is customizable and saves as HTML. I would just stick with LiveJournal, but I like having most of my stuff on a single account.

Darkest Before the Dawn

Oh me of little faith. Looks like God pulled through with a ... well ... a godsend.

What started off as a very scary week for me is now turning out to be quite a happy one. Today my Curriculum Supervisor (for whom I've always had a tremendous amount of respect) is getting me a position as an elementary teacher!

Ok, you know how when you're out of college and employers are asking you where you see yourself in 5 years? I always told them "Teaching elementary school." It's what I've wanted to do ever since I stepped into the classroom. This is a big deal for me.

There are some cons: Multiple buildings, longer commute time than last year, and most likely it will be "art-on-a-cart," but it's all good because it's ELEMENTARY! WOOHOO! BOO-YA! INSERT NONSENSICAL EXCLAMATION HERE!!!!

Oh yeah, now I have to redo all my lesson plans for the year along with most of the content on my school site. Feh.

Oh, well. It's still worth it. :-]

Misplaced, Part 2

The hunt continues.

I have two probable leads on teaching placements, and one interview set up for Monday at 7:30. I've interviewed at that school before and didn't get the job, but this is a different potential opening (the current teacher hasn't decided if she's leaving yet, but she's hinting she might) and they have a new principal.

So I've got two schools that MIGHT hire someone, but that someone might not be me.

Feh.

Update:

The 2nd school did not answer the phone when I called them today. I just found out why - Human Resources gave me their FAX number, not their PHONE number. I couldn't find this out until I got home and was able to go online and check their website. Now I've lost a whole day when I might already be too late.

Will someone please hire competent staff for my county's Human Resources? The current lot of them are either arrogant egoists or incompetent bumblers. I know nobody's perfect, but even a broken watch is right twice a day if it's analog.

HR is a digital watch. They're just off.

Misplaced

As in, my job has been ...

Couple of weeks ago I called up Human Resources and they told me the school at which I've taught for the past two years would once again be my assignment.

Ok, no problem. I began to prepare for the school year, etc..

Today I called that school to see if I could get an advance copy of my schedule.

Schedule person: "You're playing, right?"

Me: " ... "

Schedule person: "Because you're not on our roster. [Insert principal's name here] told us the Art position was a vacancy and we've filled it."

Me: "I think I need to talk to Human Resources."

There is of course more to the story, above, but going into more details would provide incriminating evidence or lots of "[insert name]" thingies instead of real names, and I won't subject the web to either.

Suffice to say that HR said they'd get back to me, and I left voicemail messages for my Curriculum Supervisor (A great woman - she's come through for me in the past.) and my Union Representative. We'll see how things progress and hope for the best. If phone calls do not go well in the morning, I will be driving to the HR building rather than going IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION to see Kelli. This will of course put me in a horrible mood, but like a mechanic fixing a car things get done faster when you're standing right there.

Some would ask why I don't take my issues to the school rather than HR, and for that I will say that 95% of my difficulties have come from higher powers than the local administration. I am willing to believe that the false pretenses my (former) principal acted upon are not truly his fault.

I have, however, already heard it said by those in the know that this is the worst shape our county's ever been in when it comes to the right hand knowing what the heck the left is doing. If it didn't mean changing health care plans (That's a rant for another day) I would have left for a different employer already.

Wish me luck.

Credit Card Apps

You're pre-approved!

... and I'm pre-approved and my cat's pre-approved and my great great uncle is pre-approved even though he's long dead.

I know that Seraphim of Megatokyo fame has just recently ranted about the same thing, but wouldn't you know it I opened up my mailbox to find many many apps for cards, some of them duplicates. Is there any reason why a guy needs to have two Sears cards? I didn't think so.

When Kelli & I eventually throw off the shackles of apartment living to live in an actual house, (something that we'll be unable to do if we have dozens of credit cards) I'm installing a paper burning stove so the credit apps can actually do some good.

I saw it on a T-shirt.

Rock is dead. Long live paper and scissors. ... that is all.

Fall Blitz

Getting ready for the winter rush.

Some people do spring cleaning, but my busy time is right before school starts. Oh yeah, and my first day back is the 16th, although I won't see kids until a week after that.

I'll be back in the same building as last year, although I can now expect to have 30 kids per class instead of 25. Last year some of my classes had 26 kids, which was annoying because I only had 25 desks.

Let's just hope they A) give me 5 more desks, B) said desks actually fit in the room, and C) I have the budget to teach these kids a decent Art lesson.

In preparation for the new school year I've been tweaking my Academic Aesthetic page and preparing some lessons in advance. I even went and bought all my school supplies already, although I'm sure I'll remember some others later on.

-=-=-=-

On the home front, Kelli is doing much better. The Doctors want her to stay off the respirator for 12 hours - something she hasn't done yet but she's managed 9 1/2 in one go so it's not too much of a leap. Her legs are also getting much better, thanks to them stretching her ankles and casting them to keep them stretched for a week at a time. She can manage to stand for 10 minutes so far, but we expect that to improve as well.

Our 3 year anniversary was on July 14th, and I bought her a Palm Zire 72 to celebrate. I figure I spent $100 per year and it's something she could use when roses would just make her allergies act up.

Many of our friends and family have been sending in cards. Lots of cards. More cards than I can count, and some of you have sent in 3 or 4 of them already. Every one of them is appreciated. It's nice to know you care.

Kelli also has her cell phone on her, so if you happen to know her number you can give her a ring sometime to help alleviate the boredom. We've got free nights and weekends if you wan to do some guilt-free talking. (If you don't already know her number, sorry but I'm not putting it in my blog. E-mail me or give Kelli's Dad a call.)

Well it's 1:30 AM and I should've been asleep a while ago. G'night, all!

The rumors of my demise...

... have been greatly exaggerated. Here's a recap of that's going on.

Kelli is making slow but sure progress. Today she was out of bed (in a chair, not walking around yet) and off of the respirator for about THREE HOURS with no ill effects. She even did some exercises with the occupational therapist while she was in the chair. In no time I'll be wheeling her around the hospital and maybe even down the street into the Inner Harbor, but I'm not holding my breath on the later.

Our three year anniversary is fast approaching. (As in: it's tomorrow.) I have something special planned, but I'm not giving details other than I know Kelli will love it, the medical staff will be indifferent, and my parents will question my ability to think things through. ^_^

My kid sister Beka is spending several nights a week at my place, as it cuts her hour commute down to half an hour. She pays for "rent" by doing dishes and cooking dinner. Really nice dinner, if I do say so myself.

I have not heard anything about potential placements for next school year. I keep calling the powers that be, getting an answering machine and nobody returns my calls. The next step is a walk-in visit, and I'm sure they won't like that. Too bad for them if they don't.

Think before you drink.

My first checkpoint. (Nothing happened.)

On my way home last night there was a police checkpoint to look for drunk drivers. I had a feeling police were involved when 3 lanes of traffic became backed up.

An hour later, I saw flashing lights and hoped nobody had been in an accident.

A little after that, as it was my turn to pull up to the patrolman, I got to say those little words that give me such pride.

"No, sir, I don't drink at all."

I'm really glad I made that choice.

In other news, my family will be spending the weekend up at "The Mansion" or "The Shed" or whatever other silly name we want to give the expensive piece of property we own that can't have anything legal built on it because it doesn't rate for a septic system. Still, it's good for campfires and fireworks.

I'll be down here with Kelli. I left her on Easter to bee with my family, but she wasn't conscious as often back then. Now she's very much awake and I don't want to leave her alone. I'll miss my family, but at least I'll be able to see the fireworks down here.

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.

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.

One of these days.

A short list of hopes and dreams.

One of these days, I'm going to beat Kelli's high score on Bejeweled.

One of these days, I will play an online game without being killed instantly when respawning.

One of these days, I will get my hands on a decent digital camera.

One of these days, Sara's Kappachino site will get the recognition it deserves.

One of these days I'll start making some money by selling artworks, whether they're shirts, prints, or something else.

One of these days, I will find my "dream school" - a school that I will want to teach at until the day I die. Or retire.

...

One of these days, when I walk out of the hospital at the end of the day, my wife will be walking out with me.

These days are not here yet, but I wish they were.

Insomnia

A brief update before bed.

Kelli's doing better - she can talk again, but she's still in the ICU.

As with most bad things, the G4/TechTV merger might not be too bad. They're still keeping Screen Savers, after all... We'll just have to wait and see.

Final Exams for seniors start today. Lots of grades to do....

Ok, me go sleep now. Sleep good.

Look Who's Talking, & Other Bad Movie References.

This week: Of tantrums, gratitude, and "Pomp & Circumstance."

Kelli's talking! She can force air past the tracheotomy cuff in her throat to speak. Her voice is a little raspy, but at least we can have two way communication again.

I was tested, and I failed.
A petulant child threw a tantrum on Friday. I don't have a full assessment of the damage wrought, but x-rays show that there are no broken bones. I'm having difficulty forgiving him for what he did. My heart wants to, but my mind knows that if I forgive him than there will no longer be order in that room. More details as things develop.

Beka's entering the workforce - look out, world!
That's right, my youngest sister graduates from Penn State in about a week. The steady supply of Creamery ice cream will be missed, I'm sure, but graduation means the need for a job. Beka's had two interviews in the DC/Baltimore area, so naturally she crashed at my place. I was happy to have her, especially since she brought ice cream the first time. ^_^ Seeing family seems to always brighten my spirits of late.

God provides ... through surrogates.
The bills have been coming in for a while now, and my income hasn't always been meeting my outgo. Also on Friday, when I got home, I opened my mail to find a couple more bills (Including the $75 fine for that red light incident, darn hydroplaning) and a card from the older of my two younger sisters: Gretchen.

The card had a check in it.

For $500.

The car insurance, which is a quarterly bill for two vehicles (read that as "friggin HUGE!"), is now paid for with enough left over for gas & parking to see Kelli. Before Gretchen decided to send that check my way I had no idea if I could pay my bills and afford to eat at the same time. Now, I can have RAMEN! ^_-

Gretchen apparently wrote a song about what Kelli & I are going through right now. She said the title was "My Brother is Superman." I'm flattered that she wrote the song, but I'm only doing what I promised to do almost three years ago now: I said "in sickness and in health" and I meant it. Gretchen made no such promise. She has her own needs and responsibilities, and yet she still scrounged together money to help me financially.

To get this windfall at the end of an otherwise horrible day really helped me keep my sanity.

Gretchen, I might be "Superman," but you're "Supergirl."

No, wait ... Superman and Supergirl are cousins. That would make my sister my cousin ... eeeeew.

In any case, THANK YOU!

Scatterbrained

I'm having trouble concentrating on things.

This will be a short one, since I have two papers due by midnight tonight. Actually, it's about those papers. Lately I've found it more and more difficult to concentrate on a single topic for any length of time. I've never been diagnosed with ADD but I think if I was tested at this point the doctor would give me so much medication my head would spin. I'm writing this just to give my brain time to reboot so I can go back to my paper and write the 2nd sentence.

In other news, I went to a technology conference and got myself a new yet cheap digital camcorder.

Back to work.

Road Trouble

On my way home form my daily trip to the hospital, I ran into some problems.

It's been raining for a while, so the roads were slick. Apparently they were more slick in some places than others.

On my way out of Baltimore, I came to many red lights, and stopped for each one. Sometime around 8:30 I think (I was watching the road, not the clock.) I came to another light, so I hit the breaks.

This time, my car didn't stop.

My wheels stopped, because I felt them sliding across the asphalt. But all my car did was slow down a bit as it went through the light. At the same time, I saw a couple bright flashes. Most likely it was a camera photographing my car. I'm certain a ticket is in the works.

At least while I had no control over stopping my vehicle I was able to keep it going in a straight direction - that, and since the light had JUST turned red there was no opposing traffic that was moving. I'm not sure if that's much of a defense in a court of law, but I'm glad no one was hurt and no property was damaged.

I think I'll be looking back on this entry when I get that letter from the city of Baltimore.

World of Hurt

I feel like crap right now.

Y'see, I slept with my head in a weird position two nights ago, and I never really go the kink out of my neck. My posture became altered due to this and a lack of adequate tables in the hospital waiting room, so now my back hurts as well.

So I'm not sick, just in pain. The fact that I started a diet today doesn't help, either.

A Gift from Heaven

You know that rain I asked for back on march 8th? We got it today, along with some other good news.

It was glorious - sheets of it were pounding my windshield, 50 mph was considered by most to be too fast on the Baltimore Beltway, and we even had lightning! Sure, I hydroplaned once, but for the most part I wasn't in any real danger - especially after I crossed the Baltimore County line into Baltimore City and the POTHOLES were enough to provide adequate drainage.

After not opening her eyes for me for two days, Kelli looked at me, smiled, and hugged me. She wasn't awake for very long, but that's not unusual for someone on sedation. She's a lot calmer now and she's doing a lot more of the breathing on her own. Every now and then she takes a deep breath and holds it, which scares me because it's almost like she's stopped breathing for a moment.

A student of mine that didn't like me and therefore did everything he could to fail my class, insult other students, insult me, and make disparaging comments about Kelli might not be returning to my classroom. A parent-teacher conference is in the works - that is, if the student doesn't keep deleting the phone messages.

Beka will be coming to visit on Monday. Apparently she's got a job interview lined up in Gaithersburg, and she might need a place to crash before the long drive back to PSU. Beka, if you're reading this before you visit, you owe me ice cream. ^_^

One last bullet of news before I end this jumble of unrelated thoughts: My Standard Professional I teaching certificate expires in July, which is 7 months earlier than I thought it would be. Fortunately, the only thing I need to do is take a 3 credit reading course and my requirements for a Standard Professional II certificate are all met. I'll have my Masters within a year, and then it's smooth sailing to an Advanced Professional certificate. Boo-ya! By then I'll be making so much money I'll ... be able to start paying my student loans. Why does grad school have to be so expensive, anyways?

Disciplined Breakdown

I'm going through a lot of stress right now.

Let's just say that pressures from both work and home are combining to perform a crushing blow to my head. I'll say more as things resolve, to keep the whining level to a minimum.

Of bomb threats & blood pressure.

La vida loca, I'm sure.

Check this out - my school was evacuated at 3:00 today due to a bomb threat.

In other news, Kelli was alert for me for a little while, then her blood pressure spiked to 200/110. She's had a fever since last night, which I suppose goes with the weather. It's been hot out. :-P

-=-=-

On a lighter note, I found all the posts for the Ranma RPG that I used to be a part of. I'll be posting them slooowly, since there are literally hundreds of them. A lot of those stories infringed a lot of copyrights, but I'm quite proud of the original characters I created. So proud, in fact, that I've started writing about some of them again - this time without infringing on anything.

Around the bend?

Kelli's getting better!

We're not out of the woods yet, but her respirator settings are for assisted breathing. What that means is the machine takes it's cues from what she's trying to do. Her blood pressure is better and she's awake more often.

I can only hope she continues this trend.

End of an era

Leo Laporte, we'll miss you.

Leo's left Tech TV, perhaps for good. It's all explained on his blog: http://leo.typepad.com/tlr/2004/04/end_of_line.html.

I'm Back, Take 2

What, again?

Long story short:

Wife still unconscious. (:P)

Computer stolen, parents bought new one. (THANK YOU!)

Former roommate & best man came down for a visit ( My M:TG "Rolo-Deck" demands a rematch!)

New layout for this section of the site. (Whew!)

If I was a drinker ...

... I wouldn't be sober right now.

Kelli's loosing her kidney transplant. The doctors are fighting to keep that from happening, but she is definitely showing signs of rejection.

My parents, as well as an aunt and uncle came to the hospital today. It was a three hour drive for them, but I'm glad they came. They were a welcome distraction, and the food didn't hurt. (Except for that spicy chicken my Mom & Dad ate. 50 year old stomachs don't handle that stuff well.)

Empty Inside

I can't take much more.

Today marks the first day in over four weeks where I have not gone to the hospital to see Kelli.

It's not because she's home. I wish with all my heart that she was here with me.

It's not because I can't afford the $6+ I have to pay for parking every time, although money is running low.

It's not because I'm heartless - quite the opposite, in fact.

Kelli is the love of my life. When she's not well, I'm not well. I can't sleep when I should, and collapse from exhaustion later, only to wake up after a few hours and repeat the process. If she needed money, I could help. If she needed help with housework, I could do that. If someone was bothering her, I could intercede (Not that she'd need my help there - Kelli's always been formidable). But there is nothing I can do right now.

The nurses have informed me that she is heavily sedated to control her breathing. When they try to cut back on the sedation, she has the equivalent of an anxiety attack and no one can calm her down. I know, I've tried. So there she sits and sleeps, while the doctors try to make her better. There is nothing I can do, and it tears me up.

When she was awake now and then, I was there for her. I could comfort her, and in doing so I comforted myself. Now that option has been taken from me. When I go in to see her, she just lays there. Still, except for the respirator pushing air into her through the tube they inserted into her neck. Every bodily function has it's own tube, with more to measure heart rate, blood pressure, and blood gasses. On top of that, her kidney is slowing down. It is still doing work, but not as it should. This is her third transplant, and it terrifies me that she might loose it.

Every time I see her like that, knowing there's nothing I can do to help her, I feel I loose a piece of my soul.

Friends, family, doctors and nurses have all told me to take care of myself. I should, I really should, but I don't know how. I feel like an empty shell most of the time, and when I don't, I feel as if some great beast were sitting on my heart and clawing at my brain. How can I escape that?

I fear for Kelli's life, and my sanity.

TV does not entertain me. Music does not console me. Video games do not amuse me. Art does not amaze me. Reading does not let me escape. Sleep will not come to me. Even my teaching and graduate work serves only to distract me. I can find refuge in prayer, but God never promised us an easy life. I cannot demand relief from Him.

Gretchen and Beka came down this past Saturday. They did not see me like this - well, they might have seen a little, but I did not let it show much. I was very grateful that they made the long drive down here, It really made my week.

It rained while they were here. A cloudburst that sent sheets of rain cascading across the glass ceiling above us. It was a beauty to hear and behold.

I want it to rain again. We had rain last night, but not as it should be. I want it to come down in torrents, pounding the earth, plants, and any soul who dares to step out and face the wrath of nature. I want lightning and thunder to fill the air and make atheists wonder if they were wrong to doubt God's existence. I have always liked the rain. When it doesn't improve my mood, then it suits it well.

I don't have much more to say right now. I know that if you're reading this, you're probably a friend or family member. I know you care for us, and I appreciate that, I really do. You don't need to ask what you can do to help. What I need, only God can give me.

I can't see my keyboard any more. I have to go.

Out of the loop

Do doctors learn from their mistakes?

I've learned that Doctors do not like to keep patients or their husbands in the loop. I repeatedly ask to know what's going on. I understand which levels of what measurements are good and which are bad because I ASKED and cared enough to remember.

My wife has several infections right now. One of which is Herpes Type I, which as some of you may know is the variant that causes cold sores, not the STD that everyone thinks of. Right now it's in her lungs and is contributing to her inability to breathe on her own.

I found out about this on Saturday. The Doctors knew about it a week before I did, and never bothered to tell me OR the nursing staff. Heck, the nurses found out from ME! This is an infection that will require Kelli to take (more) medication for the rest of her life. The least they could have done was informed me. I made my displeasure known in no uncertain terms, then let it go at that.

This evening, as I was finishing up the equity paper no less, I received a call from the hospital asking consent to inject a radioactive dye to aid in some tests they would like to do. I see the need for the test but am concerned because such a dye has been known to shut down healthy kidneys, let alone transplanted ones. The nurse told me that she had been given this dye before and had survived it just fine.

Remember, I had already bitten off a few heads for not keeping me informed. Now I had just been told that they had done procedures in the past without even telling me that they had done them until long after the fact. Procedures that could make Kelli loose her transplant.

Right now I am a very angry young man. They will not want to see me tomorrow, but then maybe the Doctors at this TEACHING HOSPITAL will learn from their mistakes.

Still Here

I remember / Doing the Time Warp ... (Kick, kick.)

Three days ago I was told Kelli would be out of the ICU in one or two days. Yesterday I found out that not only will Kelli be in the ICU for another week at least, but she has an infection besides the pneumonia. That's bad enough, but the doctors knew about this a week ago. I found out yesterday. Isn't it great how the Doctors here keep everyone out of the loop? Even the RNs here didn't know.

I am very disappointed.

More news from the ICU

I'm married to a beach ball.

Kelli had been doing a little better each day. Every day they let her breath a little more on her own, cut back on her sedatives, and let her be a little more active. That backfired last night, and at this point she's almost as sedated as she was on Saturday. Her respirator is pumping air in at a pressure that is quite uncomfortable, so letting her stay awake is not a good idea.

She's also pumped full of fluids, to the point that she's VERY puffy. It's hard to recognize her, even. They say she will make a full recovery, that the fluids need to be there to help her body fight the infection, but it feels as if there is a hole in my chest where my heart should be, and all of my organs are trying to fill the gap.

I want my wife. I need her to get well. I need her to come home. But I know that's not going to happen yet, and I just need to deal with it.

I just thank God that there are people I can go to for support. I'm not alone, and that allows me to keep going.

Plotline Climax?

The medical fiasco continues.

A waiting room couch was my bed last night. It just might be my bed tonight as well. (At the time I'm writing this, at least. I most likely won't be able to upload this entry until Monday evening.) That all depends on whether or not the other people in the waiting room go home. Kelli is currently in the ICU of the most beautiful hospital I've ever seen, and I've been living in one of their countless waiting rooms.

Looks aside, they've finally figured out that Kelli has pneumonia again. Her constant fatigue was because she wasn't getting enough oxygen. All the other problems may or may not have been related, but they packed a combined whollup.

Long story short - Kelli's on a breathing machine for most likely the next two days, but she's making good progress. She's getting the antibiotics she needs and is spending most of her time pleasantly sedated. As usual my sleep patterns are all screwed up by the stress of this, but we'll both survive. We always do.

2 Hour Delay

This entry brought to you by the weather - recommend it to your friends!

This is what should have happened on tuesday, rather than canceling school entirely. Yeah, the roads are icy, but once it warms up to above 32 degrees it's just rain again.

I'm slowly making headway in my graduate class work, and might actually finish by the time everything's due. I like statistics, but this class is for someone who LOVES statistics. I don't ever want to see another Z-score as long as I live.

Kelli's still home, which is good, but she still has shortness of breath, which is bad. The Doctors adjusted her medication to hopefully fix the high blood pressure situation, but I'm not sure if that did the trick.

Another Sick Day

Guess where I am.

I'm writing this in the lobby of North Arundel Hospital, running on 2 1/2 hours sleep, a small bag of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, and a cup of hot water that’s supposed to be "strong" coffee. I'm also writing this on my Palm, which has an infuriating lack of spellchecking functions. Nevertheless, it's probably the act of writing that's keeping me awake & alert at the moment.

Kelli was in here Friday & Saturday last week, and now she's back again. This time, it's hypertension.

Apparently this hospital got to see several serious cases overnight (heart attacks, strokes, etc.), filling every bed in the ER. Hypertension's a big problem if the blood pressure's high enough, but a stroke still trumps it. They took Kelli back maybe 15 minutes ago, but wouldn't let me join her. My guess is they don't even have a spare seat to accommodate me.

Over the past 9 weekdays I've taught a total of 3. Weather and Kelli's health seem to be conspiring against me to keep me out of the classroom.

-=-=-=-

Ok, they kept us there forever but we're finally home. Both of us. Kelli's falling asleep next to me and I'm thinking that wouldn't be a bad idea, but I've got graduate work to do. What a long strange trip it's been.

Rain Day

What, another day off?

Of the past 7 weekdays, I've taught 2 of them. Today we got off for rain. Why rain? Because in the morning the temperature was below 32 degrees, thus causing sheets of ice to form on things. Yeah, that was fun.

Looks like I'll be teaching tomorrow, though. I'm glad, because we need to get this lesson finished before I have to hand out grades. ^_^::

Return of the Wife

Yay, she's home!

Yup, Kelli's home, safe and sound. She's right next to me, sleeping soundly. We've both had a rough 24+ hours, although I would say Kelli was worse off than me.

Right now I'm trying to fix Kelli's computer. A regular install made it worse, something I couldn't explain until I went online and surfed through the Support section of Apple's website. In less than 5 minutes I knew what the problem was, why it had happened, and what I could do to fix it. At the same time I was downloading a 13.4 meg file (No, they weren't mp3's) so that says something for how easy it was to find this info.

...And people say Macs aren't easier to use ... heh.

Sick Day

When the wife is sick, the husband doesn't do much better.

2:00am this morning, Kelli was having chest pains.

2:30am we checked her into the local hospital.

5:00 is when I normally get up to go to school.

5:15 is when they took Kelli over to get a chest x-ray.

6:30 I called the school and told them there was no way I would be able to teach.

1:00-1:30pm I froze my butt off waiting in line OUTSIDE to pay the rent. from now on I'm mailing the check.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. Kelli's going to be ok, but we're still walking on eggshells because of her kidney transplant.

Ok, me go veggie out now.

Snow Day

Well, it took forever to get started but it eventually snowed, and the snow made up for lost time.

Something to keep in mind: I live about an hour away from my school. I also like to get there over an hour early, to give myself planning time. These two things combine to have me getting up at 5 in the morning, every morning. (I'm not complaining - This was my choice.)

That being said, my employer often waits until EVERY OTHER SCHOOL HAS DECIDED TO CANCEL before they decide to cancel school. I am now all dressed up with no place to go, since I was almost ready to walk out the door when my wife saw the news on TV.

The good news? Nobody else wants to do laundry at 5:30 in the morning. The machines were free!

Weather Channel, thy name is MUD!

Precipitation may vary.

According to Doppler radar, we are in the middle of a snow storm. This is a big surprise to me, considering I haven't seen snow falling since Friday. What's up with that?

I'm Back!

It was cold ... so very cold...

So anyway, my computer's fixed. Yeah, it's been dead since just after Christmas. It's better now.

Um, not much to say right now. I'm trying to put everything back to the way it was before my HD got wiped.

Geek Rating

I'm a super geek! Super geek!

The Geek Test ( http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html ) has my rating as 45.16765% - Super Geek

Kelli rated 49.90138% - also Super Geek

I'm Sick

Call it an occupational hazard, but I picked up a cold from one of my students. Nothing life threatening, but I feel like crap right now.

EVERYBODY SING!
Iiiiiiii'll be siiiiiick, for Christmas!
Pass the buuuucket please!
I'm hacking more,
My throat is sore,
From this infectious disease!


Bleah

Playing Catch-Up

Man, it's been a while...

Ok, I have about three minutes until my next class walks in so I have to make this short. Yes, I have not been updating this stuff on a regular basis. For those of you who actually manage to come by my site and peruse it, I apologize. The good news is that I can't afford to take the next graduate reading course needed for my recertification, so now I'll only be taking ONE grad class at a time. This means a marginal amount of time for me to do other things.

--

Ok, class is over, this is my lunch period.

Now, you realize of course that by "other things" I mean watch TechTV , go to Gaia , read webcomics, and play with my wife's Playstation2. Granted, with the stress that's in our lives right now we need little releases like that. Kelli's Mom passed away the Saturday before last, and it hit both of us sorta hard. I'm hoping I will get back into the swing of things soon, but I've been saying that since October.

At least I've added more stuff to this section of my site in the past 6 months than I had in the past 2 years. I suppose that should count for something.

Shirts!

Yes, this is a shameless self promotion.

A year ago I opened a CafePress.com store and put a simple yet funny shirt design in it. I didn't work too hard on promoting it, and sorta lost interest.

A few months later I checked in out of curiosity. To my surprise, I had actually made money! People had bought my stuff! I was rolling in ... well ... I was rolling, but I still don't have a lot of dough. (My profits so far are $4, go me.

In any case, I made a bunch more designs, and I have more on the way. Won't you please check them out?
(FYI: My profit margin is anywhere between $0 if I think the item looks neat but is overpriced to $2 if I think it's really worth it. I refuse to mark anything up more than that.)

Ouchie

Well, the "Wifey," as a certain friend of mine likes to say, is doing much better - may even be going to work on Saturday, we'll see. The rest did her a world of good.

I hope I have some more good news to write about soon so this journal becomes more than a "My life is crap" rant space.

As for me, spending all day at home helped ease my chronic back pain .. until the end of 1st pd. today. I don't show it much at work, but it's really annoying - even more so because I know it's my own fault for having such poor posture over the years. Dangit, I'm too young to feel this old!

Sooooo Sleeeeepy!

Pass the coffee, please.

I started nodding off around 9 last night, and I still feel like I haven't slept in days. I guess all those nights of staying up to watch Inuyasha, Trigun, & Cowboy Bebop are starting to catch up with me.

Darn anime addiction...

In any case, I'm hoping I'll be able to get some R&R this weekend. I'm also hoping to put some shelves together and unpack some stuff, but I'm not too confident that it'll get done.

Lessons Learned

University of Phoenix requires us to write a summary of what we've learned at the end of each class. Here's one of mine.

(To the tune of "Taps.")

Class is done...
Gone the fun...
Lessons learned, credits earned, programs run...
Tech is cool, Team C rules...
'Till the next one....


Heheh, couldn't resist.

This class I learned several things which I will dispense while thinking of the "Sunscreen" song that was popular several years ago.

-=-
Sometimes you learn something from a tutorial, other times you can teach the tutor a thing or two.

-=-
Sometimes you should provide the students with a webquest, other times you should force them to find relevant sites on their own.

-=-
Sometimes you feel like a nut, other times you feel like a bolt. o_O

-=-
Sometimes administrators will buy you mobile labs that nobody uses, other times they will ignore your pleas for a budget that buys more than freeware.

-=-
Sometimes your team has trouble finding the time to get online, other times a hurricane takes out your power lines while you sit at home with nothing to do.

-=-
Sometimes you feel like you're overwhelmed with class work. Other times you take a 2nd class at the same time and find out you weren't overworked ... until now.

-=-
Sometimes you hit triple the word count and have to cut out all the good parts, other times you say everything twice and hit a whopping 196 words.

-=-
Sometimes you get hit by a virus. Other times your teammates get hit so you still can't collaborate.

-=-
Sometimes you finish your project a day early (Jamal...), other times you remember you HAVE a project at 11:00pm on the night it's due.

-=-
Sometimes your wife won't let you play video games until your project's done. Other times she distracts you by turning the channel to the Law & Order season premiere.

-=-
Sometimes you have to write a lesson plan you can use in class (I start it tomorrow), other times it's so far removed from your subject you'd have to go back to college to know how to teach it.

This Sucks!

My brain hurts!

Ok, I've been having headaches for several months now. These headaches usually start in my eyes or end up there, but my prescription hasn't changed enough for my glasses to be the cause. At this point I've seen my doctor, an optometrist, and my doctor again. Now I need to make an appointment to see an ophthalmologist, which is I guess an eye doctor on steroids. My doctor seems to think that it might be ocular hypertension , which worries me since glaucoma's hereditary in my family and OH can increase your risk of developing it.

If it's not that, I might have to see a neurologist. I can't decide which is worse.

Web Browsing Tips & Tricks

The following is a little report I had to do on a tutorial I found. I ended up turning it into a tutorial of my own. ^_^;;

I took the "How to use Internet Explorer 5.0" tutorial found at http://pd.l2l.org/lrn_browser.html. Being a self proclaimed technophile I already was familiar with the program, but I have had several revelations concerning Explorer that might seem interesting.

Toolbar: Windows Vs. Macintosh
There are noticeable differences between the Mac and Windows versions when it comes to some of the aesthetics, and when it comes to the toolbar. So far as the toolbar is concerned, the Windows version includes some features that the Mac version does not, and vice versa. I can edit HTML with the windows version, but I can access the Mac only program known as Sherlock (A program that searches multiple search engines at once) in the Mac version. The Mac version also allows configuration of the toolbar so tools you don't use don't clutter up the screen. If the Windows version allows this to, it was not obvious in the tutorial.

Address Bar: Just say "NO" to typing.
Something that I know the Win and Mac versions both include is "Auto Complete." For example, if I want to to go to http://www.google.com, all I have to do is type "google" in the address bar. Since most web sites begin with http:// and end with .com, Explorer will put that in for you by default.

Change the Homepage: Lassie, come home!
If you can create a web page, whether it's with raw code or saving as HTML in MS Word, you can make a portal page. Simply put all your favorite links on the page and save it on your hard drive, then set it as your homepage. When you next open an Explorer window, all your favorite links are there! The convenience of a Favorites bar with a LOT more space, especially if you use tables for your portal.

Bless me, bloggers ...

... for I have sinned. It's been a month & a day since my last update. :) Here's the low-down breakdown, in no particular order:

Me:
Starting my 2nd grad course, looking for a new apartment, helping out at my Mom-in-law's, celebrated our 2 year anniversary, donated 13 inches of hair to Locks For Love, & will be teaching in the same hell hole this coming school year.

Kelli:
Celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary, her 1 year anniversary for her kidney transplant, also helping out at her Mom's house, & also helping look for a new apartment.

Kelli's Parents:
Kelli's Mom is recovering nicely from her surgery, where they removed some stage 3 cancer from her lower abdomen. See Kelli's blog for more details.

My Parents:
Celebrating their 30th anniversary by driving around PA and New England. Got a call today from Mom, who is enjoying herself immensely.

More to follow, maybe.

'Tis the season

Looking at grad schools, but focussing on accredited online courses since they're less expensive. There're a bunch of colleges out there (Penn State, for example) that offer degrees like that.

I'm ALIIIIIIIVE!

Well, haven't updated in a while so I guess I might as well do so. I beat .Hack 1 the other day, just in time for the next volume to be released. In the meantime I'm playing FF7, another game I've never won.

I coulda beet .Hack a month ago, but I got to the end too fast and Seig(sp?) kicked my arse in front of friends & family. Angered by this, I went on a series of training missions that got all my characters up past level 30, with some really nice weapons & armor to boot. When I returned once again, vengeance was sweet. Very sweet.

Me like free stuff

PH33R M3!!!1 ... or not ...

I've finally figured out how to run Gimp, which is essentially a Unix version of Photoshop Elements (No affiliation to Adobe, it just does the same stuff, is all...). There's one major difference, of course - Gimp is FREE! Free, I tell you!

I have emerged from my first sucsessful dive into a unix interface since college. I won't go into how long it took me to get Gimp to run on Mac OS X, but I would never have done it without Apple's release of X11 for Mac and the good people at MacAddict Magazine. Don't mind me, I'm power trippin'

Bwa-HAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.Hack Tactics

Let me start by saying that You cannot plug an ethernet cord into a USB port! ... Ehem, lesson learned.

I've noticed a definite difference in the ways that Kelli & I play .Hack. When Kelli plays, she has 2 notebooks out in front of her at all times. In them, she keeps track of every item, field, weapon, armor, &, yes, even grunty food. If I wanted to know what keywords to use to find the most Piney Apples, all I'd have to do is ask - she's been there.

I'm ... not so thurough. Sure, at times I'll spend hours on end trying to level everyone up, but that's only so when I go to the field where the next plot point takes place I can just breeze on through leaving nothing but a bloody swath of destruction in my wake.

The results of these two strategies are pretty streightforward - while Kelli has logged in more hours than me, I'm farther ahead in the plot. She hasn't even met Mia the cat player, and I'm already raising grunties. Does this make me a better player than Kelli? Not really - she could easilly get to where I am now if she tried. I guess she feels less of a need to do that since she's getting a sneak preview of what's to come when she watches me play.

---

In other news: HOW THE HECK DO I INSTALL GIMP?!?! ...lousy stinkin' Unix interface...

Employment

Just found out my sister is now raking in the big bucks after being hired by a graphic design company that is employed by the US Army. She'll be making about as much as I am and this will only be her first year as a full time employee.

Fortunately, I'm not jealous. We may both be artists, but the jobs we have are different enough for neither of us to want the other's job.

...now if only I can get her to FINALLY come down here and be a guest speaker....

Anticlimax

Kelli's gettin' towed all the way to Temple Hills, which is where the dealership is. (That's just south of DC, for you non-Marylanders.) Remember, the car broke down in Honeybrook, PA. That's quite a distance.

So now I must drive out to Temple Hills to pick up my darling wife, once she gets there. As chaeval pointed out, it's still a much better drive than to PA. I'm just waiting for the phone call to let me know she's in the area.

Update, or "Oh, crap."

Kelli made it as far as Honeybrook (Still in PA) before my car's electrical system went out - the lights all went on and the turn signals, etc. went out. She managed to call me from a payphone thanks to AAA transferring her call & we talked until the tow truck showed up, then I called her Mom to give her an FYI.

Kelli was of the opinion that no one would drive out to pick her up if necessary, since her Mom doesn't like to drive in the dark & it was RAINING, to boot. (Everyone else was either not home or was in a different state.) Kelli's Mom assured me she would if she had to, so that makes me feel better.

But still, I wish she had just waited 'till tomorrow then had it towed to the dealer. Silly me, I married someone who is stubborn instead of a pushover. (And the pot called the kettle black.) I wouldn't want her any other way, though. Assertiveness can be a good asset when insurance companies do stupid stuff. THAT is a topic for another day.

Alone

Kelli drove up to PA yesterday for multiple reasons, including but not limited to visiting the grandfather of a good friend. Said grandfater has cancer and maybe only days yet to live. He's at the point where he's asking for everyone and making his peace.

Had this been summer, I would have gone with her. As it wasn't, I had to stay and teach art to a bunch of uncaring ruffians.

Kelli was supposed to be driving back today, but as she was getting back to her Mom & Dad's house the battery light in my car (She took mine since it's newer & safer) went on, so guess what she's not doing tonight, and what she has to take care of tomorrow. I'm at least thankful that she was only 15 minutes from her folk's house when it happened, and that I DIDN'T buy that Palm m130 I saw on ebay. It was a rare show of willpower - I promise it won't happen again :p

---

Edit: Kelli called while I was typing this and said she was going to try the drive home anyway, since it might just be a bit of oil on the alternator belt that was making it slip. I sorta see her point, but that still makes me worried for her.

Technology, thou art subject specific.

Went to a technology conference today. It included 4 sessions and a guest lecturer. The lecturer was quite a crowd pleaser and he had some good points, and I enjoyed the iMovie session a lot, however...

The other 3 sessions covered all the info that was pertinent to me in the first 15 minutes, and on top of that I had a splitting headache through most of it. Oh well.

BTW, I now want a Palm m130 now more than ever. Anyone wanna buy me one?

...progression...

Yesterday was not a good day. Lesson learned: When you're tired &/or have only half thought out what you're about to say, keep your BIG MOUTH SHUT. A good night's rest or thinking for another 30 secconds can keep you from getting foot-in-mouth disease.

Also: Macintosh computers can link up to PC networks, but any network will give you an ammount of grief inversely proportional to the necessity of the file transfer. Finished my grad class last night, and it only took me an hour longer than I thought it would :-p

Today I'm doing better. If I'm lucky I'll get my seating charts & attendance lists done for my sub on thursday. It's not a day off, since I'll be going to a convention, but this time I'LL be the student. Not relaxation, just a different kind of stress. ;-)

Lookie Lookie!

What do you do when the wife has the PS2? What else? Update your web site! :)

Happy Birthday Chaeval!

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Chaeval,
Happy birrrrrrrrrrrrrthdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay tooooooooooooooooo yooooooooooooooooooooou!!!!!!!

Heehee! :)

Medical Maladies...

4:00 PM Yesterday - My wife, Kelli, returns home from a doctor's checkup / spending spree (PS2 stuff) and accidentally bangs her foot on our "entertainment system." (If you saw it, you would understand why I use quotes.) She assumes the pain will go away in a little bit.

8:00 PM Yesterday - The pain has not gone away. I wrap her foot in an ace bandage.

12:00 AM this morning - Still hurts like the dickens, so we arrive at the hospital for X-rays.

3:00 AM - We leave the hospital with the same ace bandage we came with, but also crutches, one of those shoe thingies, and a perscription for painkillers. We would be relieved that there were no broken bones if we weren't so darn tired.

?:?? - Arrive home with the assistance of Mountain Dew.

4:00 - Kelli cannot sleep due to severe pain (Didn't get the perscriptin filled yet), and cannot stop crying, it hurts so much. I feel so useless I'm literally nauseated.

7:00 - I drive to the pharmacy to get the happy pills while Kelli calls the school to let them know I won't be in and need a substitute. We spend most of the school day in a state of living death.

@2:00 - Medication's side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, and nausea. Therefore, Kelli throws up.

3:45 - Arrive at school for dammage control

6:20 - STILL at school, typing this while my printer slooooowly prints lots and lots of pages needed before I leave.

Conclusion:
Stick a fork in me - I'm done

Observations

Just found out they're doing unannounced observations starting this week. Coincidentally, 90% of my students are behind on their lessons because they refuse to do their homework.

The perfect time to have an administrator walk in at any moment, ne?

Obligatory 1st post...

This is the necessary "Welcome to my Blog, blah, blah, blah, blah, I like kittens, they taste like chicken!" entry into this little corner of cyberspace. I hope my future entries have a little more substance.