I want to make a horrible joke about a tech support call, but I won't.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Dr. Horrible's Sing-along blog
http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog
Be sure to mouse over the clip once the actual non-advert part is playing and change it to 'Watch in Hi-Res (480p)', it looks and sounds a lot better.. then full-screen if possible... I'm just saying...
Just thought I'd add a post, since I haven't done that for a while... and while doing that, I'd recommend watching "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along blog".
Now, as a warning... it's kind of campy superhero stuff... it's amateur (in theory)... and... well... it's a musical. However, you should still watch it, all the way through Act 3, even if 1 doesn't catch you.
At first I almost stopped, but by the end, was pretty impressed.
Oh, did I mention it was by the guy largely behind Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a couple other cult-favorites, Joss Whedon? At this point, just about anything he creates is going to become a cult favorite, of course, but... there's good reason for that.
If you DO actually read this, I'd be interested in hearing reactions to it... am I just a freak for liking it (quite likely), or is it really as good as I've decided it was?
Also... Doogie Howser has grown up into an evil super-villain.. how can that go wrong?! DH = Doogie Howser = Doctor Horrible ... coincidence? I think not!
And, if you are too lazy to figure out how to see it, here's a quick and easy link.. however, I liked it enough I bought it, with like.. you know... real money.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog
Friday, May 02, 2008
First Ultrasound
We got our first sonograms from the ultrasound yesterday. Apparently Karen is carrying a little Teddy Graham in her belly! (Teddy Graham commercial for comparison - look at the little cookies, not the giant dancing bears. :p )
Oh, also, it danced and waved at us... REALLY!
Final due date estimate is December 3, 2008.
Video of a little part of the ultrasound ... the first couple seconds, you can hear the heartbeat faintly... over the sound of the camera's zoom mechanics. *sigh* Well, next time I'll be better prepared to catch it.
Oh, also, it danced and waved at us... REALLY!
Final due date estimate is December 3, 2008.
Video of a little part of the ultrasound ... the first couple seconds, you can hear the heartbeat faintly... over the sound of the camera's zoom mechanics. *sigh* Well, next time I'll be better prepared to catch it.
Friday, April 25, 2008
News
Ok, so yeah, as my parents keep noting, I don't maintain this enough to keep them in the loop. I guess there are a few things that need mentioning.
Next weekend is the 2008 White Dragon Tournament, so lots of work going into preparing for that.
We just got a new car, swapped the 2001 Hyundai Elantra for a 2007 Suzuki XL7.
Danny and Nia are still doing good.
We are making some big changes to our house, converting a big open area in the upstairs into a room by adding a wall and closet, redoing our kitchen cabinets and countertop, and moving internal furniture around.
Hmmm, what else.
Oh, right, and one other little thing. I guess it's been a while, but I came home on April 1st, and after a very brief talk about how sweaty I was after my workout, Karen showed me this:
So it was April 1st, right, and she's looking at me waiting for a reaction. Terror gripped me in an instant, trying to figure out if she was serious or it was a joke, and what the 'correct' response was. I think a long pause and a blank stare followed by "really?" is what I went with, which she followed up with "no, actually I just went out and bought a gag test"... again, I couldn't tell if that was sarcastic or true. Women can be cruel. :)
But in the end, it was true. And honestly, it wasn't really unexpected, we were planning on really trying about a month from that point, it was just surprising it was so quick and at that point... we were going to wait since we didn't want a December birthdate, since having a b-day close to the end of the year always seems to downplay it a bit. *shrug*
But looks like that's what we got, and really I'd rather have it come easily than desperately try for years with no luck. I WAS looking forward to a LITTLE more working at it, but ah, well. The one time we laxed a little on being careful was apparently enough. :p Does give us a pretty exact date of conception, though.
Our current official due date is December 4, 2008, but we're having an ultrasound this Thursday, which may change that date a little at that point.
Next weekend is the 2008 White Dragon Tournament, so lots of work going into preparing for that.
We just got a new car, swapped the 2001 Hyundai Elantra for a 2007 Suzuki XL7.
Danny and Nia are still doing good.
We are making some big changes to our house, converting a big open area in the upstairs into a room by adding a wall and closet, redoing our kitchen cabinets and countertop, and moving internal furniture around.
Hmmm, what else.
Oh, right, and one other little thing. I guess it's been a while, but I came home on April 1st, and after a very brief talk about how sweaty I was after my workout, Karen showed me this:
So it was April 1st, right, and she's looking at me waiting for a reaction. Terror gripped me in an instant, trying to figure out if she was serious or it was a joke, and what the 'correct' response was. I think a long pause and a blank stare followed by "really?" is what I went with, which she followed up with "no, actually I just went out and bought a gag test"... again, I couldn't tell if that was sarcastic or true. Women can be cruel. :)
But in the end, it was true. And honestly, it wasn't really unexpected, we were planning on really trying about a month from that point, it was just surprising it was so quick and at that point... we were going to wait since we didn't want a December birthdate, since having a b-day close to the end of the year always seems to downplay it a bit. *shrug*
But looks like that's what we got, and really I'd rather have it come easily than desperately try for years with no luck. I WAS looking forward to a LITTLE more working at it, but ah, well. The one time we laxed a little on being careful was apparently enough. :p Does give us a pretty exact date of conception, though.
Our current official due date is December 4, 2008, but we're having an ultrasound this Thursday, which may change that date a little at that point.
Testing publishing from phone
This is just a quick useless post from my cellphone to see if it works. IF YOU CAN SEE THIS, IT DOES. NOW, WHY DID IT GO ALL CAPS? I'M NOT RETYPING ALL THAT. :P
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Still alive
For the record, we are still alive, didn't burn in the fires months ago, as you (the 3 of you who might hit this page) might think from my lack of follow-up blog posts.
As I've said before, I'm going to TRY to post more often, but as I've proven before, that is probably an overly optimistic goal. Maybe I should try setting a more achievable goal... like, I must post at least once a month! :) I'll work on that.
As I've said before, I'm going to TRY to post more often, but as I've proven before, that is probably an overly optimistic goal. Maybe I should try setting a more achievable goal... like, I must post at least once a month! :) I'll work on that.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Southern California Wildfires
We were actually on a road that everything north of which was evacuated... right near a canyon that was close to burning. Still is, if you look at the map, but they think it's safe enough here that they receded the evacuation perimeter...
This map is centered on our house... it is looking less and less scary, since that map is real-time, but it looked bad around Tuesday. Still tons of fire around, but at least it's getting a bit more controlled because the wind and humidity are cooperating a bit more.
View Larger Map
Our thoughts go out to everyone else impacted by these fires.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Moving
There are very few things about moving to a new place that aren't difficult, stressful, or frustrating. Actually, we aren't even to that point yet... let me restart...
There are very few things about THINKING about moving to a new place that aren't difficult, stressful, or frustrating.
We're thinking about moving, though we're very actively thinking about it. We have the house we are thinking about in sight, and have already started the processes of getting pre-approved for the loan, getting our house on the market, and letting the selling agent of the other house know of our interest.
We've already visited the place once, and are going again, this time with a more specific idea of it actually being the place we buy, not just looking at it in comparison to other places. To make things easy, we're listing our current house with the same person who is selling the other house... so he's both our selling agent, our buying agent, and our potential house's previous owners selling agent... obviously that alone presents so many potential conflicts of interest, but I'm watching that carefully...
But SELLING our current place... that seems easy... but the steps to actually let people see it are going to be very tiring... almost as much as moving itself will be (though, probably not quite). The fact that we still live here makes it difficult... we need to make it look 'demo-house lived in', which is VERY VERY different than 'reality lived-in'. And actually living in it while it's in that state will be difficult and a little uncomfortable. Fun stuff...
And we have to figure out where to hide all the junk we aren't supposed to let people know we use... all the stuff on the fridge, on our desks, on the kitchen counters, tables, etc, etc... People don't realize most kitchens actually have things like coffee makers, toaster ovens, toasters, etc? Yeah... well, it's all about psychology. People are too lazy to have to think about what they see when they are looking at something to buy, and we aren't going to be changing that any time soon. :/
Would be so much easier if we could move out before trying to sell it... and trying to figure out what to do with our cat and dog during this process is going to be interesting... the first random viewing person who lets either of them out is probably going to have to file a restraining order against us.
I can't wait...
Oh, and assuming everything goes past this point.. the move itself... *shudder* Then... making the new place livable (unpacking, painting, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc)... I think we should have been storing up energy for the past few years in preperation.
The place isn't even a mile from here... but it is almost twice the size, so that'll be useful.
There are very few things about THINKING about moving to a new place that aren't difficult, stressful, or frustrating.
We're thinking about moving, though we're very actively thinking about it. We have the house we are thinking about in sight, and have already started the processes of getting pre-approved for the loan, getting our house on the market, and letting the selling agent of the other house know of our interest.
We've already visited the place once, and are going again, this time with a more specific idea of it actually being the place we buy, not just looking at it in comparison to other places. To make things easy, we're listing our current house with the same person who is selling the other house... so he's both our selling agent, our buying agent, and our potential house's previous owners selling agent... obviously that alone presents so many potential conflicts of interest, but I'm watching that carefully...
But SELLING our current place... that seems easy... but the steps to actually let people see it are going to be very tiring... almost as much as moving itself will be (though, probably not quite). The fact that we still live here makes it difficult... we need to make it look 'demo-house lived in', which is VERY VERY different than 'reality lived-in'. And actually living in it while it's in that state will be difficult and a little uncomfortable. Fun stuff...
And we have to figure out where to hide all the junk we aren't supposed to let people know we use... all the stuff on the fridge, on our desks, on the kitchen counters, tables, etc, etc... People don't realize most kitchens actually have things like coffee makers, toaster ovens, toasters, etc? Yeah... well, it's all about psychology. People are too lazy to have to think about what they see when they are looking at something to buy, and we aren't going to be changing that any time soon. :/
Would be so much easier if we could move out before trying to sell it... and trying to figure out what to do with our cat and dog during this process is going to be interesting... the first random viewing person who lets either of them out is probably going to have to file a restraining order against us.
I can't wait...
Oh, and assuming everything goes past this point.. the move itself... *shudder* Then... making the new place livable (unpacking, painting, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc)... I think we should have been storing up energy for the past few years in preperation.
The place isn't even a mile from here... but it is almost twice the size, so that'll be useful.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Flickr test
This is a test... Yahoo! Photos is closing, and I had to move to another photo storage solution... Yahoo's been working on flickr, and so far it seems relatively interesting. So I'm testing posting an image blog from Flickr.
And if anyone else uses flickr and for some reason reads this blog, look me up, send an email, or otherwise add me or invite me. :)
And if anyone else uses flickr and for some reason reads this blog, look me up, send an email, or otherwise add me or invite me. :)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Tournament update
Just an update, I already was pretty sure, but just officially found out that I did actually come out as the 4th place competitor overall. Missed the 2 slots above me by such a small margin... guess I have a goal for next year. :)
Sunday, May 13, 2007
White Dragon Tournament
The annual White Dragon tournament in San Diego was this weekend, and it was probably the best one I've gone to so far. Overall, it was the best organized it has been, though there were still a couple oddities (there were combatives going on before some forms divisions were done, and several people couldn't compete in a few forms divisions because they were hurt in the combative... my wife was one of these, unfortunately, and her open weapon set would have done really well in her division).
I didn't miss a single event, and overall most people got to all their events, because not only was the event called, your name was called a few times specifically if you hadn't reported to a ring yet. Again, somehow my wife got passed over by this, though the ring judges say they called her name several times and actually went to the sparring ring asking people personally. She never heard her name (and neither did I) and never noticed anyone asking her ring if they were in open weapon division, but it probably wouldn't have mattered, since by then she could hardly stand anyway. I think she still wanted to try to do the set, even with her ankle hurt. But... next year.
But beyond the few issues I know about, it was a quicker tournament than previous years, and more organized as a whole. And the quality of people competing was better than I remember, even for the lower level divisions. All in all, it was a really fun tournament. I did well, Karen did well, and our school did really well as well. We got 2nd place as a school, missing 1st by only .2 points per competitor, a lot of that lost due to people not showing up who were registered. Not a bad achievement. Myself, I actually missed 3rd place for grand champion by 2 points, which is REALLY close. Basically the difference between getting 3rd place in a division and 2nd place in the same division... or a lot less than getting 2nd instead of 1st.
Karen came away with a Gold medal in her forms division, and I'm pretty sure she had a good chance at gold in her open weapon, and probably would have placed 1-3 in sparring if she hadn't won her match but lost her ankle at the same time. I ended up with 4 golds, 4 silver, and 2 bronze, placing in 10 of the 12 divisions I competed in. Not bad, beat last year, I only got 3 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze then. I could feel the improvement... I was pretty confident in my sets last year, but this year felt more fluid.
Now back to regular training for a while. Tournament always sidetracks things a little, but in a good way. Training for tournaments always leak back into the normal curriculum.
I didn't miss a single event, and overall most people got to all their events, because not only was the event called, your name was called a few times specifically if you hadn't reported to a ring yet. Again, somehow my wife got passed over by this, though the ring judges say they called her name several times and actually went to the sparring ring asking people personally. She never heard her name (and neither did I) and never noticed anyone asking her ring if they were in open weapon division, but it probably wouldn't have mattered, since by then she could hardly stand anyway. I think she still wanted to try to do the set, even with her ankle hurt. But... next year.
But beyond the few issues I know about, it was a quicker tournament than previous years, and more organized as a whole. And the quality of people competing was better than I remember, even for the lower level divisions. All in all, it was a really fun tournament. I did well, Karen did well, and our school did really well as well. We got 2nd place as a school, missing 1st by only .2 points per competitor, a lot of that lost due to people not showing up who were registered. Not a bad achievement. Myself, I actually missed 3rd place for grand champion by 2 points, which is REALLY close. Basically the difference between getting 3rd place in a division and 2nd place in the same division... or a lot less than getting 2nd instead of 1st.
Karen came away with a Gold medal in her forms division, and I'm pretty sure she had a good chance at gold in her open weapon, and probably would have placed 1-3 in sparring if she hadn't won her match but lost her ankle at the same time. I ended up with 4 golds, 4 silver, and 2 bronze, placing in 10 of the 12 divisions I competed in. Not bad, beat last year, I only got 3 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze then. I could feel the improvement... I was pretty confident in my sets last year, but this year felt more fluid.
Now back to regular training for a while. Tournament always sidetracks things a little, but in a good way. Training for tournaments always leak back into the normal curriculum.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Calendars
I switched to Windows Vista, and it's built in calendar program makes use of ICS, which is a fairly global standard for once! Because of this, I've been playing around with ways to publish and use the calendars...
I have pushed my own personal calendar as well as a calendar for White Dragon Mira Mesa, and found a decent solution to allow people to view those calendars... publicly, it only shows White Dragon (Mira Mesa)'s event calendar, but if you ask me, I can give you info that will let you see my own calendar (a feature probably only 3 people are interested in :) ).
http://www.truebits.net/phpicalendar
I'm going to find a ton of other ways to annoy people with this stuff now!
Also, if you happen to want to subscribe to either of these calendars via some means that allows ICS subscription, just ask, I can give the link.
I have pushed my own personal calendar as well as a calendar for White Dragon Mira Mesa, and found a decent solution to allow people to view those calendars... publicly, it only shows White Dragon (Mira Mesa)'s event calendar, but if you ask me, I can give you info that will let you see my own calendar (a feature probably only 3 people are interested in :) ).
http://www.truebits.net/phpicalendar
I'm going to find a ton of other ways to annoy people with this stuff now!
Also, if you happen to want to subscribe to either of these calendars via some means that allows ICS subscription, just ask, I can give the link.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Monday, December 11, 2006
I love cell phone support
Verizon believes $.002 = 0.002 cents
This is kind of sad... it is worse because I've actually had this same problem before. I really HATE that a company takes no responsibility for it's customer service reps, who are essentially the companies voice to its customers. If 20 of them quote something, and a customer actually believes that's true and plans their actions based on that information, and then the company goes back and says 'no, no, that isn't the way it is.. I don't know why they told you that'... Very very frustrating... a similiar situation cost me $9,000 last year when numerous customer service reps of a bank assured me a cashiers check was good and cleared, and 3 weeks later, after cashing it and doing the trade, I found out it was counterfeit and the bank pretty much said "sorry, nothing we can do, your out the money".
Friday, December 08, 2006
Irwin meets Ross
Had this link passed to me, and it's pretty funny... I guess Ross the intern is from "Jay Leno", though I don't watch that enough to actually have known that.
Steve Irwin meets Ross the Intern
I'm not sure who was funnier in this. I miss Steve Irwin.
Steve Irwin meets Ross the Intern
I'm not sure who was funnier in this. I miss Steve Irwin.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Banquet Pics up
This weekend was the annual White Dragon Banquet and Holiday sale / exhibition. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of these until the night before I was getting my wisdom teeth removed, so I didn't really enjoy either as much as I'd have liked... I could barely eat at the banquet, and I wasn't able to perform at the exhibition. But we still went to both, and it was fun overall, minus the excruciating constant pain.
Here's a direct link to the album, or you could go through the interface and find it.
Here's a direct link to the album, or you could go through the interface and find it.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Ow... !!!
Ok, so they are now out of my head... and wow, this hurts. My face is still mostly numb from anestesia, but the pain is still overwhelming. I don't really want to take anything, but I am pretty sure I'm going to.
One of the teeth was an inch long! It took a good chunk of my jaw with it.
I'm not going to post the pictures directly, but here are some links to pics of the teeth. They are pretty huge... I can't believe this came out of my head.
The inch long one that took a fair amount of my upper jaw with it
Flip side of that one
Yes, really, that's jawbone
Nearly as wide as it is long
All three
I hope this feels better soon... my mouth is stuffed with gauze right now, not really very comfortable, but I'll not go into details. It's all rather disturbing, really.
One of the teeth was an inch long! It took a good chunk of my jaw with it.
I'm not going to post the pictures directly, but here are some links to pics of the teeth. They are pretty huge... I can't believe this came out of my head.
The inch long one that took a fair amount of my upper jaw with it
Flip side of that one
Yes, really, that's jawbone
Nearly as wide as it is long
All three
I hope this feels better soon... my mouth is stuffed with gauze right now, not really very comfortable, but I'll not go into details. It's all rather disturbing, really.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Wisdom teeth
Well, ok, so my last post lied a bit. Actually, not, it was just ignorant of the future. So that Friday turned into a consultation, the teeth ACTUALLY come out this Wednesday, Nov. 29th. I can hardly wait! Or more accurately, I can.
I'm not looking forward to the week of fun everyone else I've known who've had them removed went through.
Interestingly enough, I have 4 completely different states of each of the teeth... the lower left one doesn't exist. The lower right one has only partially errupted from the gums because it's so far back in my mouth, so it will have to be cut out. The upper right one is actually in good shape, with a normal size and only 2 full roots and one small one. The upper left one, however, shows traits that dentists usually only see in Native Americans, oddly enough. It is REALLY big, and has 4 full roots, and removing it will probably involve breaking off a good chunk of the bone of my upper pallette. If that doesn't sound like fun I don't know what does!
I'm not looking forward to the week of fun everyone else I've known who've had them removed went through.
Interestingly enough, I have 4 completely different states of each of the teeth... the lower left one doesn't exist. The lower right one has only partially errupted from the gums because it's so far back in my mouth, so it will have to be cut out. The upper right one is actually in good shape, with a normal size and only 2 full roots and one small one. The upper left one, however, shows traits that dentists usually only see in Native Americans, oddly enough. It is REALLY big, and has 4 full roots, and removing it will probably involve breaking off a good chunk of the bone of my upper pallette. If that doesn't sound like fun I don't know what does!
Friday, November 17, 2006
Friday Fun!
Well, I get to enjoy this Friday by having large chunks of bone ripped out of my skull!
I get to have 3 of my wisdom teeth removed in just over an hour... fun times. I would probably have 4 removed, but I only have 3. There is no sign of the existance of the 4th, even in x-rays, so I guess I get to be spared 25% of the pain. I suppose I should be happy about that.
*sigh* Well, I guess that's about it. I'm guessing I'm going to have a fun week. :/
I get to have 3 of my wisdom teeth removed in just over an hour... fun times. I would probably have 4 removed, but I only have 3. There is no sign of the existance of the 4th, even in x-rays, so I guess I get to be spared 25% of the pain. I suppose I should be happy about that.
*sigh* Well, I guess that's about it. I'm guessing I'm going to have a fun week. :/
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