Sorry, Lenore

I got a haircut today. Bigs news! Stop the presses! Not just a trim either. Back on down to the old standby haircut I sported for many years. Buzzed down on the sides and about an inch on top. Truthfully, I already miss the length, but I'm glad I did it. Thought, originally, I went in for just a trim. Talked everything out very specifically, and the trim was exactly as I had asked, and while it looked ok, I decided to just go ahead and lop it all off. My plan, however, is to see if I can not cut it again until December of '07. 18 months of grow. With the rate at which my hair grows, that should be enough for about 9" of length. If I can tough it out that long and I don't like it, that's enough to give to Locks of Love. If I do like it, then I'll keep it.

Mostly, though, I just think I needed to clear it all off. Most of the girls who voiced a liking of the long hair aren't available. In fact, I think all of the votes for me keeping it long came from the taken list. Kinda discouraging, really. I had a reason to grow out the hair, but I don't have it any more. And I've been having to stiffen myself again as of late, and this helps with the hardening process. Besides, I look better in my contacts if I have short hair. And these glasses are long since done.

Now to see if anyone wants to go out and eat tonight. I got paid, and I'd like to hang out with friends and eat.

And in a related story, Steven brought about one and a half gigs of jazz music to work this week and I've ganked it for myself. Mmm, jazz. Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Etta James, Wynton Marsalis, and Louis Armstrong. Good stuff.

born to lose, i've lived my life in vain

Buh Lah

Yawn. Dullsville around here. I'm ready for the weekend. Work is long and draining, as always, but at least the numbers are good! OMFG YAY!!!1 Rah. Good surprise though, is that I did the math wrong and I get paid today instead of next week. Money is being the useful. Need to hit the grocery store tomorrow, pay for a doublet. Just enough left after that to sit on. Yaaaay. But I open in several hours, and Saturday is off. So hurrah weekend. Jerod's coming out this way Saturday night, so I might do something really crazy and break out a hookah. Gasp.

Also? I'm still debating the whole haircut thing. What's wrong with me?!

georgia, georgia

8 days later...

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. Just a whole lot of not much to say of late. Work's been...well, work. Things seem to be improving in general, which, by sheer coincidence alone, means things are getting a little better for me. But I'm still waiting to see what Adam's got for me. Marquis and San are both gone as of this week. So next week should be reaaaalllly interesting. In that not fun kind of way. I imagine some fecal matter will be hitting some rotating blades very soon. Hopefully this time the management fall out won't cost me my job. Which, admittedly, would be a very pleasant first. Jerod came up today. I don't get to hang out with my brother nearly enough. But we had a good time. Ate way too much really good spaghetti, watched some Hustle and did the usual gazebo thing. Though I am ticked at the weather for ruining the Evening at the Pool I had been trying to piece together. Ah, well, my fault for not consulting the forecast before making plans. Maybe next time.

Also? Oblivion still owns me.

in the ghettt-ttoooooooo

Video Killed the Radio Star

But some punk took the radio out of my car.

Yes, that's right, some idiot decided he deserved my 6 year old beat-up CD player more than I did. And I didn't even have my windows rolled down like I normally do! The irony is that my car spent three days alone and unsupervised in a parking lot out of gas, and no one took the radio then. The NIGHT I get gas in it and get it home, no more radio. Between 11PM and 8:45AM this happened. I had been meaning to replace the radio anyway, but really. That's just sad. Left my CDs, my baseball bat, my hats, the two quarts of oil and the change in the ashtray. Just the old and tired CD player. And you can't even use half the functions because the remote got missing almost a year and a half ago. But good for you, hoodlum kid. You have a bright future in Prison Occupation. Congratulations. I hope taking my radio made you feel better about your 3 inch penis. At least the doors were unlocked so they didn't bust my windows.

who steals a radio out of a piece of crap car like mine anyway?!

Random Catch Up

There's been a goodly amount of stuff going on that I've neglected to post. I blame the intense focus on the suck of late. But there's quick bits.

This past weekend, was, overall, a pleasant experience. The bachelor party out on the lake was fantastic. I miss gaming with people. Stupid not-so-much gaming roommates! But! It was Thursday night that the unforeseeable awesomeness happened! I beat Jerod's bugs! That's right, my first time commanding an Eldar force, I won! Though, to be fair, it was just barely. Essentially, everything got wiped off the table except my two unharmed tanks. But that's 360 points out of a 1000 army. So not so bad. There were a handful of bugs left on the table but all blasted to well below half strength. A moral victory, but no much else, as all of my foot soldiers got et.

To top off all the crap from Monday, my car ran out of gas not half a mile from a gas station. Not that I had the funds to pay for the gas, mind you. The schedulers at my store have seen to that. But I was frustratingly close to everywhere I could want to be. Rah. And thanks to that, I didn't get to swim yesterday. Which sucks. And I closed today, so no swimming. But tomorrow, I am the off, so swim I shall!

In other news, I'm getting frustrated with my hair. I've been trying to grow it out for a while. If I didn't work in a retail environment, I wouldn't care so much. But I do work with the public. And even I care a little about my image. The scruffiness of face, meh. But the hair, even if it looks unkempt, should not be curling up and out and forward, so that if my hair had it's way, I'd look like my face was in a bowl of hair. That's just no good. That and I am horribly impatient. I just want to cut it all off and go back to my old hair style, all short and low maintenance. I miss the low maintenance. Thoughts?

my "i" key is slowly dying. i weep.

Jumping Ship

Yeah. So I'm getting out. Too much BS. I don't blame Best Buy. I don't blame Geek Squad. I don't blame the store or even most of my co-workers. I blame Scott Horton, Services Manager at Best Buy store 155 in Greensboro. Today I found out that we have moved one of our best techs out to the computers sales floor as a Computers Senior and in his place took one of the best Computer sales guys we have OFF the floor and made him a Geek Squad senior. What the hell. And with Marquis leaving very soon, I'm going to have nothing but sales people as bosses in a services department. How does this possibly make sense?! It's like I work in the motor pool for the Army. Similar things, fixing and maintaining equipment. Only the powers that be saw fit to replace all the leadership in the motor pool with supply officers and sergeants. People with no technical experience. And I have to answer to these people?! How in the nine circles of hell does this possibly make any sense?!?! Christ! So I called up Adam this evening and tomorrow he's going to see what's open where he works. Or how soon an IT spot would be open there. Because I have GOT to find something better than this. And it really burns me up that this one manager is making want to leave Best Buy. The company has been pretty good to me. Decent pay, good benefits. Just one asshole ruining my job.

here comes the new boss. same as the old boss

First Time for Everything

So we got kicked off the gazebo tonight. For the first time ever. What appeared to be an off-duty deputy who may or may not be the one that lives in the complex came out as we were setting up. A parrot he was.

him: "Poo' close a' teen."

us: "But management has never had a problem with us before."

h: "Poo' close a' teen. No akahaw at da poo'. Poo' close a' teen."

u: "That's fine, but we're not at the pool."

h: "Da's fie. No akahaw at da poo'. Poo' close a' teen."

So. We pack up the crap. And Chris will be having a long and heartfelt conversation with the management. Maybe get us some hall passes or something.

In other news, yet another wedding! This time my cousin Tony is getting married and I'm a groomsman. Rehearsal tomorrow, bachelor party type thing Friday, wedding Saturday. This will make three weddings I have been a part of the party. This does, however, mark an interesting passage. Of all of the cousins on my dad's side, I am the third oldest. And as of Saturday, my two older cousins will be married. Marking me as the next, if one goes by ages. Though my younger brother seems to be ahead of me in the realm of relationships. Shouldn't I be next? Soon to be wed, plans for kids, oldest son to oldest son to oldest son and all that jazz? Sigh.

nobody knows who i really am

Amusing Distraction

Grey -- [adjective]: Benevolent to a fault 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Day 5, The Voyage Home

I'm currently squatting about a concourse in Atlantan Internat'l airport waiting for my flight. I got here around 4:30PM, Atlanta local. My flight leaves here at 7:50. Bleh, he said. But I'm almost home, and that's a good thing. All told, it was a nice trip. I did learn some things, though. The first and most important is that I need to learn to travel a little lighter. But I always was one to over prepare. I blame the Boy Scouts. Be Prepared, indeed. Two, I really wish I had booked an earlier flight home. I don't have jet lag or anything, but I do have travel weariness. And I'm going to have to get up early and call in to see when I'm supposed to be in. Though I have this sickening feeling I'm going to have to open. Sigh. I did get a few thing to bring home, though. I finally found a St. George flag. I was also left with some alcohol to bring home. Jameson that I had got, some Smirnoff, and some scotch Alene had brought. I tried to get her to take it back with her, because it was a lot, but she never did get it from me. And she even dropped me off at the airport! I guess I was just meant to have it. Hehe. Kae got me a CD by one of the OKRF musical acts, the Bedlam Bards (ye gads, baudy guys), that was inspired by Firefly. Promises to be good! Not all was fun and games, though. I lost something every day there, other than money. The first day there, my cell phone vanished. And that sucks the most, I think. Friday, I lost my sunglasses, Saturday a scarfy thing someone had made for me, Sunday my clip-on sunglasses. Today I haven't lost anything, at least. And my clip-ons and sunglasses I found again. But man. Cellphone. I miss it already. It was so much fun! Yargh!

Home. Sleep. Bleh. Never thought I'd appreciate May weather in North Carolina as much as I do now.

I drifted away from somone, though. Not because I wanted to, though. Maybe I needed to, but it still sucks. I got a little closer to someone else. A balance is maintained?

Oh yeah, Chris, you'll appreciate this. According to Alene, Jake calls me her internet boyfriend. Ha! I laugh.

Above all things, remember your veterans and those who have died for this country, whether or not you agree with their wars, their mission or their sacrifice. It's not the soldiers that choose to fight, it's the government. Don't blame the fighters for the politicians actions. Your freedoms were bought with the purchase of their blood.

from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli

Day 4, a day late.

It's a day late, but yesterday was just so busy, by the time I got back to the room, I was just too tired to post anything. But I've got even more pictures for you!


This was a two story eating type place. Picnic tables and benches were upstairs as well. Pretty cool! We need one at CRF.


King Henry VIII on his carriage. Note the lack of professionalism in the royal guards. Tsk, tsk.

Town garrison guards. This is as sharp as they looked the whole time I was there.


Siege weapons a-plenty!


I was able to go out on the joust field for some close-up shots of the falconry show. The Harris Hawk there flew right on to that little girls arm. It was awesome!


A shot from the "hedge line" of photographers on the field as Lady Valkyrie the Harris Hawk flew up close and landed on another volunteers arm.


A local Oklahoma vineyard had a booth based in another two story eating area building. CRF really, like, so needs one or two of these. Yay shade!


The stage the belly dancers used. There in the distance you can see one of them undulating pleasantly.


One of the royal guards. There were two there guarding a princess, I think. Guards without weapons? Yeesh.


That's Kae's vendor tent in the middle there and the guy in the blue over there is the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Too many "real" people about.

the hero of canton, the man they call jayne

Tulsa, 3rd Day.

Hot. HOOOOOTTTTT!!!

It was a little warm today. Just a little. But I looked fabulous in my new doublet. I snapped a goodly amount of pictures. Tomorrow I will take a larger number of pictures. OKRF has a pretty sweet site. The town is portioned into different "quarters", such as the Celtic Quarter, etc. I met Adam and Laura, who invited Katherine to help them in their vendor booth. Laura is a quieter woman, but Adam is an...interesting guy. Amusing, though. Tomorrow, lighter clothing. I made the visual presence, time for a day off. Now: pictures!


The local birds of prey show had a constant street presence. That's the first one I saw. A very pretty bird, she is.



This guy's act was a little stilted.



That's me all formal and buttoned tight in my spiffy new doublet. Mmm, custom made grey suede...



A pretty good shot of the May pole right outside Katherine's vender tent.


Ruuuubbyyy!


Another fine trebuchet on the site.


Me a little looser and a lot cooler.


On the site there's a shaded boardwalk. It was a beautiful (and cool!) little hideaway. I will say this about OKRF, it's an awesome site.


And lastly, a pretty good profile shot of me hanging out in Kae's vendor tent. Look at that hair!

i just want one more moondance with you

Day 2, Tulsa

Not much to report, so far. Slept in, which was nice. The Super 8 I'm staying at isn't much, but the king size bed is fantastic. I can lay out alond the width of it and only my feet dangle off the edge. PLENTY of sprawl space. Grabbed some grub at a local greasy spoon called Metro Diner. I think it was one of the places Alene mentioned she liked. Hopefully, We'll all be free to head out to a pub Alene knows and likes. Sounds like an awesome place.

Last night, Katherine and myself were hanging about with Alene at her place when we were all invited to eat barbeque by her parents. And they are a fun bunch, I tell ya what. Alene certainly makes a little more sense now! ;) Snapped a couple of pictures of us playing Scrabble (the excitement!) to share, though.


Here's Alene after I get my crap all settled in the room. She's glad to have finally been able to hang out with some Browncoats, having missed the North Carolina Big Damn Movie Premiere Party.


Scrabble! Sport of Kings! And that's what my draws usually looked. Maybe a vowel. Lots of consonants.


Katherine placing a word. Boy, I tell ya. Scrabble. You can tell we're a bunch of wild ones.


Ok. So maybe we're at least a little crazy.


Then we all went back to my huge ass room and had long drunken philosophical discussions on FireflyFans.net, Browncoatism, Star Wars, brutal removal of the male genitalia and religion. It's going to be an interesting weekend.

there must be an angel

LIve, from Tulsa

I'm coming to you live from my motel room in Tulsa! Excitement! I survived the cramped spaces and the 6:35AM flight time from Greensboro, no worse for wear. I did have a tasty, if rushed, breakfast consisting of a chicken sandwich and fries with a pint of Guiness(from the tap! TAP!) during my layover in Cincinnati. Cincinnati, by the by, has an amazingly awesome airport. I am, however, less impressed with Greensboro and Tulsa. But oh well. It's 2:25PM, Tulsa local. I'm getting ready to go grab some food and fun for the afternoon. I'll be reporting back in later.

she sends a cable coming in from above

I Kilt a Man in Reno

Jules posted her pictures from Mike and Beth's wedding the other day, and I thought I'd share a couple of them with you!


That's Jules there next to me. She's a demanding photographer. Took four takes and three people behind the camera to get one good enough for her. I forget I have tree-trunks for legs sometimes. But isn't that a smashing kilt?


And here we have Sparky running over an old, kilted man with a cane.

You can see the rest of the album Jules shot here.

just to watch him die

The Countdown

In less than 36 hours I will be on my way to Oklahoma. This is a very exciting time! I find myself having trouble concentrating on work, imagine. All my thoughts are geared toward getting ready to go! I need to clean my room tomorrow, and then pack some things. Then pack all my toiletries and such Wednesday night. I plan on being at the airport at 5:30AM. Why? Because my flight is at 6:30AM. But Justin, you say, you hate mornings. I do indeed. But it was $150 more for a later flight in the day. Yeah. Save $150 and get up early. But I'm a little nervous. I've never flown all by my lonesome. And the last time I did fly was with my dad and family pre-9/11. However. It's 2006. And I'm not a terrorist. I did check and confirm that I can take my sword so long as it is in my checked luggage and declared. So yay that. 31 hours, 30 minutes until my flight leaves.

This weekend was quite fun, all told. Mike's wedding was, perhaps, the most fun I've had at a wedding, ever. It didn't hurt that I was amongst a lot of friends. All the groomsmen looked smashing. Black tuxes with long coats and high collars with old-fashioned western-esque ties and vests in a deep red. Mike had the vest, no tie, and a Mandarin collared jacket. The bridesmaids had simple black dresses with a white and black silk/satin shawl. Beth lookd absolutely gorgeous. A simpler snow-white strapless dress. The top portion had bead-work on it. The dress flowed out nicely with a short train in the back. Mike was smiling the whole time, of course, with this curiously red complexion that I could only assume was nerves. But they were a fine picture of young marital bliss up there. I remembered, also, how much I miss Sacred Heart. It's the Catholic church Mike and Beth had their wedding in. It's a beautiful building. I've always felt very much at ease there. My kilt was a bit of a hit amongst most of the ladies there. Which is always fun for me, not usually being the center of female attentions like that. Nothing serious, but a lot of that age old question. Heh. The reception was fun, but being held at Mike's church, lacking in the open bar. But that's ok! After the reception, I hung out with John and Lenore, and saw their comfy little house, then back up to Greensboro. There we joined Chris, Doug, Hugh, Fisher, and Tim! at TGIF for terrible service! Then out to the gazebo for a drink and smoke with everyone, which was lots of fun. Also during the course of the day, I took apart, cleaned and reassembled my cane-sword. Seems the handle and tab had shifted, causing the inability to open the thing I had been troubled with for so long. But fixed! And it was really good to see so many people from back home. I even shook hands with Seth Farris. For those who know me, that may come as a shock.

Sunday. Work. Hungover. But that's what happens when you drink too much for too long and have to open the next day. Also, the allergies started to hit me Saturday. That didn't help the morning any. But I survived. And then I fixed Doug's PS2. It's always fun being able to do things like that. But I love taking apart electronics and reassembling them. And I discoverd a fruit juice cocktail concoction. Half a glass of cranberry cocktail and half a glass of OJ. Yum!

they got me on some medication

Birthdays

24. Not usually a significant number to reach in years. And it's really not. But it is another year. How did I get this old so fast? Wasn't I just 21? I'm not old enough to be 24. In recent weeks, I've been looking back at my years since high school. All the wrong turns I took, the mistakes I've made. In the last year, I think, I've finally started to turn things around for myself. I've started to correct the mistakes I made. But, of course, it's a lot harder and longer than if I'd just done the right thing from the start. But I'm ever stubborn, which, ultimately, could spell my downfall if left unchecked. But enough of that.

Sunday was a pleasant enough day, I think. I called my mom, since I couldn't make it home. Then she came up after I got off of work, and I got to have dinner with her, Randy, Jerod, and Jenna. We all came back to the apartment, opened cards, laughed and hung out for a little bit. It was pleasant, if low-key.

Monday, work. Boy. Got into an argument with Scott, who instead of just making himself the boss over Renny and the Geek Squad is now actually the boss over Renny and the Geek Squad. Oy. Because the ENTIRE REST OF THE STORE is incapable of selling Geek Squad services, causing us to not make budget, Scott is determined to ignore the rules and MAKE us go out onto the floor to pick up the rest of the store's slack. And still do our jobs. With less hours. And poor coverage. Set up for the fail! Yay! But it's ok. I bought the DVD of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Glee! I came home, took a nap. Yay nap! Then Chris and I hopped out for a bit so I could buy some boots. See, I needed a taller than flat shoe for my kilt. Because I plan to wear it to Mike and Beth's wedding on Saturday. I don't get to break out the kilt near enough. I need to fix that. So I found me a pair of nice, brown, steel-toe clod-hoppers. I prefer the term shit-kickers, but that's not as clean in wording, is it? And crap-kickers is just lame. Waffle-stompers! Yay Doug! I miss that cartoon. Then I came home and ate the leftovers from dinner Sunday night. Mmm, Chicken Alfredo. Went to bed early for me.

Tuesday. Slept until 4. Man. My bed was sooooo comfy. Cool sheets, the fan, the darkness, the weightless-y feeling of the firmwave waterbed. Though I suppose I could have gotten up at 1:30 when I first opened my eyes. I had intended to just sleep a few more minutes. But that turned into 2 1/2 hours. Like it always does. But I'm well rested! Chris cooked some turkey and stuffing veggie bake in a box stuff. Nothing special, but tasty. Went out to sing some karaoke, and I actually sang a song. Gasp! It was Stevie Ray Vaughn's Sky is Cryin', by the by. And then I came home and watched Advent Children. Whee, what a day.

I'm pretty much costing for the rest of the week. Mike's wedding is Saturday, and I'm excited about that. Mike and Beth have been together for years now. It was about time anyway. And I'll get to see everyone down Salisbury way, which is always fun. And I don't dress up often, little call for it, really. So another rare chance for me. Then it's a few short days of work and next Thursday it's off to Oklahoma for 5 days! Whee!

can't ya see the tears roll down my nose

The Cat Who Liked Ranch Dressing

No, it's not the title of the next Cat Who... book by Lilian Jackson Braun. What it is, however, is my cat's strange tastes. He won't drink leftover milk from a bowl of cereal, like the rest of the cats I've ever owned do. Nor does he like ice cream. But he will, however, engorge himself on the bits of ranch dressing leftover in a salad bowl, or any left over pasta sauces. Silly cat.

So Adam got me a copy of Elder Scrolls VI: Oblivion. Oh. My. GOD. Such a sweet game. And the first game to ever give my Radeon X1300 Pro a workout. Granted I am dealing with a setup that's around a year out of date for top of the line. I've maxed out the hardware I've got. But my word is it pretty. With a guest voice spot by Patrick Stewert, even. Which, really, you can't go wrong there. And the story is shaping up to be as thick and complicated as Daggerfall and Morrowind were. Which is just excellent as far as I'm concerned. The only problem I've noticed is that the ridiculously realistic environment and my resolution, it makes it realistically difficult to see everything! Jiminy! Go buy it!

love at first sight

pwn'd

I am such a loser. No posts in, what, a week? Sheesh. Is my life so boring? Or could it be that I've actually found things to do that aren't my computer? Pah! Blasphemy!

Updates for everyone! My promotion is assured, provided the powers that be don't do something incredibly retarded and bring someone from outside the department, (or worse, the store), to take over the senior position in Geek Squad when BOTH the current seniors take the big vaya con Dios in about 30 days or so. Adam's last day is this Saturday upcoming and the other senior is in Colorado training for his government job because his temporary security clearance passed. Security. Clearance. Government job. Yeah. He's not long for Geek Squad work. ON TOP of that, San, the first Geek Squad Supervisor cum Double Agent will be moving back to California to go work for the video game company he used to work for out there as a project manager. Lots of room for the young upwardly mobile professional! I could be the DCI( Geek Squad Supervisor) within a year, if things go like the seem like they might. And that would be totally sweet.

In other news, Chris' band had a gig Friday night. Though technically I could call it Chris and Lani's band, but no matter how awesome Lani was Friday night (which she was. She totally wailed.) I'm still inclined to call it Chris' band. And they rocked. Lani's debut went swimmingly and she did a bitchin' version of Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know. Many people from across the land came out to the gig. Our friends the Sheltons made an appearance as did my brother. And we had an awesome time, as Jerod and I usually do when we get together.

Which brings up an interesting point. How is it that my brother and I get along so well when so many brothers(es) I know don't? Most brothers I know bicker and quarrel almost constantly, never seeing eye-to-eye, never getting along, persistently jockeying for position and superiority. Is it maybe that Jerod and I worked that out a long time ago and never even realised it? I think he knows I can take him in just about anything. I'm bigger and stronger and most probably (though only by the tiniest bit) more intelligent. But of those things only in the littlest bit. I'm only a couple of inches taller, a shirt size broader in the shoulders and torso, marginally tougher, a few points of difference in the IQ. He, however, is more socially skilled ( or rather, practiced), and more amicable. He's cuter, though. He's the Face of the two of us. The Aaron to my Moses. We're both retardedly lucky in how gifted we are in all things. Appearance (even if he is Face, I'm no Steve Buscemi), strength, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, health, toughness. I've often stated that there is no foe that could stand against the two of us. We are brothers and friends, we work well with each other, compliment each others respective gifts. Are we so weird? Food for thought I guess.

it's not fair to deny me the cross I bear that you gave to me

Head Splitter

So I think I just experienced my first migraine headache today. Or maybe it was just the mother of all headaches. Woke up and dragged myself into work. I wasn't in pain yet, but I remember waking up and thinking 'Man. I got a bad feeling about today. Maybe I should just call in.' But I'm trying to be Good Little Work Ethic Boy. So I went in at 10 like I was supposed to. Then it hit me. Around 10:30. Felt like someone had wrapped piano wire around my head and was tightening it. On top of the stabbing pain all up and down the left side of my face. I was finally able to track down some ibuprofen around 1PM. And it was about 1:30 before the mind-numbing pain turned to a dull throb. I was able to go home a couple of hours early because Steven came in from working the Furniture Market for a little while. And I promptly slept for four hours. Woke up feeling much better, though occassionally the dull throb returned for a few minutes throughout the evening. Whee. But I survived. I've had worse headaches, but those were combined with ear infections and high grade fevers. Certainly made work unpleasant. And man. My neck and shoulders. I need a massage. Any volunteers?

she named me Dale Darrell Waltrip Richard Petty Rusty Austin Bill Irving Gordon Earnhardt Smith Johnson, Jr.

Shock!

What type of Fae are you?

Boom. That is all.

Find your Celestial Choir

Ugh. More of the Tired.

This week at work has been utterly craptastic.

Sunday - Day off. Not on the schedule. Still have to come in at 8 bloody AM for a freakin' meeting. And Renny still gives me crap about not being in uniform. Rah.

Monday - Closing essentially by myself because the person who is supposedly closing with me feels the need to go work the computer sales floor leaving me the sole CIA in the precinct.

Tuesday - See Monday.

Wednesday - I had to spend half my day working in Car Audio. Because, apparently, no one else in the ENTIRE GORRAM STORE knows a GORRAM thing about Car Audio but me and their closer called out. God forbid they try to get someone to come in and cover the shift. Instead a collection of managers and the girl who opened decided, in committee, to send me over there. One of the managers was Renny. The Geek Squad supervisor of Stupid. He knows that sending me out there is going to make the precinct short-handed. Does he care? Does anyone who is making the decision without even asking if I want to go out there? Hell no. Why would they? There is a small silver lining to all this. I closed with Adam. Which means we got a whole lot done, even with me being gone half my shift. Also, working with Adam means talking to Adam. Talking to Adam leads to the mention that, get this, my Geek Squad Senior training (so as to replace Adam when he leaves) starts Saturday.

Oh yeah. Imminent promotion and raise. But I'm still worn out. Blah.

I started taking a multivitamin today. I still need to eat better, but this will help keep the nutrition there. We'll see if this has any effect on my being in a few days after it's really hit my system. I'll certainly be pleased if it helps me feel less worn out all the time.

do you -you!- feel like we do?

New Toys

So my old Chieftec power supply was getting, well, old. And I needed a new mouse. So today after clocking out I went and took a look at what we had to offer in price for a new power supply. The old box was a 2-80mm fan 430W PSU. All told, a really good power supply, especially after I replaced the crap fans that came with it. But my box has grown beyond the scope of efficiency with the power supply I had. Enter the Antec Neo HE550. 550 watts of power. MODULAR design, which means I don't have a bunch of power cords I don't need that I have to tuck away somewhere. There are many benefits to this power supply.

1) The modular design means there's less crap stuffed in my case, so there's more air-flow, which helps keep the temperature down and increases the efficiency of my machine.

2) More wattage. Power supplies work best at around 60-80% load. More efficiency, less power needed. Also, this is a higher efficiency model, so it produces less heat AND runs more quietly than my old unit.

3) Getting the unit meant I had to unplug everything in my rat's nest of a PC. So I went with that all the way and took out everything, motherboard included, and blew out the whole case, clearing out all the dust. Then I rearranged all the cords to tidy things up and help the flow of air.

All told, I think Skywarp's pretty pleased with the arrangement. And my mouse is pretty rockin', too. Supposed to last 6 months on 2 AA batteries. We'll see if that holds true. But my old mouse I was pretty happy with when it lasted a few weeks before the need to switch, especially with the rechargable batteries. But hey, 6 months is 6 months. And it came with a pair of Energizers, so it frees up ALL of my rechargables for other things.

In money news, comfort is mine! The employee stock purchase program has netted me an extra $700 or so, which should be arriving my way sometime next week. I need to do something productive with the money, but I don't know what, yet. But if nothing else, this check has guaranteed my trip to OKRF in late May. Huzzah!

love and darkness and my sidearm

Wireless Optical Mouse the First, RIP

Let us all observe a moment of silence for my wireless optical mouse. It is dying and serious fast. Annoying, but timely, actually. I've only had the thing for about three years, so really, it was about time. Most real mice only live this long. And this is older optical and wireless tech. Weaker, flimsier. It has served me well, but even after disassembling and cleaning the unit it's still not working right. But I get paid in a few minutes AND I work tomorrow, so I can get a new mouse to replace. I still like wireless and optical, so that won't change. T'was a good mouse, English.

i alone tempt you

Tired. Is it the Weekend Yet?

Gads, am I tired. Don't got to church for so very long, and then BAM! Sunrise service AND the regular service. Like, holy cow or something. Then, of course, I get home and stay up into the wee hours and get up and open on Monday. Then I'm up till 6 this morning, two hour nap and open again. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to my midshift tomorrow. Noon thirty. Oh yeah. Sleep is good.

Easter candy is also good, but very bad for me. I need to be rid of it swiftly so I can get back to trying to eat better.

Oh! And I bought the new (well, not-so-new, but new to me) Franz Ferdinand album. It is good stuff as was the last one.

you could have it so much better

A Fear of Dreams

I'm dreaming again. Real honest to God dreams. Not the prophetic images of the mundane future, no Signposts. Just...dreams. Which might explain my seeming abject refusal to sleep. I don't like these dreams. They're to potent. Hopeful. And ultimately painful. Oh sure, while I'm in them, I'm taken back to a less...complicated...time. Old wants played forth in a fairy tale world. And I smile. Just in time for it to whisk away in a cloud and I am left alone and bitter, a slight taste of bile in the back of my throat. I thought I left these dreams in my old hometown. I could have sworn that I had finally accepted the reality of things. I'd really much rather my subconscious, which was so laborious in it's attempts to remind me of reality when I believed in these dreams, would pick a story and stick to it. I don't need or want these dreams anymore. It's hard enough living my life without the added weight of hoping for the impossible. My heart's just not strong enough these days. I'm too set in my ways, too aware of the truth, and too afraid to defy it. But who could I tell these dreams to? Who would understand? Most would scoff, and tell me I'm a fool for these dreams. Well meaning, yes, but I know the fool better than anyone. And I don't ask for the dreams. Or better yet, let me tell her about them so I can pick at the wounds that are just starting to heal. Yeah, you know, the ones I made? Yes, that'd be brilliant. Oh! Or better yet! Allow myself to fall into hypocrisy! "Hey, yeah, just wanted to call after not calling you for months because you never return phone messages to anyone, really, to say I've been having dreams about you again!" And immediately, I become that creepy, awkward 17 year old wuss-monger I used to be in High School. Yeah. That's a brilliant plan. It all is.

See?! THIS is why I hate these dreams. Make me think a bunch of really stupid crap. Hate it.

there must be an angel...

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over.

Right. Weather. WTF, mate? Sunday April 9th, 2006. Forecasted high: 61. Forecasted low: 34. The hell?!?!


you're as cold as ice

Weekend Update

Um...yeah. Quiet here. Rayne's moved in and starting to settle. All with no drama, thank the Lord. I've today off, which I promptly wasted away in sleep and laying out by the pool for the most part, whee. Now that it's warming up into spring, I'm ready for it to be warm enough to swim. That's really all I've got right now.

Wait, there's a little more. Yes, I'm fine. No, I don't want to talk about it. My previous entry was a public message on a private matter intended for one person as a public admission of wrong doing. They know who they are. There's no need for me to go on about it, so stop asking.

if i ever lose my faith in you, there'd be nothing left for me to do

Penitence

I'm sorry. Those are weak and overused words. Their power faded through abuse after abuse. I was supposed to be better than that. I really thought I was. I didn't know, I didn't realize until it was too late. I was so convinced that what I was doing was for the best. And then you showed it to me. That little trinket. And I realized, oh how I was struck by exactly how wrong I was. I commited a grievous sin, and I, of all people, didn't even know what I had done until after the blow was struck. Trust, shattered. A priceless friendship left in tatters because I didn't stop to think. I had forgotten. I took for granted. I became something I had always despised. Thoughtless. Callous. Calculating. The English language, I daresay any language lacks words with enough power, with enough resonance to convey the absolute horror I feel for what I have done.

And all this is just empty words in the face of what I have done. I wish to God I could take back what I did. And I lay myself before you, begging for a forgiveness I don't deserve. What else can I do?





I am so very sorry.

Wamr.

When typing, I'm usually an excellent speller; swift, too. However there are two exceptions to this case. The first is if I've had a little (or not so little) to drink. Then it doesn't flow outward as it should so much as stumble, requiring a lot more focus. The other case is if I've hit a Flow. That's where my brain is plowing forth a lot of ideas all at once at a rate my fingers cannot keep up with. It was one of these Zone Flow moments that I was, for an hour or more, unable to spell the word "warm." All the time it was instead "wamr." Anyone I was talking to didn't notice because I have a very swift backspace and edit skill. But and still. Wamr.

So it was warm today. (I'm still going to use wamr somewhere. As the name of some ancient hero or villian or relic or something. Sounds so very Norsey.) So very pleasant outside it was. I wasn't able to make it down to Salisbury today to see my sister and all associated family members because my brother's car got all broke on him today. Which sucks. but I was able to get a whoooole lot of crap done today. Cleaned the hell out of the bathroom today. Which is, by the way, my least favorite chore EVAR. When I say cleaned, I mean effin' cleaned. Scoured the tub, scoured the toilet, swept the floor, cleaned the rugs. Bloody mopped. The reason? Well, aside from needing it, Rayne's coming in Tuesday. And having two days off in a row, praise Jesus, I decided that today would be a work day. So I did. And the bathroom looks really good. For the next week. Sigh. But I was up as early as I was in anticipation of my brother's arrival so I was able to clean later in the afternoon after hanging out at the pool for a coupla hours. Not in the pool, mind you. 80 degrees outside or not, it was some cold ass water. That and all the goose poo. Seems the Canadian Geese that frequent the lake in the middle of Bridford Lake decided it would be a good idea to build nest aaaaaallll around the pool. There's like five geese nests around. And one, dumb goose, built in the landscaping around the pool RIGHT NEXT to the door to the girl's bathroom outside. Dumb. Ass. Goose. And because, apparently, the three dozen geese at our complex alone are still an endangered farging species, there's no tossing out of goose nests. Argh. Which means we can't use the pool for several weeks until the eggs hatch and they can have the geese chaser man or whatever come out and get the geese out from around the pool. But. That just means that the pool will have a chance to warm up a little first. And the complex has the part on order to fix the hot tub. Just in time for the punk ass kids to treat it as a heated jumping hole. And the dumb ass college kids on the North Bank to put soap bubbles in it and break it within a month. Yay. But they're still getting it fixed. And the gates. Which have been busted for months. But then, we've got a bunch of ignorant frellers living here that like to ram the gates open or try to follow behind in long lines and have the gate crash into their cars and get stuck open. I hate stupid people. Ramble. And I just got in from a drink and smoke. And Chris bought a bottle of Old Stone Vineyard for me for just this occasion. For those who don't know, Old Stone Vineyard is a vineyard local to the Salisbury area that has a store not half a mile from my mom's house. They make muscadine wine, which is a little sweeter than regular grape wine. But it's oh so good. Yum. And to top it all off, a thunderstorm is moving in. It's been a pretty awesome day.

Also? Girls. Still confusing. Just putting that out there.

EDIT: I also did some writing today. In a journal I've got. Paper journal. I'm old fashioned in that, I guess. I always write better on paper first when it comes to prose or verse. Blog entries are a little different. But it felt good to get back to The World That Is.

it's coming down, it's coming down

Tehanu, Writer's Itch

So I finally broke down and read Tehanu over the last two days. It's been so long since I've read something new! My mind must have been starving, given how swiftly it gorged itself upon the new text. This has had an unfortunate side effect, however. I've now got an itch to write something again, but I don't know what. So many ideas that are started and unfinished. *sigh* There are two significant stories that deserve to be finished. And one old, old story that maybe I should finally write. I'll let you guys in on the basic ideas.

The basis of this story is the legos my brother, Hugh, and I used to play with many many years ago. Ten, maybe 12 years. Almost a lifetime ago, it feels. But the world we created was inspired by the Steampunk fantasy elements of Final Fantasy VI(III). The main character is a young man named Falcon. Your stereotypical rural-raised orphan type with a stereotypical independent streak and a stereotypical mystic heredity. I've always appreciated cliches and well-known plot devices. But he escapes into a wood full of "savage brigands" from his over-bearing and rather malicious "aunt." These brigands turn out to be nice guys, a la Robin Hood, but brigands nonetheless. And so he is raised a brigand. He grows up tall and strong with an unexplainable noble air that inspires people to follow him. The brigand's leader is aging and gives the boy more and more responsibility, which he lives up to magnificently. Then comes the "Kill the Mentor" scene. The Prince's Men come into the wood in force, to rout out the brigands. Many die, including the old Brigand captain. But in his dying moments, he lets Falcon in on a secret: the location of his old airship, the Raven. Back when the Brigand Captain Leader Type was young he was a Sky Pirate, raiding this and that as he saw fit. The skies in those days was filled with airships and dragons and swashbuckling glory, etc, etc. So Falcon and his few remaining friends take to the skies! Pirating and harassing the king's men, but always with his noble air and sense of justice. Before long he is hailed by the lower classes as the Bandit Prince.

Here we zoom out from our hero into the world at large. There are three main kingdoms (whose names I have used and reused and overused over and over again): Hyla, the Dragearean Empire, and Falconia. It is a time of decline, a dark age. Hyla was once a great and bright kingdom, full of justice and peace, enlightenment. But the Old Kings have long faded from power, replaced instead by the Crown Princes. The rules and traditions of the land, and ancient magics, prevent the Princes from rightfully claiming the crown. This denial of the true rule of the kingdom drives the Princes to be cruel, each moreso than the father that sired him. Enter Princess Aila and her twin brother Ailen. Ailen is cruel and cold like his father, and his father, blah, blah, blah. Aila is fair and wise and kind. And is locked away in her tower. Which is still plushly accomodated, well tended. Because he's cruel and cold, but not stupid. Aila has power he does not. The power of the Old Kings to wield magic. So he dare not move openly against her. He allows her out into the world, but always with a thick guard of his most trusted me, for her "protection". It is in one of these forays into the world at large that her troupe is attacked by a suddenly descending airship. She, wisely, remains calm, while her guards do not. They are quickly gunned down by the rifles and bows of the crew. Falcon recognizes something powerful in her and in a dramatic gesture, sweeps her up into the ship, no doubt right before truly powerful reinforcements arrive. The crew is typically ragtag, with each member having a particular quirk or another. Falcon is the captiain of the Raven. His first mate is his fast friend and part-time rival since being found in the woods, and an excellent marksman with any ranged weapon, though he favors the bow. There is one who is a sort of mercenary/wandering swordsman. He's in it for money, sure, but his heart is true and he stays on the crew even when the money isn't there. He's also a good pilot for the ship. There's a mage on board, too. His primary skills are in woodland and nature based spells, imagine, but he knows more magic than he lets on. The ship isn't in the air long, because the crystal that powers the ship is old and weak, shatters, trek to find. There's also an old man in the crew. If the Bandit Captain was like a father to Falcon, the old man was like a crazy uncle. He's ancient, but has the best eyes in the crew, and spends most of his time singing old pirate songs up in his perch atop the mainmast.

Somewhere along the way, the find Falcon's true father, the Archduke of Falconia. And old grizzled stone of a man. Falconia is little more than a shadow anymore, decimated by a costly war waged against the Empire. There is no king in Falconia, no royal line, anymore. Only closed off and huddled baronies with large open wildernesses that are haven to true brigands and cut-throats and, you guessed it, Sky Pirates. The Archduke has been wandering all over the wide world, fighting for whomever can afford him, just fighting. Outcast and exiled from his former land and power by the war he thought so necessary, though even he forgets the reason why. Cool, collected, powerful, skilled, and badass. He's even missing an eye. Hardcore, yo.

There are legendary swords and prophecies involved. And a climatic battle with an ancient and evil Great Dragon summoned byAilen to finally rid himself of Aila and Falcon.

Of course, it's all jumbled in my brain. But these ideas are over half my life old. I think that tamed the itch enough for my to finally sleep at least.

pour your misery down on me

Anonymous Poster

Does anyone here know someone who posts under the username Cygnus X-1? I got a rather vaguely threatening post on an old entry in my blog. The entry was made about and around the end of the festival season, which kinda leads me to believe it's someone festival related.

Here's the post, their comment and my reply: Aftermath.

If this is someone anyone is familiar with, please tell them to post in a manner that I can readily reply to. Telling me to be an adult about something, but then they hide. Yeesh.

Sorry if it's a truly anonymous poster with no affiliation to you guys. I'm posting about it in a couple of places, trying to track the person down. But whoever it is has knowledge of x-ray producing blackholes. Wtf.

your time is gonna come

License to Geek

Ack! I was about to have my Geekcraft License revoked! I got a new phone on Friday and I've not said work one about it! How lame of me! It's a Motorola ROKR E1. It's a little on the NOT BRAND NEW OMG! side, but it's still a sweet phone. Bluetooth and iTunes capable. While I'm not a user of iTunes, I can certainly put that MicroSD card to use with my music! I was able to get a "Qualified Upgrade" on the phone, so I was able to get it for $50. As opposed to the usual $200 price tag. So yay that! It's got a camera attached, too. I've already taken a few pictures for use as ringer ID photos. And this phone allows me to set a ring tone for individual phone numbers, which is kinda exciting to me. As soon as my little USB/Bluetooth adapter gets here, I'll be transfering a few mp3's over so I can have a plethora of ringtones! Yay!

sephiroth!

Ding Dong the Crackhead's Gone!

It is a time of leaving opposition for me! Glorious! Crackhead Mike was escorted off the premises yesterday. Good riddance to bad rubbish! Also? Babylon the Great is moving to British Columbia! The Left Coast! Canada! Almost worth the $50 she owes me to be that rid of her!

we'll all float on, alright

Interns, and Why They Should Bathe

So there's this intern. Scott decided, in all of his infinite wisdom, that Geek Squad needed to add babysitting to it's already growing list of responsibilities. So he gets us an intern. However, this intern isn't behaving like an intern. He thinks he's a hotshot computer qenius, who needs no instructions or knowledge from us. Even I can say I've been doing this a whole lot longer than he has. I've been building computers, FOR PAY, since I was 16. Almost 8 years ago. 8 Years ago, this kid was 10 years old. And he refuses to accept the Geek Squad way of doing things. So you've got to tell him over and over and over to do things a certain way because that's how Geek Squad wants to do it. But that's not the worst part about him. Oh no. See, the kid doesn't seem to understand bathing. Working with him today, he smelled about 3 days overdue for a shower. This wasn't an observation I made at a distance mind you. Because there's no such thing as personal space to this kid. He hovers. Almost right on top of you. Standing just beyond your peripheral vision just behind your shoulder. It drives me batty! You can't see him, but you can sure as hell smell him! His skin, his face is covered with oil and acne. Shiny from the grease. Dandruff flecked hair. And fingernails that extend about 1/4" to 1/2" beyond the fingertips, yellow and cracked. I just want to punch him in the face every time I see him! It's nerds like that what give us geeks a bad name!

they're just dyin' to meet you

St. What's Day?

I am somewhat sad. I, for the most part, missed St. Patrick's Day. My Geek Squad uniform is forbidden to have such individualisation that any St. Patty's Day decorations might be. Can't change the color of the undershirt to green or wear a shamrock pin or sticker. And because I had to open yesterday, I couldn't drink much. Chris and I shared a solemn double of Jameson over ice. Speaking of opening, I've been doing far too much of it of late. For the last week, I've been doing naught but open. And I've got two more days of it ahead. Later today is a meeting at 8AM, and tomorrow(Monday) I have to be in at 7. It's been months since they've given me that duty.

And in the "So What Else Is New?" department, Crackhead Mike is ever closer to dismissal. Our admin is looking into the ramifications of each of us making written statements as to his lack of quality as an employee. And speaking of Crackhead Mike...

It seems that Scott, the operations manager, has decided that the Geek Squad needs an intern in his never-ending quest to ruin the Greensboro Geek Squad precinct. This intern is like an uneducated, unskilled and socially retarded version of our uneducated, unskilled and socially retarded Crackhead Mike. They get along famously. However, Nicholas has a nasty habit of second guessing us when we tell him to do something a certain way. I don't care if you think not doing the optional updates will cause upset customers. Best Buy and Geek Squad procedures are to do the High Priority updates. No more, no less. I don't care what you think, I don't care what you say. It is done this way. Do it this way or go away. Also: It is not in your best interest to butt in and second guess the agent at the counter talking to a customer. We are in the uniform, you are not. We are paid professionals, you are an unpaid intern here against our will. Shut. Up.

In happier news, I rearranged my room. I had a clotting problem at the foot of my bed as a result of my desk and chair being right in line with the bed in the middle of the room, with my tv being in the corner to the right. So I switched out the desk and TV, creating a whole flow to the room. I moved my dresser next to the bed, added a fan and replaced the overhead incandescent with a flourescent one, making my room notably cooler and more open. Yay! Now to go about making all the furniture in here of a dark cherry color. Hmmm...

wake up maggie, i think i got somethin' to say to you

I want to go to OKRF

Ok(ha!), so I want to go to the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival. Not the least of which revolves around someone I want to see who will be working a booth there! But it looks pretty big. There's a castle. And around that castle, the Ren-Fest town was built. You can in the castle, and there's things to do! Right now, the best deal I can pitch together through Expedia comes to about $630 for just me. Ouch! I changed the same flights and hotels (in Tulsa, I might see if I can get better deals on rooms in Muskogee, where the Faire is actually located) to two people and the price comes to $425 a person. While still a chunk of change, this is coming into Tulsa on Friday night, leaving Monday around mid-day. Three nights hotel and flight for $425 for two people. I think the tickets come to about $233 round trip. This is for the weekend of May 20, which is best for me. And the hotel I picked is an Embassy Suites which allows for four people per room, so the cost per person would be like $300 a person for a group of four. Plus food, rental car, the faire itself. Unfortunately, you have to be 25 to rent cars in most places. I'll be turning 24 on the 15th of May. Not quite old enough to rent a car. Sigh.

On the other hand, Muskogee is right off I-40. Anyone feel like a road trip?

on the road again...

Weather Phenomenon

Johnson's Law of Directional Precipitation - Whichever direction the driver's side window pane of Justin Johnson's car runs perpindicular is the direction from which any and all precipitation shall fall, resulting in the driver's seat being soaked while leaving the entire passenger section of said conveyence completely dry.

Mo' Money, Mo' Money...

So yay me! I got a raise! Back dated for this next paycheck! Huzzah! And more of a raise than I thought I'd be getting, too. I can deal with that. I won't say how much more here, but if anyone is dying to know how much, just IM me.

squeee!

Who? What? I was listening!

Wow. So where have I been the last six days, huh? I was worried sick about me. I don't call, I don't write. I'm not the man I met a year ago.

...

Or something.

Yeah.

More likely it's that I've been doing the work or sleep routine for the last six days. Gorram retail. Though, really, I can't blame retail. I can blame StaffWorks, which is the scheduling software BestBuy uses. We hates it. It doesn't look at week A when making the schedule for week B, making it so that a full time employee might work, say, Tuesday through Saturday of one week, and then Sunday, making a total of six days, with a ONE DAY OF OFF, then right back to the slog mines. Argh. This will change soon. I have spoken with the Supervisor. If that doesn't work, I'll just change my availablility to make the program give me two days off. Rah. But it's Sunday. So I was home before 8PM. And no work tomorrow, thank you Jesus, just some chores. And I close Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I'll finally be able to get some sleep in. Holy crap.

Oh yeah! I had my review today. I will be getting a raise. I don't know how much of a raise, but a raise. And we like raises. Yes, precious. Who knows, maybe it'll be keyed in by my next paycheck. That'd be pretty cool.

i walk the line

Oh Dark Thirty

Well, not really. It's quarter past 10, Monday in the AM. I am on day 3 of my unintended three day weekend. However, I made the mistake of staying up all night playing Dawn of War instead of just going to bed at a decent hour. Why? Because I'm an idiot. I think I'm going to grab a few hours worth of nap before starting the Great Laundry Run. Whee.

who needs sleep? never gonna get it

Carnevale

So there's this old mill built near an old gold mine in Jamestown (a suburb of Greensboro). Someone thought to convert the mill/main building of the mine/land into a castley type deal. All told the place is pretty sweet. Anyway, hey hosted a Carnevale costume-esque masquerade-y type thing this past Saturday. Lots of folk in costume. A vastness of people in club clothes with cheap masks and a lot of goth punks (tell that to a goth or someone claiming to be punk and watch them puff up) wandering about, but there was a large collection of actual Venetian inspired masquerading going on. And aside from that, there were several just awesome costumes. I've a few pictures I'll add presently.


















That's me in the middle with Wes (left) and Doug (roommate, right) at Fire and Sticks Japanese steakhouse prior to Carnevaling.


















Heather and Squatch looking very happy to have their picture taken.























This is Suzie at the actual event.























Lani looking very blue (da ba dee, da ba die).























An, admittedly poor, side shot of King Neptune. A lot of these costumes got ridiculously extravagent.






















Like the poorly photgraphed "The Iron Man" here. Man, what an awesome costume that was.






















And lastly, but leastly, me in my mail and surcoat.

here she comes again

The Scrimshaw Falcon

Wow. Sounds like a cool name for a book or something. But alas, it refers to a model. I put together and painted the Eldar Falcon grav tank that I have (of two) a few days ago, and just got to painting it last night. And since the Ulthwe army I want to field uses black and bone with red accenting (a familiar paint scheme. hmmm.) I thought a few bone-colored panels would look good along the sides. And then I remembered something I had seen in a Siegler's & Co. catalog I had. Scrimshaw. For those who don't know, scrimshaw is a term for artwork carved into bone or horn. It originates from the whaling days of the 1800's. Sailors would often carve artwork into whale teeth to pass the time out at sea, and then sell the artwork when they got back to shore. So I copied some of the mappy-type notions from the scrimshaw, fiddled out a few runes, and bam! scrimshaw falcon. It looks pretty sweet, if I do say so myself.

And today is day one of two off in a row for me. A rare priveledge in the retail world. And I started it in good style by sleeping until 3:30PM. Huzzah. Might just get stuff done of the cleaning type the next couple of days. Shock of shocks.

In other news today, I've started the overclocking of Skywarp. I've currently juiced it up to 2.0GHz instead of the 1.8 it came out of the box with. I've not fully tweaked the voltage just yet, though, so I might be able to squeeze a little more juice out of this machine soon! But, I must go wantingly check the mail to see if any more of my over-priced space elves have made it in yet.

nandato?!

Oh Why Not?

It's been awhile since I posted about Skywarp. Which is significant, since I've made some big changes since the last post. A shiny new processor and a spankerific new video card.

Skywarp 3.0*
Athlon64 3000+ (256KB L1 cache, 1MB L2 cache)
Currently running at 1.8GHz, but I might begin the overclocking soon.
Thermalright XP-90 heatsink
2024MB PC3200 Corsair RAM
Not overclocked. Yet.
SOYO CK8 Dragon Plus Socket 754 Motherboard
160GB HDD (internal)
160GB HDD (internal)
200GB HDD (external)
16x DVD-ROM
16x DVD+/-RW
Floppy Drive
6-in-1 Media Reader
ATI Radeon X1300 Pro 256MB Video Card
Sony Trinitron 19" (Viewable) Flat CRT monitor
6 Port USB 2.0 PCI card (1 internal)
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital sound card
Altec Lansing 5.1 surround speakers w/ powered subwoofer
4 80mm (Purple 4 LED) case fans
1 80mm (Purple 4 LED) CPU fan
2 80mm (Purple 4 LED) power supply fans
Chieftec 420W power supply

It is a shweet rig, it is. The awesomey bit is that the CPU is actually supposed to be a mobile processor. Which means it uses less voltage for the same performance. And it's a much cooler chip to use. So it's awesome to use for overclocking. And right now it's running about 15 degrees Celsius cooler than the Sempron chip did. And that x1300 is an awesome card. It's the newest card I've ever owned. When I bought that old GeForceFX5500 I had, it was a year or so old, technology wise. The GeForceFX6800 had already come out. But the Radeon X1300 Pro came into the store the day I got it. I was just window shopping, comparing prices. It was so new, Newegg even had it at our retail price. It was the first time my store discount was a better deal on a video card. It's twice as fast and twice as good as the 5500 is. But I never really had any complaints about it. Once I build that media center/server/guest computer, I plan to put the 5500 in it. But I actually have a gaming rig! Yay! Speaking of which, I think I'll get to playing some Dawn of War now.

*Anything in italics is a new addition.

Repent! For tomorrow you die!

Random Day Off

Today was nice. It was a random Friday off. I actually managed to get a lot done. Who knew? I slept a whole damn lot. I passed out around 8:30 last night. And aside from about 30 minutes from 10:30 to 11:00PM, I slepy until about 1:39 this afternoon. Man. That was just what the doctor ordered. I'd been have a cold in sections all week. Started with a mild fever on Sunday with some minor aches and weariness. Then earlier this week, the achiness was gone, but instead, I was dry and scratchy of breathe and throat. And here towards the end of the week, I have been sneezy snuffily, but none of the aching and horrible dry feeling. *shrug* This weather sure ain't helpin' none. It was 70 degrees out today. In February. The heck. And tomorrow (the next day, for those at home keeping count) is forcasted with a HIGH of 35 with a chance of sleet and snow. Bloody hell! This is weird even for North Carolina! I want cold and snow like a few years ago when half of North Carolina lost power. Yeah, it sucked but cold and snow like that. I want a reason to need this ecxessive ability to handle cold not heat that I have. Instead of living in a constant level of "just a hair too warm to really be comfortable in clothing." It's annoying, really. Especially considering I spend half my waking life in pants. And forced to wear shoes. Don't ask me how it works, but often when I am too warm, I just take off my socks and shoes, and bam. My feeling of the temperature is regulated out to something more comfortable. I'm baffled.

Anyway. Got some contacts today! Yay insurance! It's very nice having some actual peripheral vision. Soon I'll actually get some new glasses. These glasses have served me well, but I've had them since 10th grade or there's about. Almost 7 or 8 years. It's time for some new ones.


Crackhead Mike, it turns out, is not leaving, as previously rumored. It seems his scheme (read: utter BS) of getting refurbished iPods from Indonesia fell through thanks to local political unrest. Uh-huh. Either way, we're stuck with him. At least until I can figure out how to get him fired. I'm not malicious, but he makes a huge mess back there that takes all the rest of us in the precinct to clean up. We've had to give away a lot of labor in refunds or free work in relation to his screw ups. He seems to abjectly refuse to follow the operating procedures. But we can't fire him because it would negatively affect our turnover rate and God forbid we should jeopardize that cheap plastic trophy we just got for having a low turnover rate. God forbid. This is why I fear I'll never become a manager. I just don't have the tolerance for bullshit necessary for it.

nani?

Snow!

First snow for me in the longest time. Though it's not the same as at mom's. That kinda mad me a little sad. You have to understand that I love snow. Nothing to me is prettier than a blanket of white below and above. In a more rural setting, falling snow brings a very calming hush to the world. It was nice to see, but here in the city, it loses some of its calming effect. But it still snowed. And like all day. It was too warm for accumulation, sadly, but it kept going anyway. It was nice.

Impatiently, do I await the arrival of my Eldar army. Having all but mastered the Dark Angels, I figured it was about time I got to building the army I originally thought about. Eldar. Space Elves. Don't get me wrong, I love my Dark Angels. So much about them resonates thematically with me. Dark and brooding, the fact that they are considered the First Space Marine Chapter Evaarrrr, of all the chapters in the mythos, the Dark Angels are the only ones that got split in half during the Horus Heresy (where half the good guy armies went bad, for the non-40K players out there) as opposed to the rest which went one way or the other, they're slower moving and very shooty, stubborn as hell. But the Eldar are just so damn sweet looking. Nothing, even the Mighty Land Raider, is cooler looking than the Eldar Falcon Grav Tank. They are, however, a much weaker army. But to counter that, they're much, much faster. It'll be a new thing for me, but I'm looking forward to it. But I chose the Ulthwe (of the Damned) army to field. A lot of freaky psychic powers and a brooding black and bone color scheme. This will be fun. It's just a shame that Jerod's 'Nids will chew through them just as easily as they do my Dark Angels. Oh well.

Wow. Another 4AM post. I need to start going to bed a whole lot earlier. o.O

Oh yeah. Getting sick? Sucks. Getting sick enough to need to stay home..for ME..really, really sucks. Bleh.

tolkien-based heavy metal...yum

Patches and Expansions

Well. After installing the latest patch for Dawn of War and the new expansion for it, I went form being able to win every battle, albeit sometimes only just and only after hours and hours of slogging through wave after wave of enemy, to getting my ass handed to me every time. WTF, over? This is standard difficulty. Not like I was tromping though at insane and suddenly insane is harder. I mean really. How is it that the computer can pull out specialty squads so damn fast? I've got just as much resources AND multi-tasking and I'm still not fast enough. And since when were Space Marines so flimsy? *shakes head*

waaaaaaaagggghhh!

Excitement!

Wow. So a lot has happened and I've been far too lazy to post! What a loser am I! So let's break it down, shall we?

First, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Excellent little RTS game. Squad based, still. You make squads of soldiers that can be expanded out to fullness or left at their original size. Doesn't follow the rules of the tabletop game it's based on, but it's an RTS not turned-based with pre-established army sizes. But it's still awesomely fun!

Second, our washer and dryer finally got delivered today! And I'll tell you with no shame that I was starting a load of laundry before the delivery guy had closed the door on his way out! Knowing that the appliances were being delivered soon, the last load of laundry I did at the complex laundramat was about a week ago and only had two pairs of jeans and a handful of t-shirts. The rest was work clothes, since I had to have those. But in a couple more loads, all my dirty clothes will be clean! Exciting!

I had a very strange dream. I was on what seemed in my head to be some sort of campus. Only it was huge. Like a business in it's uniformity and scale. A huge business park. But there were rules. Strange rules. Like an escalator you could only ride up if you were feeling "up." A stair case that split around a lift that if you walked down either side, you slowed down like you were in slo-mo, but if you took the lift, you were fine. But something was happening, strange occurances, rumors of a dark thing happening that only happened once every 20 or so years. Something big happens across the campus, so some others and I take off across a stretch of the campus comprised of three rising sets of walkways. The walkways are lined on the left with a series of hedges. beyond the hedges is a beach head with humongous waves. I don't know this because I saw them in this dream, but because my self in the dream knew that 1, this was a dream, and that 2, the beach was there and one I had dreamed about some weeks ago. Weirdness. But the others in my group were running along the topmost walkway, safer, but it slowed you down a little. Granted, we all had some powers or another so they were fast enough, but they weren't running as fast as I was. But I was on the bottom. No one took the bottom because on some of the spaces there was a gel. A magic reducing gel. (I've been reading a ridiculous amount of Harry Potter in the last few weeks, not too mention hours and hours of anime). But for me, this gel actually provided a defensive bonus. I seemed to be lacking in magical power, but I had a natural resistance to it. I didn't generally make that known, but most of the other people on the campus avoided me because of my affinity for the substance that was like a poison to so many of them. Behind me was a short, slender anime-esque girl with pale skin, waist-length deep purple hair. She had the same ability as I did regarding the deep blue magic-sapping gel. Only she had a tendency to run it through her hair. Which seemed to act, for her, like a conditioner. And with all the hair, she was constantly wearing a layer of magical defense. She also liked to throw the stuff at her attackers. Her name was Setsuka. Weird! Then I woke up as I made it to the end of the walkways. But the guy was here with the washer and dryer, so it was acceptable.

erlie in tha mornin'

Go Team Venture!

Or, rather, Team Skywarp. Which is a bit of misnomer. It's not a "team," really, so much as a growing collection of Skywarp figures. I got the Robot Masters version of Skywarp and Thundercracker in the mail today. And the adorn the top of Skywarp(PC) quite nicely. I would love to have a Skywarp from every line he was in, if at all possible. Horray eBay.

Filed my taxes today. Isn't that exciting. I'm expecting a nice sum, actually. Next year, though, I might actually need to file for real instead of just using eFile with a 1040EZ like I've been able to do for so many years now. Oh well. Now if only I could get the rest of the money I'm owed, I'd be sitting pretty.

Harvey Birdman! Attorney-at-laaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwooohhyeah...

Grey's Grey Hair

Yep. Found my first one the other day. And you must understand something about my hair. Interspersed amongst the light brownish/dark blondish hair there are single very fine pale blonde hairs. At first I saw and hoped. But I plucked it out, for to better inspect. Alas! 'Twere grey it were! On the other hand, my hair is growing out nicely. That is all.

Wait! Sorry. This just in...as of...this afternoon...yeah. So I got a couple of packages in the mail today. The first of a series of Skywarp's I am trying to procure came in the mail. Transformer's Universe Skywarp. I have noticed, rather sadly, that the Universe line is a much cheaper line than the regular lines. But he looks good up there in front of my three Starscreams (Armada, Energon, Cybertron), Galvatron(Armada), Skywarp(Armada), Thundercracker(Cybertron), and Sideways(Cybertron) a top Skywarp t3h PC. I have Robotmasters Skywarp and Thundercracker on the way. What I'd love to get the Comic Con Skywarp, tiny though he is. Some day.

And speaking of Skywarp, he's running much cooler, about ten degrees celsius, with the Athlon64 DTR Clawhammer 3000+ than the old Sempron. And I got a Thermalright XP-90 heatsink which will, no doubt, cool things off even better. It's not installed, but that's owing to the torrents I'm working on that are so very near completion. That and it's a hassle taking all those Decepticons off the tower. And I really hate not having Skywarp on. Dunno why. I'm just weird that way.

jack in!

Spoke Too Soon

OK, so I spoke a little too soon on the ditching of AMD. It's still a lot cheaper to just get a new CPU. Which I did. And everything works fine now. Or at least fine enough. My heatsink isn't working like the old one did. The new CPU is actually meant for mobile use, not desktop. So my old heatsink doesn't sit quite right. Alas. So I have ordered a new one that everyone says does sit right with the Athlon64 DTR's. But for now, I have a temporary solution. I cut the old heat spreader off the (now) defunct Sempron and slapped it between the HSF(heatsink and fan) and the CPU. It's not great. Temperature is about the same as the old chip. But soon. Very soon.

In other news, will all the pissed off idiots stop coming to bother me at work? I don't care what you think, sir, the Kingston and the PNY RAM are really about the same. If you wanted the better one, you'd have picked the Corsair. And no ma'am, we did not steal your RAM. You're nuts. And to the other ma'am later, I would like to add that you're a bitch for insisting that I help no one else while you go out to your car to get your card to pay for the service I am about to render in front of you. It's a three minute job I'm about to do. While you're running your sweet little self out to the car, I could have checked that guy behind you and said good day. But no. You had to be a bitch. Which is why I charged you $29 for a nothing task. Have a nice day.

mad max, here

And Another Thing

So. I have Skywarp up and running. Not four days. And the 120GB hard drive goes out. WTF?! I don't care if this is AMD's fault for the board or chip or what. But I'm going to get an Intel board and CPU. Soon. This is crap.

kaaaaaaaaaaahhnn!

Moving Cinematics

Farscape. I've gone on about it before, but I just finished the series. Holy cow. Season 4 had a jaw-dropping cliff-hanger WTF?!?! ending. Peacekeeper Wars...a fitting end. The power, the conflict, that moment at the end when finally they all understand the power of wormhole technology. Identifying with John Crichton as much as I do, I could almost feel the conflict in him when he finally unleashes the power the Scorpius and everyone had been after.

But we're not here to write reviews of an ending to a series from many years ago.

Ok, so with this post I might be. But hey. It's my blog. And I wanna be John Crichton. So there.

In other news, it's almost 4AM. Things are just as crazy around here as they were nigh a week ago, but there's signs of calm in the future. I still want more RAM for Skywarp. I've exhausted all other options. The problem lies in the memory controller in the CPU itself. Blargh. That's not a cheap fix. Blargh! However, Media Center is running smoothly enough despite the lack of RAM. Soon, I'll need to get a tuner card or some such. But before that, I'll need more storage. I have nearly every piece of video/anime I own on my two hard drives, but they're closing in on full. Nuts! For those Whos playing at home, let's give a rundown of Skywarp at the moment, shall we?

Skywarp 2.5
Sempron64 2800+
512MB(256) PC3200 RAM
120GB HDD
160GB HDD
16X DVD-ROM
16X DVD+/-RW
6-in-1 Media Reader
Floppy drive
10 USB 2.0 ports (9 external, 1 internal)
4 4LED purple 80mm case fans
1 4LED purple 80mm CPU fan
2 4LED purple 80mm fans in...
...Chieftec 420W Power Supply
HP PSC-1610 All-in-One
Sony 21"(19" viewable) Trinitron monitor (1600x1200)
Chaintech GeForceFX 5500 256MB
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital
Altec Lansing 5.1 Surround Speakers.

And that's Skywarp. Some of the peripherals I have not reattached yet. Soon, though. Maybe with my next paycheck I'll get a fitting CPU. Maybe a full on Athlon64. We shall see. Anyway, it's almost 4AM. Time for reading, then bed, then three very peaceful days off.

don't stop me now...

Skywarp LIVES!

Ah, the adventures of flashing the BIOS. I thought I had finally tweaked the motherboard into the great beyond. But I was finally able to flash the BIOS correctly. But...I still have the half RAM issue. Which I fear may be an issue not with the motherboard but with the processor. Alas. Thought, interestingly enough, the Sempron 64 at 1.6GHz with 256MB of RAM recognized is still faster than Megatron's 2.0 P4 with 1024MB RAM. Who knew? Granted Meggy's a laptop, but still. Maybe the computer is really recognizing the full 512 chip, but only reporting half? Who knows. It works. And I have GLORIOUS 1600x1200 resolution again. With FABULOUS 5.1 surround sound! Yay!

megatron, my leader. we are alive again!

2006: The Dawn of WTF?!

Or at least if the trend of the last few days continues as it has, this is what we can all look forward to. Or at least all of us here in my mad little circle. There's not much I can write about right at this moment. Or at least not in great detail. There are things I wish I could spell out and spill out, but part of being me is keeping the confidence of those I love. At least in this journal anyway. But there's a lot of chaos and hurt. Most of it understandable, but a lot of it is the result of really stupid things. Like continuing to pressure and press and not giving room. Or continuing to talk to people and read letters that will only cause you anguish and hurt and blur your vision, ruin clarity of thought. Don't be childish. And the moment you use your moral high ground, you immediately use it. If you love, then you forgive. Maybe it's not so easy, but you do. And everyone: stop with the bullshit. Nobody likes it, and it only serves to piss everyone off. Which helps exactly no one. So there.

In other news, hours have been absolutely hell and I CANNOT get away from these absolutely inane customers! WTF?! IF you broke your computer because you tried to put 8 year old software on a BRAND NEW F***ING PC don't come into the store with an attitude about ME when I tried to offer solutions your mistakes! Jesus!

it's pretty bad when you can't tell the everyday crazy from the special delivery

Another "shocking" Meme

"Beatrix" by Dante Gabriel
Rossetti

You are a very loyal and devout
person. You have dedicated your soul to a
single cause and will never abandon it so long
as you draw breath. You are wise and venerable.
Graced with such honorable characteristics like
loyalty, courage, and honest people are
naturally drawn to you, because you are full of
all that is good. You are like a shining,
bright, white light in a room shrouded in
darkness.


Which beautiful pre-Raphaelite painting represents you? (9 beautiful photos)
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