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)
brought to you by Quizilla

So This is Christmas...

Merry Christmas to one and all. And if you're not of the kind to celebrate Christmas, well, Happy Holidays anyway. And Happy Hannukah too any practitioners of Judeaism in the house. Today...has been a good day. I was a little worried, truth be told. Jerod, Jenna, and I spent the night with my dad for the first time since he and my mom separated some nine years ago. Which is a delicate thing. My mom gets very ansy about these things. But we got up at the absolutely ungodly hour of Oh-Dark-Thirty(06:30 for the kids playing along at home). And had Christmas with my Dad and Barbara. And ate breakfast. Then drove back out to my mom's and was home here at around 10AM. Christmas. Breakfast. Then to my aunt's house for Christmas with my dad's side of the family. Lunch. Then swiftly back home and out to my step-aunt's for the usual awkward Christmas there. And more food. *is full. ugh.*

All-in-all, I came out pretty good. Christmas was a whole lot of fun this year. Transformers and Legos were the order of the day, and I, for one, couldn't be happier. I don't ever ask for anything practical for Christmas. Where's the fun in that? My parents and aunts and uncles and grandparents like to get toys for their children/nephews/grandchildren. They have more fun, I have more fun, it's fun all around. I got, of course, the obligatory clothes, but I asked for some, so it's ok. New jeans are always good. I also got a 1GB USB flash drive. Which is ever so cool and useful. I think that's the only practical thing on my list, as I can use it at work. With it, another 1GB SD card. So that's another 220 songs or so for Vector Prime. I got a very nice brown leather jacket, finally completing my Indian Jones look. Candy, of course. Coffee and chocolate covered coffee beans. TF Cybertron Starscream vs. Vector Prime(US version, not Supreme Starscream), Oil Slick vs. Crystal Widow(TF Universe), and TF Cybertron Runamuck. And Viking Legos. Let me reiterate. Viking. Legos. How awesome is that?! There was, also, the usual assortment of little puzzles and mind benders, movies and music. And a poster-sized '06 calender with a collection of Star Wars movie posters. And I've still got one Christmas left. All told, a good day. It would have been nicer if I could have seen a few more of my friends and loved ones, but I got to talk to a couple of those on the phone today. I hope you all have had as great a day as I have been blessed with today.

Merry Christmas.

o come thou dayspring

Crap.

I'm doing that whole one post a week thing again, aren't I? Hmm.

Lots of stuff has gone down of late. I've seen a number of excellent movies. Crackhead Mike might be finally on his way to fired. And all of my holiday shopping is done. Whee!

The Chronicles of Narnia - Holy cow. Disney movie making at its best. Very close to the book. Even dark at points, but still very family friendly. Even kept all the Christ allegoricalness it's famous for.

King Kong - Ok, I was surprised. I wasn't all that hyped about the movie. Despite Peter Jackson being behind the wheel. Peter Jackson's King Kong, to me, was sounding like Joss Whedon's The Pride and the Prejudice. Great director, sure, but a great movie? Mr. Jackson, I apologize. Kong was emotive and sympathetic. All of the characters had a depth and realism to them. Even the "bad" guys had redeeming qualities, sympathetic qualities. A very moving film. And further proof that Peter Jackson is incapable of making a short movie.

So all of my holiday shopping is done. Which is weird. Because I don't usually have much of anything to do holiday shopping-wise. First year I've really done much at all. First year I've really had the money to do anything. It's kinda nice, actually. I just hope it all gets here in time. Most of it has. And there's still several days for it to come in yet. Whee.

it's the hap-happiest season of all

Crafty

I feel crafty. By which I mean that I have crafted something. Gasp! Tonight I finally got around to, what amounted to, chopping up my old thigh-high round-toe renaissance boots. They had seen seven seasons of faire, and at least four other faire visits. They had been resoled. This season early in I noticed that the right boot was having issues. On the outside and inside on the rounding of the ball of my foot, the leather had split from the sole. No way was there enough leather left to resole them. Not to mention they still didn't have enough heel. So tonight I put my plan into action. I have, essentially, turned the thigh-high boots into a pair of thigh-high spats. I put them on over my combat boots. So far, it's turned out pretty good. I can use my spurs to hold them spats down for now, but tomorrow I plan to hit up the K- and Wal-Marts and scour for some really really cheap belts I can chop up and rivet onto the bottom for a more secure connection. I'm also going to look into some grommets so's maybe I can split the seam up a little on the back in the bottom for a little easier fitting on, then just lace it back down, tie it tight. Though I might just make another excuse for a buckling. Who knows! My finished project I will post a picture of here! Hopefully tomorrow!

rush

Afoot.

Something is happening. Or rather, is on the verge of happening. The lull, the resting period, is coming to a close. It seems all the preparations, whatever they are, have been finished, though not consciously. Or if consciously done, not with the knowledge that they were, indeed, preparations. Certain things, important in my own life, but not to world at large, have cause changes in myself and my state of being that, though they do not change who, at my core, I am, they have, nonetheless, caused me to be a different man than I was. Or perhaps have made me truly into a man, where I had been, until recently, not.

I have begun to dream. How, dream? Does not every man dream? Perhaps, but dreaming is not something that I, under normal circumstance, do. Or at least not in a capacity that I remember such things. Moreover, these dreams, or at least one most recent, have become prophetic. How, prophetic? Is this not the normal case for such as I? Well, while it is true that often I will have dreams, usually of mundane things, simple, seemingly normal interactions or events, usually at a workplace or another, these are of a different brand of clairvoyance. Those dreams are, for one, many months, sometimes years in advance. Second, they are guideposts, not prophecies. Signs to search for, or, at least, recognize upon seeing. Ah, that is what that is. I am on the right path. No, the dream I have had, and this not two nights ago, was, in faith, prophetic. The last time I had a truly prophetic vision was in the spring of 2002. Struck, as it were, during my waking hours a week before Babylon's parting. Such things must be interpreted, of course, but the players were the same. And the actions, those being of myself placing my person between someone special to many of us and harm, also the same. A very strage blending of this world and the one I portay as Captain Julien Grey.

Still, something is coming. Perhaps this thing will have no greater influence than to directly affect my own life and those closest to me. Or, perhaps, this will be something that will hold great importance for many people. It does not smell like an omninous something, but at the same time, it lacks the perfume of the opposite. Something is coming, and there will be, I think, some growing pains, but only the pain associated with stiffness from inactivity. Nothing that the event will not stretch out and remedy, the result ending in a far better feeling than the comfort of sitting. For I, or we, or whomever, really, have been sitting far too long. Something new is coming. And it's going to be big in my life, I think. What it is, I have my hopes, my speculations, my fears. Only time will tell, I suppose.

I do know, however, that God is speaking to me again. Not that there was a time when He or I were not in communication. But Speaking to me in a more specific sense. His was the first dream. I need to start going back to church. A Catholic one, He tells me. Or at least, I need to attend to the duties and rituals of my Faith that I have been...letting slip. He tells me this, not because He is concerned for my lack of ritual, like a parent might get on a child to keep his room. No, this is more of a preparation for something. Honing the edge of a sword, you might say. Keeping me sharp. He prefers precision work from time to time. Seems this might be the case. I need to pick up my bible again.

I've also been pulled back to a series of books I started reading back in middle school. The author is Steven Brust. The books in question are The Phoenix Guards, Five Hundred Years After, The Paths of the Dead, and The Lord of Castle Black. In these books is a character, Khaavren, who is the base inspiration for Lord Captain Grey's character. Aside from being just an entertaining series of books, that is. In these pages, there is the building of the main character, the falling of an Empire and the struggle to meet the prophecies and portents that point to its resurrection into something far greater than before. Perhaps this is something symbolic? I need to get the last book, Sethra Lavode. If for no other reason than to finish out the series. I need and ending!

Anyway, I was starting into The Paths of the Dead after an awesome night at Plum Krazy's listening to Chris' band Also Known As with a large invasion of rennies when I was Told I should write what's on my mind here. So I have. Having so finished, I think I might just finish up the other half of the book, having started somewhere in the 3:30AM range, it now being 6:22, after attending to the, I'm assuming, feeding of my cat so that he will cease his plaintive mewling, allowing me to read in peace.

The Peace of the Lord be with you all
(What, am I writing a book for the New New Testament? God gives no reply. Oh well.)
Justin. Or perhaps Grey.
Outlaw Prophet of Greensboro.

for every season, turn, turn, turn

Computers, Computers, Everywhere

And not a game to play.

Okay, so that's not entirely true. But I am currently looking at the guts of about three computers, all told. Two working ones, one that does not. But enough extra bits all about to make up the parts of three whole computers. Whee.

That is all.

who-wha?

This is all Hugh's fault.

Ground rules: The first player of this "game" starts with the topic "Five of My Weird Habits" and the people who get tagged need to then write a LJ entry about their five quirky little habits as well as state the rules of this game clearly. In the end, you need to list the next five people who you want to tag.


Right. To it then.

1. I often insert movie soundtrack bits, usually Star Wars, into whatever I'm doing. Usually in my brain. Unless I'm feeling good. In which case I have been known to break out into full-on vocal renditions of the Death Star Trench Assault soundtrack.

2. When opening a door for a friend (which is often. Old School Southern manners.) I will bow and make a very foppish "EEeeeaaaaahhyeeaaaaaa doooooor, sah?" It's from an old old old SNL skit involving one of the guys from Kids in the Hall and another guy. Can't remember names. Or when I saw the skit. They were dressed as 18th century wussy-type fops. But it makes for comical juxtaposition.

3. I love to use the word juxtaposition. And many other large words. Usually because it annoys the heck out of my friends. Other than Hugh.

4. Grammar and spelling nazi. I blame Mrs. Herrington's AG classes.

5. One unintentional benefit of Attention Deficit Disorder. If something does not grab my interest, I have to really force myself to focus on it. However. If something does grab a hold of my interest, I am utterly tenacious in seeing it through. I read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in one sitting. It's also lead me to get up out of bed and assault the internet looking for obscure things from my childhood. Like any stray episodes of Spartikus and The Ancient Cities of Gold, shows I used to watch early, early in the mornings on Nickelodeon back in kindergarden.

Also posted in the LiveJournal. Since that's where it's...y'know...supposed to be. Heh.

i didn't do it. nobody saw me do it.

Just Noticed.

I never seem to make any posts these days that aren't in the 1-2AM range. Weird.

Just checking in, saying hi, all that jazz. My world has become decidedly less exciting since Faire came to a close some weeks back. Y'know, I was going to write something long and probably whiny about how there are far far fewer women hanging about since the end of faire as well. But I'll just leave it at me missing all my friends from Faire, male and female.

Super Dimension Fortress: Macross. Wow. So I picked this up from Tony, supplier of fine second-hand computer bits. It's an awesome story. But the animation... It's kinda funny to see the same coloring errors I grew up with watching Transformers. See Main Character. See Main Character oddly recolored for reasons that escape reason. See Main Character back to his original colors in time to say something. But it's still a great story. Got me playing many many hours of Robotech: Battlecry again. Whee!

I think I'll get back to that anime.

viva el jameson!

Black Friday

Ah, the worst, I mean busiest retail day of the year. Only thanks to working in the Geek Squad it wasn't bad at all. Crowded was the worst part of it, and that's just because there were so many of us there physically in the Precinct. It got so slow after about noon, that I was sent home an hour early! On Black Friday! How awesome is that? Really damn, that's what it is.

I'm looking forward to Christmas. Thanksgiving showed me how much I can miss most of my family. It was really nice being able to hang out and just talk with cousins and aunts and uncles and siblings. My cousin Audrey's little girl is about 6 months old and HUGE. One of the most touching images of the day was "Granddaddy Ray" (Audrey's father, my uncle) bouncing little Allison on his knees. I don't think I've seen that man so absolutely happy in some time. Which is not to say he was unhappy, I'd dare to say otherwise.

Which got my brother and I talking. We're getting old. My other older cousin, and the oldest of us, is getting married next year. It's starting to happen. We're slowly becoming the last generation, not the next one. Parents are becoming grandparents. Grandparents, matriarchal great-grandmothers. I certainly wouldn't complain if I found someone to make a family with. And soon, really. Maybe not right away soon. Find that person, insert appropriate amount of time, marriage, appropriate amount of time, children. I would be pleased if my life folded out to such a way as to have my first son by 30. If not two children. I'd like that very much, actually. But that's me, I suppose. Others would, no doubt, caution me against "rushing" into such things.

At least my life is good for the most part. I have plenty of anime it consume as I might. I wish Skywarp were up and running, but that'll fix itself soon enough. Christmas is coming and this year I'll actually be able to afford to buy people gifts this year. Gasp!

all the way home i'll be warm

Ah, Geekcraft.

So I've finally tossed and moved around all my files. I got a 160GB used hard drive off my buddy Tony (also the supplier of the Super Monitor). As such, I decided to use my 120GB secondary drive as the primary, as was my intention long, long ago. It took some time, though. Megatron's USB 2.0 slot got damaged in a tragic Bailey-Knocking-the-Laptop-Off-a-Table accident. So I was using USB 1.1 to transfer from the 120GB to the 40GB drive in Megatron to the 160GB drive using an external enclosure and switching the drives back and forth. Whee. Weren't that fun? Right now, though, I am attempting to install Windows on the 120 while using my laptop on the same desk. Mmm, Geekery.

so many fans...

Not Gonna Do It

I am not going to turn this into a once a week blog. I promise. I've just been reluctant to get too comfortable using Megatron all the time. Since I have this huge ass paperweight/desktop-space-taker-upper which used to be my PC until I get the RAM issue figured out. But that's an issue not likely to be solved anytime in the next few weeks. Although my next paycheck is going to be a little bigger than normal, thanks to personal hours added to fill the gap in hours PLUS my 38 hours this week PLUS the eight hours of holiday pay for Thanksgiving. Whee. But rent is due on that check. Oh well.

Work. Yeesh. I'm looking forward to the day when I'm a Double Agent and can get out of the tech bench. I love the work, but the people are starting to make me ill. I got spoken to today for not charging a guy up front. First time in something like two weeks that's happened. And it's not as though he's not going to pay for it when he gets in to pick it up. Meanwhile, there are people on the Geek Squad at our store, well, person really, who will use our work computer to download illegal software, music, movies, as well as check his email, and also print out stuff for personal use. Now. I am not above any of those things. However, I am above doing such on company time using company computers and paper. That's rudeness. This same fellow is personally responsible for at least on major screw up a day. Sometimes it's in relation to a customer's computer. Sometimes it's in relation to company policy. Either way, it's annoying enough just working with the guy. Cause he never shuts up and always tries to include himself into whatever conversation anyone is having. And always in a horribly self-depreciating way. Not in the funny Rodney Dangerfield kinda way. In the annoying "Oh yeah, well I've had it worse because..." and "I'm a retard, hur." Yeah. And he smells like cheap cigarettes and unwashed breathe. All the time.

Black Friday. Not looking forward to that. I am lucky, though. I'm working 11-7:30. A much safer shift. The 7 hour sale ends at noon. And most of the people and the product will most likely have disappeared at that point anyway.

to destroy the evil forces of the decepticons

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

Not a whole lot to report. This weekend looks to be...comfortable. The first in some time, actually. I get paid. Not only that, but I sold some things on eBay for more than I thought I would. And those funds should transfer right around the same time as my paycheck hits my bank account. How awesome is that? Today at work was...I dunno. Seemed off. But tomorrow, it seems. that I get to represent the Geek Squad at the Chamber of Commerce. I wouldn't have had this opportunity if it weren't for switching my schedule with Juan. Instead of working 7-3:30, I'm working 4-10:30. Sleep in. Yosh!(Japanese for "Alright!")

I did far, far too much laundry last night. Four loads. That's twice my usual run. But then, I got that extra money I forgot about. Helped finance the laundry. Still have one more load to do, but it's not an urgent thing. Thank goodness. Have I mentioned I hate doing laundry?

I'm already planning changes for Captain Grey's costume for next year. Or at least additions. My boots, which have served through seven years of festivals have finally reached the end of their road. Having been resoled two years ago, the leather has split along the sides of the right food far too high to be resoled again. I still love the look of the boots, though. I might see if I can cut them up and turn them into spats. Not too hard to do, really. And they're tossed anyway, so it won't matter if they don't work. What I'd really love is a pair of boots almost exactly like what I have now, only with a much more pronounced heel and arch. Only in brown. Why brown? Well, it's quite simple, really. Brown leather is far more rare. Everyone and their uncle has a pair of black boots from renboots.com or scaboots.com. And even baring those, there are far more pairs of black boots than brown. And no brown boots that have an over the knee cuff. But oh well. However, Kae is being wonderful and amazing. She's designing and making a new doublet for me. The old one? A great and beautiful doublet it is. Just...too big. When it was measured for, I was much wider about the middle than I am now. Heck, by the time I got it, it was a little large. So I keep it. It works really well for if I want to pull off a more well dressed rogue-ish type. Someone likely to be hanging around Captain Christian more than, say, Lord Eric. Which Grey has, in the annals of feigned story for our own amusement, set to sail with the good captain Christian once or twice. Might be the kind of thing he'd wear whilst setting against the merchants of France and Spain. But we shall see.

Talking on the phone for an hour and a half until 1:30AM or so. But it'd never work out. No, surely not.

The computer. It is broken yet again. And only I can fix it. Right.

can't live with 'em. can't shoot 'em