Rennie Adoption: A Manual

Welcome
Congratulations on your decision to adopt a Rennie! Many of these fascinating creatures are in need of good homes where they will be loved and cared for. While keeping a Rennie can be expensive, time-consuming, and sometimes confusing, the results can be well worth all the effort. A well turned out Rennie who is happy and healthy is amazing to watch in action. The guidelines below will help you care for your new charge, but they are only guidelines. Every Rennie is quite unique and you should get to know your Rennie's personal quirks, preferences and skills.


Introduction
The most important step in caring for your Rennie is selecting the right one. Rennies come in many varieties. You will find them of both sexes, and in every imaginable size, color, age, health and plumage. But, far more important than their physical differences are the differences in their personalities. Every Rennie has a very unique set of skills, preferences and attitudes, and you need to take these into consideration as you make your choice.

If you have a nervous condition, a Daredevil Rennie is not for you. Likewise, do not adopt a Fighter Rennie unless you have a large yard in which he or she can chase around other Rennies with a sword. If you have small children in the house, you might prefer to adopt a Rennie other than the Arms Collector, and if you like your nights silent, keep in mind that Stitching Rennies are known to stay up quite late, whirring away at their machines, punctuated by occasional loud bouts of cursing.


Food & Drink
Once you have selected a Rennie and brought him or her home, your first concern may be, "What do I feed this strange creature?" Luckily, most Rennies are not picky about what they eat, and indeed, will consume with relish most anything you offer them. Do not be afraid to offer your Rennie exotic or strange foods. They have a highly developed sense of adventure and will likely at least try whatever it is. Keep in mind, that through some strange quirk, your Rennie will enjoy almost any food more if it is presented on a stick.

Your Rennie requires large quantities of water. Your Rennie will want large quantities of liquor. There is a very fine balance between the two that you must find to keep your Rennie (and in cases of more belligerent Rennies, yourself) happy and healthy.

Rennies are very affectionate creatures, and will often cuddle and love on you for treats. Favorite treats tend towards chocolate or nice liquor, though your Rennie may have different favorites. Recently, several varieties of Rennie have devolved a taste for Sushi, so you may wish to try that as well.


Sleep
While your Rennie may seem to have inexhaustible supplies of energy, they need a good nights sleep like any other creature. When they are having fun, but are exhausted, usually at the end of a faire day, they may behave much like a 4-year-old, insisting on staying up and playing, "just a few more minutes." It is advised that you be firm with your Rennie and insist that they come home and go to bed. It is also advised that this will almost never work, and when it does, Rennie goodbyes have been know to take upwards to two hours at a large gathering. Sit down near the door and have another drink.


Grooming
Rennies take great joy in grooming both themselves and others and can take hours to prepare in the morning. Rennie females, in particular will often need the help of others in preparing for the day. While they may seem inconsequential or frivolous to you, each pin, knot, and accessory is very important to your Rennie. When your Rennie is being slow in the morning, exhortations of "Hurry up!" will not speed matters along. "What can I hold/tie/pin/pull/lace?" will work much more efficiently.

That being said, by the end of that self-same day, your Rennie may be unrecognizably dirty, disheveled and grungy, though likely quite happy. While Rennies appreciate and enjoy a shower or bath every day, like sleep, this is not always something they feel is required. If your Rennie shows no inclination to bathe after a long day, helping them undress and drawing a bath or starting the shower for them may encourage them to get clean.

Please note that your Rennie will take great joy in all their clothing and accessories, and will constantly want to be adding to the horde. Every once in a while, please go through all your Rennies "garb" with them and help them to let go of pieces they no longer wear. Promising to donate the pieces to another Rennie will help ease the pain of separation, as will offering to replace it with something the Rennie likes better. New garb can work as a treat even better than chocolate or liquor.

Under no circumstances get rid of anything from a Rennies garb without their knowledge and permission unless you want your sweet happy Rennie to instantly transform into Furious Rabid Fighter Rennie and attempt to take of your head.


Communicating with Your Rennie
Rennies are extremely intelligent, and will likely understand everything you say, possibly in several languages. It is far more likely that you will not understand your Rennie when they are speaking in BFA, Gaelic, Romany or some other obscure or not so obscure language. Also, they can get quite animated when speaking about their favorite hobbies or most history. The correct response to almost anything from, "I can't do French seams in the gussets in that camica because the twill is too thick to turn twice," to "Henry VIII and Cardinal Richelieu weren't even alive at the same time, and France and England were at war in 1620! They can't put the Musketeers in England!!!!" is a nodding of the head and saying, "Yes, yes, of course."

There are two terms your Rennie may use frequently that you will need to be familiar with right off. The first is a loud exclamation of "HUZZAH!" This is a Rennie sound of joy and excitement, something you wish to hear often. The second is "privy." Your Rennie is asking where the bathroom is, and you'd best show them quickly unless you want to be cleaning up Rennie messes. Eliminating in garb can be a difficult and time consuming process.

All other terms can usually be picked up with familiarity.


Your Rennie and Play
Rennies have a highly developed sense of play and will often play any opportunity they get. The idea of what is play varies greatly from one Rennie to the next, though they will almost always be happier to play in groups. Some may enjoy contact juggling, some fencing, some equestrian pursuits, some computer games. However nearly all Rennies, whether or not they are skilled, thoroughly enjoy the arts of Music and Flirting. Given a good tune and the opportunity to sing, stomp or clap along, most Rennies will be quite happy. Likewise, what may seem to the untrained observer as heavy duty sexual harassment is usually two Rennies who have missed each other's company greeting one another. Unless your Rennie looks truly upset, it is better to leave him or her alone in these situations. See more under the Breeding section.

Your Rennie also loves toys. Amongst Rennies, favored toys may be sharp, shiny, pointy, sparkly, made of wood, leather, metal, pottery or fur. Get to know your Rennie to discover his or her particular preferences.


Illness, Injury, and Keeping Your Rennie Healthy
For some reason not yet determined by modern science, Rennies seem to have a slightly greater concentration of conditions, which range from irritating to debilitating, than those not of the breed. Common ailments can include hypoglycemia, fibromyalgia, MS, diabetes, osteoporosis and a range of bum knees, trick elbows and the like. These will likely only slow your Rennie down, not stop them completely. Your Rennie and others around him or her are usually well advised on the maladies in the group and will band together to take care of one of their number that is ill or injured, so that they can all return to the fun as soon as possible.

An injured Rennie is for some reason fairly happy. They do like to show off gruesome scars and talk about their gory wounds. Should your Rennie become injured, your best course of action is to simply dress the wound, give them a drink of water and then your Rennie will go back to whatever it was doing. Except in the cases of extreme injury, they tend to be a hardy breed.

To keep your Rennie as healthy as possible, make sure that he or she drinks plenty of water, gets lots of rest and exercise and limit their consumption of fried food on a stick. Keep the supplies for dealing with heat stroke, sunburn, dehydration and hypothermia on hand, as these are the most frequent complaints. Make your Rennie wear sunscreen. He or she will protest this. Make them do it anyway. Make them reapply frequently and when they get burned anyway, make them put on Aloe gel. They will protest this as well. Insist. While Rennies are often extremely intelligent, sometimes they're not very smart.


Breeding your Rennie
Nearly all Rennies love children, whether or not they have one of their own. They like to play with children, talk to children and show children things that interest them as adults. The adult Rennies overdeveloped sense of play makes them perfect companions for children, barring a tendency amongst the entire breed to curse. A Rennie child very nearly is raised by a village and may have dozens of Aunties and Uncles not related to them by blood scattered all over the continent.

Despite decades of observation by many interested parties, no one has yet determined a successful program for breeding Rennies. Their sense of high drama, passionate natures, and overly affectionate friendships have clouded the issue so deeply that it is still a mystery how they manage to breed at all. So, should you wish to breed your Rennie, it is suggested that you adopt an already mated pair. Even that is no guarantee of success.

You Rennie may have its own ideas about breeding. The best course of action to take should this happen is to stand back and observe your Rennie closely. In the event of a heartbreak step in and feed your Rennie his or her favorite treats. While this will probably not heal your Rennie, it will make them more pleasant to be around until they find another potential mate.


Conclusion
While the above may make adopting a Rennie seem daunting, it is an enterprise with great rewards. They are attractive, affectionate creatures, who will brighten your life for many years to come. Thank you for your interest.

Reflections on a Rainy Monday

Monday was...an experience. I haven't attended an unusual amount funerals in my life. But this was the first time I've ever been asked to participate in one. For those few of you who read my blogs and don't know, a friend and fellow cast member(if former) of CRF was hit by a drunk-driver earlier this month. Lisa Smith was certainly dedicated to our "little" faire as well as being a devoted officer of the law and veteran. We held her funeral yesterday in an appropriate miserable afternoon at the National Cemetary in Salisbury for the graveside service. Our friend (my roommate) Doug is a Reverend in the Universal Light Church and led a very moving and respectful service. I was given the task of the opening prayer. I struggled to come up with something. It may come to some shock to you, but rennies are not typically whitebread Christians. I, too, was caught completely unawares by this discovery. I am, however, a Christian. So I knew my prayer would be a true prayer to the God I believe to be the One and True variety, but I also knew that I was being asked to open not for myself, but for everyone there celebrating the life and mourning the loss of our friend. I picked "Sgt. Mackenzie" as the "bulk" of my prayer. "Sgt. Mackenzie" is a song written and sung in a true Scots dialect made famous most recently as part of the movie We Were Soldiers(why does Blogger lack underlines?!). I was more than a little nervous. I love to sing. Really. But I've grown very comfortable as a harmonic singer, rather than melodic. To the musically untermed, I mean I'm used to singing as part of a group, adding to someone else's lead. My vocal talents aren't unimpressive, but it's been almost two decades since I had any real training and many years since I did any regular singing. But I spent two days memorizing the song as best I could. I would have still preferred to have a headphone in an ear playing the song in my head as I sang along, but everyone says I did a good job with it. The funeral was recorded, so I'll have to watch to see.

And before anyone freaks about it, Lisa made a great number of friends in a great number of places. Many of these dear friends weren't able to attend because of distance and time. They are no less deserving of the chance to witness our send of than anyone who was able to attend.

I finished with a few words of my own, asking that God would hold us close to His heart and allow us to weep in His comforting arms and then move us to live and revel in the joy of our memories and the wonder of our world that we still remain in. I also quoted a verse from Revelations talking about how in the end, when God's Kingdom comes down from Heaven, there will be no more tears or pain. Our friend Jeff sang "Parting Glass" to tears. Doug quoted a few passages of scripture and spoke a touching eulogy. Lani sang and cried her way through "Merry Meet, Merry Part" on behalf of our dear friend and former queen Lolly Foy, who also loved Lisa.

To close it all off, Chris pull out all the stops for the veterans honors. He called two live buglers to play "Echo Taps," which was gorgeous. And the "big finish" was a six man flag fold with a three flag presentation. Performed with nearly perfect grace by the Royal Guard cadets. In Chris' words, "they learned in three hours what I went to school for two weeks to learn." The six man flag folding is a carefully coreographed fold with very precisely timed and executed movements. And the kids pulled it off beautifully. Even Wes put away his usual attire to dress in the red, black, and gold of the Royal Guard Company "E." I opted for my kilt with my black dress shirt and jacket and black tie. Black leather boots, belts, pouches and my grey fedora. I felt it an appropriate combination. Several people told me that Lisa would have been pleased to see me so "cleaned up" and that touched me.

Afterwards we all convened at Phil's for a much needed unwind and remembrance. There was a little drinking and a little eating, but mostly it was just a much needed and unspoken need to just be there with each other. To remember, to laugh, to joke. To affirm that we still live, and that while we still can, we must make our lives as full and rich as we can. And one of the best ways to do that is to enjoy the company of our friends and (man, I'm getting old) encourage the Next generation to do the same. "Our" kids did a fantastic job. From start to finish, they kept their composure. And afterwards, they thanked and were thanked by the other attendees of the funeral service and then just Lived like only youth can. It was a very moving day, all around.

ad amiculus absentia

Keep on Truckin'!

This is, quite possibly, the best job I've ever had. I have my own desk and a huge office I share. My office mate is a cool guy and we get along great. We both mesh well with our supervisor. There's a comfortable amount of down time to spend doing whatever is available in the office (like post to my blog, heh). But there's enough work to keep us from getting bored. And some days we're busy all day. It's the same hours every day I work, which I like. But the actual work varies enough to keep it from becoming stagnant. I'm learning something new every day. The campus itself is beautiful even with no leaves on the trees yet. I spend a significant part of my day outside walking. It's just a great mix of things I enjoy. The weather's been pretty nice so far. I have a window that I open up most days (the heat is on and it really doesn't need to be) so there's a nice breeze in my office. And the fact that it has windows that open out to something other than parking lot is a great feature. Intrex and ElitePC+ had me stuck in the back with no windows most of the time. Bleh. And the amount of money I'm making is stupid awesome. And I love it. Even Mondays at 8AM are great. I actually want to come into work for once. How weird is that?

dolla dolla bill, y'all

First Impressions

Well, it's been a week at the new job and I think I've got a winner. There's a little less PC work involved, but that just means there's more for me to learn. The job isn't hard but it's pretty straight forward. It's not easy, but it is interesting most of the time. My job is to maintain, repair, upgrade and install teaching workstations. These stations have a PC connected to the network at school, a DVD/VCR combo, a document camera, an external VGA connection, and a switchboard that controls all the devices and their inputs to the projector in the ceiling. It's just peripherals attached to a switch. The work we do is mostly entry level troubleshooting. Replacing burnt out bulb on projectors, replacing bad wires and connections, reseating pulled out wires, terminating and installing new cables. The most work I've done so far is just replacing a computer that had a bad drive. The hard drives are preinstalled and working, so all we had to do was replace the equipment and Bob's your uncle. Spring Break and this Summer will be a little more work as we'll actually be able to install whole workstations, thanks to students being not there. But I think it'll be fun. The people I work with are laid back and friendly. I'm really happy to have this job!

workin' for the man every night and day

Good news, everyone...

I got off the phone with my contact at UNCG and I should be receiving my job offer as a PC Consultant from their office mid-late this week. This is beyond amazing news. This is exactly the kind of job I've been hoping and praying for. Minimum of $30,000 a year. My experience may net me a little more, but 30K is half again as much as what my highest paying job to date was getting me. State health benefits and the ability to use NC State Employee's Credit Union. And on top of all that, the college gives me free tuition on up to three classes a semester! Huzzah! H.H.Gregg is a decent job, not really any worse than any other retail position I've worked before. But the pay is too inconsistent and I'm not a fan of never having weekends off. At all. UNCG will be 8AM to 5PM, but I can get in a routine for that with relative ease, since those will always be my hours. And I'll have weekends free! This much greatly is the exciting for me!

whaaaaaaaaaaa?

New job, new comic, etc!

First off, I haven't posted lately because I've been more occupied with trying to get a new job. For those of you that don't know, I worked the job at ElitePC+ for all of three weeks before the bosses there decided to close down the retail location on December 17th. I was supposed to get my first pay check on the 15th, but never did as my immediate boss got sick and couldn't open the store. I immediately began looking into new employment, while waiting on my check, which was "in the mail." I waited and waited. Finally, after having great difficulty, I was able to get my former immediate boss on the phone on the 27th (right around when I should have received my second and final paycheck) to ask what was going on. He told me that his bosses had told him checks had been sent out on the 26th of December. Mail is slow on the holidays, so I waited patiently. Sort of. Many attempts at regular communication with my old boss failed, as per usual. No paycheck. On the first weekend of January, I was supposed to meet a guy and he was supposed to give me my check. I was early and stayed more than an hour after he was supposed to be there. Nada. Angry emails and voice messages ensue and I finally get a contact email address for my boss' boss. Just in time for the email server to have some conveniently inconvenient problems. Then my boss was supposed to give his boss an angry phone call to call me back within the hour. When that didn't happen, I was supposed to give my old boss a call and he would give me his boss' phone number. This was last Saturday and, of course, I haven't heard from my old boss. So Tuesday I filed with the NC Dept. of Labor with the incredibly sparse contact information I had, and we'll see if I ever see that $1260 I'm owed. Of course, from what I've been told, the NCDOL usually gets the employer to give twice that as compensation. I'm ok with that. I was still really worried about money, and still am truth be told, but not as much. Until that gets settled I'll at least have some income starting Monday.

I've done my usual gamut of applications in the area in gradually increasing distances, but there were a couple of jobs I felt much better about. I found that UNCG was hiring a PC Tech Support position or three, so I put in there, but in the conversations I've had with their coordinator, and my knowledge of how these things go, it's a slow process. I did have some luck with a new electronics/appliances retailer here in town called hhgregg. All lower case and in one word, according to their logo. I interviewed Thursday and they called me today to ask if I can start next Monday. I'm a little nervous, though, because your pay is based on commission only. I think I'll be ok, though, given what I know I can do in a retail environment like that. But it'll be different not having the safety net of that regular pay. Still, it'll be nice to make money based solely on performance. If I'm as good as I think I am, I should be sitting pretty. I'm still going to pursue the UNCG and/or similar jobs, though. I didn't really want to go back into retail again. I'm good at it and I have experience in it, but it's just not what I want for a career.

And without further ado(do), here's another comic.



after all, what's life without work?

Jed & Dark, vol. 2

Yes, folks, I'm beginning this madness once again. The sprite sheet rebuild will slow down any plot, so the first bunch of episodes will likely be contrite means of introducing my new sprites. Huzzah and all that. Happy New Year!

return of the mac

Holidays...OF DOOM!!!1

Not really, of course. It's just fun to put "OF DOOM!!!1" at the end of something. So here's some quick-fire updates.

Work is still good. Not being broke is immensely useful. I'm working out a budget and/or plan to get a lot of things back on track which all should go into effect at the start of the year. Saving! Investing! Oh my!

The cats are, well, cats. But they seem to be happy and healthy enough, and that's all that really needs to be said about that, I think.

Once a room is cleaned, it doesn't take all that much to keep it that way. Who would have thought? Maybe those parent types actually knew something after all. Kinda scary, huh?

Yay party this weekend! It'll be good to see all my Charlotte ren-friends again. There's something comforting and almost medieval about Phil parties. We show up, we eat, drink, laugh. There's a pack of dogs rolling about all over the place. We sleep where we crash and start over again the next day. Truly, an image of Heorot. And this suits my blood just fine.

It's finally close enough to Christmas for me to not hate incessant Christmas music. I spent most of last night organizing my collection of songs, as well as ripping a lot of cds I'd forgotten I had into iTunes. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" has always been one of my favorite Christmas carols/hymns. "Oh Holy Night," "Carol of the Bells," and "Angels We Have Heard on High" rank pretty high up the list, too. Add in a mix of Manheim Steamroller and Trans-Siberian Orchestra into a blend of the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Burl Ives and you've got my mix o' Christmas songs. And the ubiquitous Barenaked Ladies version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" with Sarah McLachlan because it's just that awesome.

I should probably get back to work.

come thou dayspring

Get Comfortable...

...this is going to be a long one.

Mostly because it's been over a month since my last post. Heh.

First and foremost, faire was a blast and I'm sorry it's over. My body and sleep schedule aren't, but I am. The kids were absolutely fantastic this year. They're a hit with everyone there. Or at least anyone that Chris and I have deemed worthy of consideration. Each weekend their drum jam got more and more spectacular, and it seems the last weekend was beyond phenomenal. Our good friend, Pirate Lisa, inducted each of the guards as honorary members of the Order of St. Anne, which is a real and good and true order of some note. The kids also received the Director's Choice award from Matt, our kind, benevolent and patient entertainment director this year. It has a place of honor in it's temporary location over my mantle in the living room. The cast party was fun, as it always is. I tried pumpkin beer/ale for the first time. So good! And I ate myself stupid. Huzzah! Really, the only reason we put up with ren faire and spend all the time, effort and money to go is the free booze and food after the last day. Heh. Hannah and I are already planning for next year, as are many of the kids. She's insisted on making me a couple of new doublets for next season. Twist my arm.

Speaking of next season, Chris and I are conspiring mightily. If one can even do that. We're currently researching the steps and such necessary to incorporate as a 501c(3) non-profit organization. He's really excited about the notion of carrying on the tradition of his leadership academy at what once was Imani Institute. The Lofton Academy/Foundation/Institute, which would be part summer camp, part after-school program. And the best and brightest from the program would be given the chance to join the CRF cast as royal guards in the years to come. The royal guards showing the highest promise would be given a chance to branch out as their own characters, or to move on to the Fairhaven militia, which would require more thought, reliability, self-sufficiency, independence and responsibility than the Royal Guard. Or at least that's the notion at the moment.

Next season also looks good for me, as far as characters go. I didn't get to play a prince this year, because we had no king. If I were the queen's younger brother, and she were unwed, she'd not be queen and I'd be king, not prince. Hence, no prince for me. But it looks good for next year. We've got one or two really good candidates going for it next year, and I've got a good working relationship with both of them. But I'm all for Tom getting it. For no other reason than so Chris doesn't. Bwa-ha-ha. I will outrank him on stage! Though it'll be tough to let go of Captain Grey if I do get to play as Prince William next year. He's a very familiar beast to me. And I'll miss being directly involved with the guard I've struggled so hard to create over the last eight years. Granted, I'll still be in charge behind the scenes. And if I were prince, I could, technically give orders, but it's not the same as being the Captain of the Guard. It's just been so much a part of me for so long. But if I get the chance, I'm gonna take it. So there.

The apartment is starting to look like a habitable space again. I've made the living room back into a living room, no bachelor crash space. With the money I got from faire, I was able to afford a decent, inexpensive vacuum. Though I've probably put a year's worth of wear on the thing just vacuuming the living room. God knows when it was cleaned last. But it's already made a profound impact on the appearance of the place. I cleaned out the front closet, which houses the litter box, too. I made good headway, cleaned out all the trash, but it'll still need a little work again relatively soon. I must be getting old if it feels good to clean. Hmm.

And I start a new job on Monday. Intrex just isn't what I thought it would be. Promises made aren't being kept, and there's just no real money in it. Granted it was an alright job, and better than Best Buy, but it wasn't better enough. So I was just kinda looking around for stuff, and found a new competitor in town, Elite PC+. So I jumped ship and turned my coat inside out and I'll be making a little more money. With reviews every 6 months, not annually. It's kinda funny, too. I went in, asked if they were hiring, filled out an application. I checked back on it a few days later, and was told I would be called in a couple of days. The manager said if I didn't hear from him, to come in anyway. Turns out, he never intended to call, but was seeing if I'd come in. He scheduled an interview for this morning. And by "interview" he meant "come in so I can find out when you can start." I'm pleased with this arrangement.

The cats are fine, I'm reading a lot, and I'm cooking and eating healthier. Not that it'll matter after Thanksgiving, but you do what you can.

ciao

Boo! Hiss! Slacker!

So it's been a few days, wanna fight about it?

A lot's been going on, and I haven't been able to sleep in since mid-September. Busy little bee. Two weekends of Faire down and things are going well. There were some paperwork issues, but those have been handled. Wes even got to teach the kids some stage combat techniques, very cool. The weather could have been cooler and there could have been some rain at some point ever, but so far the biggest complaints I have are climate and the hour at which I have to get up. Can't do a whole lot about either, so I do with what I have.

Work is work. It's not bad. I have mostly good days. I enjoy what I do. The other day I had to deal with Midget Lord Fontleroy and his bureaucratic control over the tech bench in Greensboro, but I've dealt with worse examples of douchery. He really can't complain about me working on my own machine when he won't let me work on anything new on account of me not being there but two days. Make up your mind, man. I could much rather like not having to drive to Winston-Salem three days a week. Even if I'm going from the shortest distance between the there and here to work, it's still taxing on me, my car, and my gas money.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Hannah will be there instead of at drill, huzzah, and it's supposed to rain this week, so maybe Fairhaven won't be a gorram dustbowl.

Clockwork Orange

Today, after work, I picked up a new kitty. He's a little orange kitten. I have named him Clockwork. I will get some pictures of him as soon as I charge my batteries. He's a fiesty little guy, and hungry, apparently. But he and DT seem to be getting along alright after just a few hours. Mostly calm. And, oddly, it's little CW that's instigating most of the scuffles. Things should smooth out soon enough. I just hope this helps DT be a little less prone to separation anxiety.

it's people! soylent green is peee-heee-heee-puuuuullll!!!

Yes we're men!

Today was a manly sort of day. I got up around noon all by myself. Remarkable given my tendency to sleep in much later on Fridays. I got up and I got everything ready to change the oil and such in the Lincoln. I've changed oil in cars before. I know how to change the oil in a car. But I didn't know specifically how to do so for the Lincoln. So I checked my Hayes' Manual and got all my stuff out and I lift the car up, put it on jack stands, squeezed under it (not a lot of room, even jacked up) and saw I needed a bigger socket than what I had. Crap. So a run to K-Mart and Wal-Mart later, I have a new wrench set to go with my socket set and some new spark plugs. Huzzah! Get under it again, drain the oil, wiggle out, turn the wheels, get the filter out, replace filter, seal up oil pan, and bob's your uncle. I also did the air filter, but that's a nothing change there. I'll replace the headlamps a little later and as soon as I can get some help, I'll do the spark plugs. I thought those would be easier, but not so much. I need skinnier arms, really.

But at least for a few hours, I was "real man." Lost all grease-monkey points I gained, though, when I got a flourescent bulb for the "Geek Cave" to keep the room cooler for my computer. Heh.

macho macho man

Adventures in Bachelor Cuisine

I am not worried about my ability to cook anything ever. Tonight I combined leftover egg noodles, a box of shells and cheese, garlic and spices, a can of spinach and some Parmesan cheese into something easily edible! I had to put some italian seasoned bread crumbs into it to thicken it up a bit it was otherwise fine!

Yum!

Great Jeeaaaarrrrreerrraaarrrrbb!

I am officially on salary with Intrex as of today. I turned in all my insurance paperwork along with my time sheet for this last pay period this week. And if things turn out the way Curtis (District Manager) says it will, I should be Lead Technician at the Winston store before too long. Which will help make that commute worth the money a little more. My "hourly" rate in the salary isn't all that much different from what I was making when I left Best Buy, but I have benefits (vision, dental, AND medical) and a guaranteed 40 hours a week. So that means more money, seeing as how a good week at Best Buy meant 32 hours instead of 28. Huzzah, and all that. And that Lead Technician bonus would be mighty sweet, it would. We'll see how that goes.

More news as it happens.

Don't hold your breath.

Cause you'll pass out or something. Kill brain-whojawhatsits.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I was, at least as far as posts go, holding my breath. I had an interview with Greensboro Day not too long ago and I was waiting to say anything about it until I heard back from them. On account of me not wanting to jinx it and all. But it's been too long waiting and not posting anything. Bad me or something. Heh.

Intrex is a good job. There's potential, and this seems more realistic than anything ever was a Best Buy. And I'm making a little bit more than I was in the ol' Geek Squad and there's a lot of side benefits. A "busy" moment in the store is 5 customers. That creates a significantly smaller portion of People Stupid going around. There's at most 5 people working on any given day, and that's if the District Manager is there. The managers, even the DM, are pretty down to earth. That's a first for me. I'm used to DM's being these mysterious Black Shirt SS types coming in with fire and fear as their weapons. With a swish of their pen, you could find yourself banished from the light! But Curtis is more like unto a store level manager in terms of relationship. But then, any given store is no bigger than a department, employee-wise, at a big box retailer. And everything is blissfully more laid back. I pretty much just do my thing and I get left alone to do it. Joy! I have to help "the floor" sometimes, but everyone does. Big whoop. The best part is, come the 7th, I'll be on salary. Some people don't like salary, but I do. At least in this particular scenario. I already get an hour lunch. With a lunch that long, I don't mind working longer. The longest day I could ever have is 10 hours. From 10AM to 8PM. But that's not ever likely to happen. I don't ever have to be there earlier than when the store opens, since only the opening manager has a key and he always shows up at opening time. And I don't ever have to stay one minute past my shift. Ever. It's a good job. And since I'm El Floato Tech between Winston and the Southwest Greensboro store, I'll be getting a little extra compensation for the travel. Even more on top of that is the productivity bonuses and Curtis has me ear-marked to help start up an On-Site program in Greensboro. The initial radius? Within 10 miles of the store. To help make this make sense on how awesome this is, I live just under 2 miles from the SW Greensboro store. I'd be doing work in my own neighborhood. It's just a sweet setup.

Greensboro Day would, however, ultimately be a better job. The money would be about half again as much. The benefits are a little better, and I have the chance to re-negotiate my salary every year. So if I go and get a certification or two during the year, I can go in and work out a little more money for the next year. And it's a 10 month contract paid out over 12 months. Paid. Summer. Vacation. And I can always get a summer job if I want to make a little more. More so the dream job would this be. Even over the very exciting potential that Intrex has to offer.

Really, though, I just need to get bloody paid already. Intrex pays on a bi-monthly schedule, much like the military, according to Chris. Once at the 1st of the month and once on the 16th. Which means all the work I did from the 7th til the 15th I'll get paid for this Friday. And my first full paycheck I won't get until the 15th of September. Bleh.

Oh yeah, I had an adventure in vehicle repair this weekend. The Sunday before last, the starter went out on the Lincoln when I went out grocery shopping. Fun times. I wasn't until this past Friday that I was able to get a new starter, thanks to Doug's very much appreciated generosity. So Friday afternoon and into the early evening, I did my best to help Wes, and later Chris, put a new starter on the Lincoln in the Lowe's Foods parking lot. We even ended up replacing the battery terminals. Good times, good times. But it's all working again now. I went to have lunch with my mom, Randy, and Chase Sunday. I finally got my comic books and some other things along with some casserole dishes my mom was willing to part with. And as soon as we went to leave, the car wouldn't start. BLARGH!!! It turns out that the new terminals weren't as tight as they should have been and the exposed wire ends might be a little corroded. But Randy just took a socket wrench to them and it started right up. Whee.

Last night was fun, though. Hannah and I went to visit Pirate Lisa at her place to see Mars be all bright or whatever. I love astronomy, even if I don't know anything about it. But space and planets, stars, novas, nebulae, it's all so very cool to me. So we drove out to Denton and gathered around a little fire and chilled. I got too cloudy to see much of mars, but it was pretty cool getting to see this bright red dot in the night sky for a little while. The moon was gorgeous, though. Lisa lives way out away from any kind of city light, so the effect of a very bright full moon was much more pronounced. I've always loved that silver-blue light on a clear night. You could see well across the fields out by her house. A good time was had by all. Most were rennies of one sort or another, so as soon as there was alcohol, there were all manner of lewd and crude stories, jokes, and songs. A great time, really.

Today was sorta mundane. Just another work day, but that's nothing so bad. It's still a little uncomfortable in some things, especially financially (it's my own dumb fault I got canned and didn't look harder for something over the summer. Yadda yadda. I'm well aware of how I got into this mess.), but by mid-September, everything should be right as rain in that regard. Chris and Lani are mostly moved out and Doug is mostly moved into the master bedroom. Which means very soon I/we can start getting the apartment very awesome. I'm very excited about that.

There is one bad thing about working at Intrex, though. I have access to waaaaay too much awesome gear. I just built a great new PC in Skywarp, but I've seen the cutting edge up close and it's just so. very. cool. But I restrain myself. At least for now. I think this year I'll be able to participate in Intel's Retail Edge program and get a hold of a nice Quad Core CPU. If you don't know what that means, it's like a V-12 engine as far as performance goes. And most of everything else is a beat up four-banger 20 year old Ford Escort in comparison. Just sayin'

working in a gold mine

I Has Employment

The interview with Intrex went really well, it seems. They called me not 24 hours later to offer me a job. It's not Greensboro Day School, sadly, but it's still a big step up from Best Buy as far as potential is concerned. I'll be starting out making at least as much as I did when I left Best Buy with plenty of opportunities for bonuses and the like. I go in tomorrow at 10AM (bleh-ish) to start the paperwork and all that fun stuff. And it looks like they don't mind working with me on some weekends so I can work the Renaissance Festival with no hassles. Even better, the job I'm being offered has a SET schedule. I know what I'll be working every week unless someone asks me if I can make a change for a week. Huzzah! And even if I didn't have a set schedule, the store is only open for one "shift" anyway. The store never opens before 10PM and never closes later than 8PM. I can live with that. It looks like I might, might have to get up at 8-8:30AM at the earliest. And I doubt I'll ever have to be there later than 9PM. I'm really jazzed about the job. They offer health, vision, dental, 401(k). And the room for growth is good.

Also: I'm feeling a lot better now. Everything's gone except a little congestion, but the loratadine I got from Wal-Mart (generic Claritin) is helping that out a whole lot.

take the 8:15 into the city

Not Dead, Just Sick

Yeah. About a week ago I picked up some bug or another. No congestion at first, just that sudden creeping pain and fever that crawls up your back and up over your head. Flu-like in that regard. Felt fine at dinner, then like utter crap a few hours later. Fever's broke then come back a couple of times only now there's post-nasal drippage. Fun times, fun times. It's not terrible. I feel like I'm getting better. Less ache and little, if any, fever. It's really more groggy/funny feeling in the head than fever and ache now. There's no discoloration of mucus to suggest infection, at least. And I'm not really all that congested. Just enough to be really irritating, but not enough to be able to do anything with it like, I dunno, sneeze/cough/hack/blow it out. Bleh. I've had much worse.
Gross, perhaps a little too much information, but these are the things I think about when I'm sick. Very clinical. There's a lot of medical professionals in my family.

In good news, I have a job interview tomorrow at 11AM. Not with Greensboro Day School, though. I haven't heard anything from them, yet. Which is disappointing. I'd much rather have that job. But I got a call today from the District Manager of Intrex Computers today. They're a local-ish computer parts only outfit. It's retail-ish, but it's a job at least. I do, however, grow weary of having to explain why I don't work at Best Buy anymore. Actually, I get tired of having to do it in a way that doesn't come off as virulent and bitter. It's not easy. But yay interview? Especially considering they weren't hiring when I put in my application and test. Go figure that out.

iiii-hiii am a maaa-haaaan of constant sooorrroooowww...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I'd love to write a full review, but the book came out two days ago and I'm not really one for spoiling things. But I can give you a breakdown of some vague highlights, at least.

Read time: Two sittings. First Sitting: approx. 235 pages, 2 hours. Second Sitting: Finished the book, 6 hours.

So points I liked, in all their vague glory: Snape and Neville. These two characters get to shine, albeit kindly briefly. This was Harry's book and efforts alone, really. Not the solid team effort that the last two books were. The ending...was foreseeable. It was good, mind you, but not terribly surprising. That might be the only complaint I really have with the book. Some of the major points felt a little telegraphed. But maybe I'm just good at predicting things based on previous evidence. Did anyone else feel this way, or am I the only one? *shrug* Well worth the $20 and ten minutes we paid at K-Mart to pick it up Saturday at midnight in the morning.

darth severus. heh.

Hannah Misses Snow

I couldn't think of a title. So sue me.

A lot has gone on since my last post. Heh. I'm all slow and can't blog anymore. Is ok. I've seen Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was ok, but felt more like And Now Some Highlights from the Book... But it was good. The biggest thing I wanted to see but missed was Neville growing a spine and coming into his own. I really think it could have been about an hour longer so as to shove in a little more depth, but it was good. It was certainly MILES better than Eragon, which is only topped by Legend of Earthsea in horrible book raping.

We had a very brief visitor stay with us recently. One night recently, Hannah found a little kitten wandering around under cars and chased her around outside trying to keep her out from under the cars. Chris finally caught the thing. She was a little black thing with a small spot of white fur on her chin and the toes of three feet were white with one back leg nearly all white. So Chris named her Broga, which means "boot" in Gaelic. She was weak, so they took her to the vet. She had worms, and was a little dehydrated. They got some meds and a little kitten formula. Unfortunately, she was just too sick. She was doing ok for a day or two, but in the end, the dehydration was just a little too severe. She started to get weak and cool and they took her to the vet again. The vet said she was just too dehydrated. She passed away at the vet's office the following morning. Lani was, of course, torn up, and Chris was a little, too. His paternal instincts are starting to kick in, it seems. But it was like I told Chris: it was just her time. At least we made her comfy for her last couple of days. She was loved, well-fed, warm. It's still sad. Lani and Chris have been going to the local pet store daily for "fuzz therapy" since she passed. They're definitely thinking of getting another cat when they get moved into the new place, which should start this week upcoming.

And I'm going to be looking into it for my place, too. DT's never been a lone cat, Ebony's always been around. And cats being social-ish creatures, it's usually good to keep them in pairs or so. Or at least, we always have. And as much as I'd love a dog, I don't like small ones, I don't have a yard, and I can't afford one right now. Maybe soon, though. I'd love a Corgi.

Job front: no one seems to be hiring around my place in retail. Odd. But I have heard from Greensboro Day School's Director of Technology, and my interview should be scheduled for sometime next week. Yay!

let it snow?

ZOMG :-O

Right. So. Transformers. Haaaa!!! So awesome!

Seriously. The film was fan service in a crystal glass on a silver platter next to plate full of bacon at a five star resort pool served by Chuck Norris. Beer-battered and deep-fried with a side of ranch dressing. Heh. It opened with Hasbro in big across the screen. And Peter Cullen coming on a voice-over intro. Optimus Prime! The real Optimus Prime!! Shia LaBeouf shined as Sam/Spike, he's grown as an actor since his Disney Days. And Bumblebee's car mode antics were hilarious. The only thing I didn't like was the movie didn't lend much characterization to the Decepticons. Oh, they were awesomely badass. Every one of them had their own version. Except maybe Frenzy, but he was hilarious anyway. I plan to see it again.

Hannah should be home tomorrow evening. Which means I need to bust my butt and clean the place up. Sigh. I've started a little bit. Tidied some things up in the kitchen and living room, but that whole zone of the apartment is a disaster area. And I don't have enough direct control over the room to clean it up all the way. But I can do my own room and the bathroom, at least. Bleh. I hate cleaning bathrooms. But...

Eh. It'll just be nice to have her "home" again. I've missed her.

my brown-eyed girl