How does one...

...get back on the horse exactly?

I spent a lot of time on Facebook (yeah, that's right -- I'm finally part of the 21st century -- or at least this year's social netowrking thing... I'm sure it will be replaced soon enough by the next big thing everyone wishes they'd invested in before it was the next big thing -- or they would wish that if people actually still had money to invest...) this past week (well, a little less than a week, actually...) But I thought to myself, "Hey, if spent even a fraction of that time blogging, the way I mean to, well..."

So I made a deal with myself (personally, I don't trust me...) -- there will be a new post every day for a week. May not be that exciting, may not be that long, but there will be a post.

Tomorrow, I might even explain why and what caused me to drop off the planet for so long.

The concern was most touching...

...on the polka-doted part of LC, anyway.

I did, in fact, survive the blood donation. No muss, no fuss. And now I feel stupid for not having done it sooner. And apparently I can do it again in mid-October, so I may have just found a new thing to do...

* * *

So Bzzzzgrrrl tagged me recently (more on that later, I reckon) in an effort to get me to write I guess. Before that she told me she missed my blog. Before that I heard a similar sentiment from Boppie (of course, it was nice to hear from Boppie, period.) And before that even she-who-was-once-Murphy said something similar. I feel like I've been letting the readers down... all 16 or so of you...

And what do I talk about? I could introduce you to the new members of the O'Mazur Pride, but first I'd have to tell you about the Pantheon. And before I told you about that, I'd have to tell you about the Buffet to put it in context. I also still haven't talked movies, which is a whole other thing.

But maybe I'll just leave you with this article I read about junk mail, because I need to work on my timesheet for last week, because I do so enjoy getting paid...

More later. Hopefully soon.

In a few minutes...

...I will be giving blood (for the first time, can you believe it?) If I don't pass out cold, I'll have more for your later...

The problem with Sunday night concerts...

...is that Monday morning follows shortly behind them...

Still, MLW and I (and some friends from the ADSW, and some friends of theirs, who we'd never met before) had a neat-o keen time at the Birchmere (a peculiar little local venue) last night, where we saw The Puppini Sisters (who I always want to call the "fabulous Puppini Sisters," because I think it sounds better, and hey, they're three beautiful, musically talented, funny, glamorous girls who dress vintage and have accents (when they're talking, not when they're singing) -- I mean, what's not to like? Fabulous!) I commend them to you, if I haven't done so already. The group that opened for them was Mad Tea Party. I hadn't heard of them and don't know as that I would have sought them out otherwise, but they weren't half bad... kinda an R&B, meets early soul, meets early rock & roll, meets surf sound sorta thing. I'm sure WPE would correct me for leaving out five or six influences... But hey, you don't see too many people playing the electric ukulele these days... (as opposed to back in the day, when EVERYONE played it...)

Anyway, I'm blaming the fact that we got back late and, of course, needed to attend to the Pantheon (trust me, that's a whole other post), on why I didn't get to post one of the other posts last night.

I will say (completely unrelated) The Incredible Hulk may not have been, but it was certainly satisfactory (and as stockholders, it's important to support the Marvel brand...)

Oh, and SQ sent me this little bit on Iron Man Legos.

More to come.

Brain buffer = Holding at 7.

An Amusing bit...

...I heard on NPR yesterday on the way to the chiropractor. It sort of sums up the election rather nicely. Click here and then on the "listen now" link.

Brain Buffer = 7

*tap, tap, tap*...

...is this thing on? Anyone still out there? I have my doubts...

So, I've been reading bzzzzgrrrl's blog during lunch the past few days -- trying to catch up since I haven't read it since March (not sure how that happened, except that it's probably the same reason I haven't written in so long), and it's taking surprisingly long, because I rarely take a full lunch, and because bzzzzgrrrl (who I have in the past referred to as OriginalWeb, mainly because I can never remember how many "z's" and "r's" there are...) posts, you know, regularly -- like multiple times a day in some cases, and she has people regularly commenting... It's like how an actually blog should be, in other words... I am shamed by comparison...

Anyway, lots of stuff happened (much of it mundane and boring) and some of it mildly interesting (or at least I can make the retellings sound so...) So there's a lot in the brain buffer (I'd say about 8 or so posts). I'm going to try to be better about this, but I can't promise anything -- I try to be better almost every day and still fail regularly... I doubt I'd make it up to the standard bzzzzgrrrl has set, anyway.

Plus, I spend too much time on EBay...

More soon.

Brain buffer count: +7

If you haven't read it yet...

...it's new to you. Or something.

(Some people are going to see some of this for a second time, since I sent an email on some of it...)

So first some sad news, E. Gary Gygax, known to some as the "father of roleplaying games" or at a bare minimum one of the creators of Dungeons & Dragons apparently passed away this morning from an ongoing set of health issues. As the Insidious Mr. Huge said, "Cue the jokes about failing your saving throw" now. But it gets weirder... I later realized during a conversation with WPE, that Gygax passed away on GM's Day. That's right, the guy who creates roleplaying just happens to go to the big Gaming Convention in the Sky on the day set aside to honor gamemasters? How freaky is that? Not that I'm implying a conspiracy or anything, that might be disrespectful.

* * *

Before receiving the sad news about Gygax, I was excited because I had accidentally discovered that you could download old radio shows (Old Time Radio = OTR) on the web, for free in many cases. I found two sites where you can go. Enjoy the "theatre of the mind."

While near the topic of OTR, I thought I should also share with y'all some recent discoveries involving the pulps on the Interweb these days... This site does repro postcards of old Pulp covers. (Tacky? Possibly. But in the good way.) Not to be confused with Nostalgia Town, which does pulp reprints (with illustrations and everything) of various famous pulp characters' adventures (in addition to radio and other era goodness). This is interesting, because just a year or two back, I think some guys had a site shut down for that... and I believe that saga is chronicled here (though I haven't read it all myself yet...) You might also want to check out Adventure House. And don't forget the Pulp.Net for a good basic background on what's what and who's who.

* * *

What else? SQ sent me this one a little while back... Who doesn't love the Jabba the Hutt beanbag chair..? And many other rejected Star Wars promotional items...

And speaking of Lucasfilm, this article talks about how totally awesome the new Indiana Jones trailer is, which I think I mentioned already...

I'm sure there's more... but it's all I have time for right now...

So Cousin Zach...

...might have a future in opera...

We babysat for the second time in his life and well, I think it was... um... well, actually jury's still out on whether it was "better" or "worse." The first time, Zach screamed for half an hour and then MLW picked him up, he fell asleep, and stayed that way until his parents came to claim him (fun side note: the power went out about an hour later, so we had no choice but to literally watch him sleep after that...)

This time, he started crying three minutes after he realized his parents weren't in the room (they were at the Bon Jovi concert). By comparison, it was more crying than screaming (maybe his voice changed and he can't hit the high notes any more?) He continued for about and hour and a half, and then MLW picked him up and, you guessed it; he fell asleep.

I just wind up feeling like we're lousy babysitters... nothing we do seems to help. Toys, TV, reading to him, food... hell, I even enlisted Loki to help at one point (and he tried). Ah, well, maybe it's the separation anxiety phase he's in.

* * *

In other news, an awesome new Iron Man Trailer brought to my attention by MLW.

* * *

And a way overdue addition to the links over on the side. OriginalWeb's blog, which is updated far more frequently, and is much more amusing than mine. Also, more talk of squirrels on average...

* * *

And finally, some ret-con posts that have been sitting around waiting for me to finish them. So if you want to step back in time a couple of weeks, you can hear me yappin' about something and whining about something else. Also, stayed tuned, as we'll shortly be having more info on the whole "stuff stolen from luggage" story...

Viva Las...

...Veg... ah, who am I kidding? I think the old joke goes something like, "I just flew in from Vegas and, boy, are my arms tired..."

Except actually, we actually flew in Monday night and really, I then slept for about 16 (or was it 18?) hours... and then it was time to get up and go to the AWLA and pet the kitties...

I'd say the Vegas trip was everything I wanted it to be, but I'd be lying. We started out on a bad footing -- the flight was canceled -- the [unnamed for legal reason] airline then tried to re-book us for Sunday... that would be great, except we were leaving to fly home on Monday, so that didn't work out so well for us... So, instead we got put on another flight, spent a large quantity of time in the Atlanta airport, and bing, bang, boom, instead of checking into the hotel in Vegas at dinnertime Friday evening, we instead arrived closer to 2 a.m. Saturday morning.

And that more or less set the tone for the rest of the trip...

I'll share the rotten cherry on top with you. On Sunday, we spent a nice afternoon having lunch at the Stratosphere's Top of the World (a revolving restaurant that gives one a view of the city). Point of interest: getting to the Top of the World requires going through a metal detector (the only one I've thus encountered in Vegas... clearly the belief is that the terrorists would only want to blow up the tallest structure in Sin City... or something... don't get me started on security...), which, in turn, resulted in my having to "check" my swiss army knife.

So, nice lunch, excellent view, many pictures, and then suddenly we had to dash out because we had tickets to see a show back at Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino (not to be confused with the Planet Hollywood Restaurant, which, quite counter-intuitively is located in Caesar's). The show was quite good -- but seriously how could it not be -- the man trained housecats! I say again, trained housecats...

Anyway, the Oscars telecast (on three hours earlier in Vegas), a short nap, and then dinner later -- actually, just sitting down to dinner, and MLW suddenly remembers, "*gasp* We forgot to pick up your knife!" And literally runs away from the table. Then the food arrives. So MDFA and I make small talk with the waiter (why is it never the same waiter as your primary waiter that brings your food?) and MLW arrives back with a tale of concierge confabbing. The upshot -- all we have to do is go all the way back across to the other side of the Strip and talk to Security and we can pick up the knife. I briefly considered abandoning it... it's as not as if it's a particularly expensive knife... but, I've had it for ~25 years, and my parents gave it to me, so it was only briefly.

So MLW and I wound up doing just that (MDFA opted out... go figure...) And a few short arguments later, $7.34 lost in penny slots, visits to two different security desks, and a short stop at the MGM Gift Shop later (on the way through the lobby), and our plans for the night before we left finished off.

At this point, you may be wondering why I told you all that. (That is, presuming you're even still reading... all four of you). Well, knowing I had to get on the plane in the morning I simply packed the knife in my luggage (the bag that gets checked, not the carry-on obviously...) Packed in that same pocket, four pairs of cuff links in two tiny bags, a mini-screwdriver (with removable heads, stored separately in an old Dramamine container), and an adapter for MLW's cellphone.

So, after we were back from the AWLA (anyone remember where this story began? Anyone?) and I finally had the chance to speak to my lovely wife in 20 or so hours, and I finally get to ask if she had unpacked anything on her own or moved stuff, because, five things were missing from my checked bag: my mini-screwdriver, four pairs of cufflinks in two tiny bags, and... wait for it... my swiss army knife. And when I say "missing," I mean "stolen."

Thank you! Good Night! Elvis has left the building!

Awesome!

So many things to deal with... movie nights, parental visits, etc. But hey, in the meantime, check this out...

So, for Valentine's Day...

...MLW and I decided to give our love to the kitties at the AWLA shelter. (We're kinda not into the whole "You must buy a gift because Hallmark-says-so sorta" holidays... And yes, before anyone corrects me, yes, I know that Hallmark didn't invent the holiday.)

Interestingly enough, there's apparently a theme taking place on a grander scale...

Happy Potomac...

...primary or something...

Except totally not... it took two hours to get home last night and in so doing I got to the polling place at 7:07 pm -- know what that meant? Yep, you guessed it? Didn't get to vote. So then I went the remainder of the way home and arrived about five minutes before our dinner reservations were supposed to be for... Not that big a deal, since we'd already decided that we weren't going out... and, in fact, when MLW called to cancel the reservations no one even answered the phone...

I can't imagine why the Commonwealth did not extend the voting hours... hell, even Maryland thought to do that.

So, all-in-all, exactly what 37 should feel like, I reckon...

Watching the Super-Bowl (Ads)...

...(and the Super-Bowl, too) because, really what else is there to do on Super-Bowl Sunday...?

Publish something back in time?

We spent sometime yesterday at Cousin Zach's 1st birthday party (his actual birthday isn't until over a week from now, but he didn't seem to mind getting the presents early... another thing we have in common...) Pictures forthcoming, I presume...

Let's see, I think there's a bunch of stuff I've had lying around...

I could have told them this one...

* * *

Apparently, Iron Man fans have lots of time on their hands... 'Course, I understand the movie is making people pretty excited.

* * *

Think about the future, why don'tcha?

And while you're wondering how quickly technology insinuates itself into our lives, you might want to check out this year's Beloit College Mindset list. For those of you unfamiliar with that, here's the explanation page. (It's also very good if you need to feel old...)

* * *

Then there's this:

17

More to come, I imagine...

Mark my words, you're going to see Indy EVERYTHING...

SQ sent this one in... it's yet another spud based toy that we must have...

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Finally...

...this means that YouTube, now has everything on it. Repeat, everything is now on YouTube.

And I am, again, vindicated.

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Awesome!

Well, I know where my money's going in '08.... (Thanks to SQ to bringing this to my attention).

Long awaited update post coming soon (if MLW gets the pic's online).

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2007: A Year in Review

The following was intended to be 2007's Xmas letter, but I got put in charge, and you know how those things tend to turn out... Thus, we sent NO cards this year (see? Told ya... so no need to be offended, we didn't send to anyone...) Anyway, for those of you that are actually curious as to what's happening in our little, localized section of reality, well, feel free to read on...

* * *

Well, 2007 was another busy year for us (isn't it always, though?). We started new projects, added to our family and traveled quite a bit.

We started a monthly movie night, with a full, old-fashioned schedule of cartoons, serials, and two features (sometimes classic, sometimes contemporary). The nights seem popular, and we certainly have enjoyed watching old favorites and experiencing new entertainment.

We welcomed JAM’s 1st Cousin-once-removed, Zach, to the world, and have been amazed at how quickly he’s grown (and grown and grown). By the holidays he was walking – sort of – and clearly has a mind of his own. Allyson and Ricardo will have their hands full with him!

We had the great excitement (Woo. Hoo.) of redoing our master bathroom, and having our pipes replaced. We now love our bathroom. The re-pipe was… challenging, and we got into a legal dispute with the company. But, thanks to a wonderful lawyer friend, we’re now done with them. (If you plan to have any plumbing done, please ask for the name of a company to avoid...)

We saw Phantom of the Opera, and Avenue Q. Both were wonderful, although in very different ways. Phantom was exciting and the special effects were wonderful (and we hadn't seen it in like 15 years...), Avenue Q was dirty and wrong and hysterical.

We went to not one but two comic conventions this year. New York ComicCon (we LOVE NY!) was huge and exciting, although bitter cold outside made traveling a little unpleasant (OMG it was cold! And so windy!). We stayed in Weehawken, and took the ferry across the river, met lots of interesting people, bought way too much stuff and in general had a great time. Philadelphia Wizard World (in June) was a lot of fun. The Reading Terminal Market provided wonderful lunches, and we got to see both the cheerleader from Heroes and Number Six from BattleStar Galactica. We continued our new "con hobby" of collecting art and again came away with large quantities of stuff.

We traveled to Philadelphia a second time to see the King Tut exhibit with Debbie and Jim. The exhibit was wonderful and our time with Debbie and Jim was, as always, enjoyable.

We also traveled to North Carolina to visit Jenny and Andy before they had their son (back in March). Andy took a group of us on a walking tour and we got to learn much about Durham’s history. We went to see the Lemurs, and ate gelato (Mmmm... gelato...), and had lunch with Brian and Katie.

For our anniversary we went to Niagara Falls. We stayed in a wonderful hotel with a view of the falls. It rained the first day there, so we did all the wet tourist stuff – the boat to the bottom of the falls, walking under the falls. We also went to the local zoo and saw a magic show (where we got our picture taken with a tiger!).

For the holidays we hosted Jennifer’s parents here. Allyson and Ricardo wanted Zach to spend his first Christmas at home, so we all stayed here. Allyson hosted Christmas Eve dinner and Jennifer hosted Christmas Day dinner, and good food was had all around. (After Xmas we went to NJ to see JAM's relatives.)

In October Jennifer left her job of six years and took a position at the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy. She’s the Manager of Information Services, essentially the entire IT department, so is learning a lot about everything related to computers. An office with a window certainly is a step up and having budget control is fun.

Jonathan is still the President of the Art Deco Society of Washington, although he did not stand for re-election so is stepping down in January. Jennifer is still the secretary of the home owners association, and still enjoying the interpersonal drama. We both are volunteering at the Alexandria animal shelter, working as cat companions. Spending two hours a week petting cats is much more relaxing than either of our jobs (or other volunteering work...) As an outgrowth of that work in November we fostered four kittens. None of them had been socialized, so we spent several weeks convincing them that people are actually pretty cool. In the end we gave three back, and kept a little girl (totally didn't see THAT coming...) So Loki now has a little sister named Morrigan. He’s taking the changing fairly well, although is clearly upset that she’s touching all his stuff and doesn’t let him nap as much as he’s used to. She believes 3am is the best time to run around and play, and he believes that 6am is the best time to beat her up. So far there has been no blood or broken bones, although several tufts of grey fur have floated past.

Stay in touch in 2008!

[Please note: for those interested in such things, I highly recommend looking at the entire set of photos on the fliker account -- we linked to as many as we could, but there's many, many more...]