I hope y'all had a very merry christmas this year, or whichever winter solstice holiday you observe (as a Unitarian, I feel free to borrow whatever holiday traditions appeal without asking permission. Doesn't quite make up for when they use to burn us at the stake, but you take what you can get. Anywho.)
I worked hard to instill an appreciation for reading in Taylor when she was young, and refused to let myself freak out when she wasn't already reading Russian novelists or "The Monster at the End of This Book" when she was three. Or four. Or five. And now, at thirteen, she reads like a maniac. Whenever she goes anywhere, she has to lug around several books to read, and she usually finished them all before she gets home. I worry that she's going to give herself a hernia the next time she is packing for a two-week vacation.
So, for christmas this year, Julie and I bought her a Kindle. Her reaction when she opened it? "This is good. This is very good," whispered over and over in a hushed awe. "I can carry all my books with me everywhere..." We got her set up and downloaded the latest Harry Dresden book, and she's been curled up on the couch with it all afternoon. Now that she's a teenager, I have no doubt that there will be plenty of times when her parents are clueless dweebs who just don't understand anything. But this year we got it right, and I am happy.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
I Don't Think The Grocery Store Carries Those....
Saturday morning I'm at the grocery store to get some rations to see us through the weekend. Night before, Julie had texted me a shopping list because she knows I won't remember what she tells me we need, and she certainly doesn't want me to call and ask her when she's sleeping. So I pull out my phone and check the list:
sodas
milk
eggs
cat food
cat litter
puppy numbing
bitch
fuckerhead
sonofabitch
dammit
damn
prostitution whore!
sodas
milk
eggs
cat food
cat litter
puppy numbing
bitch
fuckerhead
sonofabitch
dammit
damn
prostitution whore!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
In The Spirit Of International Goodwill
To any non-US readers:
Okay, so, you didn't grow up with a heavily sanitized version of the tale of a bunch of snotty religious fanatics leaving England for a land they were so unequipped to survive in that they damn near had to eat their own dead to survive. Zealots who were pretty much rescued by the native tribes whom they re-paid by giving them smallpox and stealing their land, paving the way for hysterical persecutions of single women for witchcraft a couple of generations later. And you probably have to go to work today, because for you it's just another Thursday.
Nevertheless, Happy Thanksgiving!
Okay, so, you didn't grow up with a heavily sanitized version of the tale of a bunch of snotty religious fanatics leaving England for a land they were so unequipped to survive in that they damn near had to eat their own dead to survive. Zealots who were pretty much rescued by the native tribes whom they re-paid by giving them smallpox and stealing their land, paving the way for hysterical persecutions of single women for witchcraft a couple of generations later. And you probably have to go to work today, because for you it's just another Thursday.
Nevertheless, Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Sneak Preview
Did a little photo editing this weekend, and I feel like showing it off. This will end up in a Need More Rage post, probably sometime this week.
Click to embiggen
"Get off my city, or Ima gonna break your iron frickin' jaw!"
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Thoughts On The Upcoming WoW Expansion
Two years ago I was looking forward to the upcoming Wrath expansion with the expectation that things would pick up where they left off. I had been raiding quite successfully the previous spring and summer with Aetherial Circle, but that had come to an end as summer doldrums, pre-expansion doldrums, and general burn-out took a toll on the roster until the GM called a halt. But with the expansion, everything was going to go back to how it had been before. Right? Eh....
There were tensions that I had not been fully aware of. Tensions between people who wanted to go farther, faster, and people who were in it for the sense of being part of a team. There was a struggle for the soul of the guild in the early days of Wrath, and my side lost. At the time it seemed like a really huge deal, and I was hurt and frustrated. Then came the bizarre, twisted destruction of Sidhe Devils, which had been my place to go chill out. Again, I was hurt and frustrated.
Now, going into Cataclysm, my expectations are a lot lower, and I think that is a good thing. Part of that is a better understanding that guilds do break up and die. Part of it is the experience I had with The Left Claw, where I was able to gear up, join an existing raid, and be a contributing member even as we did the hardest fights in the game. Part of it is the dungeon finder tool, and the freedom it offers to join a group and reap the rewards whenever I feel like it. And part of it is having a real life family I can play with.
So, I go into Cataclysm with some vague plans. I will level to 85 and raid some. I will level some new alts. I will play with people I like. But I don't have any concerns about the lack of specificity. I don't needto be driven. I don't need to reach the point I can raid before day X, or risk losing it all. I am free to do a little of this, and a little of that. So, I am looking forward to this expansion too, but in a very, very different way.
There were tensions that I had not been fully aware of. Tensions between people who wanted to go farther, faster, and people who were in it for the sense of being part of a team. There was a struggle for the soul of the guild in the early days of Wrath, and my side lost. At the time it seemed like a really huge deal, and I was hurt and frustrated. Then came the bizarre, twisted destruction of Sidhe Devils, which had been my place to go chill out. Again, I was hurt and frustrated.
Now, going into Cataclysm, my expectations are a lot lower, and I think that is a good thing. Part of that is a better understanding that guilds do break up and die. Part of it is the experience I had with The Left Claw, where I was able to gear up, join an existing raid, and be a contributing member even as we did the hardest fights in the game. Part of it is the dungeon finder tool, and the freedom it offers to join a group and reap the rewards whenever I feel like it. And part of it is having a real life family I can play with.
So, I go into Cataclysm with some vague plans. I will level to 85 and raid some. I will level some new alts. I will play with people I like. But I don't have any concerns about the lack of specificity. I don't needto be driven. I don't need to reach the point I can raid before day X, or risk losing it all. I am free to do a little of this, and a little of that. So, I am looking forward to this expansion too, but in a very, very different way.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Terms Of Endearment
Her: Come over here. I want cuddles.
:: cuddling ::
Her: Aiyeeee! Your foot is freezing!
Me: Yeah, it was sticking out from under the blanket.
Her: You cannot do that! Crazy motherfucker.
Me: ... I'm your husband. You cannot call me a "motherfucker."
Her: I just did. Bitch.
Me: This is so going on the blog.
:: cuddling ::
Her: Aiyeeee! Your foot is freezing!
Me: Yeah, it was sticking out from under the blanket.
Her: You cannot do that! Crazy motherfucker.
Me: ... I'm your husband. You cannot call me a "motherfucker."
Her: I just did. Bitch.
Me: This is so going on the blog.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
New Rules
Rule 1: Oatmeal raison cookies from Tiff's Treats are a legitimate substitute for the planned evening meal.
Rule 2: Dogs are no longer allowed to pull the insole out of my sneakers and bite holes in them.
Rule 3: In all future residences, the television where the teenaged offspring tend to congregate on Friday and Saturday evenings will not be located right outside of our bedroom door.
Rule 4: No one will talk about Rule 4. Ever.
Rule 5: When inviting relatives for the weekend, make sure they understand this does not mean "show up on Tuesday."
Rule 2: Dogs are no longer allowed to pull the insole out of my sneakers and bite holes in them.
Rule 3: In all future residences, the television where the teenaged offspring tend to congregate on Friday and Saturday evenings will not be located right outside of our bedroom door.
Rule 4: No one will talk about Rule 4. Ever.
Rule 5: When inviting relatives for the weekend, make sure they understand this does not mean "show up on Tuesday."
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The One Where I Talk About My Sex Life
Back when I was still with Brett, I used to be pretty unhappy about my sex life. Year after year, the frequency would decline, and while sometimes it could be very good, sometimes it could be not good, sometimes even to the point of being downright bad. The six months or so that she would break out in hives at the end was particularly memorable, but often things were more mundane. "You've been really sweet and kind and attentive and helpful today, but I'd just rather stay up and watch this thirty-year-old sitcom than go to bed with you." "OMFG. You guys were like roommates. I think I would kill myself," was Hydra's response when I told her what it had been like. Looking back, I can see that a lot of what I thought was love and affection was really just her hormones kicking into overdrive for a few days. When that had happened to her in college, she'd go on a tear and sleep with a different guy every night. But then I came along, and I was safe and reliable and dependable, so we would be romantic and passionate until her itch was done being scratched. I would take it as a sign she really did love me, and cling to it through the following dry spell. But when the dry spells grew to be multiple months long, even I caught a clue.
Then, Julie entered my life. She not only enjoyed sex as much as I did, she really did love me. (And, yeah, it was a brand new, exciting relationship. That never hurts.) We made love whenever could, in person during our too-infrequent visits together, over the phone or on-line when we had to be apart. For eight months, it was wonderful.
Then came the cancer diagnosis.
We tried to keep the passion going, we both did. But when you don't know if you're going to live or die, when you're being cut into and poisoned and irradiated, when you throw up after every meal and your hair falls out and your breasts are removed, it's pretty damn hard to feel sexy. And I was far too scared I'd lose her, and concerned about her health, and focused on trying everything I could to make life easier for her to be much of a horndog either. But, there was always affection, always a desire to be close to each other as much and as often as possible. I never, ever felt alone the way I did with Brett.
So now, four months after the treatments ended, where are we? In a lot of ways, Julie is recovered from the ordeal. Much of her physical strength is back, and she (and I) aren't fighting a constant battle with fear anymore. (The fear is still there, for me at least, but it's down to a quiet background hum.) Unfortunately, though, her interest in sex hasn't come back. As she said to me the other night,
"I miss wanting sex. I know that sounds weird, but it's like my sex drive took off. I want it back."
It's not that she objects to sex, it's just not something on her radar anymore. Combined with the facts that she works 3-4 nights a week so we often only see each other for a few minutes in the morning and the evening, and we now have her son (and on weekends, my daughter) living with us so there's a lot less privacy, it just doesn't happen all that often. Like, about the same frequency I had with Brett. She's apologized to me, a couple of times, about the irony of it all, that I'm still not getting any. But it's not the same.
For one thing, there's still a lot of physical affection. Cuddling, backrubs, and tickling - I never was particularly ticklish as an adult, but Julie can get me to shriek hysterically. For another, there's still some pain, as her body struggles to adapt to having several lymph nodes removed. This will get better with time. I know she's having to deal with body image issues. I still find her sexy as hell, but it's hard for her, after years of having big magnificent knockers, to accept a pair of small, uneven lumps of fat and scar tissue. This will get easier with time, particularly next year when things have healed enough to get cosmetic surgery. And someday, in a few years, the kids will go off to college - Whoo hoo!
So, yeah, the era of frequent, easy sex is gone. And I miss it, sometimes. But I am loved, and I get to give and receive affection, and I know it'll get easier with time, instead of the slow steady decline I had before. So, I'm okay with it. Gods know, there's a lot worse things that could happen.
I used to write her erotic stories, back in the pre-cancer days. Sometimes featuring us, sometimes our warcraft characters. They could get her (and me) very excited, and add some very enjoyable spice. But I stopped doing that when things got grim a year ago. This week, I started writing a new one. I'll show it to her this weekend, when we both have some time, and we shall see what happens.
Then, Julie entered my life. She not only enjoyed sex as much as I did, she really did love me. (And, yeah, it was a brand new, exciting relationship. That never hurts.) We made love whenever could, in person during our too-infrequent visits together, over the phone or on-line when we had to be apart. For eight months, it was wonderful.
Then came the cancer diagnosis.
We tried to keep the passion going, we both did. But when you don't know if you're going to live or die, when you're being cut into and poisoned and irradiated, when you throw up after every meal and your hair falls out and your breasts are removed, it's pretty damn hard to feel sexy. And I was far too scared I'd lose her, and concerned about her health, and focused on trying everything I could to make life easier for her to be much of a horndog either. But, there was always affection, always a desire to be close to each other as much and as often as possible. I never, ever felt alone the way I did with Brett.
So now, four months after the treatments ended, where are we? In a lot of ways, Julie is recovered from the ordeal. Much of her physical strength is back, and she (and I) aren't fighting a constant battle with fear anymore. (The fear is still there, for me at least, but it's down to a quiet background hum.) Unfortunately, though, her interest in sex hasn't come back. As she said to me the other night,
"I miss wanting sex. I know that sounds weird, but it's like my sex drive took off. I want it back."
It's not that she objects to sex, it's just not something on her radar anymore. Combined with the facts that she works 3-4 nights a week so we often only see each other for a few minutes in the morning and the evening, and we now have her son (and on weekends, my daughter) living with us so there's a lot less privacy, it just doesn't happen all that often. Like, about the same frequency I had with Brett. She's apologized to me, a couple of times, about the irony of it all, that I'm still not getting any. But it's not the same.
For one thing, there's still a lot of physical affection. Cuddling, backrubs, and tickling - I never was particularly ticklish as an adult, but Julie can get me to shriek hysterically. For another, there's still some pain, as her body struggles to adapt to having several lymph nodes removed. This will get better with time. I know she's having to deal with body image issues. I still find her sexy as hell, but it's hard for her, after years of having big magnificent knockers, to accept a pair of small, uneven lumps of fat and scar tissue. This will get easier with time, particularly next year when things have healed enough to get cosmetic surgery. And someday, in a few years, the kids will go off to college - Whoo hoo!
So, yeah, the era of frequent, easy sex is gone. And I miss it, sometimes. But I am loved, and I get to give and receive affection, and I know it'll get easier with time, instead of the slow steady decline I had before. So, I'm okay with it. Gods know, there's a lot worse things that could happen.
I used to write her erotic stories, back in the pre-cancer days. Sometimes featuring us, sometimes our warcraft characters. They could get her (and me) very excited, and add some very enjoyable spice. But I stopped doing that when things got grim a year ago. This week, I started writing a new one. I'll show it to her this weekend, when we both have some time, and we shall see what happens.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Things I Have Learned Watching Television
Towing an expensive car and needing to go to the bathroom really really bad is a dangerous combination.
You should not wear $1600 shoes if you are going to be marooned on a tropical island.
It is hard to keep a secret from your wife if you have a camera crew following you around.
If your "learning disability" is causing you to flunk out of law school and you are petitioning for "special consideration", that may be a sign that you aren't cut out to be a lawyer.
Bringing your mistress to a first date does not go over well.
You should not wear $1600 shoes if you are going to be marooned on a tropical island.
It is hard to keep a secret from your wife if you have a camera crew following you around.
If your "learning disability" is causing you to flunk out of law school and you are petitioning for "special consideration", that may be a sign that you aren't cut out to be a lawyer.
Bringing your mistress to a first date does not go over well.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Any Day Now....
....gonna start exercising. Really. I mean it. Just need to find the right motivation.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Reunions
This weekend my friend Laura came to visit. It was a short stopover as she does a whirlwind cross-country trip, but for twenty-four hours we got to hang out and catch up. We'd been really good friends in college, and while we've kept in touch over the years (mostly), this was the first time we'd managed to be in the same place at the same time in about fifteen years.
(I'm the one with the really big head)
It was a super visit. Even though we are both a lot older than we were when we were seventeen, and have very different (and way more complex) lives than we once did, we still got along great. We talked about what we've been up to, where we hope to be going, what we watch on tv, what we think of certain political hot-button topics, the works. I thought she was interesting even though she's kinda quirky, she thought I was interesting even though I'm kinda quirky, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. The only regrets were that it had to end so soon.
Hopefully we won't have to wait another fifteen years to see each other again.
Meanwhile, my 25th anniversary high school reunion is later this month. When I went to the 20th, I found myself being pulled into a group that I had been somewhat associated with in school. Friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends, and the ex-wife and nearly adult children of one friend. When I broke off to go mingle with other people, I wasn't literally roped and pulled back in, but somehow I kept finding myself with the same group of people. Many of whom seemed to want to act as if it was still the 1980s. "Let's go eat at the same restaurant we always used to!" "Tomorrow let's go to that place we always hung out at." It wasn't interesting. It wasn't fun. To be honest, I found it all a little creepy. And some of those people I really couldn't stand at all.
This time around, Facebook is all a-flutter with "hey let's all get together at so-and-so's house, and then we do X and it'll be just like old times." I'm sorry, but I'm not a teenager any more, and I'm not interested in reliving those days. So, I think I'm going resist the siren's cry of nostalgia, and stay home with my family instead.
(I'm the one with the really big head)
It was a super visit. Even though we are both a lot older than we were when we were seventeen, and have very different (and way more complex) lives than we once did, we still got along great. We talked about what we've been up to, where we hope to be going, what we watch on tv, what we think of certain political hot-button topics, the works. I thought she was interesting even though she's kinda quirky, she thought I was interesting even though I'm kinda quirky, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. The only regrets were that it had to end so soon.
Hopefully we won't have to wait another fifteen years to see each other again.
Meanwhile, my 25th anniversary high school reunion is later this month. When I went to the 20th, I found myself being pulled into a group that I had been somewhat associated with in school. Friends, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends, and the ex-wife and nearly adult children of one friend. When I broke off to go mingle with other people, I wasn't literally roped and pulled back in, but somehow I kept finding myself with the same group of people. Many of whom seemed to want to act as if it was still the 1980s. "Let's go eat at the same restaurant we always used to!" "Tomorrow let's go to that place we always hung out at." It wasn't interesting. It wasn't fun. To be honest, I found it all a little creepy. And some of those people I really couldn't stand at all.
This time around, Facebook is all a-flutter with "hey let's all get together at so-and-so's house, and then we do X and it'll be just like old times." I'm sorry, but I'm not a teenager any more, and I'm not interested in reliving those days. So, I think I'm going resist the siren's cry of nostalgia, and stay home with my family instead.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Flight Safety & Story Time
Bit of a blip in the news today: a regional jet landed at JFK with one wheel up. One dingleberry passenger decided to video the view out his window and post it on YouTube. Lots of sparks, but since a wheel-up landing is something pilots routinely train for there was no real drama, and everyone walked away unharmed. On the video, you can hear the flight attended repeatedly commanding the passengers "Heads down! Stay down!" Now, in a serious situation which is totally out of their control, people have a tendency to want to know what is going on, which in this case would tend to involve looking out the window (or possibly fiddling with your video camera). This maximizes the chances that your head is going to get bounced around like a rubber ball, doing all sorts of unpleasant things to your neck. So, strong, assertive, repeated, unambiguous instructions on what to do are a pretty good idea, and that's why flight attendants are trained to do this.
Yet a number of people left complaining comments on the various articles. Some said she's shrill. Some said she's annoying. Some said they have the right to do whatever the damn well they please, if they're going to die anyway. Some said she wasn't calming and soothing. All of them are pretty damn ignorant fucktards.
Flash back to 1937 or so. TWA DC-2 at an airport in the Midwest, with some serious storms in the area. The two pilots (one of whom, Tommy, would eventually become my grandfather) are discussing whether to take off or cancel the flight. They of course had far less meteorological information available to them than modern pilots would, so there was a fair amount of educated guesswork to the process. The stewardess, (Ruth, who would later become my grandmother) stuck her head in the cockpit and asked if they intended to take off.
"Yeah, we're thinking we might," says one pilot.
"Okay, if you decide to go, let me know so I can jump off," Ruth replies, and goes back into the cabin.
There's a pause. "You think she means it?"
"I think she does," says Tommy. They decided to cancel the flight.
Flight attendants. Keeping passengers safe for over seventy years.
Yet a number of people left complaining comments on the various articles. Some said she's shrill. Some said she's annoying. Some said they have the right to do whatever the damn well they please, if they're going to die anyway. Some said she wasn't calming and soothing. All of them are pretty damn ignorant fucktards.
Flash back to 1937 or so. TWA DC-2 at an airport in the Midwest, with some serious storms in the area. The two pilots (one of whom, Tommy, would eventually become my grandfather) are discussing whether to take off or cancel the flight. They of course had far less meteorological information available to them than modern pilots would, so there was a fair amount of educated guesswork to the process. The stewardess, (Ruth, who would later become my grandmother) stuck her head in the cockpit and asked if they intended to take off.
"Yeah, we're thinking we might," says one pilot.
"Okay, if you decide to go, let me know so I can jump off," Ruth replies, and goes back into the cabin.
There's a pause. "You think she means it?"
"I think she does," says Tommy. They decided to cancel the flight.
Flight attendants. Keeping passengers safe for over seventy years.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Nurses Make The Worst Patients
"I burning up!"
"Well, you're warm, but I wouldn't call it burning up exac-"
"You be quiet! You don't know nuthin'! I the nurse! I know these things! I gonna fuckin' die."
Let the record show: She didn't fuckin' die after all.
"Well, you're warm, but I wouldn't call it burning up exac-"
"You be quiet! You don't know nuthin'! I the nurse! I know these things! I gonna fuckin' die."
Let the record show: She didn't fuckin' die after all.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
When Netflix Says, "Yeah, I Got Nuthin'"
I added Max Headroom: The Complete Series to my Netflix queue, and the site suggested I might also be interested in movies starring Max von Sydow. Or I might want to see Max Payne.
What, no Mad Max? Sam and Max Hit the Road? Maximilian Schell?
C'mon Netflix, I clearly have an interest in movies or shows with characters and/or actors named Max. Help me out here!
What, no Mad Max? Sam and Max Hit the Road? Maximilian Schell?
C'mon Netflix, I clearly have an interest in movies or shows with characters and/or actors named Max. Help me out here!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Countdown
Monday, Julie's cancer was declared to be in full remission - a PET scan showed no signs of cancer anywhere in her body. This means one of two things: either her cancer is cured, or there are pre-cancerous timebombs hidden away in her body that cannot yet be detected. The only way to know which is to undergo regular full-body scans (every three months) to see if the cancer re-appears. If it does, then it is likely to continue to do so for the rest of her life. But if after five years it doesn't, then we conclude it was cured after all.
It kind of feels like being in a real-life Schrödinger's Cat experiment.
To help pass the time, and to encourage positive thinking, I'm setting up one of those cheap-ass web countdown timers.
It kind of feels like being in a real-life Schrödinger's Cat experiment.
To help pass the time, and to encourage positive thinking, I'm setting up one of those cheap-ass web countdown timers.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Just FYI
August in Texas? Yeah, not a good time or place for your car's air conditioner to stop working.
That is all.
That is all.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Raiding Icecrown Citadel
Click to embiggen - you know the drill.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Never A Dull Moment
Yesterday I was awakened by a delicious aroma, and Julie's voice saying, "Here baby, I fixed you french toast."
This morning I was awakened by one hand clamped around my ankle, the other vigorously tickling the bottom of my foot, and a cackling shriek of "IS PROCEDURE!"
Wonder what tomorrow will bring...
This morning I was awakened by one hand clamped around my ankle, the other vigorously tickling the bottom of my foot, and a cackling shriek of "IS PROCEDURE!"
Wonder what tomorrow will bring...
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Why I Like Dogs More Than Cats
The Dogs' response when I get home:
Hey! Dad's home!
He is?
He is!
Ow wow! We were afraid you were gone forever!
Hurray! Dad's home!
Dad will you take us for a walk?
I haven't licked your face all day!
Hope! Did you hear? Dad's home!
I'm so excited I gotta chase my tail!
Dad! Dad! Dad!
Best dad evah!
I'm so excited I just gotta nom on your leg!
Buffy! Did you hear? Dad's home!
Dad will you take us for a walk?
We missed you soooooooooooo so much!
I gotta sniff dad's feet!
This is the best thing that's ever happened to me!
Yay! Dad's home!
Dad, will go for a walk with me? It's my favorite thing!
Dad! I brought you my best chew toy!
Dad! I love you!
The Cats' response when I get home:
... hey.
Hey! Dad's home!
He is?
He is!
Ow wow! We were afraid you were gone forever!
Hurray! Dad's home!
Dad will you take us for a walk?
I haven't licked your face all day!
Hope! Did you hear? Dad's home!
I'm so excited I gotta chase my tail!
Dad! Dad! Dad!
Best dad evah!
I'm so excited I just gotta nom on your leg!
Buffy! Did you hear? Dad's home!
Dad will you take us for a walk?
We missed you soooooooooooo so much!
I gotta sniff dad's feet!
This is the best thing that's ever happened to me!
Yay! Dad's home!
Dad, will go for a walk with me? It's my favorite thing!
Dad! I brought you my best chew toy!
Dad! I love you!
The Cats' response when I get home:
... hey.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Weekend Chore
Spent some time this weekend on my knees cleaning the carpet in the room the dogs hang out in with the Bissel carpet shampoo thing-a-ma-dohickie. Tedious, but it made a big difference. At some point Julie came over and sat on the floor, just quietly watching me, for about five minutes.
I guess she thought it looked sexy.
I guess she thought it looked sexy.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Energizer Bunny Ain't Got Nuthin' On Me!
In 1984, I bought an HP 11C calculator. Once I got used to the reverse-polish notation, I liked it.
I took it to calculator speed competitions. I took it to college. I took it to my first job. I took it to grad school. There, another student told me it belonged in a museum. That was 13 years ago. It's got some grime between the keys now, and the little rubber feet on the back are gone. Last year I had to replace the batteries. But it's still going.
To put this in perspective, in 1984 the Energizer Bunny didn't even exist yet! They hadn't introduced his predecessor Jacko, some big Australian dude holding a giant battery over his head shouting "Oi!", yet. They hadn't signed his predecessor, Mary Lou Retton, yet.
It keeps going and going and going....
I took it to calculator speed competitions. I took it to college. I took it to my first job. I took it to grad school. There, another student told me it belonged in a museum. That was 13 years ago. It's got some grime between the keys now, and the little rubber feet on the back are gone. Last year I had to replace the batteries. But it's still going.
To put this in perspective, in 1984 the Energizer Bunny didn't even exist yet! They hadn't introduced his predecessor Jacko, some big Australian dude holding a giant battery over his head shouting "Oi!", yet. They hadn't signed his predecessor, Mary Lou Retton, yet.
It keeps going and going and going....
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Mario Brothers
I am a total Mario noob. About all I am able to do is run and spam the jump button until I eventually die. Listening to Julie while she watches Taylor and Patrick play, however, is most entertaining.
"Stop jumping on her head!"
"Look out!"
"Why you do that?"
"Ahhhhh!"
"Omigod!"
"Don't be picking her up!"
"Turtle!"
"Get it!"
"Don't do that!"
"Why you die?"
"Do the whizzy spin thing!"
"Up!"
"Stop picking her up!"
"Oh no!"
"Pop her bubble"
and so on and on and on
:)
"Stop jumping on her head!"
"Look out!"
"Why you do that?"
"Ahhhhh!"
"Omigod!"
"Don't be picking her up!"
"Turtle!"
"Get it!"
"Don't do that!"
"Why you die?"
"Do the whizzy spin thing!"
"Up!"
"Stop picking her up!"
"Oh no!"
"Pop her bubble"
and so on and on and on
:)
Monday, May 17, 2010
Update-y Stuff
Julie had her first radiation session today. She needs to go back five times a week for six weeks. Despite being nervous about, her only complaing after was that her back was sore from having to lie on the table not moving for so long. Later on there will be skin irritation and fatigue, but we will cross those bridges when we get to them.
Three weeks of working day shift left her cranky and annoyed. This week she starts night shift, and I expect it'll leave her in a better mood. It fits her sleep schedule better, there's a lot fewer doctors and relatives to deal with, and sometimes the patients mostly just sleep. The plan is to work Thurs-Fri_Sat nights (7 pm to 7 am) as often as possible to minimize the overlap with the M-F radiation sessions.
I did my first progression raid in like a year last week, taking Vyp to the Ice Cream Social with K and Jess and the rest of The Left Claw. We attempted to get Sindragosa down, the last boss before Arthas. No sucess, but I was having way too much fun focussing on trying to do my job right to be bothered. Last time I did progression raiding, it was roflstomping Naxx with AC. This was much better - victories are more satisfying when you earn them. Not looking to get back into full-time raiding, but hopefully they'll have some room for me once or twice a month.
Three weeks of working day shift left her cranky and annoyed. This week she starts night shift, and I expect it'll leave her in a better mood. It fits her sleep schedule better, there's a lot fewer doctors and relatives to deal with, and sometimes the patients mostly just sleep. The plan is to work Thurs-Fri_Sat nights (7 pm to 7 am) as often as possible to minimize the overlap with the M-F radiation sessions.
I did my first progression raid in like a year last week, taking Vyp to the Ice Cream Social with K and Jess and the rest of The Left Claw. We attempted to get Sindragosa down, the last boss before Arthas. No sucess, but I was having way too much fun focussing on trying to do my job right to be bothered. Last time I did progression raiding, it was roflstomping Naxx with AC. This was much better - victories are more satisfying when you earn them. Not looking to get back into full-time raiding, but hopefully they'll have some room for me once or twice a month.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Things I Learned Last Week Watching Television
A "glam wedding" does not mean everyone looks like Ziggy Stardust.
Mike Rowe from "Dirty Jobs" and Gene Simmons from "Kiss" are interchangeable.
It is possible to hit someone hard enough to "knock their socks off", provided (a) they aren't wearing shoes, (b) they are wearing low-friction material socks, (c) they shave their legs, and (d) you hit as hard as a five-ton steel beam traveling 65 miles per hour.
Idiot young women from the Jersey Shore grow up to be idiot Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Somewhere, there are parents gullible enough to believe their children's imaginary playmates are real.
Motorcycle racing is not, in fact, completely safe.
Walking around with a big rock in your pants will make people not vote for you.
Mike Rowe from "Dirty Jobs" and Gene Simmons from "Kiss" are interchangeable.
It is possible to hit someone hard enough to "knock their socks off", provided (a) they aren't wearing shoes, (b) they are wearing low-friction material socks, (c) they shave their legs, and (d) you hit as hard as a five-ton steel beam traveling 65 miles per hour.
Idiot young women from the Jersey Shore grow up to be idiot Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Somewhere, there are parents gullible enough to believe their children's imaginary playmates are real.
Motorcycle racing is not, in fact, completely safe.
Walking around with a big rock in your pants will make people not vote for you.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
So Much For That Friendship
About 2 years ago, BBB announced on his blog that he was quitting his raiding guild and opening up Sidhe Devils as a social guild. I was one of the first to join, first with a little level 1 gnome warrior, and soon after I created Palintera, one of my favorite characters. I made new friends in that guild, including Bellwether, who has been a close and valued friend, who has been incredibly supportive through the ups and downs my life has gone through. SD was not my primary guild - it was always a lower priority than my weekly sessions with my RL friends and my raiding with Aetherial Circle. But it was always a comfortable place to escape to a few times a month. It was something I valued, and my level of involvement seemed to be fine with everyone.
Last summer I decided to consolidate all of my Alliance toons on one server. Because I felt I no longer fit well in AC, but SD was still a pleasant place, it made sense to move them all to that server. So in came Kinnavieve and Ratdorf, Phoenicia and Vyp. Based on my recommendation, several of my blogging friends looking for a more casual guild chose to transfer there. And, to my surprise, Julie decided to leave AC and move her characters as well. It was a good time. I got to do heroics, Julie and I could play together as a way to bridge the distance between us, and the guild was a happy place.
Last October life took a horrifying turn, when Julie was diagnosed with cancer. My involvement with the guild, and everyone else, dropped off. I stopped writing Need More Rage. All that mattered was focusing on supporting Julie as much as I could.
About this time I was vaguely aware of issues cropping up in Sidhe Devils, but I wasn't paying close attention. The guild had started raiding on Thursday and Friday nights, neither of which I could make, and apparently there were some tensions between the more focussed (compared to AC I would hardly call them hard-core) raiders, and some more casual guild members. Then, suddenly, Bear announced he and Cassie were quitting the guild, effective immediately. But they didn't leave; instead, people started getting kicked out of the guild. Bear had always struck me as a little heavy-handed with insisting on certain rules, such as logging in regularly to avoid being removed, but this was new. Long-time guild members were being kicked with alarming frequency. There were a few posts on the guild forums about issues being talked out between the GMs and the officers, and all was cool now, only to have the gquits and gkicks flare up again. Some of the former guildies started a new guild called Parallel, and apparently it would focus on casual raiding, while SD was going to be a non-raiding guild. However, it quickly became clear that moving one toon to Parallel mean that all your alts would be immediately kicked, and your guild forum access removed. Morale within Sidhe Devils plummeted, and the exodus accelerated. Stop took his main out to join a raiding guild on another server, and within an hour all his alts were kicked. It became very clear to we who remained that we were to be Bear and Cassie's friends and no one else's or we were out, as if we had never existed.
Like I said, I was busy dealing with Real Life during this, and I pretty much kept my head down. I thought it sucked, but I wanted to be loyal to the guild that had been my home, and I hoped once things settled down that there could be a recovery. But there never was. In the end, there were only a handful of people left. Even Bear, who hadn't been around much for months, bailed, converting his main toon to a Tauren and finding new opportunities to raid on the Horde side. So Julie and I talked about it, and decided that being members of a social guild with no one left to talk to was just too depressing. Rather than sneak off into the night, we posted our intentions to leave on the forums. Since the guild was clearly dead, and abandoned by its leaders, we didn't expect much of a response. Silly us.
Bear replied with one of his enormous walls of text, mostly complaining about how much he and Cassie had put into the guild, how hard they had worked, and how unappreciative everyone was. How terrible it was that everyone had walked away from them. But he also found time to tell me what a crappy guild member I had been, how I didn't say enough in gchat or participate in enough activities. Apparently there was a secret quota he hadn't bother to tell anyone about, and I was lacking. When Julie responded that he was being unreasonable, he ran off to his blog and posted a couple of rambling, vague, whiny posts about how mean everyone had been to them. Nowhere did he mention that he had been absent for months while pugging heroics with random strangers, or that people who had tried to fill the leadership void had been squashed because they didn't follow his vision of how a social guild ought to be.
You know what, Bear? Fuck you. If you can't accept that you were the one in charge, the one who made mistakes, the one who tried to have his cake and eat it too, then you need to grow up. Attacking the people who stuck around the longest, who stayed with you while you were busy kicking out our friends for merely trying to enjoy the game, for "sucking the life" from your guild is bullshit. I valued our friendship, but you've gone too far. Way, way too far. Life is too short to waste with people who think that friendship means they can control what you do and who with. Most of us outgrew that sort of thing in high school. Why didn't you?
Last summer I decided to consolidate all of my Alliance toons on one server. Because I felt I no longer fit well in AC, but SD was still a pleasant place, it made sense to move them all to that server. So in came Kinnavieve and Ratdorf, Phoenicia and Vyp. Based on my recommendation, several of my blogging friends looking for a more casual guild chose to transfer there. And, to my surprise, Julie decided to leave AC and move her characters as well. It was a good time. I got to do heroics, Julie and I could play together as a way to bridge the distance between us, and the guild was a happy place.
Last October life took a horrifying turn, when Julie was diagnosed with cancer. My involvement with the guild, and everyone else, dropped off. I stopped writing Need More Rage. All that mattered was focusing on supporting Julie as much as I could.
About this time I was vaguely aware of issues cropping up in Sidhe Devils, but I wasn't paying close attention. The guild had started raiding on Thursday and Friday nights, neither of which I could make, and apparently there were some tensions between the more focussed (compared to AC I would hardly call them hard-core) raiders, and some more casual guild members. Then, suddenly, Bear announced he and Cassie were quitting the guild, effective immediately. But they didn't leave; instead, people started getting kicked out of the guild. Bear had always struck me as a little heavy-handed with insisting on certain rules, such as logging in regularly to avoid being removed, but this was new. Long-time guild members were being kicked with alarming frequency. There were a few posts on the guild forums about issues being talked out between the GMs and the officers, and all was cool now, only to have the gquits and gkicks flare up again. Some of the former guildies started a new guild called Parallel, and apparently it would focus on casual raiding, while SD was going to be a non-raiding guild. However, it quickly became clear that moving one toon to Parallel mean that all your alts would be immediately kicked, and your guild forum access removed. Morale within Sidhe Devils plummeted, and the exodus accelerated. Stop took his main out to join a raiding guild on another server, and within an hour all his alts were kicked. It became very clear to we who remained that we were to be Bear and Cassie's friends and no one else's or we were out, as if we had never existed.
Like I said, I was busy dealing with Real Life during this, and I pretty much kept my head down. I thought it sucked, but I wanted to be loyal to the guild that had been my home, and I hoped once things settled down that there could be a recovery. But there never was. In the end, there were only a handful of people left. Even Bear, who hadn't been around much for months, bailed, converting his main toon to a Tauren and finding new opportunities to raid on the Horde side. So Julie and I talked about it, and decided that being members of a social guild with no one left to talk to was just too depressing. Rather than sneak off into the night, we posted our intentions to leave on the forums. Since the guild was clearly dead, and abandoned by its leaders, we didn't expect much of a response. Silly us.
Bear replied with one of his enormous walls of text, mostly complaining about how much he and Cassie had put into the guild, how hard they had worked, and how unappreciative everyone was. How terrible it was that everyone had walked away from them. But he also found time to tell me what a crappy guild member I had been, how I didn't say enough in gchat or participate in enough activities. Apparently there was a secret quota he hadn't bother to tell anyone about, and I was lacking. When Julie responded that he was being unreasonable, he ran off to his blog and posted a couple of rambling, vague, whiny posts about how mean everyone had been to them. Nowhere did he mention that he had been absent for months while pugging heroics with random strangers, or that people who had tried to fill the leadership void had been squashed because they didn't follow his vision of how a social guild ought to be.
You know what, Bear? Fuck you. If you can't accept that you were the one in charge, the one who made mistakes, the one who tried to have his cake and eat it too, then you need to grow up. Attacking the people who stuck around the longest, who stayed with you while you were busy kicking out our friends for merely trying to enjoy the game, for "sucking the life" from your guild is bullshit. I valued our friendship, but you've gone too far. Way, way too far. Life is too short to waste with people who think that friendship means they can control what you do and who with. Most of us outgrew that sort of thing in high school. Why didn't you?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Book Meme
Picked this up from Bananrama Shoulders.
Bold the ones you've read COMPLETELY, italicize the ones you've read part of. Watching the movie or the cartoon doesn't count. Abridged versions don't count either. BTW, according to the BBC if you've read 7 of these, you are above the average.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy- Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi -Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madam Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Bold the ones you've read COMPLETELY, italicize the ones you've read part of. Watching the movie or the cartoon doesn't count. Abridged versions don't count either. BTW, according to the BBC if you've read 7 of these, you are above the average.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy- Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi -Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madam Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Things I Now Know About Laundry
1) I am not qualified to operate the precise and delicate instrument that is our washing machine.
2) Dryer neither.
3) Folding my clean underwear is cute, in a quirky sort of way.
4) Folding Julie's underwear is cute and endearing, in a "Dude, I never bother to do that" sort of way.
5) Putting my t-shirts at the bottom of the drawer, so they all get rotated, makes me an "oh my god you are such a geek" geek.
2) Dryer neither.
3) Folding my clean underwear is cute, in a quirky sort of way.
4) Folding Julie's underwear is cute and endearing, in a "Dude, I never bother to do that" sort of way.
5) Putting my t-shirts at the bottom of the drawer, so they all get rotated, makes me an "oh my god you are such a geek" geek.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Been A Long Year
It was a year ago yesterday that I proposed to Julie. We knew it was going to be a long engagement, in part because we were both still married to other people at the time. Possibly also because, well, it was only the fifth day that we'd actually been in each other's physical presence. We didn't know how long my divorce would drag out, for absolutely no reason. And we certainly didn't know that we were going to have to deal with cancer. But we both knew it was what we wanted.
As I write this, Julie is driving across Texas, to our home. And when she gets here, she's going to stay. Forever. She is bringing Patrick, her fourteen-year-old son with her, and the last of her stuff that was still in Florida. In eleven days she starts her new job. And we will finally be able to start building our life, together.
Been a long year. So, so glad we went through it together.
As I write this, Julie is driving across Texas, to our home. And when she gets here, she's going to stay. Forever. She is bringing Patrick, her fourteen-year-old son with her, and the last of her stuff that was still in Florida. In eleven days she starts her new job. And we will finally be able to start building our life, together.
Been a long year. So, so glad we went through it together.
Friday, March 12, 2010
A Warcraft Whine
We are such bloody amateurs.
Kinnavieve, my paladin, has 112 raid boss kills, versus 27 deaths. These were all done with appropriate level gear.
Since my Horde guild started raiding Naxxramas a few weeks ago, we have killed 7 bosses and I have died 17 times. Granted we only have 8 people, but we also have much better gear than what Naxx was designed for.
Gods we suck. Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.
Kinnavieve, my paladin, has 112 raid boss kills, versus 27 deaths. These were all done with appropriate level gear.
Since my Horde guild started raiding Naxxramas a few weeks ago, we have killed 7 bosses and I have died 17 times. Granted we only have 8 people, but we also have much better gear than what Naxx was designed for.
Gods we suck. Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Apparently ....
... I talk out loud while thinking about stuff in the shower. I have been told that it is a little creepy.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Your Mileage May Vary
So yesterday I get a text message from Julie: "OMG go read TJ's latest post!"
Followed shortly by :"You buy! You buy! You buy! You buy! You buy!"
So on the way home last night I did. It was on sale, only $15. I guess demand was off now that Valentine's Day was gone. Another text message: "Hurry home!"
I get home, take the dogs for a quick walk, and then we get busy. The sensations were ... novel. Certainly not bad, but hard to say it was better. Different, in a good way. Definitely got a FOGHORN, although the stuff only gets some of the credit.
Gonna try it again? Yup.
Followed shortly by :"You buy! You buy! You buy! You buy! You buy!"
So on the way home last night I did. It was on sale, only $15. I guess demand was off now that Valentine's Day was gone. Another text message: "Hurry home!"
I get home, take the dogs for a quick walk, and then we get busy. The sensations were ... novel. Certainly not bad, but hard to say it was better. Different, in a good way. Definitely got a FOGHORN, although the stuff only gets some of the credit.
Gonna try it again? Yup.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Nearing the End, Thank Gods
There are good days and bad days, but the bad days are getting worse, and more frequent. Julie is currently recovering from her fifth round of chemo, and it's pretty clear that the lining of her stomach is pretty much gone. Foods that she could eat fine a few weeks ago now trigger her nausea. Happens so often, that we are developing little routines and in-jokes while we sit on the bathroom floor next to the toilet, waiting for the next round of heaves. And she's getting weaker, not surprisingly. A couple of hours at the mall Sunday left her exhausted.
All this physical stress is tearing down her emotional state too. She feels horrid many days, she can't work, she's tired of playing computer games.... I'm getting worried about how much longer she can keep this up.
Fortunately next week will be the last chemo session. She'll get a few weeks to recover from that, which she's really gonna need, and then the mastectomy. Surprisingly, that will be much less stressful physically, because it doesn't involve cutting any muscle. The doctor says she'll recover in a week.
And then, mid-April, she is scheduled to start her new job, the one she was originally going to start six weeks ago. It can't get here soon enough - she needs to have this medical poisoning done with, and to get back to having a life.
All this physical stress is tearing down her emotional state too. She feels horrid many days, she can't work, she's tired of playing computer games.... I'm getting worried about how much longer she can keep this up.
Fortunately next week will be the last chemo session. She'll get a few weeks to recover from that, which she's really gonna need, and then the mastectomy. Surprisingly, that will be much less stressful physically, because it doesn't involve cutting any muscle. The doctor says she'll recover in a week.
And then, mid-April, she is scheduled to start her new job, the one she was originally going to start six weeks ago. It can't get here soon enough - she needs to have this medical poisoning done with, and to get back to having a life.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Things I Learned Watching the Superbowl Commercials
1) Drinking Coke makes it safe to sleepwalk across Africa
2) You can fake your death and be buried with a week's supply of Doritos
3) Buying your car at CarMax will impress your gopher
4) Casual Friday means everyone shows up in their underwear
5) If pictures of naked women were allowed on the internet, gay men would slap each other
6) Being in a committed relationship with a woman will cause you to lose your spine, your penis, and your hearing. But purchasing the right pants / tires / portable internet device will get the first two back for you.
7) Superbowl commercials have gotten truly lame
2) You can fake your death and be buried with a week's supply of Doritos
3) Buying your car at CarMax will impress your gopher
4) Casual Friday means everyone shows up in their underwear
5) If pictures of naked women were allowed on the internet, gay men would slap each other
6) Being in a committed relationship with a woman will cause you to lose your spine, your penis, and your hearing. But purchasing the right pants / tires / portable internet device will get the first two back for you.
7) Superbowl commercials have gotten truly lame
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