Any Day Now....

....gonna start exercising. Really. I mean it. Just need to find the right motivation.

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.

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.

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.

Buffy in Repose

Buffy in Repose
Originally uploaded by Captain Oblivious

If she was any more relaxed, she'd slip into a coma....

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!

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.

Julie's Cancer is Officially Cured

Just FYI

August in Texas? Yeah, not a good time or place for your car's air conditioner to stop working.

That is all.

The First Rule Of Jane Austen's Fight Club Is...

...you do not talk about Jane Austen's Fight Club.

Raiding Icecrown Citadel

Took this screenshot of my guild, The Left Claw, fighting the frostwyrm Rimefang. The green-haired elf with two swords by the dragon's elbow is me. You can also see Fonzy (the bear at the left), Boogoola, and Jessika. Thought the picture looked pretty cool, but it didn't quite fit the narrative I have for Need More Rage, so I'm just posting it here.

Click to embiggen - you know the drill.

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...

The Dog Days of Summer

Ya know, dad, it's too hot for me to walk....


I know! You pull me!

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.

A Fashion Request From Julie

"Fuck, I gotta do laundry again. Why can't you just not wear clothes?"

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.

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....

Don't Panic!

It's towel day! Do you know where your towel is?

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
:)

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.

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.