Because you guys will ask and I really don't want to repeat myself, here is how my birthday went:

1. I had planned on having a nice and relaxing lunch with Holly. I nearly got that. It was nice but not exactly relaxing as I was unsure if anything would settle well. Turns out it did, so win for me, except the entire process took 2 hours!
2. Due to the extra long lunch (90 minutes longer than usual) I had to work late, but decided not to work too late and make up 30 minutes on Friday, so that I might better enjoy my birthday. This was a mistake.
3. I tried to play Bourne Conspiracy while waiting for my folks to return home from errands, as we were to have a steak BBQ at their house to celebrate my birthday. It is now roughly 1700 hours and Emma is in a screaming hysterical fit. This continues until 2030 hours, with only a short break (15 minutes) while she's in the car.
4. Instead of 4 adults eating a steak BBQ it was 3 of us eating a cold steak BBQ while Emma screamed and wailed and turned beet red. It was then decided that we should go home and try to put her to bed in familiar surroundings. This means the planned cake and games time was canceled (maybe postponed).
5. We get home and Holly puts Emma to bed while I put in "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" in a vain attempt to salvage something of my birthday. Yay. I'm 31.

I didn't ask for much, and I stupidly allowed myself to be optimistic that I could have a nice dinner with my family and play either a lawn game or a board/card game. My birthdays don't usually turn out exactly as planned but none have bombed as bad as this one. No cake, no presents, no fun, only 4 hours of screaming that set me on edge and gave me a headache. Instead of being "the birthday-boy" I was "dad". Le sigh.

I came home last night to find my PS3, the workhorse of my entertainment universe, quietly dead upon my entertainment unit. Sometime during my work day it gave up it's binary ghost, refusing to live in stand-by mode any longer. No amount of coaxing brought it back, so we called Sony and after forty minutes they are shipping us a box to bury Our Little Friend in, whereupon they shall perform an autopsy and attempt to void my warranty before shipping me a new unit.

My favorite part is when they suggest I backup the PS3 HDD so I don't lose things like my saved games. Thankfully I'm not a total dork when it comes to following instructions on removing the HDD; I'll have to commandeer a work machine (I don't have SATA at home anywhere) and make a copy of the files from there.

It'll be a sad two weeks. I'll have to dig my DVD player out of mothballs, and have to limit myself to SD content only, and no video games. Hrm, maybe now I'll finish Neverwinter Nights, or even Zork. Or maybe JD will hammer on me to get some programming done; jerk.

Step One: secure a new job before the old job decomposes into a bubbling pile of putrescence.

Step Two: go out to dinner and dessert. I would recommend a good Chinese restaurant for the dinner and then a cake shop for dessert. Spend this time talking over Step One if need be.

Step Three: visit a local retailer of video games and thereupon purchase Final Fantasy XII, Resident Evil 4, and Devil May Cry 3.

Step Four: play some of each of the games purchased, watch a football game, and write up a lengthly blog post about how Step One occurred.

Thus was my weekend.

[composed and posted with ecto]

Once upon a time there was a lonely little geek named Jedediah (heretofore known as JD); he made funk-shway web sites for a crazy fly-by-night company. Then one day the company had a meeting in a far off land and all the little geeks and big geeks and support persons had to go. This was a fateful day for little JD (who was actually so tall as to be a giant among smallish children) as it was that day when he met the only female employee in the whole wide company (which was of course a very small company). Sparks flew, grins sprouted from Know-Where and Fate took Cupid out for a pint of bitter.

The story gets a little long and boring here, including such events as frisbee, Taco Bell, Brak quotes about (of all things) love, and half a hundred yogurt lid wars. Somewhere in there little JD and the fairy princess of web site template support (called either Erica or Jessica depending on my mood) fell in love. As all married folk know, this signaled the end of their lives and JD's doom; Love is a finicky and wily creature who loves to torment at every opportunity. Did I mention Love is a demanding mistress? JD, in full submission to this impish force of nature, sacrificed his very life, gave in to Love's cruel demands, and begged Er-Jess-ica to marry him.

Saturday arrived with nary a suitcase in sight, but brought oppressive heat and a flood of pollen, weather more suited to nearly-naked pleasures in a pool or hermetically sealed pursuits of leisure; it was perfect weather for a wedding. The groom was a grinning madman and the bride was a radiant beauty. The poor pastor had to fight to get eye contact as the two love birds were ensnared in Love's siren song, her most powerful spell. Vows were exchanged without hesitation, rings were proffered, and a kiss was shared. It was a most happy wedding, a joyous wedding, and an honoring wedding.

And they will live happily ever after.

THE END.

We finally did it; against all good wisdom we bought an air conditioning unit that is now sitting in the window of our living room. It was 100+ degrees today and I jested with Holly about getting an AC unit. She did some research as I played “The Bard's Tale” (which I recommend) and she made up her mind that she wanted one, and had one in mind to get too. I still don't feel like we made the right decision, but we took some time and calculated our bills and expected income; I forgot to add in some bills.

We were on our way to Lowe's to buy the unit when it dawned on me I forgot to deduct the cash we usually take out each month. Lo and behold that ate up the excess I thought we would have and suddenly it all seemed like a bad idea, but by now we were in the parking lot and I had just turned off the car. Needless to say we were both in a not-so-good mood.

We looked around in Lowe's and talked to a guy. It turned out we needed a mounting bracket (sold separately) and plexiglass (although he recommended plywood). We may not have done it if Holly had not spotted a damaged unit and asked if we could get a discount; we got $49 off! Not only that but we saved $31 on the plexiglass as they happened to have a remnant big enough to meet our dimensions. So in the end we spent around $100, but still . . . that's $100 we probably don't have.

The installation was (is? Do we have more to do?) a pain in the butt. It took us 2 hours to get it done -- 2 hours of constant pollen exposure -- and even then I'm not sure I like the job we did. I'm not convinced the window is sealed as good as we can make it, nor do I like the aesthetics of how we did it. I'm not sure the mounting bracket will do the job . . . it seems to be a little off balance, and for that I could just move it, but then we had to add a pice of wood to our siding, so we might as well build our own shelf and save $20 on the bracket (assuming we can return it).

It does work though, and that's something. This is not what I expected to be doing today (or this summer actually) but it's done. I'm suffering from buyer's remorse, and since the AC unit is in the living room, I'm hot in my bedroom. It's an imperfect solution, and I'm a perfectionist . . . it bugs me.

[composed and posted with ecto]

I think it's about time for a core dump, partly because my brain is about to Segfault.

Of Books and Libraries

I am listening to "The Kingless Land" by Ed Greenwood (and am enjoying it) and one of the party members has the need to have books carried around everywhere. That got me thinking about how cool it is that in our age we can carry around entire libraries in a hand held device, or a laptop . . . or at least we could if DRM and IP and Copyright didn't get in the way all the bloody ding-dong time. Sure I can (and do) carry a library of fiction work with me on my PDA, and I read it, but I don't yet have the means (or the availability?) to carry around a technical library with me everywhere I go. Safari Bookshelf doesn't count; I have to have Internet access for that to work, and even then turning the "page" takes a long time.

I guess we are not as advanced yet, not like I'd like to be.

Of Games and Limitations

I finished reading all the official material for The Shadow of Yesterday last night, and I wish I could say I'm ready for a game. My head is spinning round and round the table top chasing that illusive pixie of Happy Gaming Time and I'm beginning to think it's but an illusion. I face what appears to be a daunting and insurmountable task of gathering my friends around my real (and not virtual) table to play a bona fide pen-and-paper RPG. When all of us are noobs, and I want to play "by the book" I'm left with my brains quivering on the floor trying to make heads or tails of the rules I've read, and the requirements to GM any kind of game. And if I don't go with TSoY, then I need to shell out money I cannot afford for a game I don't know how to play which may or may not find players among the people I actually want to play with.

In the end I have a list of RPGs I would love to try, and try them by the book, at least once, so I can have a genuine experience before I go about mucking around with their mechanics and fudging things (as if a perfectionist like me would ever be comfortable fudging the rules). You want an list? I'll supply a list:

• Polaris
• Conspiracy of Shadows
• Shadowrun
• The Mountain Witch
• Etherscope
• Sorcerer
• The Northern Crown
• Call of Cthulhu
• The Shadow of Yesterday

Do I think I'll ever play any of these games? I don't know. I know the size of that list, I have a vague idea of the cost involved to buy the books, and I have a notion that it will take more time than I can probably spare (not to mention I'm not sure I could drum up enough interest). My biggest concern is finding someone to either GM these games or to teach/mentor/guide me to be a GM so I can still "play" the games with my friends. Seems daunting and overwhelming, especially not knowing if I will like any of the games.

Of Gold's Gym

There is something rotten in Denmark and it smells like a scam. I think Gold's Gym hires ex-used car salesmen to convince people to have a membership because they keep pulling out costs and figures and fees out of their backsides. Mind you, I would never use a gym membership in my present circumstances so 'tis not I who is dealing with these scum. The reports I get back of all the numbers is enough to make the most sanest of men's head spin and eyes bulge in anger for being taken as a mathematically challenged fool. A monthly membership of $24 a month costs $398 if you pay for the full year; this was a direct quote as relayed to me by one incredulous woman (who talked them down).

I swear I shall never do personal business with that shady company. If I ever want a gym membership I'll look elsewhere, probably into the back room of the dojo where I'm training (training to crack the skulls of sleazy salesmen).

EOF

My PDA is back in business. I think it was a little dust, a hair, or some general dirt that was causing the problem. I can navigate it again and I am happy (though $17 poorer).

I decided to take some advice I found on a forum and open the back of my Zodiac and attempt to clean the screen. This is easier said than done. The first problem to overcome are the screws. They are the 6-point star headed screws, and they are so small (T6) that none of your normal tool kits have them. It also turns out we could not find just one screwdriver, so we bought an 18 piece precision screwdriver set. It did turn out that I needed 2 of the 18 heads, and spending $17 is better than $300.

Once the back was off I was then faced with getting the circuit board out of the way. I never did get it out. I took the two screws out holding it in but then it was still snug and I didn't really feel like poking around too much. I did encounter some dust and some hair inside the case, and after blowing hard (because we forgot to buy a can of compressed air) I thought I would test the Zodiac and hope it worked. It did! I put it back together and everything is running smooth.

I will hopefully get a can of compressed air sometime soon and open the back again and blow the heck out of it. And I'll probably really clean the screen well, including the cracks on the side, but for now I am happy and can relax some. Maybe I'll have better luck in other areas too. But for now, I have to go pick out a Christmas tree, which I think means cutting one down, mounting it on those inferior stands, and spending the rest of the holidays fishing the cats out of the tree.

[composed and posted with ecto]

I was halfway through writing a post about how I was frustrated that my iPod would *always* be playing when I went to listen to it around noon. Last night, I even switched on 'hold' to ensure that buttons wouldn't accidentaly get hit. However, I just realized that I had the 'alarm' set to on, therefore, the iPod would turn on and waste it's battery each and every single day. I just hope I haven't ruined the fragile li-ion battery thus far.

So it only lasted a week and Bad Stuff (TM) has struck again. This time in the form of a broken PDA. I added an eBook to my PDA, synced it, then wanted to make sure it transfered over okay only to find <dramatic pause> the touch screen is broken <insert cheesy game show cheering>. That's right folks, my PDA not even 3 years old is now virtually useless. I can navigate some apps, but not all, and one of those would be my eBook reading application. So . . . it looks like I can only read Lovecraft on my PDA, then it will be time to buy a new one. Guess I better earn a quick $400.

(I have not done more than reset the PDA to see if that will fix it, which it did not. If anyone actually knows of a fix that will work I will be prodigiously thankful as quite truly I am unable to afford a replacement and I am much too used to reading eBooks on my PDA. I am beyond anger, beyond depression. I think I'm about to just give up on life.)

[composed and posted with ecto]

Tuesday: I had three significant failures, one of which was the inability to keep a fire lit, thus the house was cold all night and into the next day.

Wednesday: Could not keep a fire going. It's darned cold in the house. We decide to use our backup solution and turn on the furnace. After 20 minutes the temperature in the house has dropped by 2 degrees. The conclusion is the furnace is broke. Happy days.

Thursday (Thanksgiving): Woke up and the house is 54 degrees. I have no means of heating my house at all. Despair has set in. Holly manages to build a fire that stays lit. My father comes over on a hunch that our pilot light on the furnace is out (we think it still is). Cannot light it, so the furnace is out and will need professional help. Before leaving for Thanksgiving dinner we got the house to 80 degrees (reports Holly).

Friday: Woke up to a strange sound (sounded like a Jake Brake) and discover our power is out. Called PGE to discover they already know about it and estimate a 2 hour fix time. We left so Holly could get ready for work at my parents place. I spent the day there doing construction. When we got home the clocks were off by 5 hours.

Anyone care to wager the next calamity to befall us?

[composed and posted with ecto]