Congrats to Tori!

Congrats on your last day at Ryan. Such a distinguished career!

And good luck at "that new place."

Also, since this is likely the last update before Christmas with the ensuing insanity beginning this evening...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! =)

Jesus PWNZ! w00t!

Kitties & Hizzies

The culprit making a clean escape... and one of Mo's 'spirits' (dust reflecting the flash) above.



Tori and I made this one with the walk-out 2nd floor garden. Looks fun!



Shelley's comfy condo.



My latest two-story house with two fireplaces and full chimney and Christmas tree.

For Rob and Tori who haven't heard yet, we decided to let the cat go yesterday. The mounting evidence made it pretty clear that the cat was feral and not used to people. So it had a few days staying in the Kitty Hilton with us and is now back in the wild. The entertaining part is that when it ran out of the garage it made a beeline for the shed and darted right into the hole on the east side. Obviously, we've had this cat living with us for about two years or more. We had thought rabbits or some other small critter had taken up shop. We never suspected a wild cat. The dogs always run over and sniff the area when we let them out, but we've never seen any animals over there. The interesting thing is that in retrospect I now recognize the cat. I have seen it several times along the driveway and always made the assumption that it was a neighbor's cat. Now we know! Enjoy the picture of 'Evil Kitty' as it turned once to say goodbye before darting into its cave.

These other photos are examples of what we've come up with from the Lego grab bag gift we got at Saturday's party. LOL I think they're all pretty cool given the pieces in the kit.

Tori, what do you want me to do with the other grab bag gift? We can keep the bottle at your place for sometime if you like. Enjoy your last week! Must be nice and slow and full of people with elevated moods and empty offices as we edge nearer to the holiday.

Parrot Evolution

Tori, I had to post this parody to the one you showed me a while back. =)

Chinese Food on Christmas

Pretty good song. Far more creative than I am with music.

Where's Dr. Doolittle?

The Good


The Bad


The Furry


The cat remains in our care as of today. We have fed it and it has readily consumed everything we've given it, though it remains in hiding whenever we go down to see it. Good looking cat. No burrs or dirt or rough coat like a wild cat. It also makes use of the paper we put down there. This all makes us think it is more likely to be lost than feral, but we just don't know. We've put posters out to every house in the neighborhood and gotten no response. =/ The idea was forwarded to just let it go and perhaps it will find its way back to its home, but we have seen coyotes and one fox up the street recently and would worry about it being a death sentence. I'll print out some more ads to run to the next neighborhood today, but if we don't get any responses the new verdict is that it will go to a non-kill shelter. Best chance for the mysterious black cat.

Entertainingly enough, a day after finding the cat I realized that something was living in the attic above me. From the noises I heard that night I presumed it to be a squirrel - not quiet at all. But after putting a safe trap up there and having the peanut butter bait licked clean, its possible it may be a mouse... yay. I hate those buggars. No, I don't mean I'm afraid of them. I mean I HATE them. They destroy everything and make an intolerable mess. It shall meet it's spring-loaded end tonight!

The rest of the weekend was pretty good. I got to spend a ton of time with Tori Brown. We hit The Village Bake Shop for some amazing lunch on Saturday. Then we helped her dad deck out their Christmass tree. Took a short snooze, then hung out with her mom, Kit and his friend Ramona... hmmm, seeing a bit of steam there? Later that night we drove up to Barcelona, a topless.... wait... a tapas bar in West Hartford for a little Christmas shindig with Maureen and Antonio and the crew. Good times! And good Lord the scotch was expensive! And Sunday? Sunday was spent around the house, though I didn't get to relax as much as I wanted to.

Are we up to speed now? Excellent! Have a great Christmas week, kiddos. Enjoy the mild co-worker festiveness before the weekend, mad dashing and family events come about. =)

Christmas Kitty? ::a-choo!::

Hmmm, so we realized we had a critter in the garage. Upon searching the debris we located this litte feller (chica?). Looks young and healthy and has been sitting there quietly for a while. Made a few calls to the neighbors to see if anyone is missing a feline family member, so we'll see what we hear back. If not, we know one of them will take it. =)

Some hunting dogs we have... obviously been there a few days and they haven't said boo. I suspect a bilateral quadraped conspiracy!

KRaZR K1m w00tage

Ran out last night to pick up the new cell. My original Samsung, loaded as it was for my purposes, has been in service for three years and though the battle scars gave it character it was beginning to die on me in several ways. So I just re-upped with Verizon (I looked around, but none of the other carriers had any notable differences in plans and fees worth switching for). Now I've got the Motorola KRZR K1m. Krazer... works for me. It's pretty slender and lightweight. It's also got just about every option out there:
Bluetooth
1.3mp digi-cam (1280x1024 output is perfect for me)
Video recorder/player (h.263 and mpeg4)
VZ Navigation System (can enable it if I'm ever in a pinch)
MP3 player with stereo output (also supports AAC and AAC+)
Web access
Can be used as a modem for a PC or laptop with bluetooth adapter
V-cast (I'll never use it)
And assorted stuff like 3D games, calendar, calculator etc etc.

Check it out:

Also asked Santa for some accessories such as the Jabra JX10 earpiece which is ultra lightweight and the Jabra bt620s headphones which work as exercise/anytime headphones for the phone or PC and they double as a functional earpiece unit for the phone. Pics below.



Almost went with silver, but finally decided upon the black finish.

She looks like she is really getting to know her phone. I don't think mine came with that option.

No, she doesn't come with the piece.

Funny!

http://www.shaketheglobe.com/

http://www.elfyourself.com/

Movies Which Look Good

Pan's Labyrinth
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond

Christmas Shopping & Stomach Pain

I suppose some people might hold the opinion that the two topics can be one and the same, but not for my purposes here.

I just finished the majority of my shopping for the year. The only two people who still elude me in terms of that "perfect gift" happen to be Tori and my mom. Well, I have mom's main gifts done, just need some smaller stuff. For Tori it's the reverse, I have some smaller items but can't figure out or decide what to get for a good main gift. Ponder ponder... I'll have to go hit some stores to jog the old ponderer. And then I have to work on an even tougher list... the stuff I want. There's not too much on the list this year, maybe just phone accessories.

But I might not be getting out of the house until tomorrow. This marks the second day that I am laid up with intestinal self-destruction. I believe I have identified the culprit as the Planter's Dry Roasted peanuts. They are the only common thread between yesterday and today. And right now I feel like the guy in Alien who has the critter pop out of ribcage... just aim for the mid stomach...hmm, maybe the one from the end of Spaceballs is more accurate. LOL! I'm trying to laugh it off. I'm just glad it's not a bug I can pass off to anyone.

And to close with some humor...

Before I went for Round 2 with the peanuts, I went out for a cigar with the father unit. We're out there talking business and keeping Star entertained with the tennis ball and my stogie burned out. I had to go in the corner by the kitchen door to light it without the match extinguishing and while I felt the wave of heat wash up my face, it wasn't hot enough to hurt me or give pause. Well.... I was wondering why, when I blinked, was my right eye 'sticking'. Turns out I burned my eyelashes a little bit so the tips are now blonde and two on the lower side turned upwards and work like velcro on the upper ones when I blink. LOL

And yes, I feel moronic. =) Come on now, who DOES these things? LOL Major D'oh! I look like something out of Clockwork Orange with one eye dark and one eye light.

For Rob, re: BF2...

As of the moment, I am 1,468 points away from next rank! It may well be my LAST promotion in the game since this rank requires a total of 20,000 points and the next rank is a full 30k more...

Just in time to swap up to 2142 for the holiday!

Holy crap, Rob. Did a server that was just GT and 30 player max. Both teams were actually pretty evenly matched and skills were high, as in about on par with me. I kept beating them down from the west tower or the hotel and they eventually began to formulate strategies of killing me. No kidding - they triangualated me and pinned me down for a while. But that wasn't until about the sixth round. I thought I might have gotten a new 'Favorite Victim' because this one guy kept going to the SAME SPOT on a roof in the middle of the map to try and snipe. A medic revived him several times before I capped the medic, but the guy KEPT going back. I finally spoke in the open and said.... take a hint, find a new perch. But by the next map I realized that their Commander himself was hunting me. I ended up in several LONG range standoffs between me and 2 to 4 enemies at any given time. My Commander loved me, LOL, and kept me well supplied so I hardly ever died. Finally people started joining my squad and we REALLY rampaged. Their Commander took the TV roof and I asked for a grapple on my team and got one... so we got up to the roof and my buddy shot him. Then my team started spawning on me and I had a medic who kept reviving me because after that they kept hitting me in the final round. I died about 5 times up there in 10 minutes (that's a LOT for me) because they were THAT adamant about taking me out of the picture. They must have been RIPPED to see me pop back up and continue to drop people. Was fun. I love a long running game like that where most of the players remain the same and you sort of develop a reputation. BTW, I found that a decent spot to shoot from is the one roof just south of the tower in the west. Sort of a nook there where you can hit most of the prayer tower and all of the opposite rooftops plus the southern flag. Not too shabby.

No amazing knife kill stories tonight. In fact, everyone was pretty cool - no badmouthing or bs tonight. But I did own the northern flag on the west end. From the middle roof I'd pop their snipers before they got me, then turn my guns down. Its simple to pistol guys on the ladder, and if you drop a Clay just so (facing north) it essentially covers BOTH ladders without having to drop a second clay. But like I said, they got smart. They started to actually run DECOYS. They also sent in a group of grapple guys to come up to my level. Another time I found out there were 2 snipers across the stream, one in the prayer tower, one by the bridge and one on the roof there. I said a quick WTF and went about sneaking slowly around corners to try and pop them. Got shot up, but not killed. Only once did someone get legitimately smart and begin tossing grenades at me, but I got him and I never saw him again. Must've left the server.

Anyway, I'll say this...

Murphy's Laws of Combat #84: You know you've managed to both anger the enemy and give away your position when you hear the ricochets from 5 guns all pointing in your direction.

National Lampoon's Seinfeld - The Lost Episode

OMG! That is messed up.

Crocodile Hunter Meets His Match

Crikey! Ok, this is a GREAT form of tribute to Steve. Too funny!

Some Christmas Imagery To Set This Year's Festivities Off To A Good Start

I don't know where this picture is from, but it made me feel warm. To me it just looks like Christmas.


Ok, we can forgive the French for a little while. Any culture who builds such a monstrous monument in blatant homage to the tradition of the Christmas Tree can't be ALL bad.


Even New Yorkers get into the Christmas mood. Note the conspicuous lack of muggers at the park.


The true meaning of the season - our various religious roots and making kids smile.


That just looks fun, doesn't it!


Family values are always strong this time of year, even if none of us really want to share out favorite gifts!


Proof that the younger generation really IS moving along faster than pervious ones. How do you slow this thing down!?!


A cool image and a good message to those of us who are NOT on the front line to remember those who are this holiday season. If you don't know someone who is, it shouldn't preclude us from keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.


Can you see Fred, the friendly fire-prevention Christmas snake in this picture? Pine trees are fire hazards, so everyone please double check your safety measures and keep your tree well hydrated. No one needs a Christmas fire, and there's not much space left in my room as it is.


This season, Jack is Back!


No shame. For what is Christmas without some frivolity?

An early Merry Christmas to you all. May you survive the pre-game shopping madness with style and grace, and may you all feel just a little bit of the magic.

Things That Make You Go, "Ewwww!"

You know how when you sit down and look at a calendar to plan out your schedule your brain pulls in data from all over the place... omg, lol, and just now Winamp cued (let me check).. ROTFLMFAO... yeah, "Rescue of the Princess" from Star Wars. Isn't that dark irony. No one can rescue someone from themself.

Anyway, was looking at the calendar thinking about the shopping I have to do, family events, friends to see and when to manage all of this and an errant thought came out of left field. Cue the 'Eww!' The ex's birthday. Yuck, I did not want to remember anything about that person who spun a web of depression about herself. Well, another year older and another year closer to being the ultimate cat woman and terrible teacher. I swear, I think every single act she ever undertook in her life was aimed to get attention by way of sympathy from others.

Bleh... I'm so sad, cheer me up.

Bleh... I chose teaching because I want my summer vacation, but it's harder than it looked... someone make me feel better.

Bleh... I cry when I walk into VIP (pffft!)... console me and tell me I'm not terrible in bed. No joke! Think cardboard, but less interesting. oh. baby. uh. yeah. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....... the best part was leaving, if ya know what I mean. ;)

Bleh... everything that's wrong in my life is because of... hmm, today it will be YOU, yesterday it was Mae. I didn't mind making her not look like an idiot in front of her folks, but the truth of the matter is that the ex was the problem, not Mae. Everyone got sick and tired of her attention grabbing. Once that group of people stopped fawning over he moods, she latched onto me. Once she found a larger group to feed into her needs, she latched onto them and cut away at me for the almost two years before, like always, she chose to quit when things got 'not simple' for he. Great! Now I'm Free!

Bleh... I want to be a famous author but all I can write about is the same gay story for 8 years and I have never grown as a writer... someone tell me it's the best thing they've ever read or I'll throw a fit. LOL, girl never could take a hint. I finally DID review it and she couldn't take simple criticism, I wasn't even scathing. She cried and wouldn't talk to me for a few days.

Gah! I apologize to y'all for the crappy rant. I know it is AMAZINGLY grown-up of me, but I had to eviscerate that memory once it popped up. Can I go vomit now? Can you believe I wasted 5 years in that situation? See? That is the power of good food, good company and good wine - and none of it was even hers!