skreidle | Recent Entries

So, this week's

petbulls Theme Week competition is "Sunshine Bullies"; the best photos are generally a blend of "omg adorable" and "nice photo!" Which of the following do you think I should use? [Click any photo to embiggen]

[Poll #1844780]
Bonus Coco, not included because she moved out to Washington to retire. :)

These two related links get their own post. They're that incredible, and that important.

I'm Christian Unless You're Gay | Single Dad Laughing -- [Today's post is not about homosexuality. It's not about Christians. It's not about religion. It's not about politics. It's about something else altogether. Something greater. Something simpler. It's about love. It's about kindness. It's about friendship.] (via

yoopie)

The greatest spiritual leaders in history have all preached love for others as the basis for all happiness, and never did they accompany such mandates with a list of unlovable actions or deeds. They never said, love everybody except for the gays. Love everybody except for the homeless. Love everybody except for the drug users. Love everybody except for the gang members, or those covered in ink, or the spouse abusers. They didn't tell us it was okay to love everybody with the exception of the "trailer trash," those living in poverty, or the illegal immigrants. They didn't tell us it was okay to love everybody except for our ex-lovers, our lovers' ex lovers, or our ex-lovers' lovers. The mandate was pretty damn clear, wasn't it?

Love others.

Period.

Powerful Responses to 'I'm Christian, unless you're gay.' | Single Dad Laughing -- [I'll be sharing a couple of less than beautiful responses first, and I only do so because I believe they will make the others that much more powerful. It's the beautiful responses that are most important, and I want to share with you those responses that meant more than the world to me when I received them.] -- Reading the responses he shared? Ugliness, ugliness, and then a slew of such incredible, heartbreaking love and beauty.

Read it. Share it. Live it.

This video is remarkable enough to get its own post.

Zach Wahls Speaks About Family | divulgate | YouTube -- [Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa.]

This. So many times this.

If you're having a really bad day, or having a really good day, and just need a dose of sheer joy in your life, you should take a few minutes and watch Where the Hell is Matt? =) (Also, the music is beautiful, and fits perfectly.)

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

[14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands. Thanks to everyone who danced with me. -- Matt]

For one or two reasons, this journal has gone to the deep darkness of Friends-Only for a while. Ta!

So that.. that was awesome.

baranoouji and

jduffy1535 picked up

idoru in Manassas, then picked me up in Lorton, and then we drove about looking for suitable food, and settled on Vietnamese, all having pho and supercoffee. By the time we were through with that it was time to head up to DC, and parking was decent. (I hear they only sold 750 tickets presale, which is rather less than I'd expected, but the place was pretty jumpin'--especially by the time VNV came on.)

Present were a lot of people I expected (

faeriemage,

blankkittyblack, Bagel,

lanikei,

grannyglasseye,

seeking_insight,

silvertipwings,

anizee,

lilscotchgirl,

xspookykittyx), some that I didn't (

jude, Manda), and some I hadn't seen in months (

djkangal,

teky4lf,

learath). CodeR23's set was decent (though they're still just a couple of laptop DJs) including a few songs that I'd only previously heard in Canberra or on my computer; Ted said similar things regarding his own electronic collection. And then there was a DJed set. And then there was

and they were freakin' fantastic. Plenty of well-loved older material, two new tracks off their Spring '05 release; they played the crowd like a violin, and the crowd loved it. So much energy, so much dancing, and so much meaning in their music.. and they played for almost two solid hours. Awesome. (They had the crowd sing the chorus to Beloved, at the end, with no instrumental accompaniment. Powerful.)

And then, alas, it was time to head out, because Ed and Joe aren't crazy clubgoers like yours truly, so I popped upstairs to Alias to say hi to

shogunmouse, then out and off we went.

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: VNV in my head, of course

Herein lies the difference between warranty repairs and home repairs:

If this were coming out of my pocket, I'd either polish up or ignore the dents/scrapes on the right-hand plastic, muffler, and peg; maybe fiberglass the mirror housing, and replace the right brake lever and "fuel tank buffer." Total part cost, about $50.

However, when insurance is paying, and they're replacing everything I just mentioned plus a few other odds and ends, the part cost is almost $1700*, and $600+ in labor. Total estimate, $2,416.60. Deductible: $250. :)

* $766 for the muffler, $130 for the bracket, $492 for the plastic, $164 for the mirror, $64 for the right footrest, and $15-$30 each for a few other parts.

On the Powerbook front, I stopped by CompUSA, explained the situation, and left my Powerbook with them for the hard drive replacement/upgrade* and screen replacement, with the caveat that I get the old drive back. Ah, progress.

*

megachrisgt suggested I upgrade to a 7200rpm drive for an additional few dollars, which I may do.

In other Apple news, Shauna's iBook's internal video connection crapped out again, which is covered under warranty and will be fixed again. Matt's iBook, on the other hand, died, and Apple's replacing it with a brand new 12" G4 iBook. Snazzy!

Later this evening,

baranoouji and

jduffy1535 will drive down from Reston to Manassas, where they'll pick up

idoru and then come over here; from here, we'll all go find food and merriment, followed by Code R23 and VNV Nation at Nation.

For New Year's, Cristy and I are going to the Jammin' Java New Years Eve w/ Robbie Schaefer of Eddie from Ohio, Paul and Storm from DaVinci's Notebook, and Special Guests. :)

Current Mood: accomplished. Also, hungry.

Armed with the warning from the Apple Store that if I shipped my Powerbook in to Apple for hard drive replacement, I'd probably never see the drive (or its data) again, I called AppleCare. She said that if I shipped it in, then started calling daily to ensure that I got the drive back--because they need the drive to verify that the drive's dead before they can replace it, see--I stood a good chance of getting it back. This seems shaky at best, and she realized this, so she pointed me in another direction--Apple Authorized Service Providers, of which there are several in the area, the closest about five miles away. That way, I'm at least talking directly with a service provider, and stand a pretty reliable chance of the hard drive not wandering into the abyss. Woo! (Yes, I could've done this a month ago, if not two, but I procrastinate*, see. If I didn't have the stand-in laptop from work, I'm sure I'd have been much more snappy about looking into service.)

* According to some book-backs I skimmed in Kramerbooks recently, procrastination stems from fear. Fear of what, I'm not sure--I don't fear having nothing to do, I don't fear the completion of the individual tasks, I don't fear the work that goes into completing tasks.. I just procrastinate.

Generally speaking, houses offer concealment from gunfire, but not cover. Check out Old Painless's informal testing of a whole lot of rounds fired into a test box representing a house. (It should clear up a few misconceptions about the penetrating power and damage caused by assorted rounds, and how wide the spread of a shotgun really is.)

Current Mood: hungry

Yay! Christmas/New Year's cards finished/labeled/stamped/mailed, except for Phill's, because I figure I'll see him at some point and give him other things as well. :) Went down to the post office to see my favorite postman, Mr. Locke, who's really a character behind the counter, and to get an extra $0.06 postage to bump one envelope up to $0.80. And thus, all done. (I also created my own return address labels, because I didn't want to write my address 49 times in addition to the mailing addresses. Huzzah for sheets of blank address labels (even if Word doesn't want to believe the set I bought is a standard size) and free clipart. :)

Also got a call from insurance, following up on the process; I referred him to the shop, since they have the bike and need to fax him an estimate. Incidentally, it's 52 degrees and sunny. Gorgeous! Shame my bike's in the shop. :P

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Gary Jules - Mad World (in my head)

Breakfast didn't quite go as planned, but it worked out in the end. James wasn't sure if the meeting place was Einstein Brothers Bagels or Chesapeake Bakery--opposite corners of the Rolling/Old Keene Mill intersection--and I discovered, this morning, that the number reported by my phone was not his cell, nor even in service. So I tried Einstein before 0930, then Chesapeake.. waited a while.. checked back at Einstein, then back to Chesapeake, getting progressively more annoyed. But then, just as I was about to go home at 1000, Sue and J.D. pulled up--apparently J.D. had come down with food poisoning last night, so the gathering was cancelled. However, James--the only one who knew I might be coming and who had my number--didn't pass the message on. :P At any rate, I got to see Sue and J.D. briefly, which was cool--they're married and living near Atlanta now, so they're not around too often. :)

Well, xmas cards didn't get mailed today, because I got called in to do some work around 1400. Now, this was from Denver to meet a shipment in DC (at a site to which I'd been previously) around 1430, except there was no way the truck was getting from Fredericksburg to DC in half an hour; in fact, the estimated delivery time was 1545. Given my evening plans, I took Metro, and arrived onsite around 1540, having read quite a bit of Good Omens along the way. I forgot my cell phone, and the listed POC wasn't present anyhow, but I was helped and I called my cell to check voice mail at 1552, where a 1548 message told me the truck was there. Timing! Via clever user of double parking, two guys from the office, and a curb, we unloaded the library out front of the loading-dock-less building and got everything inside, no problem. :)

Thus, I was done by about 1630, with plans to meet friends not commencing until 1830. So, I took Metro over to Dupont Circle, easily found Kramerbooks, and had 1.5 hours to kill. Now, Kramer's is a great bookstore/bar/cafe, but sorely lacking in seating unless you intend to buy food, so I wandered and looked at a lot of cool books before wandering up and down the street a few times, before settling at Starbucks to read and get coffee/scone. Around 1830 I wandered back to Kramer, and hung out there for a while, failing to see James or anyone else I knew. (Theoretically, James did show up, but if so, I missed him.) So, I had a tasty wasabi beef sandwich and Rogue Dead Guy Ale, before walking over to the Brickskeller around 2000.

There was then waiting outside the 'skeller until some seemingly-random also-waiting folks mentioned they were also waiting for James Tsai ('97), and lo, five or ten minutes later, he arrived. (He organized it, so it was pretty certain he'd show eventually.) Also present, throughout the night, were Jay Manalo ('97), Victor Lin ('97), Carmen ('97, though I didn't know her), Bryan Oh ('99), Liz ('98), and a host of UVA folks. Much talk occurred, as well as much drink overall--see, the 'skeller holds the World Record for most varieties of beer, at well over 1,000 (if not double that), though admittedly, they were out of stock of many of them tonight, due to time of year. At any rate, crazy variety.

Sometime after 2300, when us Metro folks were about to head out, additional plans were made. Thus, James, Victor, Jay, Carmen, and I headed south in two cars, stopping at the Jefferson Memorial, James's favorite. After hanging out there a while, we headed west and south, dropped at appropriate parking garages, and headed home. In the morning, I may tried to get up early and meet J.D. and Sue (Wanant) Jordan fairly close to here for breakfast, as James extended that invitation. :)

This is rather unsettling. Scientists: Killer quake rattled earth's rotation, shifted land 20+ meters.

Current Mood: good
Current Music: Gary Jules & Michael Andrews - Mad World

I don't like the kind of dry weather that induces a lot of static electricity, causing me to get zapped every minute by something I touch. :P

That said, here's my Christmas haul:

( Books, DVDs, CDs, Clothes, Ornaments, Games, Jewelry, Glassware, Tools, Art, & Drink )

Suppose I should mail my Christmas cards soon. ;)

Coming to the big screen... War of the Worlds.

Man, that was close--I almost had to do some work today! ;) (At least, I fielded a few phone calls from the busy-maker regarding one of the ongoing projects, who scheduled a con call and had it cancelled out from under him, all in the span of half an hour or so. :) So, I've cleared about half the crap off my carpet that's been sitting in semi-neat piles for some months, cleared some stuff off my dresser, washed my sheets, had leftover steak omelette from IHOP, and am listening to the Killers - Hot Fuss, which is a great album.

And after a night of illness and many showers, Nathan's feeling much better, which is good.

Man.. the death toll from the 8.9-earthquake-induced tsunamis in southeast Asia has topped 22,000 now.

typhanie offers an excellent review of the new Phantom of the Opera movie--must see. :)

New Year's options: Parties at Bagel's and

gothiccripple's, Pietasters at the 9:30, undetermined with

standby_go or Mike Hedrick.. don't know!

Current Mood: Look at..
Current Music: The Killers - All These Things That I've Done

Sunday: Slept in, went out to brunch at IHOP with family, replaced a battery cable on the truck (next step in improving the starting system), went with mom to Burlington Coat Factory/Baby Depot to get some stuff for Steph, listened to my new Propellerheads album, and eventually packed up all my gifts and stuff and headed for

kelwyn's in ~~Inconvenient~~ University Park, MD, for an

elfcentric gathering prior to her jaunt to India. Present with LJs of which I'm aware were

morcelu,

xanthamarioff,

baranoouji,

jduffy1535; also present were a Matt, a Richard, a Marianne, and other names I've forgotten. (I later learned, rather to my delight, that Matt = Matt, and lives with

kelwyn. Fame!) I brought in my copies of the Propellerheads and Killers CDs, both of which were well-received, and Carcassonne, which was never played; when I arrived, a game of Munchkin Blender was in progress, which was rather entertaining to observe, and no other games actually got played after that one ended. More than a bit of drinking was done, eating of the Costco rugelach I brought, fudge that

kelwyn made previously, and biscuits he made on the spot, and copious conversation occurred. (Much of the conversation revolved around

morcelu, and featured topics such as massage, eastern medicine, physiology, neurology and development, philosophy, philology, all manner of linguistics and languages, technical geekery, and generally cemented my previously-formed opinion that Doug is one of the most intelligent, well-educated--depth and breadth--and articulate people I know, despite his lack of either diploma or degree. In his early 20s, he's been working pretty much full-time since 14, owns his own consulting business, earns a good three times what I do, and has taught 600-level college courses. Damn.)

While at the party, I got calls from my mom and Nathan asking me to pick him up some 7-Up--apparently he's unwell, and that settles his stomach; unfortunately, neither convenience store I stopped by on the way home carried it, only Sprite and Sierra Mist, so I picked up my mom's standby, ginger ale. (Going to a 24hr grocery store would've been about half an hour out of my way.) Also, my truck wouldn't start leaving the first store/gas station, until I got a jump, so I think I'll replace my battery Monday. Got home around 05--after being away from the house since about 1800 Friday--and will be asleep shortly. Yeah.

Current Mood: good
Current Music: Killer - Somebody Told Me (in my head--it's catchy!)

Christmas at Nancy & Miguel's was rather delightful! Attendees included Chris and Julia (who drove in from Boulder, CO over the last few days) and several of Miguel's relatives (two of whom spent most of the evening watching a game in the basement), plus Pat & Bill (the former hosts, for the past ~30 years) and the usual crowd of immediate and extended family. Food, drink, and conversation were all excellent; many Christmas carols were sung (with Pat on keyboard, as a substitute for the piano at her house); gifts were exchanged. Nancy and Miguel really liked the wine-themed coasters and page-a-day wine calendar I got them; I got a fine bottle of Jameson's from Mike and Lillian.

Speaking of gifts, I started reading Good Omens on the way to and from N&M's, and I'm currently watching The Nightmare Before Christmas with Shauna. :)

Also, this is the recipe for the very tasty pumpkin-onion soup that Matt's dad made for Christmas eve dinner.

Current Mood: good

We fish ewe a mare egrets moose, panda hippo gnu deer!

So dad came in to wake me up shortly after the kitten did (kitten!), about 0845, saying mom was already up (in order, I believe, to steam carrots for several hours before dinner this afternoon), so Shauna and I dragged ourselves from bed to begin the festivities. And we made out, one might say, like bandits. The haul included books, music, DVDs, games, art, ornaments, shirts, power tools (with lasers!), glassware, handmade clothing; full account later. Everyone liked what I got them: Leatherman accessories for dad, Snowbabies for mom, a nifty caller ID display globe for both, pirate monkey robot t-shirt for Shauna, Fom foot massager for Steph, Gibson guitar anthology for Matt, and car-carrier cargo plane for Brendan. Shauna got a good bit of pirate gear (storebought and handmade) and books and music art and Nighmare Before Christmas and Lemony Snicket and knitting stuff and all-in-one scanner/printer/etc, mom got assorted tea-related things and snowmen and jewelry and art and a photo tower/cabinet; Matt got clothes and books and music and fun kitchen tools; dad got books and music and a shaver and a work jumpsuit (which would've come in handy yesterday) and a snowblower (which was a pain to wrap since its box was so beaten, and was stored at my place for the last month) and custom floormats for his '51 Chevy*; Brendan got mass quantities of toys, including a ride-in toy car that I got to assemble. :)

* The floormats took significant effort and conspiracy by Steph and mom, and were so thoughtful that they just about brought tears to his eyes--which may sound strange for floormats, but it was really really cool.

Soonish, off to Gainesville for family dinner and another minor gift exchange (which, instead of the last many years' "lots of little gifts between families," is "drew names at Thanksgiving, one larger gift for the drawn name.")

And, uh, check out

jokeinterests's interests. Wow. Just.. wow.

Current Mood: fortunate
Current Music: TSO's latest album, one of dad's gifts

Nothing like a little late-night gift wrapping over crappy, crappy late-night TV.. gifts which included several from dad to mom (one of which is distractingly decked in bows, not to draw attention from Shauna's half-one-paper, half-another wrapping job, no), and one bulky, beat-to-hell box (that I had to duct-tape into some semblance of rectangular before wrapping) heading in the opposite direction. And one of mine that I almost forgot to wrap. :)

Current Mood: tired

Merry Christmas, y'all. :)

This morning, truck wouldn't start again, despite wire-wiggling, so I got a ride with Nathan to his parents' house, where they (and his sister, bro-in-law, niece, and nephew) were celebrating Christmas a day early (so they can go to his family's tomorrow, and the nephew could get his bike today.*) Had some egg nog w/Bushmill's, bacon-wrapped liver&waterchestnuts (nowhere near as good as my mom's bacon-wrapped walnut&dates), and got picked up by dad and Shauna, then taken back to my house.

* He got a wrapped box. Unwrapped it, found a well-taped shoebox. Opened that, found a wrapped envelope buried in wrapping paper. Opened the wrapping, opened the envelope, found a paper saying "Look in the closet." In the closet was an OCC-Black Widow-themed chopper-style bicycle, which is pretty badass. :)

At my house, dad and I troubleshot my truck's starting problem, and decided it was probably a failing starter motor and loose connection, though they're not usually quick to fail. Called Advance, talked to someone rather incompetent. Drove to the store, was helped by a much more competent clerk, took the new starter back, and it behaved about the same connected directly to the battery, pointing a finger at possible dying battery (or failing alternator), but the truck started (a little slowly) after that. Packed up my gifts and whatnot, drove to Steph&Matt's, picking up wine for tomorrow along the way.

Dinner/gathering at Steph & Matt's (with my family and some of Matt's) was enjoyable, as usual, and food included a pumpkin and onion soup that Matt's dad made, and bananas Foster that Matt made. Mmm. :) (I also took a few minutes to replace my work laptop's keyboard, which makes it much easier to use and more portable, vs. toting along a USB keyboard.) Afterward, back to the parents', where I've wrapped most of my presents and assisted Shauna in making assorted cookies and baked goods, including finding a replacement for baking powder. Woo!

Man, that was awesome. Ran into plenty of people I knew at Alchemy--Jen,

anizee,

lilscotchgirl,

cheshirrrecat (!! haven't seen her in months!) and her boyfriend and Liz;

lanikei,

grannyglasseye, and their friend Corinne;

underfiend,

meekstranger,

xspookykittyx,

faeriemage, and Cristy--and quickly concluded that sleepwear/fetish/fantasy is a fantastic set of themes for girls to dress in. ;) (Personally, I was wearing pajama pants, my Overclocked Lemon tshirt, and a bathrobe over steel-toed boots--hardcore sleeper, me. :D

Baltimore's Ego Likeness went on from about 2215-2300; they were pretty good, but not enough so that I'd buy a CD. Voltaire, though, from about 2330-0040, was awesome, and also fantastic. :D He opened with his interpretation/translation of Rammstein's Du Haßt, followed by X Lover's Lover, commentary about his time in Japan ("Ver' powerful!" "Laugh? You mean in public?!"), Cannibal Buffet, comm. on his Grandpappy, Dead Girls, comm. on the armed forces (which, of course, there aren't any of at Nation), Crusade, comm. on his 6-year-old's son's trouble in school (scaring the other kids, you know), Goodnight Demonslayer (his lullably for his son, which might help explain the preceding), comm. on terrorists leading into Bomb New Jersey, the Sexy Data Tango (fully functional, and anatomically correct!), comm. on Star Wars (and Grover as Yoda), a take on the Star Wars Cantina that will ruin your childhood memories forever, Vampire Club, and When You're Evil (the only song I'd previously heard), followed by an encore of Hell in a Handbasket. How do I know this so well? Well, I picked up a copy of the setlist, which he autographed for me.. :D

Danced a lot, mostly with Cristy (who is, incidentally, an inch taller than me), including to all of Solaries's closing set of '80s classics (which included the Timelords' Dr. Who!), gave her a Christmas card I happened to bring along, and parted ways around 0310--since she had to get up (or leave home?) four hours later to go to the airport to see family in Texas for the next week (followed by a brief return to DC, then a visit to NY, then Tampa (where she'll see VNV, since she's missing them in DC), then back to DC just in time for classes to restart at AU.)

Today, I'm having brunch with Nathan's family, then hastily wrapping presents (and possibly addressing some cards), then going out to Steph and Matt's house for the annual Christmas Eve family dinner (his side and ours), crashing at my parents' house for the night, and getting up Christmas morning without having to round-trip to my house in between, followed by a family dinner in Gainesville (for which, come to think of it, I still need to buy wine.) :)

Current Mood: chipper

In order:
1) At home, sifted through my address book to count card recipients.
2) Toys 'R' Us, where they didn't have what I was looking for for my nephew Brendan, but I ran into

blankkittyblack shopping for her kids, and checked out some rather nice photos of her from Alchemy last week.
3) The Post Office next door, where I didn't have the cash I needed for stamps.
4) Wal*Mart next door to that, where they didn't have the toy either, but I got more cards, wrapping paper, and tape, plus cash.
5) Back to the P.O., for a few books of holiday stamps.
6) Back to Toys 'R' Us, where I got a different gift instead.
7) Over to Staples, where I got blank sheets of return address labels, because I don't feel like writing all of those out, plus envelopes, so I can mail in expense reports.

So gifts will be on time, cards will be late. This is not unusual. :) (Two years ago, first time I sent cards, they were late. Last year, I was in Australia, so no one got cards, and family got Christmas in February. :D)

Soon, to Alchemy's Naughty or Nice holiday party, featuring Voltaire and

ego_likeness!

Via

standby_go: A Spelling Challange