Oh the possibilities

This one's for you, Dave.

Today on our walk, we were talking about adult beverages and the topic of Goldschläger came up. Dan immediately realized there were probably other, less popular -schlägers out there with different materials in them.

"Leadschläger" was his first idea, though James rightly pointed out that that is just Akron tap water.

I hypothesized about "Uraniumschläger," which would be really popular at raves: "Dude, I love your costume! It looks like you have a glowing skeleton! Untz untz untz untz ooeet! ooeet!..."

Just a quick glance at your Periodic Table of the Elements can give you ideas like Molybdenumschläger, or Bariumschläger (which is handy for certain medical diagnostic procedures), or Unnilhexiumschläger (which you have to drink very fast).

Make some of you own!

So irrational

I wish I could recall the context, but at some point I referred to my supervisor at work as "an irrational harpy." Or, it might have been a mock-misogynist slam on women in general. In any event, I was clearly joking, and in fact Jen now uses the phrase about 20 times more than I do.

Today the phrase came up, and I was inspired to bring the creature to life.




And here's a delightful video.

If you Spore, please search for her and rate her up. My username on Spore is korogi.

Creatortip: I have recently found that some of the eyes, when rotated to point into the body, make fine breasts for female creatures.

Enjoy!

RIP LOLBat

If you know me, then this is hysterical.

He flew for about 4 hours in real time, but in our hearts, he will soar forever.

Movie Code Names vs. Real Code Names

I've developed the following theory using several minutes of careful thought. This is purely for entertainment, as I am not a real operative of anything for anyone.

In movies, and other works of dramatic fiction, characters often have code names related to their job description or some personal trait, either directly or in an ironic sense. Here's a list of some examples:

Chopper, Killer, Psycho, Vegas, Tex, Hollywood, Ringo, Doc, Cowboy, Hot Shot, Fireball, Iceman, Ox, Moose, Tiny, Slim (these two are reserved for the fat guys), Hawk, Snake-Eyes, 8-Ball, Joker, Ace, Lucky, Spark Plug, etc.

This is both cliche and stupid. If your code name tells your enemy who you are better than your real name, it's not a very good code name, right?

I have developed a better system for devising code names. A code name should be short; two syllables is ideal so it's mnemonic to members of your operation. It should be a word that is as nondescript as possible, something you could work into a conversation, and no one overhearing it would be the wiser. It should also be completely apropos of nothing with regard to the person. Here's a list of examples:

Soap Dish, Card Stock, Wood Chip, Fish Bowl, Car Port, Dial Tone, Man Hole, Side Door, Key Ring, Tin Can, Tube Sock, Tea Cup, Back Tire, Bike Shop, Note Pad, Wheel Well, Door Knob, Wrist Watch, Pin Stripe, Felt Tip, Floor Mat, Dust Mop, Ball Point, Phone Book, Shoe Store, Hair Brush, Sand Box,

For example, the code name Soap Dish. The operative you give that name to can't have a OCD hand-washing thing. He also can't be slippery or evasive, like a saboteur or con-artist, nor a guy specializing in marine operations, nor a money launderer. He also can't be ironically grimy or messy. You'd could give the code name Soap Dish to a guard captian, or a driver, or a demo-man, or a computer guy, or something like that. Your saboteur with the OCD hand-washing thing can be Hair Brush, as long as he has normal guy hair--no excessive product or frosted tips, nor can he be bald.

Give the stupid movie code name to the guy you don't trust. When he gets caught and sings, he'll throw your opponents off the trail.

Side Door Out.

Spore, at last

After a month of frustration, I finally have Spore working on my computer. I have taken the graphics card from Mel's computer and put it in mine, and an exact duplicate has been ordered from eBay for her.

I look back at the last month and feel like I wasted so much time trying things to make the game work. I spent hours updating my XP, kind of rushing through it. Then some silly thing got screwed up and I had to do it again, this time taking twice as long to make sure everything was right, and undoing the damage from the screw-up. I twiddled every setting, even messing with regedit and the BIOS, things which are way out of my depth and which I have no business messing with.

I even bought a new video card, an Nvidia 7600, but it failed where the Nvidia 7300 worked, producing some strange infinite loop error in any of the three computers I put it in. I am totally baffled by the voodoo going on with that.

With my ill-gotten graphics card in, I can play Spore with every graphics setting at max, and it is gorgeous and fun. However, I find myself still playing gingerly, creeping along so as not to tax the computer too hard. It a habit I picked up while trying to play the game with a handicapped graphics card, and I think it'll take some time to overcome the fear that the game is a heartbeat away from crashing. I also feel guilty for shafting Mel's computer, even if it is for just a few days. In short, I finally have what I want, but the price has been high, and I'm not totally enjoying myself yet.

I am trying to get back into the swing of things by making stuff in the editors, which is what hooked me in the first place. I have lots of buildings and vehicles to make, and lots of catching up to do.

Battle damage

The DeBord Halloween party was a blast! I was pretty busy from the moment we got there, so I had my back to most of the fun, but I did enjoy myself.

The Apparatus for the Routine Maintenance of Gyroscoptical and Aeronautical Research Devices didn't survive in one piece. The power box snapped off when I tried to open it to put in the glow stick, and a fan bit popped off the last time I tried to adjust the gauntlet.

The problem was that I was working, and I had my left arm planted up on my easel. This is usually not a problem, but the ARMGARD was heavy and unbalanced, and I had to keep adjusting it, and the glove made it hard to cap and uncap my markers. After the fan bit busted, I had to shed the gauntlet for the evening.


My biggest regret was that I met two cool folks dressed as Wonder Woman and Jack Sparrow, and I had to rush off without properly talking to them. They liked my gauntlet, and I loved their costumes, and they said they wanted to do a steampunk thing next year. If you're out there in the Internets: PLEASE CONTACT ME! No one else at that party even knew what steampunk was :-)

Also, Wonder Woman was FINE.

Finished product

It's done! The huge bolts and washers holding the gears on were actually the only part of the arm that cost money: $6. It's worth every penny, though, as the gears intermesh and turn smoothly.

It's a bit heavy and it feels like it wants to flop over, but I think it's ready for prime time.

I picked up some cowboy boots at the thrift store for $10, so now I have everything!

How to build a steampunk gauntlet for zero dollars

What have I been working on all this time? Well, this, among other things.

I wanted to do a steampunk costume this year. Inspired by Lee Scoresby from His Dark Materials, I settled on a Western aeronaut. However, the hat, vest, boots and goggles just didn't seem steampunky enough, so I decided to add a mechanical gauntlet, and, informed and inspired by Backyard FX, I decided to make it for zero dollars, and to document the process.

I had this piece of foamcore sitting around from my boy's birthday party.

I scored one side for bends, and reinforced the inside with duct tape. I used some spare work boot laces to hold the thing together for an authentic look. I added some of the punch-out shapes from the cogs to the foamcore, then spray-painted the whole thing hammered bronze.

Years ago, my mother-in-law gave me this cool cardboard clock kit, and I desperately want to finish it someday, but I decided I could make a few of the multi-layer cardboard cogs from the kit and borrow them for the gauntlet.

This is a sample bottle of Cool Mint Listerine with the label removed and a LEGO corrugated tube hot glued to the top.

The gauges are made from the bezel of a broken LED tap-light and a round Ice Breakers mint box. I took another mint tin, drilled holes through the lid, and painted it bronze to serve as the door to the furnace. I used some craft wire to lash the mint box to this work glove, put a piece of cardboard over the wire knots, and then glued on a fake gauge face I made in about ten minutes in Illustrator.


A little while ago, thanks to the transparent panel on the side of my computer, I realized that the fan sitting on top of the chipset was no longer spinning, though this caused no heat issues. When I yanked it out, the brass cover came off the fan. Voila, two bits for the gauntlet.

Here it is, not quite done, but close. I used craft wire to secure the bottle to the gauntlet, then just bent the tube and fed it into a hole I whittled.

This weekend, I need to secure the gears to the elbow area of the gauntlet in a way that will let them turn. When it's time to wear the costume, I'll add some small bendy glow sticks into the "furnace" and inside the gauges. Jacob loves these things, so we bought them in bulk at the craft store a while ago. He won't miss a few.

My big gay wedding

My friends Jaey and Martina got married this past Friday evening. The service was in this tiny church in Akron, known for being pretty gay-friendly. I'm guessing about half of those in attendance, including the minister, were of the LGB persuasion.

The minister did a fantastic job, connecting with everyone in the room. She mentioned the impending return of Jesus a few times, but I was still deeply moved by the ceremony. It was warm and inviting in ways I have never encountered in a church before.

The reception was great! They had sushi! (It looked like it had crab in it so I didn't partake, but still, they had sushi!) Their cake was a big stack of cupcakes of various persuasions.

The shining moment for me, though, was right after Jaey and Marti's first dance. The DJ turned on a spinny disco light, and started playing the dance music. Jacob ran out into the middle of the spinny light, all by himself, and started shaking his groove thang! The crowd loved him! He danced all alone in the spotlight for almost a minute, and then all kinds of ladies came out to join him! He stayed out there dancing for like four songs. Check him out:

Jacob Dancing!

He did get a little upset later when Mel and I were slow dancing. He was sad because Angel had left and "There's no one here my size to dance with!" We got home around 11 pm and he collasped into bed.

Anyways, great times. Grats Jaey and Martina!

Thoughts on Fourth Edition

In the Babylon 5 universe, the Vorlons asked "Who are you?" while the Shadows asked "What do you want?" Those questions defined who they were.

In a role-playing game, the game master is defined by the question, "What do you do?" That phrase is the trigger for the role-playing experience. In it's purest and more unrefined state, that tells the player it's his or her turn to add to the story. It is the moment of infinite potential, the moment when the escapism can take over. The closer any set of role-playing game rules allows a group to come to this ideal--or, more accurately, the less a set of rules intrudes into this potential--the more engaging the experience becomes.

In previous editions of D&D, it has never been quite that limitless, but the potential for cleverness and creativity was always there. You could always find a new way to use a spell, or a way to turn the environment to your advantage, or choose a moment to backstab your buddies.

Now, I have not had a chance to play 4th Edition D&D yet, but I have the books and I've been studying them for a few weeks now. I think they are a fine evolution of the system, a logical improvement over 3.5, and an elegant way to free D&D from its legacy issues.

My main concern is that, when the DM asks you "What do you do?", your response is, "Well, as an Nth level Defender, my function is to do this, so I pick one of my X number of exploits and do my job." And then, after the encounter, the DM says, "Well, it is my job to give you Y amount of reward." In short, your options in any combat situation seem pretty pre-defined. Given robotic arms to roll dice and move minis, compters could calculate D&D now, with humans becoming superfluous. Non-combat situations are glossed over as just the boring time between encounters. I allow that the game may be different in practice, but the books do a great job of making it seem very pre-determined and limiting.

The other problem I have is that the game isn't done. I can understand the purely mechanical problems now, given that every class description is a book sub-chapter with a 100+ item a la carte menu of class abilities attached. But still, eight classes is thin, and even though those menus seem huge, they are still clearly incomplete. You are given only 2-5 choices to make per level, and often the choices are illusions; for the Warlock, there may be 7-8 spells to pick from at any given level, but only 1 or 2 are for your pact; for the Fighter, you want to pick that exploit that fits your chosen weapon. The book with the Bard, Druid, Barbarian, Monk, and other missing classes is not due for another year, but it really needs to be out this fall.

I love the new system, I love that Warlord, I love the Monster Manual. I love the death of alignments (though its hamstrung remians seem silly). I am happy to be rid of fire-and-forget wizards and the Great Wheel cosmology. This seems like an easier game to play and to run. I just think it has taken a step away from a role-playing game and too far into a chatty board game.

How it went

4:30 am: Wake up.

5:20 am: Pick up Mel's dad.

6:00 am: Arrive at Surgical Pavilion, which sounds too festive. Realize we forgot Mel's CPAP machine. I'll have time to get it later...

6:20 am: Mel is called back. Dad and I receive a pager. It's just like the ones you get at restaurants to let you know your table is ready, except it's shaped exactly the opposite of a coaster, more like a little blue stun gun.

7:10 am: Dad and I are called back to the prep area. Mel is in a good mood. The surgery should take 4 hours, very routine.

7:30 am: They roll her up to the OR. Dad and I retire to the waiting area. I am reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. He's reading The Last Jihad by Joel C. Rosenberg.

10:30 am: Carrie, Mel's sister, arrives to wait with us.

11:50 pm: I get paged. It's a nurse in the OR. Mel's surgery is taking a bit longer, but it should be just another hour or so. I decide this is an okay time to jaunt home for the CPAP machine, and grab some food.

12:15 pm: Arrive home. Michelle, Mel's other sister, is there with Jacob. Everything's fine.

12:30 pm: I arrive back at the hospital. Carrie takes dad for some lunch.

1:05 pm: Dr. Dan arrives to let me know things went pretty well. When they went in, they found that Mel's liver was about twice the size it should have been, so it was now a huge obstacle, since it was sitting on top of the things they had to work on. They had a special instrument to get it up and out of the way. However, the pushing caused a crack to form in the liver. Not a big deal, it won't affect the liver's function and it should heal up on it's own in a few days. The enlarged liver is another product of the obesity, so it's yet another problem that will be corrected by the bypass! The bypass itself was easy, he says. He leaves me with a drawing and some photos. Apparently, his residents were impressed. Mel is in recovery, and will be sent to the ICU, just as a precaution, due to the liver.

1:30 pm: Carrie and dad return, and I fill them in. Carrie leaves: she was working at the hospital prior to joining us, and this is now well into her bedtime.

4:00 pm: I finish my book. It's a good book. I start further studies on my new 4th Edition D&D books, with a folder over the covers so as not to offend dad.

5:30 pm: They page us. Mel is in her room in the ICU, and we can go see her.

5:40 pm: Mel is totally out of it. She's clearly in a lot of pain, and they are working on managing it. She's not very responsive. We bug out after 20 minutes or so.

----

I tried to call her this morning around 8:00 am, and she got on the phone and said, "In pain. Can't talk," and hung up on me. She was asleep when her parents visited around noon, and she was mostly asleep when I visited after work, and Jaey and Martina showed up.

However, her super nice nurse said that Mel had been up out of her bed and into a chair quite ambitiously, and was doing very well...just not when we were around :-P

She should be moved to a regular room tomorrow.

Under the knife

Tomorrow, Mel will be undergoing a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. She's been actively preparing for about three weeks now with something called OptiFast, and today she had to drink some nasty stuff to fully flush out the contents of her intestines. She has been remarkable in this time, easily forgoing regular Coke in favor of diet sodas or tea, and cheating only with great restraint.

In reality, she's been prepared for this for over a year now. With her spinal injuries, this is the best way for her to change her life and possibly remove some of the pressure on her spine and alleviate her constant pain.

When I was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2005, one of the first things I did in response was throw out all my summer shorts. Mel has responded to her even more dire situation with great spirit and resolve.

After tomorrow, many simple things about her life will change forever. No more sodas of any kind. No sugary snacks for a long time, and even when she has recovered, she can only indulge in minute amounts. Totally re-learning how to eat, shop, and cook with ruthless efficiency, all to meet her nutritional needs with tiny portions of food.

But we both know the benefits are worth the sacrifices. Her swingy hormones will return to normal. Her sleep apnea will go away. Her mobility will improve. And the biggest hope is that her pains will subside. That means less pain prescriptions, the ability to walk for more than ten minutes, and eventually the ability to sleep in a regular bed instead of a recliner.

We've tried to explain things to Jacob, and he's mostly okay. He has been perturbed that I have had to do all the cooking for just he and I lately; "Dad, tell Mom it's her turn to make dinner tonight, you have to come play with me!" At one point, he also told his mom that he didn't want her to change because he loved her just the way she was. Aww!

Maybe I'm unrealistic, but I expect things to go pretty smoothly. Mel has a gift for finding opportunity within adversity, as it is from her that I have learned all I know about being stubborn. She has already discovered new things about food she never noticed before. It will be a beautiful transformation to watch.

My trip to McDonald's

So I'm sitting at McDonald's on Sunday afternoon. Jacob had run off to play, and I was sitting at the table watching.

A family shuffled in and sat at the table behind ours: Grandma, her grown son, and his kids. They had apparently just come from church. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but...

Grandma was a Sunday school teacher, and one of the kids was in her class. She went on for several minutes about how some younger teacher was doing everything wrong, not like how she did things. She was critical of everything this other teacher did. Now, I certainly don't know the details of what really happened, but she just had nothing but unkind things to say, and she was saying them in front of the children. I mean, that's one teacher undermining the credibility and authority of another teacher behind her back.

She went on to quiz the grandson who was in her class what they went over that day. The boy was pretty mopey and unresponsive, so it was really just Grandma talking to herself:

"Who did we talk about today? Abraham? What did he do? Talk to God? What did God tell him?" etc...

So, the kid absorbed 0% of the class lesson, and then got an earful of Grandma bad-mouthing another lady from church. He was pretty withdrawn, didn't want to eat, didn't want to play, and Grandma just kept hassling him about the lesson. Eventually she essentially ordered him to cheer up.

I'm not sure what the lesson was supposed to be.

Better late than never

The kitten has been named Athena Seen Seeno. I can't explain it all.

A different kind of creature

This is our new kitten. We just got her tonight from Mel's cousin. Ain't she cute?

She's curious and quite brave, and she needs a name.

Any ideas?

Last Creature for a bit

The Bear Carrying A Shark is possibly the deadliest creature ever. Do not try to deny it.

A better bunny

I finally got the full version of the Spore Creature Creator, and with the proper parts, I have created a better version of Terlingua, the devil bunny.

The Creator itself is wonderful, but I really have to say I'm disappointed in EA. First, when I tried to download the game earlier in the day, their website was slowed to a crawl. Aren't they supposed to be, like, huge?

Second, there's the EA Downloader. It's supposed to be a download manager, but all it did for me was get in the way. Here's what I had to do to get the game to work: I downloaded the EAD, installed it, changed its target directory to a different location, used it to download the game, then uninstalled the downloader. The SCC would not run while I had the EAD even installed on my system. Granted, my XP has been unpatched for like 5 years now, so it may be partially my bad.

Anyhoo, I'm off to create and share .

Everybody's doin' it...

Okay, so here is my prototype devil bunny, Terlingua:

Ain't he cute?

He's not perfect yet, but it's pretty good for just the demo version. The full version of the creature creator will be out on Wednesday.

Vroom!

Got the replacement belt from Sears. It's amazing how easy it was to connect everything with all the brackets back in place and the belt the proper length! Runs like a dream.

Mario Kart Wii is coming later today.

Jacob is really into Avatar lately. He has discovered Nick Toons, and that's his favorite show. Of course, I don't mind, since I like the show too :-)

I'm comin' Mistah J!

HOO HOO HAA HAA HEE HAA!

I haven't been into the LEGO Batman stuff so far, but this looks like fun.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=18072

Harley Quinn + monster truck = teh win

Raccoon!

To keep the dog from eating the cats' food, their bowl is out on the breezeway on a high table only they can jump up to. Their food is kept in a big plastic box with a latched lid. We leave the back door of the breezeway open so the animals can go in and out as they please.

Every few days for a while now, I'd come out in the morning and the bowl would be empty and the box would be tipped over and open. I thought at first it was just the cats, so I sort of wedged the big cat food box behind a chair so they couldn't tip it over. However, it kept happening. I started to get suspicious. Finally, I put the big box on a high shelf, where no animal could reach it.

Last night, I heard Gracie fussing and growling by the cat door from the kitchen to the breezeway, which was a bit weird for her. I went upstairs, flipped on the breezeway light, and looked outside.

Standing on the table, reaching up the brick wall toward the big box, was a BEAR of a raccoon. He was more than twice the size of one of our cats; I now guess he had grown strong and fat on Meow Mix. He was so clever, he recognized the box and was figuring out how to get it. Gracie ran out, not aggressively, but more like she wanted to be friends with it. The raccoon just turned around and stood there and growled at her, unimpressed. I called Gracie back in and shut the door, and a few seconds later I heard him shuffle out.

Mel was upset that she didn't get to see the cute guy, but I keep telling her it was NOT cute. It was huge! It was smart! It invaded my house without fear! It was not scared of my dog!

So now we're going to start closing that door at night.

Map of Kingdomland

This is for my Sunday game group, so you know where you are.

So there I was at the gym

Some things you need to know before I start this story:

1. I get to LCP at about 6:15-6:30 am, and I find an isolated spot to stretch before I start my reps.

2. They have a PA system that plays music, and occasional announcements of upcoming programs, including safety classes for kids.

3. I'm there to work out and jet, not to meet people. I exercise my misanthropy while I'm there, too.

Okay, the story begins here.

I'm sitting down, about halfway through my stretches, and a smiling older gentleman approaches me. He's wearing shorts that are a bit too short. He walks up to me and says, "I noticed something when you were bending over."

AT THIS MOMENT, on the PA system, is an announcement for a kids' safety class about "Stranger Danger!"

I am suddenly very, very nervous.

Moments later though, the man introduces himself as the owner of LCP, and he noticed that I was arching my lower back when I was touching my toes. This, he explained, is what leads up to the classic "I bent over to pick up a piece of paper and BAM my back went out" thing, as over time you keep working your vertibrae into going the wrong way. He suggested a different stretching technique, and some quad curls. I guess that if you strengthen that muscle, it helps hold you up so your lower back doesn't flex like that.

Also, Jacob wants you to know that he has a lightsaber.

And the meadow grows

I've been having problems with my riding mower.

The last time I used it last year, the belt that drives the blades broke. I bought a new belt, but I had to wait until it warmed up and the ground was dry to install it. A few weeks ago, I went to install it, and I had to detach the deck. When I pulled it out from under the mower, I found a bunch of broken brackets, so I had to load it in the Jeep and have my father-in-law weld them back on. When I got back, I had tons of trouble trying to get all of the pins and linkages to line up again. Eventually I got it back on, but then it wouldn't start. Turns out, by welding some parts back on, the rest of the thing was out of alignment, and the blade belt was constantly engaged, which prevented it from starting. And then the welds broke and I found more breaks.

I then decided to take it to a professional mower repair place up the road. It was a rainy day, and I drove the Jeep around back as I always do to pick up the deck. I underestimated how wet it was and got stuck, and my mechanic STILL hasn't found the part to fix my 4WD. I got out, but I dug some trenches on the way out.

So, now the deck is hopefully being totally fixed. Meanwhile, my backyard is getting deeper. Fortunately, my neighbor has offered to let me use his mower, but now I have to wait for the weather to clear up, hopefully on Friday.

I hope the old Craftsman will make it through one more season, and then next year I may shop around for something new. Our stimulus check is destined to repair our back patio roof.

Everything's going my way

I got my DS back from Nintendo a few days ago. Judging by the serial number and scuffs on the case, it's my DS, but I think they disassembled it and put in a new hinge bit. I had to reprogram my preferences when I got turned it on. Anyhoo, nice work!

Jacob's birthday party was a success over the weekend. Two of his friends from preschool showed up, plus Angel, Tahja, and Terrell. Loads of fun, and Jacob got several nice LEGO sets and other toys.

On Tuesday, I put on a pair of jeans I had not worn in a while. I buttoned them up, and then they just fell off! Also, when I finished my reps yesterday, I started running on the track. And I kept going! I felt coordinated and I didn't run out of breath! Pretty awesome. My new goal is to get below 200 lbs. I feel good, and I have more energy.

With the help of some hand-me-down tools from my father-in-law, I got my riding mower re-assembled, but now the battery needs to be charged up. Since it's been drizzly lately, I haven't been able to go out and plug in the charger.

I've gotta update more often... these dumps are a bit incoherent. Ah well.

FOOD UPDATE: I like coffee! Well, it needs a cream and 4 sugars to be palatable to be, but still. Thanks Dunkin Donuts!

Bad news, good news

The right hinge on my DS is nearly busted off. It must have been a hairline crack that just went nuts one day. I keep it in a padded sleeve when not in use, and Jacob only plays with it under close supervision now (after erasing one too many Mario Kart saves). It is hanging on by a few molecules of plastic, but it's still functional, though awkward to use. It opens flat, as the stop no longer engages.

I just got off the phone with Nintendo. The wait was super short, and after I explained everything to the guy (who was American), he told me they'd replace it for free! He emailed me a FedEx shipping label, and all I have to do is pack it up and send it. I should get a repaired or replaced DS in about 2 weeks. That's a long time without the lunch Karting, but worth it.

Yay Nintendo!

Spare time? What's that?

My infrequent updates are an accurate indication of my recent level of activities. Work continues to be super-busy, and both Mel and Jacob have been under the weather, so I haven't had the energy to post.

Scattershot updates:
Signed Jacob up for kindergarten! Class of 2021! Overdale Elementary is about a mile away, and when I walked inside, I felt like I was back in my own elementary school. It's a 50 year-old building, and it just had all the same little features I remembered from my school: chipped and stained ceiling tiles, green ceramic brick walls, cutouts and construction paper everywhere, little water fountains. I might be just as excited as Jacob!

Making great progress at the gym. I have lost a few pounds, and I have increased the weights on most of my exercises--they became too easy!

The Sunday D&D campaign is going well. The characters have just entered the now-famous "sweet spot" of D&D, starting around 6th level. They also have a cause that motivates them to risk their lives to seek treasure. They are handling challenges I was sure would foil them. Guess I have to try harder to destroy them. MUHUHHAHAHAHAH!

Jacob and I have been enjoying LEGO Star Wars for the Wii. With just a little help from me, he has gotten through episodes I-V and is partway through Jedi. He's getting the hang of teamwork through the game as well, and he has learned how to follow instructions so that he doesn't keep restarting his game and losing his game progress.

If it stays nice this weekend, I may put the new belt on the mower and clean up those leaves left over from fall :-)

Finally, today was the first day of Official Thinking About Memorial Day. I am hoping to re-roof my back patio before the festivities. It'll depend on the schedules of my handy friends, I guess.

My least favorite things

Ever since I discovered the joys of spicy foods, my palate has expanded quite a bit. I like to try exotic things, and I often harass the less adventurous people I dine with (particularly my wife) to free their minds. I make fun of people with food peeves as well.

I have come to realize in recent days, though, that even I have some foods that I just don't like. In an effort to balance the scales, let me confess my food peeves.

* Raisins: I can't remember ever liking raisins. They taste nothing like grapes, and I can't stand the texture. My son likes them, though, and will eat them all day.

*Mushrooms: I wish I understood why people like mushrooms. I can sort of get past the taste, as they are kind of subtle, but again, the texture give me the willies. Even on pizza, when there are just a few amongst many other toppings, they ruin my enjoyment of the pie.

* Tomatoes: I love ketchup, I like tomato soup, and I like a slab on my cheeseburger. But I can't eat just a tomato, even the little grape tomatoes. Again, it may be a texture thing.

* Olives: Green or black, I just can't stand the taste and texture. Olive oil is great, though.

* Black Licorice: Just yuck.

* Root Beer: Tastes like licorice to me.

* Fake Cherry: I only like cherries when they're fresh. I don't care for cherry pie or the little canned cherries on top of sundaes. And I really don't like fake cherry flavoring. I think it goes back to this one time as a kid I was coughing in church, and my mom only had a cherry cough drop, and it was nasty, and everything else cherry-flavored just tastes like that to me.

* Cooked celery: I love fresh celery, but when it's cooked in stews it transforms into a squishy, stinky thing that I pick out and set aside.

* Coffee: I like the aroma of good coffee, but every time I try it, I wince. Maybe I could load a cup up with sugar and cream and get through it, but what's the point then? Also, as much as I'd like to be the kind of person who appreciates a Guinness, it tastes too much like coffee for me.

* Hot tea: I have only recently started to enjoy iced tea. Hot tea is still a taste I cannot acquire. Every time I try it, it just tastes like hot water with a weird taste.

* Pickles: I like pickles on their own, but I always pick them off my McDonald's cheeseburger. Some people like that little surprise, but I don't.

* Shellfish: This is different. I LOVE shrimp, lobster, and crab, but around age 30 I developed an allergy that makes me puff up like a blowfish. How unfair! I can still eat it, but then I have to take some Benadryl and sleep it off. That's no fun when the shrimp is the appetizer! It's better just to avoid it.

I can't really figure out any one thing that links all these things. Bitterness may be part of it--a lifetime of drinking Coke may have ruined my potential enjoyment of these kinds of flavors.

I like to think that all the other oddball things I like balance the scales. Any seafood--raw oysters (not allergic to them--yay!), sushi, calamari, clams, swordfish--and just about anything spicy can make my day. As a kid, I was a plentiful eater, but I think a bit picky, so now I'm making up for lost opportunities. I'll even try raisins now and then to see if anything has changed.

His noodly appendage

This is so awesome!

Busy, tired

It's been a busy week at work, with deadlines looming.

Just got back from the gym, where they gave me a exercise routine to follow. A surprising about of free weights, but I'm okay with that. The plan is to alternate upper and lower body exercises for an even workout, and then do some "core" exercises. I could "feel the burn" but it wasn't grueling. Definitely something I can do three nights a week. The gym is surprisingly empty at around 6:30, 7:00, which is perfect for my purposes.

I'm curious to see how I feel in the morning, though.

Jacob has a sinus infection, so probably no workout tomorrow, since he can't go swimming. There are some things in the routine I can do at home, though. Besides, we have to clean house and do some shopping for hosting our Easter luncheon on Sunday.

Fan of science

While exercising today, I was wearing my spiffy new T-shirt with a diagram of the caffeine molecule on it. A few people asked about it, and then they asked me if I was a teacher or a scientist. I told them no, I was just a fan of science. They all seemed a bit shocked, as if they had never thought something like that was possible! I also have a shirt with the periodic table on it, and I've had similar encounters while wearing it.

It see it as my mission in life to do this. I don't have to change people's minds, I just have to bump that needle a bit and plant the idea that it's okay for a regular person to like science and be an advocate for it. I tried to be a scientist, but at the time I lacked the willpower and discipline to do it, so this is the least I can do to further their cause, one T-shirt at a time.

No surprises

I just got back from my fitness evaluation at our new health club. They had me do a bunch of stuff like leg presses, walking a mile, sit-ups, flexibility tests, and little caliper readings all over. Then they plugged it all into a computer and told me, "Yep, you're flabby."

Flexibility is still good, and my heart is in good shape, somehow. But my strength levels are pretty pitiful. I thought I was pushing over a car on the leg press, but it was only like 300-odd lbs; pretty low.

While I'd like to just swim and bike, the guy pointed out that for it to be effective, I need some strength training too, to make my muscles work more efficiently. I go back next week to get my personalized workout plan.

I was really surprised how bad the push-ups and sit-ups wholloped me. I was pretty pooped when it was all done and looking forward to a few minutes in the whirlpool. Of course, they were cleaning it, so I just jetted. The workout also left me starving.

Hopefully, this is just the starting point. I've been wanting to find some exercise for some time, and I'm pretty excited. Besides, nowhere to go but up from here!

Back from Detroit

Last Friday I drove up to Detroit with some co-workers for the AutoRama, mostly to scout for cool cars. We saw a LOT. My favorite part was the Rat Rod show in the lower exhibition hall, full of wonderful, woolly, and touchably-rusty creations. I felt more at home down there among the artisans than upstairs with the retirees.

Even though it was mostly buried in snow, I have to admit that Detroit was nicer than I expected. I admit that my perceptions of the town are mostly painted by dealing with its citizens at Cedar Point years ago, and by driving through on its battered highways.

It's easy to get around downtown on the People Mover, and all the stations I visited were clean and well maintained. We visited a number of fine restaurants, though I did not indulge in the local obsession with Coney dogs. Many locals seemed to have a bit of attitude, but we were treated well enough.

We were planning to return on Saturday morning, but the winter storm that made national news by wholloping northeast Ohio made that a bad idea. The company picked up an extra night at the hotel, and our trip back on Sunday morning was uneventful and clear.

Wii are having fun now!

After waiting for over a year, we have finally acquired a Wii! It's a massive amount of fun.

We have been enjoying Rayman's Raving Rabbids quite a bit. It's something all three of us can enjoy. And after Jacob goes to bed, I've been playing NO MORE HEROES. Nothing like a world where everyone has 80 gallons of blood at 300 psi! Definitely not for kids.

Our Wii friend code is 2737 8705 3721 1588.

LEGO universe

I'm looking forward to LEGO Universe almost as much as Spore:

My son the Dungeon Master

This is the totally true story that motivated me to finally start a blog.

Sunday afternoons at Chez Manke are for D&D. My current campaign is centered in the small fishing village of Squidbush Flats. We play with miniatures on a vinyl battlemat, drawing in the scene with overhead pens. My son Jacob (who's almost 5) and our friends' daughter Angel (who's little over 5) usually go play elsewhere, but this week they stayed to watch and asked if they could play with us.

Since ours is a grown-up game, Mel set them up to play on their own. They got a smaller battlemat, some pens, and a plastic mini for each of them. They had a blast, taking turns drawing adventures for their minis!

Since then, this has become Jacob's favorite thing to do in the evenings. I'll sit down with him after dinner, and I'll draw a rough outline of rooms, and he'll fill in the contents. For example, I'll draw a kitchen, and then he'll draw a fridge, stove, and anything else he can think of. Our minis move around and find treasure and avoid traps. Then we'll switch and he'll draw the whole map!

We've also started to integrate LEGO bricks into the adventures. It's bound to get even more fun!

Step One

Hi! This is the obligatory first post with nothing really in it.