Archive for February, 2007

Will the real Frostbite Falls please stand up?

Sunday, February 25th, 2007

Apparently, the title is in dispute, and has been for a while.

I qualify for these …

Monday, February 19th, 2007

but they’re not all really merit badges, are they?

TadpoleCompLangIce1Exothermic
I qualified for this one when I was younger, but I’ve let my skills deteriorate since then.

Math

Found here.

And just what would you be saying?

Sunday, February 18th, 2007

As I drove through a section of town today that I don’t get to often, I noticed a billboard meant to promote a particular “adult” store as a source for Valentine’s Day gifts. Other than the store’s details, what it said was,

    This year, say it with batteries.

It seems to me that, effectively, a guy who did that would be saying, “You can do without me.”

The morning after the night before

Saturday, February 17th, 2007

Well, RMBB 6.0 has come and gone, and the first thing I have to say about it is …

There’s no alarm clock as effective and unwelcome as a cat on a diet.

It was a good evening. I met several people I hadn’t previously met, renewed various acquaintances, and had a number of good conversations. I talked music (playing instruments and jamming) with Jeff, let Anachronista know that I was familiar with her brand of wierdness, and had a nice discussion with Tara (who was disappointed that Cheryl left early) and her friends, although Tyler was fairly quiet.

I brought some exercise tapes that I’d promised for Stephen. Good news: it’s good that I brought them, because the address I had for him is out of date. Bad news: he doesn’t have a VCR anymore. I’ll have to try to copy them to DVD (something that hasn’t worked for me quite properly, yet).

The party moved from the Wynkoop Brewery to Enotecas Trios later in the evening, and I managed to last until almost midnight before the smoke got to be too much for me. I’m still bothered by some left in my nostrils. That, or I’m hallucinating the smell of stale tobacco.

All in all, a good time. Wish I could have lasted longer.

Work Productivity Meter

Friday, February 16th, 2007

Of sorts. I found it here.

As far as general USB peripherals go, I’d probably get more of a kick out of this one.

I ran into an old friend …

Friday, February 16th, 2007

and former coworker the other day (actually, when Marion and I were leaving the restaurant where we had our Valentine’s Day dinner). He has a new business that I’ll have to check out.

Which reminds me of one night during senior year in high school, when I was sitting around at a friend’s house with a couple other guys, eating baklava his mother had made and playing a Japanese drinking game comprised of six small cups in different sizes, each with a different flower or other pattern, and a die with corresponding patterns on the faces. You’d roll the die, then drink the cup that matched the up face.

We might have been playing cards, with the loser of the hand having to roll the die, but it’s too long ago for me to really remember. I also don’t remember what we were drinking. Probably sake; maybe ouzo. It’s not as though we were discriminating drinkers, anyway. Jax and Pearl were more commonly available to teenagers in our area. (Which, in turn, reminds me that I once got to see the two-headed calf and the diving horse act at the Pearl Brewery.)

I don’t remember, but I probably walked or rode my bicycle to my friend’s house; my family only had one car, and I was rarely able to drive it on my own.

Society was more relaxed about drinking in general back then. My parents’ generation held cocktail parties (I can remember lurking on the stairs as a young boy, watching when the neighbors came over and I was supposed to be in bed). Underage drinking seemed to cause fewer problems, also, although I’m sure that varied by community. You couldn’t buy anything until you were 18 (which was also draft age, although voting age was 21), but there were no legal restraints back then preventing an adult from giving you something to drink, and there was normally a “it’s just kids blowing off steam” reaction to it, as long as nobody was hurt. I had an English teacher in high school who provided drinks on occasion (not in school – you had to go over to her place). I also remember various “fermentation experiments” being run in the back of one of the physics classrooms.

Funny what memories a chance encounter can bring back.

You know it’s a different culture …

Friday, February 16th, 2007

when you get asked how your day was, and they don’t understand why it’s progress when you say, “It still doesn’t work, but I’m getting different error messages now.”

Happy (?) Valentine’s Day

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007

I think I’ll enjoy it more than this individual. At least, I have nice plans and a nicer dinner companion.

As an aside, I did attend a Lupercalia party some years back. No naked, pregnant women or men in goatskins (although togas and similar attire were specified on the invitation), but we did have an animal sacrifice. Actually, make that a pseudo-animal sacrifice. The hostess had a bakery provide a loaf of bread in the shape of an animal, with raspberry (I think) jam baked inside it.

As for anti-Valentine’s songs, how could she forget “Love Stinks,” “Thank God and Greyhound (You’re Gone)” and “How Can I Miss You (When You Won’t Go Away)?

Think of it

Monday, February 12th, 2007

… as evolution in action.

via Blue Crab Boulevard.

Not everyone will get this …

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

… but I thought it was pretty funny: Queer Eye for the Fandom Guy.