March 2010
9 posts
Recent Reads
Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty Goes to Washington, Kitty Takes a Vacation, Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand, Kitty Raises Hell, and Kitty’s House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn
Codename: Wolverine by Christopher Golden
The Man with the Golden Torc and Daemons Are Forever by Simon R. Green
Warrior and Witch by Marie Brennan
The Gossamer Plain, The...
The Movie Roll
Here’s all the movies I’ve seen since the last time I posted a list:
White Out — This was a fairly good thriller. Since I had not read the comic book it was based I wasn’t disappointed.
New Moon — (or as the theater’s marquee had it: New Moo. Perhaps they got it right.) Going in I expected it to be lame. I was not wrong. Bella is such a user.
Ninja Assassin — No...
1 tag
“The process (for me personally; and your mileage may vary) is hard to describe,...”
– Cherie Priest on how the writing starts
February 2010
4 posts
Playing Doctor
Me: I've got to do an emergency lobotomy on a PC. Dr. Boylan, you're needed in the OR stat!
Sis: Quick. Give that patient RAM stat!
Me: We're loosing the patient. Try booting from CD...
Sis: Nooo ... not a total reformat! We'll never bring em back totally!!
Me: Nurse, TOD 12:46 PM
Sis: At least we can still recycle his bits for some other needy PC.
Me: It was a Windows PC. With all the viruses I'm afraid it's not a good candidate for organ donation.
Sis: Good gawd, man! In that case ... to the incinerator with the carcass!
Me: Quick before the contamination spreads ... Someone notify CDC.
Sis: Aren't you supposed to be playing Doctor on the actual machine and not IMing?
Me: You think that'll come up at the board of inquiry? Surely it can't be a factor in the patient's timely death.
Sis: You were slacking on the web at the time, sir. It could be seen as negligence.
Me: But it was Windows XP. It's time had come. Surely I can't be faulted for that.
Sis: XP had a good run and came to be a strong and true OS. Unlike that sad, sad malformed Vista. So yes, it will be mourned.
Me: Yes, the Vista abomination should have been dashed upon the rocks at birth. If only this were SPARTA!!!
“Manila was dirty and noisy as usual. Every time I stepped outside of the hotel I...”
– Me, in an email to my sister
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends...”
– Upton Sinclair
“It’s always easier and more tempting to pay later than to pay now – that’s why...”
– James Knapp
January 2010
1 post
Back in Manila
Work has me back in in Manila for a week. They’ve put me up in a different hotel than my previous excursions to this city. It’s rooms are quite nice. In fact, I’ve encountered several amenities here that I’ve not seen before at other hotels:
an L-shaped desk (too bad there’s not a proper desk chair to go with it)
a digital scale in the bathroom
a bench-like piece...
December 2009
5 posts
1 tag
“It’s been a good year for bad days,
Or a bad year for good days.”
– The Refreshments
“Good Year” from The Bottle and Fresh Horses
“Most of us settle in, and settle for what we have. Rather
than pursue, we...”
– J.C. Hutchins, a novelist
Gaming the System →
Discovery → Optimization → Repetition → Win → Achievement
Rands fuckin’ gets geeks. See also The Nerd Handbook.
1 tag
“‘Cause my angel
She don’t receive my calls
Says I’m to dumb...”
– Counting Crows
“Miami” from Hard Candy
1 tag
“All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many...”
– Brandi Carlile
“The Story” from the Grays Anatomy Season 3 Soundtrack
November 2009
3 posts
Annoyance Update: Crossing Over into the Absurd
Despite assurances to the contrary, the Wednesday flight arrived today unburdened with the weight of my two coolers. Rumor has it they’ve shacked up in a dive on Guam and are busy raising little thermos babies. Their passion has led them to disregard the ham and the pair of Thanksgiving turkeys chilling (or more likely: formerly chilling now decomposing) inside them.
To their credit, the...
So Much Annoyance For Such A Short Trip
Background
Continental is the only airline servicing Pohnpei. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays they have an island hopper flight that starts in Guam, stops in Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Kwajalein, and Majuro, and terminates in Honolulu. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, the island hopper hits all the same islands going the opposite direction. (Note: these dates are from a Pohnpeian...
October 2009
1 post
September 2009
7 posts
“These products not tested on animals. But if you’ve got pets, and would...”
– Printed on the rip cord to open the package containing my new Despair calendar.
“I feel sorry for unicorns. No other mythical monster has suffered such brand...”
– Diana Peterfreund 