Alex finally noticed the rings that I've been getting, so I told him that I hadn't gotten him any because they were way too big for him. One of the friendly and knowledgeable staff of the Phantom of the Attic noticed the exchange and reached back to get Alex a ring. When his hand hovered near the Violet and Blue rings that were this week's promo, I noticed that there were other colors from previous weeks still available.

"Get him a yellow one," I said. "It's a better color for him."

All eyes turned toward Alex, who was smiling innocently.

"Whoa, I'm scared of him!" Jeff, the owner of the store, said. I'd meant that yellow was his favorite color of the spectrum, but I suppose he's capable of generating great fear like Calvin.

It's time for a fun little game called "Grocery Crawl", i.e. shopping while sick. Wish me luck!

That is all.

I stressed way too much over the party theme, ended up wearing a fallback costume (Black Lantern) that wasn't much a costume (I dress like that all the time) due to costume failure, and still managed to have a good time. Here are photos!

I fell asleep a lot at the party, though.

Zoltan and I came up with these today.

\\|// ({o}) (V) (}o{) IOI {O} <O> *

Tags: ascii, blackest night
I feel: creative

I have a tablet. It is awesome.

I stay up late on worknights and sleep all day on weekends. THIS IS NOT RIGHT.

More of you need to hate on stuff so I have something entertaining to read.

I feel: bored
Listening to: AfI - Jack the Ripper

So, I managed to pull my right quadriceps doing pendulum lunges. Perfect timing considering the beach trip, right? Yeah. It killed the 30 Day Shred for me, too, which is the bigger annoyance.

Fortunately, I remember Mav mentioning something about the Tabata method, which is basically four minutes of high intensity training. You want to get as many muscle groups involved as possible, so squats and the like are the ideal workout, but it seemed like I could do them with dumbbell bent over rows and dumbbell bench presses.

Success! I can remain active while my leg heals!

Tags: fitness, tabata
I feel: excited
Listening to: Mudvayne - King of Pain

Oh my god, he knows my nickname for him is Mister Baby Man. He recognizes it and turns to look at me when I say it. It is so awesome!

Also, he is a Roman senator.

First day of Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred. The beach is in a little over a month, and I want to kick my metabolism in the ass, get rid of some of this fat I'm carrying.

Oh, sweet mercy. Twenty minutes of workout, and I want to die. If I can keep this up for thirty days, I am truly worthy of the Green.

Tags: fitness
I feel: exhausted

Spacebat has earned his place in Bat-Valhalla.

Tags: glory, spacebat

Guess what I can't lift? If your answer is "300 pounds", you're right!

Things I learned about the barbell squat today:
1) My 1-rep max is somewhere between 200 and 300 pounds.
2) I can control 300 pounds going backwards toward the ground from a crouch.
3) Even controlled, 300 pounds makes a hell of a lot of noise crashing
to the ground.
4) Padding on the floor is a good thing, as is keeping the workout area clear.
5) Ditching that much weight makes for a hell of an adrenaline rush.

The only thing broken was a the five-pound weight in the picture.

Tags: weightlifting
I feel: relieved
Listening to: Shiny Toy Guns - Ricochet!

It's time for Two hundred situps. Abs, you have been warned.

Tags: fitness
Listening to: Shiny Toy Guns - Blown Away

Wal-Mart won't print my Elliot photos without a signed release from the "photo studio". This pleases me to no end.

EDIT: I wasn't the one trying to print the photos. I realize from the comments that that wasn't clear.

Tags: photography
I feel: bouncy

Yay.

P.S. ONE. HUNDRED. YARDS.

After yesterday afternoon's adventure getting home, which involved being stuck on a hill for half an hour before managing to slide a u-turn and go back the way I came, I thought I was prepared for the worst. This morning proved that this was not so.

Leaving the house with plenty of time to brush off the car and drive at a safe and leisurely pace to work, I started the car, shifted into drive... and slid backward three feet. Hmm. Slight tap on gas... backwards more. Shifting into reverse then drive to rock out of it did nothing. Yes, the road had frozen overnight, and I was parked on a sheet of ice. I used the last of the salt on the walk so no one breaks their neck in front of the house, then went back to bed.

How original is your user name?

Most of the MegaBees out there are me, though there are some surprises. Obviously the one on LiveJournal isn't me, but the ones on MySpace, Yahoo, and YouTube aren't me, either. I find myself wondering who they are....

Merry Funksmas, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever. Just enjoy what you've got.

Thirty-eight years ago today, the universe as we know it came into existence. Made by my glorious birth, it was amazing and awesome, and it looked just like this.

Happy birthday to the universe, happy birthday to me. Now let's just hope that no one tries to look back at the origins of time and introduces evil into the universe....

Tags: birthday
I feel: nerdy
Listening to: Lullaby renditions of Coldplay

My coworkers surprised me with a birthday party... by throwing it two weeks early. Ingenious! Everything in this photo except the glasses was a gift; Alex decided to give me the necklace today for some reason, Annette gave me the t-shirt last year, and a coworker gave me the Steelers ornament this year.

It's like when a large group of friends threw me a surprise birthday party in... I think it was June.

Bold the things you have done.

( 100-item list under the cut )

Tags: meme
I feel: tired
Listening to: Lullaby renditions of Pink Floyd

If you saw me in a police car, what crime would you assume I committed?
Answer, then post to your own journal if you want, and see how many crimes you get accused of.

I am seriously elated.

Tags: politics

This Saturday, after cartoons, the chosen robots of Alex and Jameel shall meet on the field of battle. Go-Bots, Mini-Cons, Autobots, Decepticons, Predacons, and other sentient transforming machines will battle with no regard for faction until there is a victor.

The only rules I know of so far are:

1) All robots must be real. You can't make up a Transformer and build it out of Lego blocks or anything like that.

2) Mini-Cons are the most powerful robots (Apparently, Alex really likes Mini-Cons).

3) You can only have two robots fighting at a time because you only have two hands.

This is going to rule.

Tags: alex, transformers

Alex has decided that we're going to have a Robot War, so I need to go through my Transformers and decide which ones are going to fight his Transformers.

I don't think he quite comprehends how many Transformers I actually have.

Anyway, as I understand kid logic, the power of a given robot is determined by two things: the robot's size and the awesomeness of its alternate mode. If I were to show up with, say, the Dinobots, the Predacons, and a couple of sharks, I'd have it wrapped up. However, the boy has Pyramidas, who transforms into a gigantic Egyptian pyramid. As everyone knows, ancient Egyptian things rate pretty high on the awesomeness scale.

I'll probably just go with the Movie toys. They're durable enough to resist a seven-year-old's attacks, there are several military vehicle alternate modes (oh, and a scorpion!), and the Leaders are fairly large.

Tags: alex, transformers
I feel: amused

Photoset of the October 11th game

The nine-year-olds playing football. My nephew, #2, is one of the team captains.

I took over 800 shots of their game against their rivals, West Mifflin, getting just over fifty decent shots. Unlike last week, a few of these shots are cropped.

There was also a fight in the stands when a parent took a swing at one of the coaches. I was so focused on the game that I missed it entirely.

Tags: football, photography
I feel: pleased
Listening to: Journey - Separate Ways

Next time I do pushups with someone on my back, I'll make sure to have them sitting on my shoulders....

One of the team captains, their top scorer... The boy can play some football.

He's #2 in the maroon and gold.

Tags: ahmad, football, steel valley
I feel: pleased

So, I got this DVD in the mail the other day. Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West is the title. Apparently, the Clarion Fund has spent a whole boatload of money sending these DVDs out with newspapers in swing states like Pennsylvania. Or, in some cases, mailing them directly.

They sent me one. Check the name.

Here, it's easier to see on the close-up:



You have GOT to be kidding me. People, this is why you have a human check your mailing lists before you send out your screeds.

Tags: ntb
Listening to: dj gyngyvytus - talk show hoes

Vote for Barack Obama or don't exercise your right to vote. I don't want that crazy lady anywhere near the White House.

Tags: politics
I feel: angry

My youngest maternal cousin got married yesterday, and I got to see my first cousins once removed for the first time. There'll be pictures of the others up later, but this is Carolyn, second youngest of her generation, named after her grandmother (my aunt) Carol and her great-aunt (my mother) Marilyn. Yes, the baby's name is a mashup.

Tags: baby
I feel: tired

This is the single luckiest shot I've ever gotten. We were camping for the weekend on Chuck's family land, and we were firing off guns like you do. I stood to the side to get picture of everyone with the guns, and I just happened to snap this photo just as Aleris fired, capturing the muzzle flash. I wasn't even in burst mode. I was just taking one picture at a time.

This is the photo just as it came off of the camera, sans processing.

Tags: firearms, photography
I feel: pleased
Listening to: Journey - Ask the Lonely

There was a bat in the office! This is the only picture that turned out; those little bastards are fast!

After several minutes of wacky chases, one of the maintenance guys stunned the bat with a broom, took it outside, and let it fly away.

Tags: bat, photography, work
I feel: groggy

A casual comment about my having skinny legs results in the crushing realization that, oh my god, I do have skinny legs, I have a massive crisis of body image, and I restructure my workout routine accordingly.

Tags: body image, legs
I feel: pessimistic

This is what all the room in the Phantom of the Attic's new location allows. He's loitering at a high school level!

Tags: alex, comics
I feel: blah

I haven't had time to do a thorough check, but my computer (which I just overhauled thoroughly) was powered down last night when I got home. The power supply comes on, and the DVD drive is getting power, but the motherboard doesn't seem to be getting any power (the power switch will turn the computer on, but it doesn't boot at all, and neither the power switch nor the the reset button will cut the power).

There was a thunderstorm while I was out of the house.

God damn it, I just bought that motherboard! I guess we know if that UPS works or not....

EDIT: rottgrub suggests that it may be a scrambled CMOS rather than a fried motherboard. I feel like a retard every time I talk computers with him, but he's almost always right.

Tags: computer, qq
I feel: annoyed
Listening to: Metallica - Astronomy

Camera works again! There's some moisture in the LCD, but the lens is deploying, zoom is working, flash is working, and it's taking pictures.

Tags: camera
I feel: cheerful

Camera now powers up. Camera lens does not deploy, and the motor sounds very sad. There also seems to be moisture damage to the LCD, though it's only apparent when the camera is off.

I suppose the next step is looking into camera repair, since I don't imagine that cleaning solution accidents are covered under the parts and labor warranty.

I felt really off leaving the house without my camera bag.

Tags: camera
I feel: annoyed
Listening to: Flight of the Conchords

The cap came off of the bottle of cleaning solution while I was attempting to clean the lens on my camera, and half the bottle fell into the camera through the lens assembly. Naturally, the camera refuses to power on now. It's opened up as much as it can so that the water can evaporate, and I'm hoping it'll still work. Meanwhile, I'll somehow take my daily self-portraits with my camera phone, which is fortunately quite awesome.

Ironically, I just today finished upgrading my computer to make photo processing quicker.

I'm not even mad about it, just annoyed.

Tags: camera
I feel: annoyed

Finally, robotic beings rule the world!
The humans are dead!
The humans are dead!
We used poisonous gasses,
And we poisoned their asses!

*does the robo-boogie*

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Tags: bliteotw, flight of the conchords, robots
Current Location: The year 2000
I feel: mischievous
Listening to: Guess....

DPB-Con 2008, a photo-essay worth 410,000 words.

Tags: dpb, photography, vacation
I feel: hot
Listening to: YTMND Soundtrack

Fuck you, I'm a bodak!

Saturday night at the United States Camarilla Conclave. The ritual was somehow completed, and every vampire in the city had his full memories restored to him. For the younger vampires who had never experienced torpor, this had no effect. For vampires like Victor, the onrush of memory was staggering. The cold and creepy Acolyte began to sympathize with the rebellion that the Carthians represented.

End result: My character didn't die, I got some good character development, and I met some interesting people. Sleeping on the floor in the hotel room was surprisingly comfortable, too.

All allergens can die now, for reals.

Tags: qq
I feel: blah
Listening to: The Prodigy - We Are the Ruffest

Look what I found! I bought this years ago for my first Vampire character in his guise as El Wadeo Spectacular.

Yes, I filed my taxes at nearly the last minute again. Why? Because screw the government, that's why. Hell if they're getting my money a minute earlier than I have to send it to them.

Tags: camarilla, larp, owod
I feel: tired
Listening to: YTMND Soundtrack

The patch on my waterbed mattress didn't hold. Now I have to order a new mattress. Fortunately, I know not to make the same mistake that made my current mattress brittle and will have a mattress pad on it from the very start. Skin oils + waterbed mattress vinyl = sad and brittle mattress.

Tags: bed

chrismaverick and I were talking the other day about wanting to bust out our old Africa medallions ("A-F-R-I-C-A! Angola, Soweto, Zimbabwe! Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique! And Botswana, so let us speak... about the motherland!" --Stetsasonic, A.F.R.I.C.A.) and go old school. Of course, neither of us has those ancient artifacts anymore, but I have something even older.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. It's an Ashford & Simpson t-shirt, circa 1984. Don't hate.

In other news, the siren song of Pittsburgh has drawn rottgrub and boadiccea back into our city's steely embrace, so we need to do some reconfiguration of Slackhaus so everyone fits. This is full of win.

P.S. I have friends younger than this shirt.

Tags: old school, t-shirt
Listening to: Daft Punk - Technologic

I spent the better part of Saturday on my first professional job, taking engagement photos for my friends Mike and Liz. Five hours and three-hundred pictures later, we had a good set to go through. The hardest part for me was processing the favorites, then choosing one from each setting to upload to Flickr.

Tags: photography
I feel: accomplished
Listening to: The Geto Boys - Still

( The first nightmare I've had in years )

Tags: nightmare
I feel: discontent
Listening to: Radioquita - Bootie Part 2