I actually watched Tomb Raider.

And I kind of liked it. But if guys are shooting at Lara Croft, shouldn’t she shoot back? Yeesh. That’s why I liked Blade so much. Wesley Snipes got to take out a lot of vampires, and they just kind of disintegrated. I spent my Friday night watching TV and trying to get the ham radio club roster into a database. I’m still not close to finished.

Also went by the sports club to see how much a membership is. At least $59 and probably more, I think.

I’m probably in big trouble.

I’m trying to avoid being so crotchety, but when something keeps me from sleeping, I’m not too happy. So some kids were parked out in front of the house, and it’s 11:30PM. Usually I try to warn them by turning on the porch light, but that doesn’t seem to affect them much. Today I went and asked them to “turn it down or move it along.” I mean, they’re out there, leaving their garbage and whatever. If they’re quiet, I ignore them. This time I even wrote down the license plate number. I dunno. The neighborhood is getting upscale, so I shouldn’t have to do this, right?

I had something else that I was going to comment on, but somehow rousting the kids is bothering me enough that I can’t remember it. Oh, well.

So, I couldn’t run because I had to watch TV.

Last night Il and I made it to Ringside and it was great. The filet was tender, the onion rings crispy, the mashed potatoes garlicky, and even the broccoli was great. Il picked a tasty California wine to go with it.

Today I was going to go running again, but I had to watch TV. I got one of those phone calls (again) where they want you to watch a bad TV show (probably a pilot) and then comment on it. Last time I agreed to do this, I watched the wrong show (a HORRIBLE comedy) and they weren’t interested in anything I had to say. After investing a half-hour, I was kind of upset. This time it was a cop show set in Hawaii with Michael Biehn and a bunch of other non-Asians in the leading roles. It was fairly bad, but I think I’d watch it just to see Hawaii. I want to see more Asians, though. I don’t think there were any Asian women at all. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE HAWAII YOU LOSERS. I’VE HEARD THERE ARE ASIANS THERE. And I know white guys have yellow fever, so it might even pay off to see more Asian women on the show.

Running from what?

Ugh it was hot. But I finally went running today after a break of a month-and-a-half. I only did a couple of miles at a fairly slow pace and I think I’m going to be sore tomorrow.

Tomorrow is also the last day I can use my discount coupon at Ringside and I think my buddy Il and I are going to try to make it there for dinner. It’s my birthday discount and we both turned 40 this year. We’re going to overeat a bit. Il is 6′ tall at least and he just peaked at 165 pounds. He needs to eat more so he doesn’t blow away.

Hey, maybe I’ll join a sports club like my brother-in-law did when he turned 40 (all of half-a-year ago).

Playing with the big boys.

The last couple of days I was helping my friend John with his big $400K toy (his yacht). Yesterday I was actually supposed to be helping him but really was just helping him drink. They had a big clean-up day and as soon as I showed up I had a Bloody Mary in my hand. That and a couple of Lemon Drops and I was ready to take a long nap. They had a “row” party that included a cheesy two-person band (really cheesy because of the cheesy keyboard) and I got to watch some fairly churlish but wealthy people get quite inebriated. I should shut my trap so I can get invited back for more free drinks. In any case, none of that helped much with the reassembly of John’s mast.

Today we finally got some wiring done in his mast. Mostly pulling wires back and forth, coating things with noxious waterproofing chemicals, etc. There were other people working on their boats as well. I used to wonder why they don’t pay someone to fix their boats but I realize now that it’s part of their fun.

Well, it’s in the 80’s now in Portland (and in April!) and I’m ready for the 50-degree weather.

So I got fired three times today.

So not really fired, but my boss had big problems with The Little River Band, The Doobie Brothers, and Wang Chung. I think his skinny ass was in a heavy metal band at some point. I’m sure he doesn’t like much of what I have. Maybe if I had some Quiet Riot or Warrant or something.

I got the last part of my birthday present to myself. Now I can operate power tools in the dark and listen to the radio.

All I wanted was some Aztec Camera.

I stayed up a bit late and was trying to finish spending all my ill-gotten iTunes credits. I don’t think I got everything I needed but think I got close! Here’s what I got:

Name Artist
Oh Sherrie Steve Perry
Breakout (N.A.D. Mix) Swing Out Sister
It’s My Life Talk Talk
Grazing in the Grass The Friends of Distinction
Breakout Swing Out Sister
Am I the Same Girl Swing Out Sister
Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe Barry White
You’re the First, the Last, My Everything Barry White
Love’s Theme Love Unlimited Orchestra
What I Am Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
We Like to Party Vengaboys
What a Fool Believes The Doobie Brothers
Reminiscing Little River Band
Hold On Loosely .38 Special
Antmusic Adam and The Ants
Goody Two Shoes Adam Ant
My Prerogative Bobby Brown
Everybody Have Fun Tonight Wang Chung
Relax (Jam & Spoon Trip-O-Matic Fairy Tale Mix Version) Frankie Goes to Hollywood
In a Big Country (Radio Edit) Big Country
Rubberneckin’ (Paul Oakenfold Remix) Elvis Presley
Ain’t Nobody Chaka Khan

You’ll notice I had to get two copies of “Breakout” by Swing Out Sister. Turns out I didn’t like the remix as much as I thought I would. Also missing is The Jam. I listened to some preview tracks and decided I wanted to buy a whole album of theirs.

There was a lot missing from iTunes. Klark Kent, Fun Boy Three, Soho (Hippy Chick) and, of course, Aztec Camera. But this was fun.

Dude!

There was something I had on my mind but I forgot. And it isn’t because of 420, either. I’m just getting forgetful. Plus, I spent a bunch of time trying to get some Fink packages updated.

So, thanks go out to Rae for the chocolate I received. I’m sure it isn’t all due to the “Vessel in the Fog”, but I’m feeling chubby lately. Maybe it’s time to start running again.

Where did I put my digital camera?

My sister is feeling better and Megan sounds like she’s out and about after her surgery. So onto the silliness.

My sister reminded me a couple of days ago to steal the kinderegg from my dad and to send her a picture of the toy inside.

I’ve misplaced my digital camera, so I got this picture by sticking the toy on my scanner. The scanner is too big to lose, thank goodness.

The toy is some sort of reflector/girl that fits on a string. Her left arm has a hole in it, and you’re supposed to stick a string through it. Why? I don’t know.

Don’t blame me!

My sister is probably still feeling puny, so she’s not posting. It’s not my fault!

For my birthday, she got me a RadioShark and I just got 15 bars of a chocolate I like from Japan. I haven’t had it regularly since I left Japan in 1991.

I know someone had to be in on this. Thanks to everyone involved!


I haven’t been posting because I’ve feel, well, dizzy since Friday afternoon. I tried a bunch of things to try to fix things, drinking hot water, eating a sugary gelato (Mio Gelato!), and lying down. I hate the thought of having the same problem that my father always complains of. He says he’s sick so often (several times a day) that if he really does get sick we won’t know.

I finally figured out at a strip club that looking to the left, turning to the left, or moving my head to the left made me dizzy. Holding my nose and blowing alleviated the symptoms. I figured it was a sinus problem and it finally seemed to go away today. I wish I could say that going to the strip club was fun in some way, but it was just disconcerting and $5 for a small Coke. I spent most of the time trying to figure out what I had to do to make myself feel dizzy. I was ignoring a naked woman. I must have been sick.

Say those three magic words.

Major Cytogenetic Response.

Out of 20 possible metaphases, they can only find 3. If I remember correctly, I had all the metaphases in December. My doctor thinks that I’ll keep improving and that 3 should go away as well.

My friend Megan went in for an MRI and they think she’s healing well. She’s still pretty worried, but I think she’s feeling a little better.

Also, Qwest had overcharged me $136 on my phone bill and they reversed it without any question.

Tax day wasn’t so bad for me. I hope it was good for everyone else, too.

Happy birthday to my crazy ex-girlfriend.

Funny, huh? I went out with someone with a birthday close to mine. Dunno what that means, really.

And once again I had to work late. Another minor software release, proving that we fix things for the customer. This was a management-created problem. Can’t go much into it, but CEOs are always the biggest problem for sysadmins.

Anyway, so I’m sure I had something really eloquent to say, but I’m reduced to just blithering again since y brain is devoted to staying late at work and, well, just staying late seems to suck the, well, thinkiness out of my head.


AHA! I just found where all the moths were coming from. I hope my buddy John isn’t reading this — he gave me a nice wool sweater that is supposed to be machine washable. But that avoids all the horrid dry cleaning chemicals that KILL MOTHS DEAD. Aw freaking hell. I’m going to check for holes in the morning when I’m rested and feeling good about things.