More Montana Madness...
Yesterday, we went on a hike. We headed up to Glacier National Park, and had plans to walk the Highline Trail.
We headed off, and immediately were greeted with an aboslutely phenomenal hike. Basically, most of the hike, you are on a precipice about 6-10 feet wide. On the uphill side is either a sheer cliff, or very steep hill, and on the downhill side is a substantial dropoff, leading down to the valley some hundreds or thousands of feet below. Beautiful mountains and lush valleys as far as the eye could see. Simply awesome.
On the way out, we rounded the corner and came face to face with a big ram staring us in the face. It looked pretty damn big, and had those huge curling horns. We backed up pretty quick, and when it started coming our way, started scrambling up the mountainside. It taught us a thing or two about scrambing when it headed up the mountain as well, easily jumping it's way up the sheer face. Pretty awesome. We were all a little freaked by the whole thing, but laughed about it, and wondered what could have happened. You certainly wouldn't have wanted to get butted by one of those puppies.
We stopped for lunch, and I wolfed down some food and then felt like I was going to throw up. It didn't happen, but it didn't help my general feeling of altitude sickness (headache, mostly).
At 3.8 miles (out of 7'ish), I decided I was about at my 50% point and put in a vote to turn around. I wasn't feeling that great, and figured the return on investment on going further wasn't really worth it. Diana, though able to go forward, came back with me, while Iwan and Mike were going to head out a little further.
During the hike back, Diana and I took our sweet time, since we were going to have to wait for Iwan and Mike anyways. We found a nice spot in the shade a little ways up a dried out waterfall off the trail, and hung out there for probably 45 minutes or so, enjoying the view, and Diana even catching a quick nap.
On the way back, we ran into another ram (probably the same one), up ahead on the trail. It was going our direction, and didn't seem to mind us being there, so we follwed it. It would stop and eat, and when we got close, continue moseying along. When some people came from the other direction, it headed uphill, and we passed pretty close by it. While we were sort of freaked after our first incident, in retrospect, I don't think it really cared if we were around or not.
We made it back to the lot, and hung out for a good while for Iwan and Mick to return. It turns out they headed out the whole 7 miles, plus headed up a little further on a side trail, and then walked the whole way back, rounding out a little over 18 mile hike. They were pretty beat, and happy to be back. Color me impressed by their fortitude.
We stopped and picked up pizza and beer on the way home, and ate and got cleaned up and stuff. We were all pretty bushed, but laid outside for a while to watch meteors in the absolutely clear, beautiful night sky. We saw some good ones, but not as good as I remember in the past. When it was clear that we were all falling asleep (after being out there for perhaps 15 minutes), we all headed in for bed.
Today has been designated "lazy day". We got up late and I made some omlettes. Iwan and Mike went through the ritual of setting up the fantasy football league, while Diana and I observed in awe and astonishment at the back and forth between Iwan and Mike as co-commishes.
We had some thoughts of golfing today, but lunch turned into a sit around the table and chat which has lasted for some hours. I think we're going to play some games, and head into town for dinner and drinks (and poker?) later, but for now, it's been really nice to just hang out and relax.
2004/08/12
2004/08/10
Bloggin' from Montana!
Man, what a trip. I'm up here with Diana and Iwan and Mick, and it's pretty much the best ever. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
Diana and I flew up last Wednesday (hard to believe it's almost been a week!). My parents were up here from before then until Saturday, when they left and Iwan arrived. Thursday, we mostly did work around the house (cutting up firewood, etc). Friday, we packed up a lunch and went fishing. We explored some creeks we found on a map, but discovered that the first two were pretty steep and secluded, and not so good for fly fishing. The third, however, emptied out into the lake at a really nice spot, and we spent the afternoon pulling (little) fish out of the creek. Lots of fun. I asked Diana to help remember the spot, to which she replied "We can mark it on the GPS!" And so we did.
Saturday, my parents had an afternoon flight out. They invited some folks up for breakfast, which was nice. The rest of the day was mostly spent sort of sitting around waiting for the flight time to arrive (it was a pretty cloudy, rainy day, so no one really felt like doing much).
That evening, we went out to dinner, and dropped of the 'rents at the airport, and headed back at midnight to pick up Iwan. Good to see the kid as usual. He was happy to be here, and all pumped for the weeks activities. On the way back, at around 1am, we passed the dirt road that leads up to the house, and spent a good bit of time with the overshooting and backtracking to find the right turnoff. It's basically an unmarked, unlit dirt road... really easy to miss, but a little embarassing nonetheless.
The next morning, we headed back to pick up Discostup. We had some thoughts beforehand of going straight away to do something, but opted to just come back to the house. We just hung around for the rest of the day and talked about potential plans for the rest of the week, as well as just doing a lot of catching up. Stup taught us all the card game Euchre, and we gave that a good shot and had some fun with that. Fun game.
Discostup is simply a lot of fun. He'd probably say that he's lost a step or two and isn't his old wacky self these days, but if that's the case, I haven't noticed. He provides basically non-stop singing and entertainment and humor, and is a lot of fun to be around. He's on a serious mission to see some bears, but it hasn't happened yet. And the constellation Scorpio, in spite of the fact... oh, nevermind.
Monday, we got up and packed a lunch and headed out to buy fishing licenses, and headed out to the same spot that we'd gone to with my parents a few days back. The weather by this point was clearing up, and promises to be great for the rest of the week. I'm stoked.
The fishing was pretty good. All four of us caught fish, including Diana's first fish with a flyrod. Iwan said "Hey Diana... put your fly right there!" and pointed at a spot in the water, and so she did, and moments later she had a pretty good sized little trout! Good stuff.
We fished for the bulk of the afternoon, and came back for dinner and an Adam/Diana v. Iwan/Mick game of Taboo. Adam and Diana won, but it was pretty close. Another round of Euchre, and we were all tuckered out.
We've been staying out late, since it stays light so late here, and having dinner at like 8:30pm or 9pm, and then playing games after that.
This morning, we got up early and headed out for our reservations of a raft rental! We drove up to West Glacier, and after some intricate maneuvers with dropping off cars at the "pull out" and getting back to the "put in", we were all set. Four of us in an oar-driven (as opposed to paddle driven) inflateable raft. The choice of oar was a good one (if Mike is the entertainment, Iwan provides a lot of good insight and wisdom with regards to planning and activities and whatnot, while Diana makes sure we're organized and prepared for our day. I'm not sure what my role is...). With the oars, one person could drive, while one fished from the back, one from the front, and one relaxed. Driving with the oars was pretty tough, though, but in spite of hitting some big rocks sideways, we didn't have any serious problems. My dad was thinking of getting a raft of some sort, and after today, I'll go ahead and give my big thumbs up to the idea.
The fishing was great. Sort of. We didn't actually catch a single fish, but we put our fly in lots of good spots. We actually had some bites and escaped fish, but were unable to get any in the boat. I had one take my fly, but I'd tied by knot incorrectly, and the fly came off, I'm pretty sure still in the fishes mouth. Poor guy. In spite of not getting any fish, the views were incredible, and being out on the water alone in such a pristine environment was really a great feeling. We stopped at a little beach at one point, and two mama deer with two baby deer came out of the brush right near us. They got spooked and headed off, but it was neat to see.
We just got back from that trip, and everyone is pretty tuckered out. I am, at least. The others all got naps on the ride back. I was fine driving, but now that I'm done, I'm ready for a nap. Diana's chatting with her parents. Iwan and Mick are on the porch, assuming their roles and co-commish's of the WCD fantasy football league.
That's about the size of it. Tomorrow I think we're going to go hiking in Glacier, and probably head into town for dinner and beers and perhaps a little poker? Not sure what the rest of the trip holds, but there's at least a 75% chance of fun... I like those odds!
Man, what a trip. I'm up here with Diana and Iwan and Mick, and it's pretty much the best ever. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
Diana and I flew up last Wednesday (hard to believe it's almost been a week!). My parents were up here from before then until Saturday, when they left and Iwan arrived. Thursday, we mostly did work around the house (cutting up firewood, etc). Friday, we packed up a lunch and went fishing. We explored some creeks we found on a map, but discovered that the first two were pretty steep and secluded, and not so good for fly fishing. The third, however, emptied out into the lake at a really nice spot, and we spent the afternoon pulling (little) fish out of the creek. Lots of fun. I asked Diana to help remember the spot, to which she replied "We can mark it on the GPS!" And so we did.
Saturday, my parents had an afternoon flight out. They invited some folks up for breakfast, which was nice. The rest of the day was mostly spent sort of sitting around waiting for the flight time to arrive (it was a pretty cloudy, rainy day, so no one really felt like doing much).
That evening, we went out to dinner, and dropped of the 'rents at the airport, and headed back at midnight to pick up Iwan. Good to see the kid as usual. He was happy to be here, and all pumped for the weeks activities. On the way back, at around 1am, we passed the dirt road that leads up to the house, and spent a good bit of time with the overshooting and backtracking to find the right turnoff. It's basically an unmarked, unlit dirt road... really easy to miss, but a little embarassing nonetheless.
The next morning, we headed back to pick up Discostup. We had some thoughts beforehand of going straight away to do something, but opted to just come back to the house. We just hung around for the rest of the day and talked about potential plans for the rest of the week, as well as just doing a lot of catching up. Stup taught us all the card game Euchre, and we gave that a good shot and had some fun with that. Fun game.
Discostup is simply a lot of fun. He'd probably say that he's lost a step or two and isn't his old wacky self these days, but if that's the case, I haven't noticed. He provides basically non-stop singing and entertainment and humor, and is a lot of fun to be around. He's on a serious mission to see some bears, but it hasn't happened yet. And the constellation Scorpio, in spite of the fact... oh, nevermind.
Monday, we got up and packed a lunch and headed out to buy fishing licenses, and headed out to the same spot that we'd gone to with my parents a few days back. The weather by this point was clearing up, and promises to be great for the rest of the week. I'm stoked.
The fishing was pretty good. All four of us caught fish, including Diana's first fish with a flyrod. Iwan said "Hey Diana... put your fly right there!" and pointed at a spot in the water, and so she did, and moments later she had a pretty good sized little trout! Good stuff.
We fished for the bulk of the afternoon, and came back for dinner and an Adam/Diana v. Iwan/Mick game of Taboo. Adam and Diana won, but it was pretty close. Another round of Euchre, and we were all tuckered out.
We've been staying out late, since it stays light so late here, and having dinner at like 8:30pm or 9pm, and then playing games after that.
This morning, we got up early and headed out for our reservations of a raft rental! We drove up to West Glacier, and after some intricate maneuvers with dropping off cars at the "pull out" and getting back to the "put in", we were all set. Four of us in an oar-driven (as opposed to paddle driven) inflateable raft. The choice of oar was a good one (if Mike is the entertainment, Iwan provides a lot of good insight and wisdom with regards to planning and activities and whatnot, while Diana makes sure we're organized and prepared for our day. I'm not sure what my role is...). With the oars, one person could drive, while one fished from the back, one from the front, and one relaxed. Driving with the oars was pretty tough, though, but in spite of hitting some big rocks sideways, we didn't have any serious problems. My dad was thinking of getting a raft of some sort, and after today, I'll go ahead and give my big thumbs up to the idea.
The fishing was great. Sort of. We didn't actually catch a single fish, but we put our fly in lots of good spots. We actually had some bites and escaped fish, but were unable to get any in the boat. I had one take my fly, but I'd tied by knot incorrectly, and the fly came off, I'm pretty sure still in the fishes mouth. Poor guy. In spite of not getting any fish, the views were incredible, and being out on the water alone in such a pristine environment was really a great feeling. We stopped at a little beach at one point, and two mama deer with two baby deer came out of the brush right near us. They got spooked and headed off, but it was neat to see.
We just got back from that trip, and everyone is pretty tuckered out. I am, at least. The others all got naps on the ride back. I was fine driving, but now that I'm done, I'm ready for a nap. Diana's chatting with her parents. Iwan and Mick are on the porch, assuming their roles and co-commish's of the WCD fantasy football league.
That's about the size of it. Tomorrow I think we're going to go hiking in Glacier, and probably head into town for dinner and beers and perhaps a little poker? Not sure what the rest of the trip holds, but there's at least a 75% chance of fun... I like those odds!
2004/08/03
So.
Had another softball game last night. As noted before, I'm really working hard on my hitting, not going for power, but for placement. My first at bat, there was a runner on second and third, with 1 out, and I hit a double right down the right field line. The second time I was up, I fouled it down the right field line. At this point, one of the extra outfielders shifted from left-center to right center, so I hit it to left center, just where he used to be. When I came up to bat the third time, the extra outfielder shifted to center field, and I hit it down the line to right.
I was very pleased with all this. We ended up killing the other team (they weren't so good at fielding). Good times.
A friend just forwarded me a link to a web-game that's basically copying the old Sierra quest games. If you ever played one of those, you should probably check this out.
I boo-boo'd at work yesterday. I updated a system that I wasn't supposed to without supreme authority from on high. The thing was, this was something I've done a million times in the past without any issue, but we're sort of in a new phase of our testing now, and they're really locking things down, so it didn't even occur to me to ask permission. Anyways, I sent out a notice that I made the change, and it got a little blown out of proportion. No big deal, but I had to write an email explaining why I did what I did and what the story was (not as punishment, but just to backfill information, basically). As I said, not a biggie, but I don't like being in the hotseat.
We leave for Montana tomorrow. 1.5 weeks of fishing, hiking, floating, tubing(?!), and generally hanging out. Diana and I head up tomorrow, and Iwan and Mike will join us next weekend. I'm really looking forward to being up there with them. I see Iwan all the time, and he's a lot of fun to be around, and I don't see or talk to Mike nearly as much as I used to or would like to, so I look forward to reconnecting a bit with him, as well.
That's about it for now. Check you out on the flipside.
Had another softball game last night. As noted before, I'm really working hard on my hitting, not going for power, but for placement. My first at bat, there was a runner on second and third, with 1 out, and I hit a double right down the right field line. The second time I was up, I fouled it down the right field line. At this point, one of the extra outfielders shifted from left-center to right center, so I hit it to left center, just where he used to be. When I came up to bat the third time, the extra outfielder shifted to center field, and I hit it down the line to right.
I was very pleased with all this. We ended up killing the other team (they weren't so good at fielding). Good times.
A friend just forwarded me a link to a web-game that's basically copying the old Sierra quest games. If you ever played one of those, you should probably check this out.
I boo-boo'd at work yesterday. I updated a system that I wasn't supposed to without supreme authority from on high. The thing was, this was something I've done a million times in the past without any issue, but we're sort of in a new phase of our testing now, and they're really locking things down, so it didn't even occur to me to ask permission. Anyways, I sent out a notice that I made the change, and it got a little blown out of proportion. No big deal, but I had to write an email explaining why I did what I did and what the story was (not as punishment, but just to backfill information, basically). As I said, not a biggie, but I don't like being in the hotseat.
We leave for Montana tomorrow. 1.5 weeks of fishing, hiking, floating, tubing(?!), and generally hanging out. Diana and I head up tomorrow, and Iwan and Mike will join us next weekend. I'm really looking forward to being up there with them. I see Iwan all the time, and he's a lot of fun to be around, and I don't see or talk to Mike nearly as much as I used to or would like to, so I look forward to reconnecting a bit with him, as well.
That's about it for now. Check you out on the flipside.
2004/08/01
So.
We played Monopoly last night. Let me tell you what game I don't really like: Monopoly. I just don't really get it. I've never understood what makes good strategy, and I've never been any good at it. It was fun to play, but really more for the hanging out aspect than the actual game.
Eryn and Iwan made some sort of "lifetime immunity" deal, which upon further reflection, I'm pretty sure flies in the face of the rules. It specifically says you can't loan other players money, and this seems to fall under that rule to a certain degree.
Eryn won, admirably bearing the brunt of goodnatured racial slurs while taking all our money. At least I think he won. I was playing NHL '94 on the SNES by this point. :)
Today I've been very handy. The garage door slams really hard when it closes, so I installed a door-closer thing. I installed the second light fixture in our front hallway. And we installed blinds in the guest-bedroom-soon-to-be-my-office. Good stuff. Now, curtains in the front room.
You know those people who stand on corners flipping around signs that advertise stores and new house openings and whatnot? Normally it's punk'ish looking kids standing there. Diana and I drove by a corner recently that had what must have been a 65 year old lady standing there, dancing slighly in the blazing sun, holding a sign for a new housing development. Diana and I both had the same reaction of cringing with sadness when we saw her. Poor old lady.
We played Monopoly last night. Let me tell you what game I don't really like: Monopoly. I just don't really get it. I've never understood what makes good strategy, and I've never been any good at it. It was fun to play, but really more for the hanging out aspect than the actual game.
Eryn and Iwan made some sort of "lifetime immunity" deal, which upon further reflection, I'm pretty sure flies in the face of the rules. It specifically says you can't loan other players money, and this seems to fall under that rule to a certain degree.
Eryn won, admirably bearing the brunt of goodnatured racial slurs while taking all our money. At least I think he won. I was playing NHL '94 on the SNES by this point. :)
Today I've been very handy. The garage door slams really hard when it closes, so I installed a door-closer thing. I installed the second light fixture in our front hallway. And we installed blinds in the guest-bedroom-soon-to-be-my-office. Good stuff. Now, curtains in the front room.
You know those people who stand on corners flipping around signs that advertise stores and new house openings and whatnot? Normally it's punk'ish looking kids standing there. Diana and I drove by a corner recently that had what must have been a 65 year old lady standing there, dancing slighly in the blazing sun, holding a sign for a new housing development. Diana and I both had the same reaction of cringing with sadness when we saw her. Poor old lady.
2004/07/27
The other night, Diana and I were talking about movies to watch. I've always liked whodunnit type murder mysteries, but haven't seen very many. Yesterday, Diana headed to the ol' li-berry and rented two Agatha Christies, a Shelock Holmes, and one other mystery. We watched "A Body in the Library", one of the Agatha Christie movies (with Ms. Marple), and I really enjoyed it. It was fun to pause the movie throughout and wonder aloud at motives and opportunities and so forth. Good stuff.
Even though the movie wasn't scary at all, I was still a little scared after it. Suspenseful movies can really freak me out. It all stems back from the Night I've been the Most Scared in my Life.
*dreamy harp music and soft fade*
When I was 9 years old, my family lived in Vienna for six months. During that summer, my brother turned 13 on Friday the 13th. That night, there was a thunderstorm, and we were off to see an Agatha Christie play, "The Mousetrap". The theater, I remember, was tiny, and we were really close to the stage.
The story of the play is about a group of strangers snowed in at a bed and breakfast inn somewhere. One of the lodgers is a nasty, mean old lady, who during the course of the play manages to piss off everyone in the house in some way or another. At some point in the story, the lights in the inn go out while she's alone in the room, reading. We then hear a door open, and someone cross the stage, and the sounds of a struggle and strangling going on, and then a hasty exit by the murderer.
Soon after, the lady of the house comes in with a candle, wondering what the commotion was. I remember somehow a spotlight shines down on the body of the woman on stage, and at this point, the lady who found her let out the loudest, most horriffic, piercing scream. I specifically remember my bodies reaction. My entire body when completely stiff as a board. My knees extended straight, kicking the chair in front of me REALLY hard. My back arched, my little butt lifting entirely off the chair. I was completely supported by my shoulder blades on the back of the chair, and the back of my legs on the front edge of the seat. Absolutely freaked. I wasn't crying or anything, and I didn't lose my composure, but I was absolutely petrified.
Intermission followed immediately after that scene, and I remember talking with my parents and brother about it. How did we like the play, who did we think was the murderer and so forth. I enjoyed the rest of the play (and I remember who did it). That night, though, I had scary dreams and ran into my parents bedroom crying and scared. And really, from that night on, for quite a long time, I was pretty freaked out by dark. Not universally scared of the dark (like, I didn’t need a light on to sleep or anything), but things like coming home to a dark house, or crossing a dark courtyard at night, stuff like that. I remember watching Psycho at Baditude's old pad, and having to restraing myself from bolting across the darkened parking lot to get to my car. Even last night, after watching the movie, Diana heard me walk quickly through our dark house on my way to the bedroom.
There. Now you all know a little more about Adman.
Before watching the movie last night, I caught the end of the Democratic National Convention. Specifically, Bill Clinton's speech. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. Maybe I'm a sucker for rousing speeches, and Bill certainly is a good speaker, but I was all sorts of fired up on being a Democrat. I also liked how positive the message was. It seemed there was a lot more "look how good we are" rather than "look how bad they are". Good stuff. I look forward to more of the same, as well as more from the Republicans and their responses and their own speeches.
I only caught the end of the DNC because I was at our first workboy (and girl) softball game. We lost, but I accomplished my goals of hitting well. I'm definitely not a power hitter, so instead my goal was to place the ball well and get on base. I went 2 for 2 with two singles, 1 RBI, and I scored a run. So in spite of a 10-3 loss or something, I was pleased.
That's all for now.
Oh yeah… "Sledge Hammer, Season 1" is out on DVD. Just FYI.
Even though the movie wasn't scary at all, I was still a little scared after it. Suspenseful movies can really freak me out. It all stems back from the Night I've been the Most Scared in my Life.
*dreamy harp music and soft fade*
When I was 9 years old, my family lived in Vienna for six months. During that summer, my brother turned 13 on Friday the 13th. That night, there was a thunderstorm, and we were off to see an Agatha Christie play, "The Mousetrap". The theater, I remember, was tiny, and we were really close to the stage.
The story of the play is about a group of strangers snowed in at a bed and breakfast inn somewhere. One of the lodgers is a nasty, mean old lady, who during the course of the play manages to piss off everyone in the house in some way or another. At some point in the story, the lights in the inn go out while she's alone in the room, reading. We then hear a door open, and someone cross the stage, and the sounds of a struggle and strangling going on, and then a hasty exit by the murderer.
Soon after, the lady of the house comes in with a candle, wondering what the commotion was. I remember somehow a spotlight shines down on the body of the woman on stage, and at this point, the lady who found her let out the loudest, most horriffic, piercing scream. I specifically remember my bodies reaction. My entire body when completely stiff as a board. My knees extended straight, kicking the chair in front of me REALLY hard. My back arched, my little butt lifting entirely off the chair. I was completely supported by my shoulder blades on the back of the chair, and the back of my legs on the front edge of the seat. Absolutely freaked. I wasn't crying or anything, and I didn't lose my composure, but I was absolutely petrified.
Intermission followed immediately after that scene, and I remember talking with my parents and brother about it. How did we like the play, who did we think was the murderer and so forth. I enjoyed the rest of the play (and I remember who did it). That night, though, I had scary dreams and ran into my parents bedroom crying and scared. And really, from that night on, for quite a long time, I was pretty freaked out by dark. Not universally scared of the dark (like, I didn’t need a light on to sleep or anything), but things like coming home to a dark house, or crossing a dark courtyard at night, stuff like that. I remember watching Psycho at Baditude's old pad, and having to restraing myself from bolting across the darkened parking lot to get to my car. Even last night, after watching the movie, Diana heard me walk quickly through our dark house on my way to the bedroom.
There. Now you all know a little more about Adman.
Before watching the movie last night, I caught the end of the Democratic National Convention. Specifically, Bill Clinton's speech. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. Maybe I'm a sucker for rousing speeches, and Bill certainly is a good speaker, but I was all sorts of fired up on being a Democrat. I also liked how positive the message was. It seemed there was a lot more "look how good we are" rather than "look how bad they are". Good stuff. I look forward to more of the same, as well as more from the Republicans and their responses and their own speeches.
I only caught the end of the DNC because I was at our first workboy (and girl) softball game. We lost, but I accomplished my goals of hitting well. I'm definitely not a power hitter, so instead my goal was to place the ball well and get on base. I went 2 for 2 with two singles, 1 RBI, and I scored a run. So in spite of a 10-3 loss or something, I was pleased.
That's all for now.
Oh yeah… "Sledge Hammer, Season 1" is out on DVD. Just FYI.
2004/07/26
I haven't been keeping up that well with the ol' bloggage. Sorry about that.
Friday (was it Friday? Or Thursday?) night, Diana and I were going to go see "Riding Giants", but while it was $9.50 that night, it was $4.00 on Tuesday. $9.50 for a movie… this is getting out of control. So, we decided to come back on Tuesday, and instead went out to dinner (which is sort of silly, but there it is).
Saturday, we headed out with Eryn and Iwan and saw Napolean Dynamite, which, in spite of being basically the same running gag for two hours, had some hilarious moments. I enjoyed it. I have a feeling that I'll enjoy it again on subsequent viewings.
"What's are you drawing?"
"It's a liger. Probably my most favorite animal…. Half lion and half tiger, bred for it's magic abilities."
Ahhh, good stuff.
That night, I beat Far Cry finally. I enjoyed the game throughout, but was a little dissapointed at the ending. There wasn't really a huge uber-boss to be defeated. Instead, the final level was just a big level with lots of normal bad guys. But it was satisfying to beat the game. I tried to play multiplayer, but Ubi has some whack registration system that said my account was blocked. Dumb. Oh well.
Sunday, we hit up the beach with Iwan, which was nice. Great beach weather this weekend.
Not a whole lot else going on. Our house is still in some disrepair from painting (which looks really good!). We're contemplating new carpet, and are waiting to put everything back in it's place until that's decided upon one way or another. Work is going to be busy this week, but there's a Montana trip right around the corner. I hope that goes ok.
That's about it for now.
Friday (was it Friday? Or Thursday?) night, Diana and I were going to go see "Riding Giants", but while it was $9.50 that night, it was $4.00 on Tuesday. $9.50 for a movie… this is getting out of control. So, we decided to come back on Tuesday, and instead went out to dinner (which is sort of silly, but there it is).
Saturday, we headed out with Eryn and Iwan and saw Napolean Dynamite, which, in spite of being basically the same running gag for two hours, had some hilarious moments. I enjoyed it. I have a feeling that I'll enjoy it again on subsequent viewings.
"What's are you drawing?"
"It's a liger. Probably my most favorite animal…. Half lion and half tiger, bred for it's magic abilities."
Ahhh, good stuff.
That night, I beat Far Cry finally. I enjoyed the game throughout, but was a little dissapointed at the ending. There wasn't really a huge uber-boss to be defeated. Instead, the final level was just a big level with lots of normal bad guys. But it was satisfying to beat the game. I tried to play multiplayer, but Ubi has some whack registration system that said my account was blocked. Dumb. Oh well.
Sunday, we hit up the beach with Iwan, which was nice. Great beach weather this weekend.
Not a whole lot else going on. Our house is still in some disrepair from painting (which looks really good!). We're contemplating new carpet, and are waiting to put everything back in it's place until that's decided upon one way or another. Work is going to be busy this week, but there's a Montana trip right around the corner. I hope that goes ok.
That's about it for now.
2004/07/23
2004/07/19
So. Another successful weekend in the books.
Late last week, I went out to dinner with Diana and some of her work girls and their husbands. It was a lot of fun to put faces to the names that I've heard so much about, and to listen in on their conversations about their work stuff.
Saturday, Diana and I did a lot of shopping and errands and stuff. That evening, we met up with peeps heading out to dinner up in Carlsbad. After dinner, we headed up to the ol' beach house for some s'more making and bonfire-sitting. Good times.
Sunday, Iwan and I joined up with Norm and Teri for golf out in Poway. It was pretty freaking hot, but at least there was a good breeze which made it bearable. I played ok. Could have done better, but definitely could have done worse. Iwan was on fire for the front nine, shooting one over and basically almost getting a hole in one (on a par 4 no less), leaving a tap-in for an eagle. Nice work. I ended up 15 over, I think. Norm and Teri have gotten a lot better since the last time I played with them, and it was great to see them both hit some really great shots.
That evening, we met up with Iwan and Sara down at the beach for dinner, and Eryn and H-bomb joined us. Nice end to a nice weekend.
You know what's dumb? Movies (or whatever) that claim in their advertisments "Inspired by a true story". What, exactly, does that mean? "Based on a true story", yes, I understand. But "inspired by"? That the most vague statement ever and I hate it. :)
I saw two deaf people driving in a car, talking to each other. If Diana doesn't like it when I hold the steering wheel with my knees, she should be glad I'm not deaf. I have no idea how the driving was steering the car, but his hands were all over the place when he was "talking". Kind of scary, actually.
I played a lot of Far Cry over this last week, and I've been really impressed by it. That gameplay is a bit better than average, but nothing too spectacular. However, the graphics and physics engine is phenomenal. For the uninitiated: in most games, when you shoot a monster, it it plays a pre-canned "monster death" animation. Every time you kill a monster, the same animation plays. In Far Cry, it uses something called "rag doll" physics, or something like that, so when the monster dies, it flops over in a very realistic manner. Bodies will sort of tumble down stairs, or fall off ledges and richochet off stuff, whatever. And it's almost every object in the game that works this way. I spent time shooting microscopes off tables just to watch them fly off the table and tumble to the ground. I pushed boxes off ledges just to watch them fall. Really neat.
There's even one point in the game where a guy is standing basically on one side of a see-saw, and above him on a ledge is a rock that you can push off, presumeably onto the other side of the see-saw and fling him up into the air. Unfortunately, I killed him through other means, so never got the chance, but I'll probably go back and check it out.
That's about it for now.
2004/07/12
Long time no blog!
Things have been just cruising along. We had our new windows installed, and they look really great. Diana's been continuing her painting work on the trim around the house (doors, doorways, floorboards, etc), and that looks really great, too.
Saturday morning, we went to see Spiderman 2 with Norm and Teri, and in spite of good things I've heard about it, I thought it was a non-trivially bad movie. When I wasn't bashed over the head with the oh-so-subtle character development, or groaning at stupid jokes or gag humor, I guess there were some interesting action sequences and FX to see. I dunno if I'm just jaded or what, but I wasn't too hot on this movie. I really l liked X-men and X-men 2, though, so it's not that I just don't like big summer blockbuster super hero movies. I dunno.
That night a little impromptu BBQ was set up, and we played a mini poker tournament followed by normal play. That was a lot of fun. I got killed out of the tournament pretty quickly on a great hand from Sara, but won most of the money back in the following cash game. Good times with good friends. It was really fun to have people over.
I played some golf yesterday with Iwan and Diana. Iwan was on fire (ended up 3 over par!), and Diana, in spite of having not played for six months, played really well herself. They were both fun to watch. I felt like I couldn't hit anything, but I ended up at 14 over, which I guess isn't too bad. My tee shots were pretty lousy, but I felt good about my 6-8 foot putting.
We have a guy leaving work, and my next weeks are filled with multi-hour long meetings to do a brain dump before he leaves. Bleah.
Things have been just cruising along. We had our new windows installed, and they look really great. Diana's been continuing her painting work on the trim around the house (doors, doorways, floorboards, etc), and that looks really great, too.
Saturday morning, we went to see Spiderman 2 with Norm and Teri, and in spite of good things I've heard about it, I thought it was a non-trivially bad movie. When I wasn't bashed over the head with the oh-so-subtle character development, or groaning at stupid jokes or gag humor, I guess there were some interesting action sequences and FX to see. I dunno if I'm just jaded or what, but I wasn't too hot on this movie. I really l liked X-men and X-men 2, though, so it's not that I just don't like big summer blockbuster super hero movies. I dunno.
That night a little impromptu BBQ was set up, and we played a mini poker tournament followed by normal play. That was a lot of fun. I got killed out of the tournament pretty quickly on a great hand from Sara, but won most of the money back in the following cash game. Good times with good friends. It was really fun to have people over.
I played some golf yesterday with Iwan and Diana. Iwan was on fire (ended up 3 over par!), and Diana, in spite of having not played for six months, played really well herself. They were both fun to watch. I felt like I couldn't hit anything, but I ended up at 14 over, which I guess isn't too bad. My tee shots were pretty lousy, but I felt good about my 6-8 foot putting.
We have a guy leaving work, and my next weeks are filled with multi-hour long meetings to do a brain dump before he leaves. Bleah.
2004/07/06
OH!
I left out one of the best parts!
Saturday afternoon, after we'd been out all day, we came home and were hanging around. Diana called me from the living room with a note of urgency. "Adam! There's something in the living room. I think it's poo!" I came out, and so it was. There was a little chunk of poo in our living room. Where did THAT come from, we wondered. I'd recently cleaned up some coyote poo from our sidewalk, so maybe I tracked some in? It was a longshot, particularly since we take our shoes off, but it wasn't impossible.
Anyways, later that night, we were in the bedroom folding laundry. I think I'd just gotten out of the shower. The TV was on and we were just sitting there, and all of a sudden, a cat walks by. When we move to get it, it cruises under the bed. We tried to get it out, but it just got more scared and went up INTO the boxspring (the lining was torn). And there it stayed for about the next hour. We eventually lured it out with a can of tuna fish, and it bailed out the back door, but not before really growling and getting substantially pissed off.
The weird thing is that we have NO idea how it got into the house, or how long it had been there. Since we'd just gotten home from being out all day, it must have been in the house for most of the day. The carpet by the garage door is sort of torn up, and I suspect it was digging at the door. We can't see how it could have gotten in that morning, so it certainly may have been in the house overnight? Hard to tell, but either way, pretty weird.
One of the funniest moments was when we first opened the can of fish, and put it by the open back door, a little inside the door. Another cat showed up from outside, and poked his head in, like, "what's this? I smell fish!" Diana tried to shoe it away with a stick, but it just kind of sniffed the stick and was interested in the food. Good stuff.
So, there you go.
I left out one of the best parts!
Saturday afternoon, after we'd been out all day, we came home and were hanging around. Diana called me from the living room with a note of urgency. "Adam! There's something in the living room. I think it's poo!" I came out, and so it was. There was a little chunk of poo in our living room. Where did THAT come from, we wondered. I'd recently cleaned up some coyote poo from our sidewalk, so maybe I tracked some in? It was a longshot, particularly since we take our shoes off, but it wasn't impossible.
Anyways, later that night, we were in the bedroom folding laundry. I think I'd just gotten out of the shower. The TV was on and we were just sitting there, and all of a sudden, a cat walks by. When we move to get it, it cruises under the bed. We tried to get it out, but it just got more scared and went up INTO the boxspring (the lining was torn). And there it stayed for about the next hour. We eventually lured it out with a can of tuna fish, and it bailed out the back door, but not before really growling and getting substantially pissed off.
The weird thing is that we have NO idea how it got into the house, or how long it had been there. Since we'd just gotten home from being out all day, it must have been in the house for most of the day. The carpet by the garage door is sort of torn up, and I suspect it was digging at the door. We can't see how it could have gotten in that morning, so it certainly may have been in the house overnight? Hard to tell, but either way, pretty weird.
One of the funniest moments was when we first opened the can of fish, and put it by the open back door, a little inside the door. Another cat showed up from outside, and poked his head in, like, "what's this? I smell fish!" Diana tried to shoe it away with a stick, but it just kind of sniffed the stick and was interested in the food. Good stuff.
So, there you go.
Has the blatant polygamy of the Fonz occurred to anyone else? That cat was always cruising around with upwards of four or five kittens on his arm, leaving to go on a date with all of them at the same time. Unbelievable.
Anyhoo, speaking of that, I had a great weekend! Let's see here...
Friday evening, Diana and I headed out to a local park for a free "concert in the park" series type thing. We brought a picnic dinner and blanket and listened to music and watched the peeps. It was a really relaxing and good time.
Saturday, we headed out for some shopping, and saw "Fahrenheit 911". I wasn't really too impressed with the movie. "Bowling for Columbine" really made me think about our fearful society, but "Fahrenheit" seemed a little all over the road. The first part of the movie discussed Bush's various business connections with various people, most notably the bin Laden family. Given the vast array of business networking that goes on in the world, picking out single threads and trying to incorporate some meaning is a little too much for me. I know a certain investment company, for instance, that manages some significant Saudi money. The rest of the movie was mostly the stuff that's on the news every day: no significant WMDs found, no war-justifying connection between Iraq and Al-Queda, bin Laden, etc, all of which seemed pretty sound to me, but weren't really any new revelations. Interesting to watch, but I guess I was expecting a little more.
That evening, Iwan and Diana and I decided to put our lessons to the test and played some more poker. We all played really well: Diana and I won $58 EACH, and Iwan only won $43. We had a great time, and won some money to boot. I'll spare you the details.
Sunday was the 4th of July. Diana and I met up with Iwan and Sara and Gabe and Rhiannon and little Landon, and headed to the beach. We were joined by some friends of Sara's, and had quite a little posse down there. We hung out, BBQ'd, played horseshoes, and had a good time. I put on sunscreen all over my body except my chest and stomach for some reason, and got a nice sunburn there. Sweet. It was really great to hang out with the Buhr's, though, as I haven't seen them in forever. Little Landon seemed to be doing well, and I was impressed and admired the transformation that Gabe and Rhiannon have made into responsible parents. Nice work, those guys. That evening, Iwan and Sara came over, and we found a spot near our house to watch some fireworks off in the distance.
After Iwan and Sara left, and Diana and I popped in "The Good Girl", with Jennifer Anniston. It was somewhat depressing, but we both thought it was a really good movie. I was really happily surprised and impressed with how good an actress Jennifer Anniston is. Good for her.
Monday, Diana and I headed to her parents house, where I helped clean their computer up. I think (hope) I made some significant steps. The main things I did were download/installed critical updates from windowsupdate.microsoft.com. I ran spybot S&D and ad-aware and cleaned up some garbage there. I cleaned up some registry entries for programs that didn't exist anymore. By the time I left, I think things were working a lot better than before.
Then, I met up with Iwan for some golf, and tied the best score of my life at Lomas, beating Iwan by a single stroke on the final hole. I would have had an even better score, but I triple-bogeyed one of the later par 3s. Doh. I did get two birdies in a row, though, so that was kind of sweet. Iwan joined us for dinner post-golf (which is sort of turning into a regulare thing, which is fun), and we hung out and watched some celebrity poker. Good times.
Anyhoo, that's about the size of it. Today, windows installers are coming! I'm really excited.
Anyhoo, speaking of that, I had a great weekend! Let's see here...
Friday evening, Diana and I headed out to a local park for a free "concert in the park" series type thing. We brought a picnic dinner and blanket and listened to music and watched the peeps. It was a really relaxing and good time.
Saturday, we headed out for some shopping, and saw "Fahrenheit 911". I wasn't really too impressed with the movie. "Bowling for Columbine" really made me think about our fearful society, but "Fahrenheit" seemed a little all over the road. The first part of the movie discussed Bush's various business connections with various people, most notably the bin Laden family. Given the vast array of business networking that goes on in the world, picking out single threads and trying to incorporate some meaning is a little too much for me. I know a certain investment company, for instance, that manages some significant Saudi money. The rest of the movie was mostly the stuff that's on the news every day: no significant WMDs found, no war-justifying connection between Iraq and Al-Queda, bin Laden, etc, all of which seemed pretty sound to me, but weren't really any new revelations. Interesting to watch, but I guess I was expecting a little more.
That evening, Iwan and Diana and I decided to put our lessons to the test and played some more poker. We all played really well: Diana and I won $58 EACH, and Iwan only won $43. We had a great time, and won some money to boot. I'll spare you the details.
Sunday was the 4th of July. Diana and I met up with Iwan and Sara and Gabe and Rhiannon and little Landon, and headed to the beach. We were joined by some friends of Sara's, and had quite a little posse down there. We hung out, BBQ'd, played horseshoes, and had a good time. I put on sunscreen all over my body except my chest and stomach for some reason, and got a nice sunburn there. Sweet. It was really great to hang out with the Buhr's, though, as I haven't seen them in forever. Little Landon seemed to be doing well, and I was impressed and admired the transformation that Gabe and Rhiannon have made into responsible parents. Nice work, those guys. That evening, Iwan and Sara came over, and we found a spot near our house to watch some fireworks off in the distance.
After Iwan and Sara left, and Diana and I popped in "The Good Girl", with Jennifer Anniston. It was somewhat depressing, but we both thought it was a really good movie. I was really happily surprised and impressed with how good an actress Jennifer Anniston is. Good for her.
Monday, Diana and I headed to her parents house, where I helped clean their computer up. I think (hope) I made some significant steps. The main things I did were download/installed critical updates from windowsupdate.microsoft.com. I ran spybot S&D and ad-aware and cleaned up some garbage there. I cleaned up some registry entries for programs that didn't exist anymore. By the time I left, I think things were working a lot better than before.
Then, I met up with Iwan for some golf, and tied the best score of my life at Lomas, beating Iwan by a single stroke on the final hole. I would have had an even better score, but I triple-bogeyed one of the later par 3s. Doh. I did get two birdies in a row, though, so that was kind of sweet. Iwan joined us for dinner post-golf (which is sort of turning into a regulare thing, which is fun), and we hung out and watched some celebrity poker. Good times.
Anyhoo, that's about the size of it. Today, windows installers are coming! I'm really excited.
2004/07/02
Poker report
I like posting detailed poker reports here, because in the future, I know I'll enjoy reading back through hand histories and stuff. Also, I want to keep a somewhat official record of winnings and losings, and doing so in a public forum will help keep me honest, so to speak. So (as goes without saying), feel free to skip these sorts of posts if you're not into it.
So, I went with Miami Kyle, Iwan, and Miami John to our local card house to play some poker last night. Intrepid readers will remember that the first time I went, I played very tighly, winning 4 of (only) 5 showdowns for a profit of $39.
This time around, I didn't play as well. I didn't get very good cards, and spent the first two rounds of the table folding literally everything, and watching people win with absolute crap. Playing any two cards can certainly be profitable in the short run, but I'm convinced it's not the right way to play in the long run. But watching people make their full houses with Q4o is rough.
I was prepared to cash in for $50, but no one ever showed up with chips. The dealer offered to cash in $20, so I did that, and ended up just playing with that, which I was pleasantly surprised to find was enough to play with for the night.
I went down a few bucks in blinds, and was dealt K2 clubs in a late position, and figured "what the hell". Flop came AK8 rainbow. There were a lot of callers (one guy, really tight player, going all in with his last few chips) and a few folders. I figured I was beat with an ace, but figured I'd stick around to see if another K or 2 came up. Turn came a 9 and everyone checked around. River came a 2, giving me two pair. It gets checked around to me, and I bet $2. The player to my left (who was all in) thought that everyone had checked around, and flipped his cards up, and I saw his A-J. Others folded. I win a pot. That put me up to about $35.
Some hands later, I was on the button and get Q10 hearts. Lots of limpers, and I call. Flop comes 8h-9d-Jh. I've got the nut straight, four-to-a-flush, and a straight flush draw. My heart is pounding! Checked to me. I bet, lots of callers. Turn comes some low diamond. Checked to me, I bet, get lots of callers. River comes another diamond. Checked around to the guy before me (who I just realize was the big blind), and he now bets. Fuck. I reluctantly call. He flips over 10-5 of diamonds, meaning he missed his open ended straight draw, but fell into a flush to take a huge pot. Stink. I was reeling.
Another hand I got pocket jacks, raised pre-flop. The flop came Q73. Long story short, the big blind won with 7-3o (calling my raise with 7-3o! Ugh).
Those two hands left me crippled and reeling, and I chased a couple more hands, and died a slow death. Best hands I saw over the night was A9 suited, JJ, stuff like that, which are really pretty marginal at a full table full of callers. In retrospect, I really should have played more patiently, and be satisfied to fold and not chase. Good poker is not necessarily fun poker.
During the evening, I saw Miami Kyle stand up and stomp out of the room. He lost an undisclosed amount. By the time I was out (which was about the time we all agreed we wanted to leave anyways), Iwan was down $18, and John (who was playing at the $2-$4 table) was up $84! Nice work that guy. From his descriptions of some hands, it sounded like he was getting cards and playing them well, on a loose table to boot. Very nice.
So, I think my lesson is patience. Don’t stray from (what I think is) the right path, even if that means not playing a single hand. The small and big blinds combine for $1.50, and an average pot is maybe $10 or $15, so I can afford to wait.
Two-day total: +$19
I like posting detailed poker reports here, because in the future, I know I'll enjoy reading back through hand histories and stuff. Also, I want to keep a somewhat official record of winnings and losings, and doing so in a public forum will help keep me honest, so to speak. So (as goes without saying), feel free to skip these sorts of posts if you're not into it.
So, I went with Miami Kyle, Iwan, and Miami John to our local card house to play some poker last night. Intrepid readers will remember that the first time I went, I played very tighly, winning 4 of (only) 5 showdowns for a profit of $39.
This time around, I didn't play as well. I didn't get very good cards, and spent the first two rounds of the table folding literally everything, and watching people win with absolute crap. Playing any two cards can certainly be profitable in the short run, but I'm convinced it's not the right way to play in the long run. But watching people make their full houses with Q4o is rough.
I was prepared to cash in for $50, but no one ever showed up with chips. The dealer offered to cash in $20, so I did that, and ended up just playing with that, which I was pleasantly surprised to find was enough to play with for the night.
I went down a few bucks in blinds, and was dealt K2 clubs in a late position, and figured "what the hell". Flop came AK8 rainbow. There were a lot of callers (one guy, really tight player, going all in with his last few chips) and a few folders. I figured I was beat with an ace, but figured I'd stick around to see if another K or 2 came up. Turn came a 9 and everyone checked around. River came a 2, giving me two pair. It gets checked around to me, and I bet $2. The player to my left (who was all in) thought that everyone had checked around, and flipped his cards up, and I saw his A-J. Others folded. I win a pot. That put me up to about $35.
Some hands later, I was on the button and get Q10 hearts. Lots of limpers, and I call. Flop comes 8h-9d-Jh. I've got the nut straight, four-to-a-flush, and a straight flush draw. My heart is pounding! Checked to me. I bet, lots of callers. Turn comes some low diamond. Checked to me, I bet, get lots of callers. River comes another diamond. Checked around to the guy before me (who I just realize was the big blind), and he now bets. Fuck. I reluctantly call. He flips over 10-5 of diamonds, meaning he missed his open ended straight draw, but fell into a flush to take a huge pot. Stink. I was reeling.
Another hand I got pocket jacks, raised pre-flop. The flop came Q73. Long story short, the big blind won with 7-3o (calling my raise with 7-3o! Ugh).
Those two hands left me crippled and reeling, and I chased a couple more hands, and died a slow death. Best hands I saw over the night was A9 suited, JJ, stuff like that, which are really pretty marginal at a full table full of callers. In retrospect, I really should have played more patiently, and be satisfied to fold and not chase. Good poker is not necessarily fun poker.
During the evening, I saw Miami Kyle stand up and stomp out of the room. He lost an undisclosed amount. By the time I was out (which was about the time we all agreed we wanted to leave anyways), Iwan was down $18, and John (who was playing at the $2-$4 table) was up $84! Nice work that guy. From his descriptions of some hands, it sounded like he was getting cards and playing them well, on a loose table to boot. Very nice.
So, I think my lesson is patience. Don’t stray from (what I think is) the right path, even if that means not playing a single hand. The small and big blinds combine for $1.50, and an average pot is maybe $10 or $15, so I can afford to wait.
Two-day total: +$19
2004/07/01
First things first. My boy posted up some Mud Run pictures from a while ago. Check 'em out.
Next things next. Diana and I just got back from a long weekend in Maryland, visiting my brother and his wife and their new little boy and my first nephew, Ben. It was a great weekend, all in all, and I was very pleased to meet the little tyke and witness my brother and sister-in-law in full parenting mode. Looking back, we didn't really do that much during the days: lots of playing around, a trip to the park, some work out in the yard, but the time went really fast.
Ben's a great little guy. He's (in my eyes) incredibly well adjusted and easy to get along with. He literally only cried for about 30 cumulative seconds the whole time we were there. His parents were also on him like a hawk, constantly making sure he's dry, fed, napped, and happy. I was really expecting sleepless nights and plenty of walks with Diana to get away from a screaming baby, but it was a joy to see him and hang out. I look forward to seeing him more and watching him (read: his calves) grow up.
On our final day there, we headed into DC and met up with Diana's friend Megan for lunch. We ate at some place right near the capitol building surrounded by peeps in suits. I could just feel the political scene in the air. Lunch was nice, and afterwards we killed some time wandering around the Mall. We checked out the new WWII Memorial, which was nice, and then headed to the National Archives and checked out the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, among other important documents. Pretty neat to see, but lots of security and long lines was a little frustrating.
That evening, we met back up with Megan and Diana's aunt and uncle for a very delicious dinner. That was a lot of fun. Diana's aunt and uncle remind me of my own aunt and uncle, who are very easy to get along with and love to laugh and have fun. Diana's uncle is a big Civil War buff, and has done some research into Diana's own family history with regard to the Civil War. He sounded pretty willing and able to take us on a tour the next time we're up there, which I think would be a lot of fun.
Plane ride movies were "Scooby Doo II" (we passed), and "Miracle" on the way back, which we watched. It was somewhat cheeseball, but pretty entertaining. I really would like to watch the original game. I only vaguely remember it (or perhaps footage of it), but my dad remembers people going outside and high fiving neighbors, honking horns, etc. Incredible.
That's about the size of it for now. Back to work, hot and ready to pop. Long weekend for the 4th, and some BBQ plans in the works… what could be finer?
Next things next. Diana and I just got back from a long weekend in Maryland, visiting my brother and his wife and their new little boy and my first nephew, Ben. It was a great weekend, all in all, and I was very pleased to meet the little tyke and witness my brother and sister-in-law in full parenting mode. Looking back, we didn't really do that much during the days: lots of playing around, a trip to the park, some work out in the yard, but the time went really fast.
Ben's a great little guy. He's (in my eyes) incredibly well adjusted and easy to get along with. He literally only cried for about 30 cumulative seconds the whole time we were there. His parents were also on him like a hawk, constantly making sure he's dry, fed, napped, and happy. I was really expecting sleepless nights and plenty of walks with Diana to get away from a screaming baby, but it was a joy to see him and hang out. I look forward to seeing him more and watching him (read: his calves) grow up.
On our final day there, we headed into DC and met up with Diana's friend Megan for lunch. We ate at some place right near the capitol building surrounded by peeps in suits. I could just feel the political scene in the air. Lunch was nice, and afterwards we killed some time wandering around the Mall. We checked out the new WWII Memorial, which was nice, and then headed to the National Archives and checked out the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, among other important documents. Pretty neat to see, but lots of security and long lines was a little frustrating.
That evening, we met back up with Megan and Diana's aunt and uncle for a very delicious dinner. That was a lot of fun. Diana's aunt and uncle remind me of my own aunt and uncle, who are very easy to get along with and love to laugh and have fun. Diana's uncle is a big Civil War buff, and has done some research into Diana's own family history with regard to the Civil War. He sounded pretty willing and able to take us on a tour the next time we're up there, which I think would be a lot of fun.
Plane ride movies were "Scooby Doo II" (we passed), and "Miracle" on the way back, which we watched. It was somewhat cheeseball, but pretty entertaining. I really would like to watch the original game. I only vaguely remember it (or perhaps footage of it), but my dad remembers people going outside and high fiving neighbors, honking horns, etc. Incredible.
That's about the size of it for now. Back to work, hot and ready to pop. Long weekend for the 4th, and some BBQ plans in the works… what could be finer?
2004/06/25
A coworker came up to me today and said what a good couple Diana and I made.
I agreed and thanked her, but since she's only seen Diana and I together only once or twice, asked her what made her think so. She said that she finds that a lot (perhaps a majority) of couples she sees always seem to be pairs of people at battle with each other. She commented that there always seems to be some sort of power struggle going on, and a snotty comment here or "joking" insult there can be really telling. Even just an offhand "see, I told you!" can indicate (she said) a sort of inherent competition, emphasizing a pervasive one-up-man-ship rather than mutual teamwork. She said that she didn’t get any of this from me and Diana, and that was a good thing. She said we were one of the good ones.
I thought this was a really nice comment. I'm forced to admit that I share in some of her observations and opinions (although I'm less willing to catagorize an entire relationship over a single instance of disagreement). However, in spite of the compliment, it's sort of a sad state of affairs when a (basically) stranger comments on how good a couple you are because neither one of you said something mean to each other in a span of 4 hours.
Anyhoo, just some thoughts from me.
I agreed and thanked her, but since she's only seen Diana and I together only once or twice, asked her what made her think so. She said that she finds that a lot (perhaps a majority) of couples she sees always seem to be pairs of people at battle with each other. She commented that there always seems to be some sort of power struggle going on, and a snotty comment here or "joking" insult there can be really telling. Even just an offhand "see, I told you!" can indicate (she said) a sort of inherent competition, emphasizing a pervasive one-up-man-ship rather than mutual teamwork. She said that she didn’t get any of this from me and Diana, and that was a good thing. She said we were one of the good ones.
I thought this was a really nice comment. I'm forced to admit that I share in some of her observations and opinions (although I'm less willing to catagorize an entire relationship over a single instance of disagreement). However, in spite of the compliment, it's sort of a sad state of affairs when a (basically) stranger comments on how good a couple you are because neither one of you said something mean to each other in a span of 4 hours.
Anyhoo, just some thoughts from me.
Bad news: Going to the dentist and having a cavity.
Good news: Showing up for your filling, and having the dentist discover you don't actually have a cavity! Huzzah!
Here's a excerpt from an email to Norm, but I'll add it here just for fun.
--------
Nethack status:
I'm in some trouble here, but I think I know how to get out of it. I'm playing a wizard, and I can't do the quest because my god is pissed at me. My quest leader doesn't let me continue. I've completed Medusa and cleared the castle (and gotten my second wand of wishing!), but I'm sort of stuck for the time being.
I did some reading (read: massive spoiling) today on how to mollify angry gods. I think I'm going have to reverse genocide some creatures and kill/sacrifice them. We'll see how it goes.
I did something called "nurse dancing" for the first time, and it rocked. Nurses are human creatures that attack you as normal, but if you're not wearing any armor or wielding any weapons, their hits actually HEAL you, and in some cases, will add to your max hitpoints. They'll do this for a while, and randomly teleport away (or I guess sometimes just dissappear).
So, a common thing to do is go to a non-teleport level (I went to the first level of Sokoban), and undress, and send in some nurses! I did this, and then just rested on the spacebar letting them whack at me. They eventually all dissappeared, but I gained like 125 hps for this. Pretty snazzy.
Nethack is a good game.
----------
I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for the weekend to visit my bro and his wife and my new li'l nephew! So, smell ya later…
Good news: Showing up for your filling, and having the dentist discover you don't actually have a cavity! Huzzah!
Here's a excerpt from an email to Norm, but I'll add it here just for fun.
--------
Nethack status:
I'm in some trouble here, but I think I know how to get out of it. I'm playing a wizard, and I can't do the quest because my god is pissed at me. My quest leader doesn't let me continue. I've completed Medusa and cleared the castle (and gotten my second wand of wishing!), but I'm sort of stuck for the time being.
I did some reading (read: massive spoiling) today on how to mollify angry gods. I think I'm going have to reverse genocide some creatures and kill/sacrifice them. We'll see how it goes.
I did something called "nurse dancing" for the first time, and it rocked. Nurses are human creatures that attack you as normal, but if you're not wearing any armor or wielding any weapons, their hits actually HEAL you, and in some cases, will add to your max hitpoints. They'll do this for a while, and randomly teleport away (or I guess sometimes just dissappear).
So, a common thing to do is go to a non-teleport level (I went to the first level of Sokoban), and undress, and send in some nurses! I did this, and then just rested on the spacebar letting them whack at me. They eventually all dissappeared, but I gained like 125 hps for this. Pretty snazzy.
Nethack is a good game.
----------
I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for the weekend to visit my bro and his wife and my new li'l nephew! So, smell ya later…
2004/06/23
Pet Peeve #427 (work related): If I email a single person a small question, I generally expect the answer to come back just to me. I don't like it when the reponse is cc'd to a bunch of other people who aren't in the loop. Especially if your original email contains information that you don't necessarily want shared around (which was NOT the case in my instance, thankfully). (Not sure if the above makes sense to you, but it does to me).
Thing I Like #835: I like when I'm driving, and the road is curving in one direction, and I want to make a lane change in the opposite direction. Say, the road is curving to the right, you're in the right lane, and want to be in the left lane. To do this, you still turn right, just not as much, and you drift over to the left. Not as much turning. I love that.
Our cablemodem is down. Has been for the last two days. I actually called Adelphia, and was just about to go into it when I noticed that, because of the painting, I'd actually unplugged the cable from the wall. Oops. I plugged it back in, but we still aren't getting service. I've tried different cables, different outlets, etc, but no signal. Diana and I are both pretty addicted to checking our stuff, and we're getting pretty ansy. Someone is coming by today to take a look.
I was at Diana's parents house last night briefly, and was asked to take a look at their computer. I'll say it again: the average person simply isn't equipped to maintain a computer without outside help.
From Wired website
I'm not saying the average person is dumb or incapable, but merely lacks the time to invest in really learning the insides of their system to protect it from viruses, spyware, or generally keep it clean and running in good shape. This shouldn't be a surprise. A person can't know everything about everything. We all specialize in our knowledge, and not everyone specializes in computers.
The same could be said about me and cars. I don't know anything about the insides of my car, because I haven't invested the time or energy to learn. The difference, though, is there aren't a hoarde of bad guys actively trying to screw my car up.
I find this whole concept unfortunate. Have computers gotten easier to use over the years? I really wonder sometimes.
I have a really good game of Nethack going, this time with a Wizard. Got an early wish, and wished for "blessed fixed +5 silver dragon scale mail", and lo, I actually got it +5 (there is a 1/5th chance of this). Sokoban gave me a bag of holding, thankfully. By the time I reach Sokoban, I'm usually REALLY stuffed with stuff. I have a bunch of spellbooks, and the identify spell at 0%, which is great. I haven't found ANY altars, though, aside from co-aligned in Minetown. I have a pet orange dragon and pet grey dragon. I'm on the Big Room level now, and just found a wand. ID'd it:
j - a wand of wishing (0:3)
Boo ya.
The only problem is that my god is angry with me. I'm not sure why. My pet dragons killing his priest might have something to do with it. If I could just find an altar in the dungeon, I could do some sacrificing and get back in good standing.
Thing I Like #835: I like when I'm driving, and the road is curving in one direction, and I want to make a lane change in the opposite direction. Say, the road is curving to the right, you're in the right lane, and want to be in the left lane. To do this, you still turn right, just not as much, and you drift over to the left. Not as much turning. I love that.
Our cablemodem is down. Has been for the last two days. I actually called Adelphia, and was just about to go into it when I noticed that, because of the painting, I'd actually unplugged the cable from the wall. Oops. I plugged it back in, but we still aren't getting service. I've tried different cables, different outlets, etc, but no signal. Diana and I are both pretty addicted to checking our stuff, and we're getting pretty ansy. Someone is coming by today to take a look.
I was at Diana's parents house last night briefly, and was asked to take a look at their computer. I'll say it again: the average person simply isn't equipped to maintain a computer without outside help.
From Wired website
For instance, a recent survey by the National Cyber Security Alliance found that nearly 90 percent of all personal computers could be infected with at least one form of spyware. A separate study by Internet service provider EarthLink found more than 29 million spyware-related files on the 1 million computers the company tested.
I'm not saying the average person is dumb or incapable, but merely lacks the time to invest in really learning the insides of their system to protect it from viruses, spyware, or generally keep it clean and running in good shape. This shouldn't be a surprise. A person can't know everything about everything. We all specialize in our knowledge, and not everyone specializes in computers.
The same could be said about me and cars. I don't know anything about the insides of my car, because I haven't invested the time or energy to learn. The difference, though, is there aren't a hoarde of bad guys actively trying to screw my car up.
I find this whole concept unfortunate. Have computers gotten easier to use over the years? I really wonder sometimes.
I have a really good game of Nethack going, this time with a Wizard. Got an early wish, and wished for "blessed fixed +5 silver dragon scale mail", and lo, I actually got it +5 (there is a 1/5th chance of this). Sokoban gave me a bag of holding, thankfully. By the time I reach Sokoban, I'm usually REALLY stuffed with stuff. I have a bunch of spellbooks, and the identify spell at 0%, which is great. I haven't found ANY altars, though, aside from co-aligned in Minetown. I have a pet orange dragon and pet grey dragon. I'm on the Big Room level now, and just found a wand. ID'd it:
j - a wand of wishing (0:3)
Boo ya.
The only problem is that my god is angry with me. I'm not sure why. My pet dragons killing his priest might have something to do with it. If I could just find an altar in the dungeon, I could do some sacrificing and get back in good standing.
2004/06/21
Paint!
We're up to our butts in paint! We have a guy over painting the ceilings, and Diana's been repainting the whole house. The new ceilings looks great, and Diana's doing a really good job on the painting. Everything is pretty much in dissarray, with furniture all moved around and drop-clothes everywhere. It's very dynamic.
The whole house used to be a light yellow'ish. Now, the hallway and one bedroom are a very light tan/purply (really almost white). One bedroom (my office, soon to be guestroom) is going to be a sort of smoky green, and the bedroom (guestroom, soon to be my new office) is a steely blue. The living room and dining room are a the same tan/beige/purply color that the hall is, but a shade darker (which is still very light). Family room and kitchen and master bedroom and bathroom are still TBD.
It's really good stuff. I didn't like the whole house being one color, and not only that, the previous paint job was terrible. I've helped a little, but Diana's really done a huge amount of work and seems to be enjoying it, so mad props to her. It's going to be great.
Saturday, we headed up to Vista with Diana's parents for some sort of Highland Games festival. Lots of people in kilts (and not a few white-supremacist looking folks) wandering around, watching bagpipe bands, cabers being tossed, and sheep being rounded up by sheepdogs. The sheepdog competition was pretty cool to watch. Those dogs are incredibly well trained. Good stuff.
Saturday night, I gave my boy Iwan and call, and we decided it was high time to head up to a local casino to play some poker. Diana wavered on joining us. Iwan claimed that we'd be home at the latest by 11:30pm (he had an early golf round the next day). Diana decided she'd come and watch, so off we went.
The casino we played (apparently card rooms are legal in California? So I don't think this was an indian Casino?) looked pretty seedy from the outside, but it was bright and nice inside. It was non-smoking, which was VERY nice. The obvious choices were 1-2 or 2-4, and the waiting list for 1-2 was pretty short, so we signed ourselves up. Diana went from "I'll just watch" to "Adam, how much money do you have?", and signed up to play, which was great.
We ended up at three different tables, which was probably good. I decided I like live play a LOT more than tournaments. Tournaments with raising blinds really put a lot of pressure on you to really win quick or lose. Live play was really no pressure, and I think I played really well. I don't remember throwing away what would have been winning hands. I also didn't stay in too many hands. In fact, I only saw 5 showdowns, and won 4 of them. I never got more than a few dollars below my original buyin. Letsee how much I can remember.
I got pocket 10s, and the flop came 9 high (I think like 2-6-9). I bet, and get a couple callers. Turn comes some small card. I bet and get a couple callers. River comes another 2. I bet and get a couple callers, and win with my 10s and 2s. Nice.
I played a K-9s in a late position, and flopped a king and turned a turned a 9. That went pretty well for me.
I got pocket 10s again, and flopped another 10. At some point, someone bet, Doofus (more on him later) raised into me. I immediately re-raised, and they both called.
I think I had something like A-J and an ace came out, and I outkicked someone else with an ace.
The hand that I didn't win, I had A-Q, and the flop came queen high. I was in the big blind. Little blind was checking, I'd bet, and a couple people called. The river made a potential flush on the board, and the small blind now bet. He'd been chasing flushes and straights all night (and showing me his cards if I wasn't in the hand), so I knew I was beat. I threw in the $2 to see it, along with a few others, and he flipped up an A-6 or something for a flush. I told him what I had, and he kind of apoligized and said "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll pay you back by chasing these". I told him quietly that some others at the table had already paid me back for him by doing the same.
There was a guy (Doofus, above), who literally didn't know how to play poker. He had a loose idea of what hand beat what, but didn't know what a flush was or how good it was. He was happy and good natured, and eager to learn, but he really should have done some studying up before showing up. The other players were very nice to him, and eager to help him out. It took me a good long time to figure if it was an act or not, but when he called to the river with 2-7o with absolutely NOTHING helping him, I figured it was either a great act or he really didn't know what was going on. Good times.
At some point, he ordered a beer, and set aside $3 to pay for it in chips. Before the beer came, he ran out of chips, and debated about and finally called with some of his beer money. I made a comment about two addictions in battle with each other, but (probably thankfully) quiet enough that no one heard me.
There was another guy at my table who understood the concept of a kicker, but didn't really realized that it extended down the line of cards to the end. That is, A-A-K-J-8 would beat A-A-K-J-5. Lots of people really had the "hey, it's low limit! Let's just play and have fun and chase those straights and flushes." I got a good natured comment about being the rock at the table, which I took as a compliment. People really played pretty passive: lots of checking and calling. I was lucky/patient enough to get the right combinations for hole cards and flops a few times, and got callers to the river.
I checked the clock at around 11:20pm, and saw that Iwan and Diana were still at their spots. I looked down to see I was up $39.50. I played until the blind came to me, and checked out of the game. I walked over to watch Iwan win a monster pot, catching a straight draw on the river which put him back to even, which was good. Diana was down $9 at this point. They checked out of their games, and we headed off, sharing our stories. It was a really good time, and I'm glad that we didn't have any big losers.
Iwan and I both cashed in for $90, but that was really overkill. I don't know about Iwan, but I only went into my original stack just a tiny bit. I luckily won the first hand I played out, and just played with winnings the whole time, which is a much better feeling than trying to get back up to even. If you played tight, I think you could sit comfortably for $40 or so and have some fun.
Whew.
Sunday, I went over to my parents house in the afternoon. My dad and I got his computer all set up and running, the result of which was his ability to connect to the hospital computer system in a secure manner. With that, he could us a program that allowed him to see patient records. He showed me how he could look up notes and things about patients. I asked if they had X-rays and stuff, and a moment later, we were looking at the chest X-ray of someone, right there online! Really pretty cool. This probably means that he can do more work from home, which I think is always a nice option to have. Good stuff. Diana showed up later and we had a nice steak dinner. We went for a little walk around my old stomping grounds, which was fun, and then home.
So, there it all is.
We're up to our butts in paint! We have a guy over painting the ceilings, and Diana's been repainting the whole house. The new ceilings looks great, and Diana's doing a really good job on the painting. Everything is pretty much in dissarray, with furniture all moved around and drop-clothes everywhere. It's very dynamic.
The whole house used to be a light yellow'ish. Now, the hallway and one bedroom are a very light tan/purply (really almost white). One bedroom (my office, soon to be guestroom) is going to be a sort of smoky green, and the bedroom (guestroom, soon to be my new office) is a steely blue. The living room and dining room are a the same tan/beige/purply color that the hall is, but a shade darker (which is still very light). Family room and kitchen and master bedroom and bathroom are still TBD.
It's really good stuff. I didn't like the whole house being one color, and not only that, the previous paint job was terrible. I've helped a little, but Diana's really done a huge amount of work and seems to be enjoying it, so mad props to her. It's going to be great.
Saturday, we headed up to Vista with Diana's parents for some sort of Highland Games festival. Lots of people in kilts (and not a few white-supremacist looking folks) wandering around, watching bagpipe bands, cabers being tossed, and sheep being rounded up by sheepdogs. The sheepdog competition was pretty cool to watch. Those dogs are incredibly well trained. Good stuff.
Saturday night, I gave my boy Iwan and call, and we decided it was high time to head up to a local casino to play some poker. Diana wavered on joining us. Iwan claimed that we'd be home at the latest by 11:30pm (he had an early golf round the next day). Diana decided she'd come and watch, so off we went.
The casino we played (apparently card rooms are legal in California? So I don't think this was an indian Casino?) looked pretty seedy from the outside, but it was bright and nice inside. It was non-smoking, which was VERY nice. The obvious choices were 1-2 or 2-4, and the waiting list for 1-2 was pretty short, so we signed ourselves up. Diana went from "I'll just watch" to "Adam, how much money do you have?", and signed up to play, which was great.
We ended up at three different tables, which was probably good. I decided I like live play a LOT more than tournaments. Tournaments with raising blinds really put a lot of pressure on you to really win quick or lose. Live play was really no pressure, and I think I played really well. I don't remember throwing away what would have been winning hands. I also didn't stay in too many hands. In fact, I only saw 5 showdowns, and won 4 of them. I never got more than a few dollars below my original buyin. Letsee how much I can remember.
I got pocket 10s, and the flop came 9 high (I think like 2-6-9). I bet, and get a couple callers. Turn comes some small card. I bet and get a couple callers. River comes another 2. I bet and get a couple callers, and win with my 10s and 2s. Nice.
I played a K-9s in a late position, and flopped a king and turned a turned a 9. That went pretty well for me.
I got pocket 10s again, and flopped another 10. At some point, someone bet, Doofus (more on him later) raised into me. I immediately re-raised, and they both called.
I think I had something like A-J and an ace came out, and I outkicked someone else with an ace.
The hand that I didn't win, I had A-Q, and the flop came queen high. I was in the big blind. Little blind was checking, I'd bet, and a couple people called. The river made a potential flush on the board, and the small blind now bet. He'd been chasing flushes and straights all night (and showing me his cards if I wasn't in the hand), so I knew I was beat. I threw in the $2 to see it, along with a few others, and he flipped up an A-6 or something for a flush. I told him what I had, and he kind of apoligized and said "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll pay you back by chasing these". I told him quietly that some others at the table had already paid me back for him by doing the same.
There was a guy (Doofus, above), who literally didn't know how to play poker. He had a loose idea of what hand beat what, but didn't know what a flush was or how good it was. He was happy and good natured, and eager to learn, but he really should have done some studying up before showing up. The other players were very nice to him, and eager to help him out. It took me a good long time to figure if it was an act or not, but when he called to the river with 2-7o with absolutely NOTHING helping him, I figured it was either a great act or he really didn't know what was going on. Good times.
At some point, he ordered a beer, and set aside $3 to pay for it in chips. Before the beer came, he ran out of chips, and debated about and finally called with some of his beer money. I made a comment about two addictions in battle with each other, but (probably thankfully) quiet enough that no one heard me.
There was another guy at my table who understood the concept of a kicker, but didn't really realized that it extended down the line of cards to the end. That is, A-A-K-J-8 would beat A-A-K-J-5. Lots of people really had the "hey, it's low limit! Let's just play and have fun and chase those straights and flushes." I got a good natured comment about being the rock at the table, which I took as a compliment. People really played pretty passive: lots of checking and calling. I was lucky/patient enough to get the right combinations for hole cards and flops a few times, and got callers to the river.
I checked the clock at around 11:20pm, and saw that Iwan and Diana were still at their spots. I looked down to see I was up $39.50. I played until the blind came to me, and checked out of the game. I walked over to watch Iwan win a monster pot, catching a straight draw on the river which put him back to even, which was good. Diana was down $9 at this point. They checked out of their games, and we headed off, sharing our stories. It was a really good time, and I'm glad that we didn't have any big losers.
Iwan and I both cashed in for $90, but that was really overkill. I don't know about Iwan, but I only went into my original stack just a tiny bit. I luckily won the first hand I played out, and just played with winnings the whole time, which is a much better feeling than trying to get back up to even. If you played tight, I think you could sit comfortably for $40 or so and have some fun.
Whew.
Sunday, I went over to my parents house in the afternoon. My dad and I got his computer all set up and running, the result of which was his ability to connect to the hospital computer system in a secure manner. With that, he could us a program that allowed him to see patient records. He showed me how he could look up notes and things about patients. I asked if they had X-rays and stuff, and a moment later, we were looking at the chest X-ray of someone, right there online! Really pretty cool. This probably means that he can do more work from home, which I think is always a nice option to have. Good stuff. Diana showed up later and we had a nice steak dinner. We went for a little walk around my old stomping grounds, which was fun, and then home.
So, there it all is.
2004/06/15
Unbe-freaking-lievable.
Our computer got taken over by spyware last night. I can't believe how nasty this stuff is.
I logged in, and pretty quickly got some pop ups, which was an immediate warning sign. I checked the running processes, and saw something called "bargain.exe". Uh oh.
I run anti-spyware stuff, and it finds a lot of stuff and cleans it up. I then go to the Start menu, choose "run", and run "regedit". Nothing happens, but now the system is reinfected again.
I go and look in the Windows, System, and System32 directories, and see that the fuckers replaced regedit.exe, notepad.exe, wordpad.exe, and ping.exe with their own versions (presumeably that run/download something to reinfect the system).
Two spy-ware removal tools and several scans/reboots later, I think I've gotten all the bad stuff out. The only symptom left is that my Quick Launch toolbar is gone. I can re-enable it using the Taskbar properties page, but the change doesn't stick. I'm sure it's a registry setting somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. If worst comes to worst, I can do a System Restore from Sunday night. I actually tried this (fixed the Quick Launch problem), but for some reason the virus scanner didn't want to scan after doing that saying that the installation was messed up. Which doesn't make sense, since it was installed properly before Sunday.
I think I'll do the System Restore from Sunday and reinstall Norton to get that working. If the spyware has changed registry settings involving Taskbar toolbars, who knows what else is messed up. I think that's probably the safest route.
Bad, bad stuff, spyware. I simply can't believe that there are programmers who would create such beasts. Man, computer support business must be moving with all this shit out there. Diana and I are pretty savvy computer users, but one of us must have clicked in the wrong spot. I can't imagine that the general joe-schmoe windows user would have a chance once they were infected. Maybe I should look into that as a side business. I wonder how much money could be made from simply (Download spyware remover -> run spyware remover -> install pop-up stopper -> reboot). Hell, if I can remote-desktop in, I could do it all while in my underwear from home!
Our computer got taken over by spyware last night. I can't believe how nasty this stuff is.
I logged in, and pretty quickly got some pop ups, which was an immediate warning sign. I checked the running processes, and saw something called "bargain.exe". Uh oh.
I run anti-spyware stuff, and it finds a lot of stuff and cleans it up. I then go to the Start menu, choose "run", and run "regedit". Nothing happens, but now the system is reinfected again.
I go and look in the Windows, System, and System32 directories, and see that the fuckers replaced regedit.exe, notepad.exe, wordpad.exe, and ping.exe with their own versions (presumeably that run/download something to reinfect the system).
Two spy-ware removal tools and several scans/reboots later, I think I've gotten all the bad stuff out. The only symptom left is that my Quick Launch toolbar is gone. I can re-enable it using the Taskbar properties page, but the change doesn't stick. I'm sure it's a registry setting somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. If worst comes to worst, I can do a System Restore from Sunday night. I actually tried this (fixed the Quick Launch problem), but for some reason the virus scanner didn't want to scan after doing that saying that the installation was messed up. Which doesn't make sense, since it was installed properly before Sunday.
I think I'll do the System Restore from Sunday and reinstall Norton to get that working. If the spyware has changed registry settings involving Taskbar toolbars, who knows what else is messed up. I think that's probably the safest route.
Bad, bad stuff, spyware. I simply can't believe that there are programmers who would create such beasts. Man, computer support business must be moving with all this shit out there. Diana and I are pretty savvy computer users, but one of us must have clicked in the wrong spot. I can't imagine that the general joe-schmoe windows user would have a chance once they were infected. Maybe I should look into that as a side business. I wonder how much money could be made from simply (Download spyware remover -> run spyware remover -> install pop-up stopper -> reboot). Hell, if I can remote-desktop in, I could do it all while in my underwear from home!
2004/06/14
On Friday we had some peeps come and scrape all the popcorn stuff off our ceilings, and retexture them. They did what appears to be an adequate job, but what do I know. It was crazy to come in on Friday and see plastic and dropclothes everywhere, and wet ceiling scrapings all over the place, but they did a pretty good job cleaning up. We're still finding little flakes of stuff here and there, but it could be a lot worse.
Now that that is done (I can't believe I know people who've done that themselves! Looks like a really hard job), we have a painter-man over to repaint the ceilings, which sounds like a break-neck job as well. I didn't mind the acoustical ceilings that much, but I think the new ones will look a lot better. I'm pretty excited to see how things look when he's all done.
Diana and I started working on picking out paint colors this weekend to repaint the walls. This is something I have a pretty tough time with. I can't look at a little postage size splotch of color and from that, determine what an entire room will look like when painted in that color. Diana's found a pretty cool thing on the web where you can choose colors and it shows you a virtual room painted in that color. Pretty neat.
The paint color names themselves keep me entertained. Who comes up with these? They're all so cheesy, like "Distant Laughter" or "Vanilla Dreams" or "Family Heirloom". What the hell? We came up with some of our own names, like "Pinkus Malinkus" and... another one which I shan't mention here. We went to Home Depot on both Saturday and Sunday and picked out some sample colors and painted posterboards, and put those up in rooms to get a better feel of how things are going to look, and I think we're narrowing down our focus.
In other news, Friday night a small group met up at Norm and Teri's new house for some hanging out and poker. We played a mini-tournament, which was a lot of fun, and then a normal game. Norm's new house looks great as they're getting all their stuff moved in and their artwork put up and stuff. They've got some pretty big plans for their backyard, and that will be fun to watch develop.
Iwan and I golfed yesterday at Lake San Marcos. I don't know how he does it, but Iwan keeps score, and we played stroke-play, match-play, skins, and bingo-bango-bongo all at the same time. Crazy. It was a close match, but he beat me in all games, although we both tried to lose on the back nine. I just tried harder, I guess. Good times. Afterwards, Eryn joined us (with his new car! Keep your eyes on his blog for that, I'm sure) and we watched the Lakers get walloped by the Pistons. Good times.
And now, back to work...
Now that that is done (I can't believe I know people who've done that themselves! Looks like a really hard job), we have a painter-man over to repaint the ceilings, which sounds like a break-neck job as well. I didn't mind the acoustical ceilings that much, but I think the new ones will look a lot better. I'm pretty excited to see how things look when he's all done.
Diana and I started working on picking out paint colors this weekend to repaint the walls. This is something I have a pretty tough time with. I can't look at a little postage size splotch of color and from that, determine what an entire room will look like when painted in that color. Diana's found a pretty cool thing on the web where you can choose colors and it shows you a virtual room painted in that color. Pretty neat.
The paint color names themselves keep me entertained. Who comes up with these? They're all so cheesy, like "Distant Laughter" or "Vanilla Dreams" or "Family Heirloom". What the hell? We came up with some of our own names, like "Pinkus Malinkus" and... another one which I shan't mention here. We went to Home Depot on both Saturday and Sunday and picked out some sample colors and painted posterboards, and put those up in rooms to get a better feel of how things are going to look, and I think we're narrowing down our focus.
In other news, Friday night a small group met up at Norm and Teri's new house for some hanging out and poker. We played a mini-tournament, which was a lot of fun, and then a normal game. Norm's new house looks great as they're getting all their stuff moved in and their artwork put up and stuff. They've got some pretty big plans for their backyard, and that will be fun to watch develop.
Iwan and I golfed yesterday at Lake San Marcos. I don't know how he does it, but Iwan keeps score, and we played stroke-play, match-play, skins, and bingo-bango-bongo all at the same time. Crazy. It was a close match, but he beat me in all games, although we both tried to lose on the back nine. I just tried harder, I guess. Good times. Afterwards, Eryn joined us (with his new car! Keep your eyes on his blog for that, I'm sure) and we watched the Lakers get walloped by the Pistons. Good times.
And now, back to work...
2004/06/06
So… today was the ol' Mud Run.
Long story short, I'm alive and very pleased with how I did.
We got to the checkin area at 6-freaking-30 in the morning, which is when they recommend you arrive, even though the race doesn't start until 9am. So we hung out for a couple hours and let our bodies fill with nervous anticipation. Well, I did at least.
At 9am, the individual racers started. At 9:15, it was our turn to go.
The start of the race was pretty easy. Because we were all glommed together and the track was pretty narrow, there were lots of spots where we were forced to walk. After about a mile there were marines with firehoses spraying down the crowd, which was very refreshing, but the water weight seemed to add about ten pounds to our clothes. There were some obstacles in the course along the way, like hay-bales to jump over, and a couple little knee-deep swampy areas to cross. The idea of not getting ones feet wet was very unrealistic.
Pretty soon, two of the guys who'd trained the most were ahead, and three of us remained behind a little. After a little while, though, I soon looked around and found myself alone.
After two miles was the start of "Suicide Hill", the two-mile long hill that I'd been told ghost stories of for a while now. It was roughly analgous to where the coast highway goes up towards the Torrey Pines golf course, but maybe a little longer, and maybe more steep in small parts, and less steep in others. For whatever reason, I didn't have nearly as much problems with the hill as I anticipated. Near the top, I passed one of my teammates who'd jetted ahead early on. We stuck together for a little while, but he soon fell back.
The great things about hills is that they go down as well as up, and the back of the hill was a nice stretch leading into the second half of the course. This was generally pretty flat, with some more obstacles. There were two areas of really nasty, gloppy mud, about 30 yards long, each with a wall in the middle that needed to be climbed. The wall was about chest height, and I had no problem jumping up enough that I could easily straighten my arms, and then throw a leg over and jump off. There were a lot of girls stranded at the walls, though, that required the assistance of big burly men (like me). I offered my help to someone, and she said she wanted to give it a try herself first, which was admirable, but she didn't even come close. I gave her a quick boost and over she went. Yay. There was another muddy area that was a very short, VERY steep hill that had been watered down and was VERY muddy. That was a killer, because every step made your foot slip back a few inches. It too was conquered, however.
At the first of the obstacles after Suicide Hill, I found my other teammate waiting. He said he wanted to go through the obstacles with someone else, and also said he'd only been waiting for a minute or so, and didn't expect to see me (I haven't really been talking up my running abilities). We traversed the obstacles together, and ran together the rest of the way, getting to the final big mud pit (250 yards from the finish line) in 1 hour and 18 minutes. There, as arranged, we rested and waited for the rest of our teammates, the last of whom arrived 10 minutes later, looking very pale and complaining of feeling like he was going to throw up. We rested for a little more, and finished the race officially at 1:31:55 or so.
I felt pretty good after the race. I never really felt like I was panting for air. My legs were tired, but not really that tired. We were all pretty jazzed at our performance and were feeling pretty good about ourselves. We got a little cleaned up, and got some sandwiches, and that was that.
Now, a few hours later, I'm definitely feeling it more. The sun came out right as the race started, and was shining brightly all through the race, and then it got cloudy just as we finished. I got a lot of sun. I'm pretty wiped out now, and feel pretty out of it, so if this writing doesn't make sense, there's the reason. But, all in all, I feel pretty good about how everything went. I'm not really looking forward to doing it again anytime soon, but who knows.
Long story short, I'm alive and very pleased with how I did.
We got to the checkin area at 6-freaking-30 in the morning, which is when they recommend you arrive, even though the race doesn't start until 9am. So we hung out for a couple hours and let our bodies fill with nervous anticipation. Well, I did at least.
At 9am, the individual racers started. At 9:15, it was our turn to go.
The start of the race was pretty easy. Because we were all glommed together and the track was pretty narrow, there were lots of spots where we were forced to walk. After about a mile there were marines with firehoses spraying down the crowd, which was very refreshing, but the water weight seemed to add about ten pounds to our clothes. There were some obstacles in the course along the way, like hay-bales to jump over, and a couple little knee-deep swampy areas to cross. The idea of not getting ones feet wet was very unrealistic.
Pretty soon, two of the guys who'd trained the most were ahead, and three of us remained behind a little. After a little while, though, I soon looked around and found myself alone.
After two miles was the start of "Suicide Hill", the two-mile long hill that I'd been told ghost stories of for a while now. It was roughly analgous to where the coast highway goes up towards the Torrey Pines golf course, but maybe a little longer, and maybe more steep in small parts, and less steep in others. For whatever reason, I didn't have nearly as much problems with the hill as I anticipated. Near the top, I passed one of my teammates who'd jetted ahead early on. We stuck together for a little while, but he soon fell back.
The great things about hills is that they go down as well as up, and the back of the hill was a nice stretch leading into the second half of the course. This was generally pretty flat, with some more obstacles. There were two areas of really nasty, gloppy mud, about 30 yards long, each with a wall in the middle that needed to be climbed. The wall was about chest height, and I had no problem jumping up enough that I could easily straighten my arms, and then throw a leg over and jump off. There were a lot of girls stranded at the walls, though, that required the assistance of big burly men (like me). I offered my help to someone, and she said she wanted to give it a try herself first, which was admirable, but she didn't even come close. I gave her a quick boost and over she went. Yay. There was another muddy area that was a very short, VERY steep hill that had been watered down and was VERY muddy. That was a killer, because every step made your foot slip back a few inches. It too was conquered, however.
At the first of the obstacles after Suicide Hill, I found my other teammate waiting. He said he wanted to go through the obstacles with someone else, and also said he'd only been waiting for a minute or so, and didn't expect to see me (I haven't really been talking up my running abilities). We traversed the obstacles together, and ran together the rest of the way, getting to the final big mud pit (250 yards from the finish line) in 1 hour and 18 minutes. There, as arranged, we rested and waited for the rest of our teammates, the last of whom arrived 10 minutes later, looking very pale and complaining of feeling like he was going to throw up. We rested for a little more, and finished the race officially at 1:31:55 or so.
I felt pretty good after the race. I never really felt like I was panting for air. My legs were tired, but not really that tired. We were all pretty jazzed at our performance and were feeling pretty good about ourselves. We got a little cleaned up, and got some sandwiches, and that was that.
Now, a few hours later, I'm definitely feeling it more. The sun came out right as the race started, and was shining brightly all through the race, and then it got cloudy just as we finished. I got a lot of sun. I'm pretty wiped out now, and feel pretty out of it, so if this writing doesn't make sense, there's the reason. But, all in all, I feel pretty good about how everything went. I'm not really looking forward to doing it again anytime soon, but who knows.
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