I’m currently about 30,000 feet above Georgia on my way to Orlando for the Great Gathering of Lockards, where Jen’s father’s people are reuniting together for the first time in years. I volunteered as the Dutiful Boyfriend to accompany her for moral support (and to prevent her from killing any of her family while she’s there.) The occasion is made all the more interesting by the fact that this is indeed Gay Day at Disneyland, so the arch-conservative Waltons from backwoods Pennsylvania will be surrounded by thousands of happily queer folk. I am bringing camera with fully-charged batteries to document the looks of disgust, incredulity, and finally, resigned acceptance from her father, Captain, USN (Retired.) Oh, kids, this is gonna be great.
I’m also coming up with righteous reasons why I shouldn’t have to wear the Lockard T-Shirt, only rumors of which I have heard. (I have mental images of an ultraviolet XXL shirt with a muddy photo surrounded by some huge bubble lettering.) The occasion is also made great by the fact that we are not staying with The Mouse, but with Jen’s good friends Ty and Lorie, who recently added little Bonnie Rose to the world.
Interesting phenomena: I did a Google search this week on french striped grunts and the sixth or seventh hit was from my own site. Sweet!
Observations on flying three times in the past two months:
- USAir gives you pretzels. I hate pretzels. Southwest gives you Air Crisps and peanuts.
- USAir’s seats are more cramped. But their planes are cleaner. (and not as ugly as Southwest’s.)
- The cattle-call method of seating sucks, unless you’re on a 2/3 full flight.
- You can’t have baggage with all kinds of straps hanging off it or they make you sign a waiver that makes it OK to lose the bag.
- I’ve gotten better at the preflight security check. I can have the laptop out of the bag and in the tray in five seconds flat.
- iTunes is a lifesaver. If I didn’t already have enough reason to buy an iPod, I have a good one now.
- Next flight: more DVD’s.
- Southwest’s customer service rocks. The phone did not ring once when I called to switch flights; when I was immediately connected, I started to stammer like I got caught passing notes in Chemistry class and the CSR had to wait for me to remember why I called.
- USAir’s ticketless baggage system is awesome. I’m hooked.
Media check.
The May issue of Scientific American has a very fascinating article on “scale-free” networks. Researchers have done numerous studies on the Internet and found just how similar it works to things like single-celled microorganisms and viruses. Great writing in this article, by the way. Lots of good information.
(Disclaimer: it was sitting on the toilet in the men’s room at work as bathroom reading. I don’t currently subscribe.)
frederick, md, 8.24
Well, the plan to see the Wings of Freedom airshow in Frederick on saturday were dashed when it became clear that I had gotten the wrong dates from two different websites (the airshow I initially found the 8.24 dates for was in Lancaster, PA.) But we did find a lone B-25 sitting on the tarmac under canvas, and took pictures of it. The rest of the day was spent antiquing and looking for clothes at the outlet center.
I am attempting to make a barrel in 3D today. It is much, much harder than I thought it would be.
Looking through the Blue Book value guide for a trade-in price on my car, I find that the Tortoise is worth about $1,580 as a trade-in. Selling it on my own, it tells me I could expect as much as $2,810. Of course there are the things I need to fix on it, like gluing the rear bumper back on, and washing it once this year….
So I’m pricing out PC’s for the house, and I’m looking through the Dell offerings, trying to get a system with some stones for under $900, without all the crap Dell wants to add with their order- stuff like XP, all the extended warranty stuff (why do I need a 4-year limited warranty with on-site technical support? Do you expect the computer to crap out on me?) and junky inkjet printers. About three years ago, Greycube bought me a blazing-fast 466mhz Celeron clone, and it still runs reliably… but there’s no chance it will run 3D Studio Max, which is a priority these days. Funny to think I’m also considering a new car right now too. I think after the research I did today, I’ll stick with the computer and increase my job security, and return to thoughts of a new car next year.
- Pay off Visa bill.
- Pick up OSX, a larger hard drive, and the FireWire enclosure. Back up the Powerbook
- Buy an iPod and celebrate the return to normal paychecks also an iRock for the car and the house
- Futon for basement; possibly a larger TV
- Computer for 3D Studio learning-Keep looking at Dell.com
Here’s a list of the cameras I mentioned yesterday. Some of them are actually 120 cameras, and the Brownie Holiday is a 127. (I don’t care, I want to play with the 620 film.) The Duaflex is actually kind of complicated to load, but offers the best lens/viewfinder combination, and the Agfa comes in a close second.
- Kodak Bull’s Eye Six-20
- Kodak Brownie Hawkeye
- Kodak Duaflex II
- Kodak Brownie Holiday
AgfaAnsco Pioneer- Vagabond “120”
- Revere Eight Model 88
- Paillard (Bolex) C8
For the past two days I’ve been getting a refresher course on 3DMax, which is good, because there’s a ton of things I don’t know yet. It’s actually making a lot more sense now. I just have to start using it religiously like Photoshop, and I’ll get better.
The heatwave finally broke today. It’s a breezy, sunny 80 degrees outside, with little humidity. I opened the windows for the boys this morning and they crowded the screen like kids in front of a Christmas display window.
This is a blast from the past. Wow.
This was my favorite show of all time. My first Mac was called G-Force. This was also a fave.
Interesting; I was bitching about Palm Desktop yesterday and found out this morning that Palm released 4.0 of their Mac software. Guess I’m going to try to download it today. We’ll see what happens.
I scanned a copy of my backyard diagram in yesterday and sketched out a first draft of what I’d like to do with it during a staff meeting; I think I have the method by which I’m going to install the poles for the fencing, and how I’m going to do the gate (I’ll probably have to build my own, but that’s no big deal.) I want to run two sets of lights around the perimeter; there will be three or four lights higher than eye level on the sides of the neighbor’s houses around the deck area and one by the rear gate. There will be another set in each flowerbed on another circuit and switch so that they can go on independently of the top lights. The fence will be 6′ or 7′ tall, probably squared across the top, and secured into the wall with lag bolts and masonry anchors. I still need to buy brick for the planters and figure out how to set the flooring—whether or not I need to set them in mortar, brick, or sand is still up in the air.
Then there is the problem of the pergola above the deck and how I’m going to do that; that is another day’s thinking.
I decided, since I’ve thought about this every time I’ve been to Blockbuster, that there are some movies I will pay $15 to own and a bunch that I won’t. So here is a beginning list of future DVD wants/purchases:
- Apocalypse Now Redux
- Toy Story 2
- Alien/Aliens (Director’s Cuts)
- Forest Gump
- Mad Max (with the Australian voice track)
- Apollo 13
- Akira (in English this time)
Note to automotive product designers: make the stuff easier to use. I had to bust out the Leatherman and actually saw the windshield wiper off the metal arm to get it off the car. Turns out it was just a small, invisible retainer clip that i had to stab underneath the arm to get it to release. (yeah, you figure it out in 40-degree driving rain, smartass.) Now that it’s replaced with two shiny new Anco blades, I can’t wait for it to rain.
Looking forward to an evening of TV, the cats, and a cold Anchor Steam or two. Seems like Jen and I have been constantly on the move for the past two or three weeks.
I was able to get link lights and working signals from all the ethernet cabling except for the living room; once that’s done tonight I’m going to attempt to move the DSL modem and the Barricade router downstairs and install them permanently. After the holidays I’ll go back to IKEA and buy the little metal cart I want for a server rack, but right now a pair of old homemade speakers will do just fine, thanks.
So, after the holidays, the list looks like this:
Oil change for the Tortoise – $40- Fancy server rack from IKEA – $40
- Save $3,000 for the Wyoming Scout.
- More blank CD’s – $20
CD cases- 1 for Rob and one for me – $20
I think, if I can save up over $1,500 by the end of February, I’ll reward myself with a $200 digital camera.