Review roundup - HeroesCon, iPhone 3GS, and more!
OK, it’s been a month since I’ve updated. The ERP project at work had it’s first go-live, and as we build into the second one, I don’t see my free time to post freeing up much of anything.
But! Tomorrow we leave for AnthroCon in Pittsburgh, PA, and I’m off for 7 days straight. While it’s a “working vacation for me” (in support of Ursula - I’ll be with her in the Dealer’s Room when it’s open, and probably with her the rest of the time too), I’m looking forward to a getaway.
So, since my last update, we ran to HeroesCon 2009 in Charlotte, NC. If you read Ursula’s update, you know that it drained us dry. It actually took me close to a week to recover, which is unusual. I did meet some AWESOME people, and as usual the fans were great. However, I don’t think we’ll be back next year, since sales were “meh.” We’ll update when we know what con we replace it with if we decide to do it.
So, That brings us to last weekend. Last weekend was a BLAST. Why? Ursula’s Signing at Chapel Hill Comics. The Fans were even more fun, we sold out of their stock, and my kids had fun. Everyone’s a winner! Afterwards, we headed to Southpoint Mall so she could check into Mac Games. As long as we were at the apple store, I upgraded to the iPhone 3GS from my 3G.
The 3GS is awesome. If anything it just polishes what the iPhone 3G did right, and added some missing features. That and it’s SCREAMINGLY fast. Much faster than my 3G ever did. Color me impressed.
Ursula, on the other hand, was *NOT* impressed with the number of Mac games in the store. The remodel they did REALLY reduced their software selection, and she wasn’t happy at all about that. I did turn her on to MacGameStore online, and she is now happily playing one of the games she wanted.
My final review of the night is my brand new Stillwater Kilt. As many of you know, I started wearing kilts out to cons and the club. They’re comfortable, they look good on me, and yes, I’m both Scotch and Irish, so I can get away with wearing them. So first I had a Utilikilt - sturdy, comfy, and plenty of pocket space. The I picked up a SportKilt in Blackwatch Tartan. No pockets, but it works well with a sporran, and seems to be a little warmer in the winter than the Utilikilt. Also, the SportKilt uses a velcro waist, so it’s a bit more adjustable.
The Stillwater Kilt is a full-on traditional kilt. Worn higher, with a thick belt and a sporran. Also somewhat heavier than the SportKilt, and definitely higher quality. Can’t wait to wear it out this weekend.
So, if you’ll be at AnthroCon this weekend, drop by Ursula’s space at the SofaWolf Island. We’ll be there. And around Pittsburgh when the Dealer’s room is closed. Stop by and say Hi!
Upcoming Events
And the busy Summer begins! Here’s a quick list of what Ursula and I will be up to over the next few weeks :
- Dragonbreath comes out on June 11
- HeroesCon in Charlotte, NC June 19-21
- Dragonbreath Release Party at Chapel Hill Comics June 27 1pm-3pm
- Anthrocon 2009 in Pittsburgh, PA July 2-5
There will be more, so stay tuned!
Movin’ On UP
So it’s been a while since I posted here. I realize I need to post more here, but really, my life hasn’t been nearly as interesting as Ursula claims it is.
Case and point: my work for the alst two weeks ahs consisted of sitting in a room, load testing the new PeopleSoft deployment for my job site. Really exciting stuff - 8 hours (or more) of watching server CPU and memory utilization going “Yes, there’s a load on it” or “no, not really” for about 10-15 mins, and then waiting while the person writing and running the tests adjust their stuff. It wouldn’t be so bad, except about the time I get into the groove on some other task, it’s time to watch the numbers scroll by. You’d think, with my borderline ADD, this would be OK, but since I can’t get into the groove on anything, it’s frustrating as hell.
See? Boring.
More exciting, though, is my laptop upgrade. My original 15-inch MacBook Pro has been steadily getting crankier and crankier, and video bugs have abounded. So I cut a deal with Ursula, and on Friday bought a new 17″ MacBook Pro. I almost got another 15, but after trying out an older 17 a friend bought used, I couldn’t resist. And it’s all kinds of WOW. The bigger screen makes a HUGE difference. Plus the new unibody design is TIGHT. The new touchpad takes some getting used to…but now that I AM used to it, the thought of using the old-style trackpad on my work laptop (an HP running Linux) feels like stepping back to 1990 and only having two buttons.
I have got to get a USB trackpad that works like this for my other machines. This thing is AWESOME.
I would also like to say that the OSX Migration Assistant is one of the coolest things I’ve used. Sure, it took 10 hours to copy my old stuff over, but it was nice to have all my stuff on the new laptop for my first use, already configured, and the only adjustments have been to the new hardware. Hell, one of my tools (HyperSpaces) turned on 64-bit on that first boot. Very, very cool.
And then, tonight, we saw Pixar’s UP which I really enjoyed. I’m not going to give any major spoilers, but personally, I think it holds up well against other Pixar films, and the main character and his wife reminded me a lot of Ursula and Myself. Normally, when I go see a Pixar film, I expect at least one “OMG, I can’t believe they’re making me CRY” bit, but this time the buggers did it to us twice, which both pleased and annoyed me. Then again, maybe only the grown ups get that, since my kids kinda glossed right past it.
And that’s possibly the most adventure we’ve had all week. Well, except for going to Siler City to fetch a very large painting Ursula bought, and I’m saving that for an Intrepid Media Column. MWAHAHAHAHA.
“There is no greater sorrow than losing a friend, no greater joy than remembering one with others.”
Let’s go back in time a bit. In 1990, I was a part-time Jr. Sysadmin for a little company in Raleigh, NC called DaVinci Systems. Those of you on Novell Networks at the time may know it - they made DaVinci eMail[1].
Not long after I started, Larry asked me to come join the Tech Support team full-time. My first office mate was Greg Casey. Thanks to Greg, I learned lessons about troubleshooting, customer service, and patience. Greg, Larry, Misha (the other frontline support rep), and myself were the technical support group through the bulk of the 1.x releases - a good year or so, and one of the best work-environment experiences I’ve had in my career.
DaVinci was a great place to work, and we were FAMILY. To a very large degree, we still are. Distant family, but family none-the-less. The entire company (from that time period) was at Greg’s wedding, and again a few years later at Misha’s wedding. By then, though, a lot of us had gone our separate ways. I was fresh back from NYC, Larry had co-founded the successful One Tree Software, and the internet revolution was in full swing.
Over the next few years, we all kinda lost touch, but I would still see Greg around town. He was always seemed in good cheer, healthy, and happy with where he was.
Feb 27, 2009 at 8:30pm, Greg died at the age of 43.
What I knew, like most (if not all his friends), is that Greg had Cystic Fibrosis. His doctors didn’t expect him to live to 20. In the late 80’s/early 90’s, when I knew him, he was the anomaly, and I think he took a certain joy in proving them wrong. And aside from the infrequent day out or mention of it, you’d have never known.
Over the last few months, he’d been getting steadily worse as the disease took it’s toll. In the end, Greg made the decision to have them disconnect the machines that were keeping him going, and he left this world in peace.
Greg lived his life to the fullest. Everyone who knew him (and there were a lot of us at his memorial - including damn near everyone fomr Da Vinci, most of whom I hadn’t seen since I left for NYC in ‘93) loved him. I’ll always remember the 20-something guy who put up with my punk-ass 20-year-old attitude. Who taught me to be a good tech, a good support rep, and to have patience with anyone and anything thrown at me.[2] [3]
All of us - and there’s an email list of friends and family - are still dealing with it. He was a good friend - more than that, he was one of those once-in-a-lifetime people, who you are better for having known. And he is missed, both by those of us who lost touch and recently reconnected, and those who were with him from beginning to end.
Bon Voyage. See you on the other side, my friend.
Update : Greg’s best friend Amy (and one of the sweetest people I know) is captaining a team on the Raleigh CF Great Strides Walk. Please take a moment to help support her as she walks for the first time in Greg’s Memory. Thanks!
[1] I still consider 99% of mail clients inferior to DaVinci. I’d LOVE to have the DOS version of DaVinci ported to Linux and the transport migrated to SMTP & IMAP. Just changing the back-end to SMTP & IMAP would make something far superior to Thunderbird, Outlook, and Mail.app. This may have led to my current “all mail clients SUCK” view, since DaVinci eMail spoiled me *EARLY* in my career.
[2] There was a company-mandated Dale Carnegie Customer Service Course a few years later, but for me - and anyone who was mentored by Greg, it was old news.
[3] Also, I’ll admit that my patience wears thin after a time, but in fairness so did his. But I never saw him handle it badly - something I only recently learned to do.
Two Months of Pain
So You’ll notice I’ve been slack on the updates. There’s good and bad reasons for this.
Shortly after WHTCon, I picked up Ursula’s Crud. That was two weeks of Misery. I mean, cough, nasal crud, soreness, tiredness. Just BLECK. By the time we were over that, it was the week before StellarCon in High Point.
That week, I got my shin tattooed. I’d like to say, that shin tattoos are by far the worst pain I’ve had yet getting any mods done. And it takes a LOT longer to heal than any of my arms did.
StellarCon was a BLAST. We got to hang out with some great friends (at least, I think they are) - Mur Lafferty, Cmar & Laura, and SusanZ & Tim. And the usual con crowd.
Got home, got the kids, and settled into what was supposed to be a normal week - only to be hit with a kidney stone on that Thurday. HOLY SHIT, that’s some pain right there. Ended up having Ursula drive me to the emergency room after dropping the kids off with their mom. They doped me up, checked me out with a CT scan, and sent me home with good painkillers. I spent the next four days basically doped to the gills, that is, until it dropped to my bladder, and the pain stopped. I passed it sometime Wednesday night.
So, to make up for the prior weekend, I picked the kids up a day early. We saw Monsters vs. Aliens - a fun flick, but nothing to write home about. Loved B.O.B. - as with so many Dreamworks animated bits, it’s the supporting cast that makes the film.
And then this past week, which was uneventful. Saturday we hit the Ren Faire, and I’m sore from all the walking. Well, that and mowing the lawn for the first time this spring earlier today. My legs muscles are ache-y, but it was worth it, and nothing a martini of Gin Fizz can’t fix.
After all that, I’m just hoping this week is uneventful.
Edit : Flickr Goodness of the cons, tattoos, and other bits
What happens at the Con…stays on the Internet
So if you’ve read Ursula’s Con Report, you are aware we had an adventure Friday night at WTHCon.
Before we get to that, though, I’d like to say the Con itself was a BLAST. It’s always good to see the fans and the other guests. The WTHCon staff was, as always, fantastic. The Geek Auction was awesome, even if Jennie Breeden and I required liquor to get through some of the more interesting bits (Ursula needed it too, but she was the driver…). I could go into detail over the rest of the con, but I’m thinking y’all only want to hear about one thing :
Friday night, there was lobster and strippers.
It went down like this. A few months back, Ursula mentioned that she’d never been to a strip club. Of course, this had to be rectified - for Science! Of course, finding a time and the right company would be important. Otter volunteered to be a part of this - for Science! - and then roped Jennie into coming along.
After setup on Friday, we headed to dinner at Red Lobster. It was here that I briefed them :
“OK, the rules are simple :
1) Drink before we get there so we’re not overpaying for drinks.
2) No making the strippers cry - Otter, this means you” [1]
3) No doing anything that makes the bouncers hurt *ME*” [2]
Knowing now the rules, well fed, it was time for the ladies to get a little liquid courage going[3], and off we went.
On the way in, we were informed that at least one of us would need to purchase a membership. “Otter, you live here…” I said, to three ladies looking pointedly at me. Oooo-kay. So I’ve got a membership at Christy’s Cabaret (A.K.A. The “Taj MaTitty”) of Greensboro now. And in we go.
“Have a good time” says the bouncer, holding the door. And then he points at Otter “But you, I’m watching you, you look like TROUBLE.” “Wha? Me?…”
Christy’s is pretty typical for strip clubs, although they could do a better job on the stage lighting[4]. I did have to tell the ladies not to gawk at the guys getting lap dances in the VIP area. That’s just not polite. And, of course, if you stare at the girl in the cage, tip her! Even from a distance. Turning and pointing means you tip extra!
Most of the rest, Ursula covered. I’d like to highlight something she missed though. See, Ursula had to pee. It happens. And so, off to the ladies room she goes. And then returns a little bit later.
“My GOD, it’s HORRIBLE. The tiles are falling off. Only one of the stalls has a working door, and there’s a toilet seat in the corner!”
This isn’t unexpected, really. I mean, it’s a place where men go to look at naked women. The bathrooms are bound to be a bit rough. A bit later, Otter headed to the Women’s room (suitably warned) and I headed to the Men’s. I got back with my report first.
“Well, you take care of your business, and then a very nice older man turns on the water for you, squirts the soap in your hands for you, hands you the towels, and holds the trash can for you. He also has cologne and mouthwash. Oh! And there’s candy.”
“Candy?!?” exclaims Ursula, just before she gave me the finger and spat out a venomous “FUCK YOU!”
Otter came back. I waxed poetic once again about the Men’s room. And in the most matter of fact tone I’ve ever heard from her, she replied :
“I just watched a hooker change”
I think she won.
Now, the one drawback to taking three women to a strip club is this - it makes any man with them into Stripper Kryptonite. Seriously, it was like I didn’t exist. For their special dollar dances[5], I got plenty of singles, set them on the table (chum in the water, as it were), and…NOTHING. No, not quite. Otter switched seats with Ursula - so as not to be in the line of traffic. So here we are, trying to flag down a dancer to no avail, and suddenly Otter gets swung around and a very enthusiastic black girl starts dancing for her. Karma. The ONE PERSON in the group who actively tried to avoid boobs gets a face full of breasts.
I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in months.
Guys, take women to strip clubs. It’s hella more fun than going with the guys. Just be aware you’ll be buying them dances, and probably will have to work hard to get them for yourself.
[1] “HEY! I’ve hardly ever made someone cry!”
“What about the time you…”
“I didn’t make him cry.”
“He totally went home and bawled…”
[2] On the drive up, I outlined these to Ursula. “Oh come on, what could we possibly do…oh, wait, yeah, I have a scenario….”
[3] Bailey’s for the most part
[4] Seriously, the stage lighting SUCKED. could hardly see what was going on up there.
[5] $1 plus tip for 30 seconds of lapdance. Song changes, get a new stripper for another dollar and another 30 seconds.
Sorry about that
Wordpress has this AWESOME plugin for doing event calendars. I updated mine this morning. Sadly, the Livejournal cross-post plugin spammed them out here, which spammed them out to twitter, etc. I suspect they’re also showing up in my RSS feed, and probably in my facebook notebook. I love technology sometimes.
For the record, I deleted them from Livejournal, and I’ll be re-publishing them about a week prior to the actual events.
The 25 Things about Me Thing
This Meme is going around facebook like a house afire, and I’e had a couple requests for it. I’m usually anti-meme, but Ursula said “You know, you should put that on your blog” so here it is.
I’m not going to tag anyone, because I’m a rule-breaker like that.
— Begin Meme —
Rules:
Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.
1. I have an insane sushi habit. Some people have seen this, a lot haven’t. If you want my affection forever, pay for my sushi dinner - but take out an equity loan on your house first.
2. People are scared of me. I have no idea why. Animals and small children like me. People will tell me their life story. But adults, for the most part, don’t want to make me angry. I have no idea why.
3. I am, believe it or not, an upstanding member of my community. For the most part.
4. I can cook, really cook. I have yet to find anything I can’t learn to cook. Yes, even sushi. But those guys at the sushi bar do it WAY better than I do.
5. I love living out in the woods. Just far enough away that I can have lots of trees, but not so far out that groceries are a 3 hour trek to civilization.
6. I like gin. Nothing beats a well mixed martini. I blame Mur Lafferty for this.
7. I like scotch. Good blends and single malts. My current favorites are Lagavulin and a 50-year old bottle of Black & White that I inherited from my grandfather.
8. I get mortally offended and angry at people who abuse women, children, and animals. Those are the only things I think I could kill over, and would accept the consequences of doing so gladly and without complaint.
9. I love my kids, without question and unconditionally. I don’t think I knew the meaning of the words “unconditional love” until my sons were born. When they aren’t here, my house doesn’t feel quite right.
10. Even so, there are days I would also gladly sell my kids to the circus or gypsies given the chance. I might love ‘em, but it takes work to LIKE them all the time.
11. I cannot cook unless all the clean dishes are put away and the dirty dishes washed or put in the dishwasher. If I’m forced to start cooking before this is done, it drives me CRAZY until it can get done. This is, according to my cousin, a family trait.
12. I used to take photographs. Reasonably good ones. I have recently started doing so again.
13. Until I met Ursula, I was incapable of sleeping unless I had on some form of pants. Sorry about the TMI.
14. I love Ursula, I want to spend the rest of my life with her, but have no interest in marrying her. She feels the same way, so it’s OK.
15. I will feed a sick cat by hand, and will risk life and limb to give my dogs and cats medicine.
16. I am a sympathy vomiter. This made my ex-wife’s morning sickness and many child-born stomach bugs interesting in my house. (Again with the TMI!)
17. I have an irrational fear of needles. I will faint when getting blood drawn.
18. Despite that, I had my nipples pierced and would like a couple more piercings. (More TMI?)
19. Also despite number 17, I have 7 tattoos, and plan on getting more. I couldn’t look at the needle until about the 5th one.
20. I miss a lot of the people I worked with at prior jobs. I do still keep up with a few of them.
21. I listen to, and like, almost all kinds of music if executed well. This includes opera, classical, and country. I cannot stand noise bands.
22. Had I been born 20 years earlier I probably would have been a hippie. I cannot stand today’s “hippies.”
23. I used to be a country and western DJ for a dawn-to-dusk AM radio station.
24. Someday, I will own my own company, or companies. There is a drive in me to be my own boss.
25. Right now, all the animals are asleep, Ursula is asleep, and if my kids were here, my house would be complete. I’ll take what I can get.
Project Update
So I’ve got several projects “cooking” right now. Some I can talk about, some I can’t.
One project I can talk about is my writing. For those of you who read my twitter, these articles are not new, but check ‘em out anyway :
intrepdimedia : Guide to the Stages of Intimacy part 2
Wireless Hobo : Linux - We’re still not there yet
I have really enjoyed getting back into real writing. It is an adjustment from writing tech manuals and guides, but it’s a good adjustment.
Project Number 2 is taking pictures again. I used to love photography. I’m rebuilding my kit and getting back into taking photos of more than just the kids or something nifty I saw. Also, I’m hoping to get a proper SLR 35mm film camera again - I love taking B&W analog photos - I like the “feel” of them more than digital.
Project Number 3 is a new website for Ursula’s art. HOPEFULLY it’ll be done before WTHCon next weekend. That’s the plan anyway.
Project Numbers 4 and 5 are need-to-know - for now. Watch this space for details…
It’s been a year already?
So a little over a year ago I met this girl. She was out with our mutual friend Joe. And I didn’t think too much about it. Until I showed up at game night a week later and there she was again. And I didn’t think much about it until I was at a Christmas party about a week later, and there she was again. And I started to think that maybe there was a message there.
And we went out to dinner, and I had to explain that I was seeing someone and that while we could be friends, we couldn’t, you know, be FRIENDS. And she took that kinda badly, but I groveled a little and made things right and it was cool.
Not long after, I broke up with the girl I was seeing. It wasn’t working, and that was obvious.
Not long after *THAT* I went to Joe’s birthday party and there was this girl again. And we hit it off again. But you know, we didn’t need anything SERIOUS, so we were just gonna keep it casual.
And we went out together and hung out and did the things couples *DO*.
And then it got serious while we weren’t looking.
Eventually I introduced her to my kids and friends, and things kept going and going and going….
…if I wasn’t at her apartment, she was at mine. And it sorta made sense that since we were basically living together in two places on days I didn’t have my kids, we might as well consolidate since it made sense and would be easier on gas millage and our bills. Plus we hadn’t been apart for more than three days in a row in several months.[1][2]
So there was some moving. And re-arranging. And cleaning, and decorating and painting, and meeting of parents, and…
…here we are. Tomorrow is the one year mark since Ursula and I hooked up at Joe’s Birthday party.[3]
Best Year EVER.
Thanks Ursula, for being there when I need you, and for putting up with me when I’m an ass. I love you, and I’m so damn happy I have you and you have me.
Thanks Joe, and Happy Birthday.
Thanks kids, for adjusting so well to sharing a house with Ursula. And for loving her almost as much as I do. [4]
Thanks to all our friends and families, for putting up with us.
Oh, and thanks to the fans - for your support, comments, and acceptance.[5]
It doesn’t feel like a year - sometimes it’s an eternity (in a good way) and sometimes it’s the blink of an eye.
[1] Anthrocon was the test case, since if we could be in the car, then a hotel, on the con floor, and basically attached at the hip for 5 days straight and not want to kill each other we’d be OK. And it was OK. More than OK, it was GLORIOUS.
[2] And I knew it would be OK when my kids would say things like “Is Ursula at your house? No? Awwwww” when I’d be picking them up.
[3] I realize the Joe was the one who was supposed to get presents, but I think I got the best one of all.
[4] I know you do, even if you don’t say it.
[5] Seriously, I was afraid I’d be taken out back at AnthroCon, cooked on a grill, and eaten if y’all didn’t approve. I may still have this fear…