New Things

So ignoring my blog isn't that new. Yet, it still happens.

A while ago, I started following certain people on Twitter. The majority being famous people that I don't know. It's become a new addiction for me because these people are interesting and funny. Doesn't hurt that they're SciFi related authors/actors.

I bought a long board skateboard as a fun way to get from the train to work and the reverse. Bryce has never owned a skateboard and had to try teaching himself. So, how'd that go, you ask? Another new thing for me: a broken bone. I broke my friggin' ankle. I've been stuck on a couch for a little over a week with pain and pain meds.

This also allowed for the first time I have ever been in an ambulance, been in the ER for me, had surgery. Thank goodness they knock you out and don't have to think about what they just did (clean out the ankle, open it up, take the floating piece of bone, put it next to where it should be, put a plate against both, and put in 9 screws, fold your skin over it all and staple it closed). The really funny part is the marking of the correct leg. Because, even though it is perfectly clear by the blood-stained, bandage-covered, gaping hole in the left ankle, they must mark the correct limb for surgery. LOL



Oh ya, and I've spent a lot of time explaining what the hell happened as well as being told "you're not that young anymore." LOL I understand the statement and those like it but it still feels like I'm being called OLD. Oh well. Crutches, also something new that I've not had to use before.

One more new thing: I will have a brother-in-law in about 3 months. Kewl but strange. Keep life from being stale right?

Haaaave ya met Bryce?

I actually used that modified quote on my sister last night during our conversation. LOL It helped me say "duh?!" (We were at the theatre seeing The Dark Knight. AMAZING!!!!) How I Met Your Mother... great show and I need to get and watch the rest of Season 3. I'm so far behind and I have problems like reading Starr's blog and accidentaly catching a mention of an episode I've not seen. Oye. I also need to catch up on BSG because Chris will kill me if she has to go much longer with not being able to talk about it. But Atlantis has started and Eureka is in a week!!

Btw, if you're actually reading this I am totally amazed because my posts are so few and far between, I can't imagine that anyone other than me actually sees this LOL. Just in case...
A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went to the DCI WestCoast Championship at Stanford. It was friggin' awesome!!! I love going to these things. It still excites me somehow. Call me crazy, I like being 50 feet from 120 brass players blowing their brains out and 15 drum line members banging away and at my ears. Chills... it's great. heh. The Santa Clara Vanguard had a really good show that was better than the last couple years. The Phantom Regiment had a great Spartacus themed show in which the drum major turns around and says "Live or Die!?" regarding the colorguard members acting out a Spartacus gladiator scene. Hehe, the crowd yelled "DIE!". He did. And the Blue Devils were also great, again. So much fun. Need to see again. If you're interested in seeing what I'm talking about and aren't going to fly to Indiana: World Championship Quarter-Finals live in a theater. Same shows I just mentioned.

I'll post pics later. Enjoy.

sleeeeeep

I go home now...

Amazing Eyes... Shameless Endorsement

I'm here at work on a Sunday night. It's about to turn midnight. I'm running tests to evaluate some hardware. Yay.

Ok... I have a couple of friends that are shutterbugs. I know for sure that one of them carries her camera around all the time and will take pictures of absolutely anything and quite frequently gets great shots out of it. I don't get to see the other friend as much but I'm sure she takes her cameras with her as well. They are both fantastic and you should visit their Flickr sites. Take a look:

Starr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekyartistlibrarian/), Oh ya.. Her Blog is good too (see to the right)


Ara (http://www.flickr.com/photos/aralani):

Neglected

So ya... 5 months is a long time between posts. Basically, I've not really had much to talk about. Work, eat, watch tv, sleep, repeat. Oh ya, throw in some book reading here and there :)

Speaking of books: I've been reading this really great series called The Dresden Files. If your sense of humor and SciFi/Fantasy tendencies are marginally equivalent to mine, I highly recommend the series. There are currently 8 books out in paperback and a new book coming out in April. If you're curious: Harry Dresden is a private detective in present day Chicago. Oh ya, he's also a wizard. Sounds campy but it's very cool, written as a narrative (oh ya, now a show on SciFi channel too). The problem is that I've read all eight (in about 2 months time).

Harry Potter 7 doesn't come out for 4 months, Dresden hardback in another month, rereading Timeline, thinking about Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Tim Zahn has a new SW book out in hardback... I need to go to B&N.

To continue with the completely random: This last weekend was St. Patrick's Day!! And to be the somewhat Irish man that I am, I joined my sister and went to a coffee house/music stage on Friday the 16th and listened to a PHENOMENAL Celtic band called Célé Dé. These are some seriously talented people. Check 'em out. You should also check out JJ Heller. She sang that night and was fantastic as usual. She and her husband Dave write great songs!


Now that I have completed my "plugs"... CONGRATULATIONS to my wonderful friend Jaime!! She got married this weekend in Austin. Check Starr's blog (link to the right) for more info. I wish I could have been there but couldn't. I wish her and Todd great happiness in their life together.


See ya kids.

Random update for interested parties...

Well, to start off, I had planned on not being in town this weekend but it went the way of the lovely half saying: "the best laid plans of mice and men...". My 10-yr HS reunion was this weekend. It would have been nice to see a few people and perhaps surprise others but some things just don't work out the way we'd like.

Speaking of things we don't plan: My mother had an interesting and painful experience this week. On Tuesday, she was at a hotel for a meeting related to work. She missed a step, fell, and dislocated her left ankle as well as fracturing two of those bones in the process. They relocated her foot to where it needed to be (which eased some of her pain) and on Wednesday she had surgery that put a screw or two in her ankle along with a plate. Did I forget to mention that she had surgery for something else a little over a month ago?? She was released from the hospital today and is back home. She's doing as well as possible, should be around a month + for recovery.

The ongoing strangeness of life. Hehe. So ya... took Friday off anyway to get away from work. The past two days have been nice to relax some.

I started reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stpehenson a few weeks ago. I'm 250 pages into the book and it's not quite got to the juicy part yet. It has some interesting parts that spark life into my inner CS/Geek mind but I've not been in a mood to finish it out yet... so, I went for something a little more, shall we say, frivolous for my mind. I'm currently reading Dead Beat by Jim Butcher. The book stars his character Harry Dresden who is a detective in present day Chicago. He also happens to be a wizard. I was walking through Barnes & Noble and saw this book on an end-cap, thought it looked interesting and came back to it on another visit to B&N a few weeks later. The funny thing is that last week I'm sitting on my couch watching one of my favourite shows on Sci-Fi and I see a commercial for an apparent tv show based on the books!! LOL Not fair, I just started reading the book! Oh well, read fast, catch up, ya?

Ok, by all accounts, I have typed waaaaay too much and will leave you with this:

"Listen up dummies, the help is all gone, the house is bare, now you know a shadow lives there. There's one left to die then my job will be done. I like killing people, it's a lot of kicks!"

Been a while... Dew Tour

Ok... it's been a while since I've posted. Not a whole lot has been going on recently. A few weeks ago my sister and I did get to go to the Dew Action Sports Tour. It's a lot of fun to watch extreme sports in person. I still have problems fathoming a guy on a several hundred-pound dirt bike doing back-flips and backflip variations!! Of course the Kiss-of-Deaths and Heart-Attacks as well. These guys are nuts but do some very kewl things.

I don't want to leave out skate or bmx. There was plenty of both of those (vert, park, dirt). Ryan Nyquist, who happens to be from this area, was in the Tour and we saw him in BMX Dirt and BMX Park. The guy was riding with a torn ACL... during the dirt competition he didn't get a jump quite right and had to ditch the bike. Needless to say, he didn't really compete on his second run. I don't blame the guy. He did compete in BMX Park on Saturday and Sunday. He came close to winning (and I think he should have). These people have such amazing talent and an ability to tweak themselves and their mode of transportation that astounds me. Anyway, enjoy the pics... this one below is a Front flip by the way. :)