Insignifica

Kojak, No Plans, Meat Loaf, More Pictures, Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, friends! May it be everything you hope!

Picture of the day!

Another from Saturday - some of the good lookin' ladies from the party. There are many, many more pictures out there - I'd say there are likely 300-400 total - I just need to acquire them. Stay tuned.

For someone who counts Halloween as their favorite holiday, I find myself rarely doing anything on Halloween night. The party is typically the weekend before, and most of my effort goes there. I'm supposed to go to Hollywood tonight to see Meat Loaf on the Jimmy Kimmel show, but Chris reminded me that it's Hollywood Blvd. on Halloween night - in addition to having to be there at 7:00. I think I'll just hope his tour comes to California - it should.

I didn't buy candy to pass out (and we had very few trick-or-treaters last year), The girlfriend is taking the Ladybug to her grandmother's, so all of a sudden I'm a Halloween fanatic with nothing to do on Halloween. Weird! Any invites or ideas? My costume is great for a house party, but not so much for anything in public.

Unless I go as Kojak.

Who loves ya, baby?

PST, Halloween over, Hair Transformation, Strongman, Great party!

Happy Monday! We had a hell of a Halloween party on Saturday - thanks to Marek and Eva for their hosting, and to everyone who attended - it seems just about everyone had a great time, with some fantastic costumes. Speaking of costumes...

Picture of the day!

Nothing says Halloween like a fat guy in tights. That's yours truly as "turn-of-the-century strongman". That's really my bald head, but not really my handlebar mustache. Many, many more pictures coming!

A few shots of my transformation:

Click for larger, as usual.

It's strange having Halloween on the 28th, and not doing something Halloweeny on the 31st - it's like the holiday is over for me already (I can't really wear that costume to work). I'm waiting for the after-Halloween candy sales.

Note: Babies don't care that the clock says it's 6am, she thinks it's 7am, and since she went to bed at what she thought was about 8:30pm last night, as far as she's concerned, she's had plenty of sleep. It's nice going for a walk at 6:30 in the morning, however, seeing the sunrise and remarking on how many people actually start their days this early.

So what's new, friends? How were your weekends, and what's coming up for you tomorrow?

Halloween, Scrapbook, Costume, Halloween!

Friday! And so starts Halloween weekend!
Halloween Halloween Halloween Halloween Halloween Halloween Halloween!

Picture of the day!

Halloween 2003 - a very sassy Deedee poses with her broom.

The costume is complete - and by that, I mean I have an unopened USPS overnight box at home with some tights in it, two large childrens playground balls, a 4-foot length of PVC pipe, a can of expanding foam, a can of black spray paint, some spirit gum, a fake mustache, and a Bic razor just waiting to become Michael's Halloween Costume 2006. I'll have a series of pictures available next week.

Speaking of pictures, I'll be putting up most, if not all, of Garrett's UCSC Scrapbook on my Flickr account this weekend, for easy access and safekeeping.

Did I mention: Halloween!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, Costume, Weather, Baby, Thursday

It's always Thursday! This week is a quick week. Catch it!

Picture of the Day!

Halloween 2005 - Ghostbuster. Ryan and I had the same outfit, but since there were 4 of them, ain't no problem. This was my first "off the shelf" costume in my adult life, but I customized it with elbow pads and utility belt.

My baby does all sorts of things, then stops doing them, and if I'm not recording them, we'll probably forget. So I'll share with the world that she loves toys that crinkle, but hates when someone else is crinkling something. That is all.

In grand Socal style, last night at 2am, it was chilly, foggy, and damp out. When I woke up at 7:30am, it was clear with Santa Ana winds, and already beginning to warm up. Welcome to October!

The Halloween costume has been found! It's hopefully already making its way down from Oregon, and it cost as much to ship as the purchase price. But man, it certainly looks perfect. Now a trip to Home Depot for expanding foam and Toys R Us for a couple beach balls, and most of the costume is complete!

Tell me, readers - how's Thursday treatin' ya?

Halloween Question, Credit Cards, Webcam, Hump Day

Happy Hump Day! We're running out of week, and it's awesome!

Picture of the day!

Halloween 2004 - Lego figure. I thought the costume was awesome, but as many awesome costumes are, it's really difficult to wear. This year's is better, for that reason. But I really liked this one. I really should have thought about a red long sleeve shirt, though.

I started the webcam up again. Just so you know.

I know it costs a lot of the merchant, but I'm getting to the point that unless your food or products are frickin' amazing, I'm not shopping there if I have to use cash. My Chinese food ended up costing me an extra $3.50 last night because I didn't have cash on me, and the only nearby ATM wasn't my bank's. Think of it as a cost of doing business - you have to have hot water and keep the lights on, and you really should accept standard forms of payment.

That said, I love that place.

Halloween question of the day: Was there ever someone in your neighborhood who gave out something super sucky for Halloween? We had a house that gave out bible tracts, and my friend's parents gave out pennies for years, until abruptly switching to full-sized candy bars one year. Hows about you?

Candy, Bush Blame, Costume, TrueCrypt, Pictures, Tuesday

Hey, Tuesday! I hope you're having a great day. If it's your birthday today, I totally forgot. Sorry!

Picture of the day!

Halloween 2003 - Warrior Angel. Cockerham-inspired costume, and it turned out great. Also fantastic use of my hair. One of my favorites.

I've noticed the best Halloween pictures are taken either right as people get there, or while they're dancing to "(Everybody was) Kung-Fu Fighting". Just FYI for your own parties.

I finally found a need for some useful encryption, and I've found TrueCrypt works fantastically, and it's pretty darn simple once you get the terminology down. Before you do, however, it helps you to empathize with all the people you've ever helped with computer-related problems who didn't have a clue how it all worked.

One week until Halloween, 4 days until the party. I've got the idea, but I must find my costume! If you're in OC, are there any Halloween stores near you?

Wow, Bush's people are now blaming the Iraqis for the violence in the country. I don't remember widespread fighting before the invasion, do you?

Candy: Awesome. Halloween candy on sale November 1: Awesomer.

What up, my friends?

Rocks, Desk and Table, Fighting the Man, Pluraization, Halloween, Birthdays

It's Monday! First off, Happy birthday Marcia! I hope you have a great one.

If I should ever miss your birthday, please tell me. I don't have everyone's here where I can get to them, and some peoples I just don't know. But I want to!

Picture of the day!

Halloween 2002 - me as Jesus. This week's Pictures of the Day will feature my Halloween costumes, in preparation for this Saturday's event.

Random question: When making an acronym of a phrase where the first word is pluralized, what's the correct format? I considered typing "POTDs" instead of "Pictures of the Day" - but shouldn't it be something like "PsOTD", since "Pictures" is pluralized? The place this comes up most often is in baseball lingo - "RBIs" means "Runs Batted In", but looks like it should read "Runs Batted Ins". Thoughts?

My mom and I were talking yesterday, and a question came up: Say there was a campaign to get rid of Daylight Savings Time, and it gained popularity. Who's the proper agency to rally against in such a situation? Who controls the time in this country? Others?

Before offering them on Craigslist, I'd like to offer my desk and coffee table here. Both are kinda old - the table would be great for someone who doesn't have one, but it's a bit scratched. All four glass panels are intact, however, and we found it very useful for many years. It's yours for free. The desk is a very sturdy (read: heavy) construction, large (I'd estimate 3 feet by 5 feet), and looks like it lived at an office before it lived with me. It's a fantastic project desk, lots of space, three drawers - it's just too big and heavy to make it up to my office. I'd like to get $50 for it, but it's yours free if you come pick it up. Let me know if it tickles your fancy.

Thanks for reading, as always! I hope your Monday rocks!

Good Times, POfCI, Anaheim, Books, Quickness

Wow, Friday already. This week's been quick, and I'm finding it hard to believe we're already 2/3 though October. I don't even remember what happened to September. A week until the Halloween party, and Christmas approaching FAST. Yikes!

Picture of the day!

The beast and me at South Coast Plaza last weekend.

I was thinking yesterday that I should get started on a book, because, you know, someone might ask me to write a book someday. Then I was thinking that there's no way I could write a whole book's worth of material, even on a topic I know and love (Pop culture, Atheism, Religion, Star Trek), especially if I wanted to make it unique and "new" info. Have any of you ever written a non-fiction book? Any advice?

Do any of you A) Live in Anaheim and B) care mucho about Church/State separation? Lemme know.

Some good discussion at my OC metblogs post here regarding Peace Officers for Christ International. Check it out.

My friends, what does this weekend hold for you? Good times, I hope!

Lunch, Comments, Costume, Atheists, Fires

Warm and Windy - Hello October! Hopefully we'll keep the fires at a minimum - we don't need a repeat of Halloween 2003...

Picture of the day!

The early afternoon of Halloween, 2003. All sorts of fires were burning, the sky was an apocalyptic shade of blood orange, and a dusting of ash was falling like snow.

We had a great meeting of the Orange County Atheists last night. Travis provided me with some nice damning transcripts of Anaheim City Council meetings, turnout was high, discussion was good - the group really is on a roll.

Who knew it'd be so hard to find a one strap classic style wrestling singlet for Halloween! If you can find one (it looks like this), let me know.

Yeah, no comments here for 4 days? Let's remedy that situation.

What's for lunch today, readers?

Hump, Baby Walker, Table Gone, Birthday!

Wednesday, Humpday, Windy Day, Birthday! Happy Birthday Lisa!

Picture of the day!

The birthday girl, playing with my toys.

Finally, a nice man came to pick up our table last night, so I don't have to keep asking y'all here to take it off my hands. It's nice also have that amount of space back in the living room - you never realize how much space things like baby swings and playpens take up until you've got a variety in your home.

Speaking of baby things, we got Katherine a baby walker last night, and so far, she really likes it. I give her a few days before she figures out that she can control her movements, and she's zipping around the house.

Orange County Atheists meet tonight! Stop by if you can.

Readers, get me over the Wednesday hump!

Meat, OC Halloween, OC Atheists, Arizona Million, Birthday

Happy Tuesday! Continuing Birthday week, Happy Birthday to Mike! Keep on rockin'!

Picture of the day!

Front of one of the "new" residences between Kresge and Porter at UCSC, taken August 2004.

Cool/weird ballot initiative of the day - If this passes, Arizona will give $1,000,000 in unclaimed lottery winnings to one lucky voter per general election. Interesting!

A reminder that the next meeting of the Orange County Atheists will be held Tomorrow, October 18 at 7:30pm at the International House of Pancakes at 18542 MacArthur Blvd in Irvine. If you consider yourself an atheist, an agnostic, a freethinker, a humanist, or are just curious, check out this month's event. If you're planning on attending please RSVP at our website forums. Hope to see you there!

Anyone in or around OC know of any good Halloween/Costume stores? I'm running low on available weekends to do such things.

Ooooh, new Meat Loaf album today! Bat Out Of Hell III - The Monster is Loose. That and Weird Al are my CD purchases this year, I believe.

How's it hanging, readers?

Future, Cloudy, Letter, Birthdays

Monday! Woo! Happy Birthday Tolga - yours starts a week with many birthdays!

Picture of the day!

Easily the happiest picture we've ever taken of Katherine. She also looks like she's flexing for the camera.

Last week I told you about a letter I got from a mystery man to my PO box. There's a hi-res picture of the letters here. Weird, but harmless fun.

It's still a bit cloudy out there today, but the sun should peek through tomorrow, and begin a week or more of sunny weather. Take that, Fall!

How's this week gonna treat you, readers? Tell me the future!

1700, Truman Bentley Jr. Newsletter, Baseball Snow, Spam, Friday the 13th

Happy Friday the 13th, friends! Watch out for whatever it is you're supposed to watch out for! Cats or hockey players or something.

Picture of the day!

A beautiful day in Sequoia, September 2004.

Heh. I think I'm getting spam for the southern hemisphere - "Summer is almost here, be ready".

Speaking of the weather here, it might rain. But in Detroit, for game three of the ALCS, it might snow. That'd be funny.

Yesterday at my PO Box I got a hand-addressed envelope from a name an address I didn't know, containing two sheets of paper - One a loose story about a guy and what television he used to watch (with a few requests for stamps or cash to continue receiving this "newsletter", and the other a photocopy about Laurel and Hardy, but handwritten and unreadable. The name on the envelope, Truman Bentley Jr., turns up this page, an interview posted in alt.arts.poetry.comments in 2005. My "newsletter" didn't have any Satanist leanings, but it might explain where he got my address, which is posted on the American Atheists website. It's kinda fun being part of something so weird, and honestly absurd.

This is Insignifica entry 1,700 - thanks to all my readers! Leave me a comment and say hey! Enjoy weekending!

1699 - Rock, Mailings, OC Atheists, Popclock, Thursday

It's Thursday! That means it's almost Friday. I actually have Saturday night free this week, as the girlfriend is taking the baby out. What to do! Please leave your suggestions.

Picture of the day!

Marek wants a hug. Or he's a zombie.

Neato! The US population is about to hit 300,000,000. Track it at the US Popclock run by the Census. At the very least, it'll get people talking about overpopulation and consumption. Plus I'm a big fan of round numbers.

A reminder to all my Freethinkin' friends that the next Orange County Atheists meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 18 at 7:30PM at the International House of Pancakes at 18542 MacArthur Blvd in Irvine, near John Wayne Airport. A map to the location is available here. If you can attend, please RSVP at that meeting’s discussion page.

We’ll have some guests at this meeting, and we’ll be discussing in detail the Invocations Project and how you can help, a group screening of “Jesus Camp”, and more social nights for the group. I hope to see you all there!

I keep meaning to get those mailings out to those who requested them. They're waiting to be put together at home. Maybe if I have some time this weekend.

Everyone: Thanks for reading! You guys rock.

Poll, Birthdays, Already Wednesday

Wow, it's Wednesday already! I'm feeling much better, and the week really does go faster when you're sick on one end of it.

Picture of the day!

The girlfriend and the baby at Labor Day this year.

Happy Birthday, Gary!

Speaking of birthdays, we're right in the middle of birthday season, and it's only going to get worse. That said, the girlfriend is turning 30 this year, so I'm all about throwing her a huge party. Oh yes.

Anyone want to go see Meat Loaf on Halloween night? Let me know...

Reader poll: Do I talk too much about religion here? Not enough? How about politics? Are there other topics you'd like to see or less of?

I want to hear from you!

Language, Nontheist Elected Officials, Back to Work

Going back to work today, as I'm feeling much better. Hopefully I'm the last person in the household to get this cold, and its flare up this weekend was the result of not enough rest and relaxation Saturday and Sunday.

Picture of the day!

Chris, kickin' it picnic style.

Table. Table table table! Free table!

This entertains me: The Secular Coalition for America is having a contest to identify the highest level atheist, humanist, freethinker or other nontheist currently holding elected public office in the United States of America. I'm betting there'll be some state assembly/senate/congress members, but nothing higher.

Thinking last night, I came to realize (once again) that it's amazingly absurd that we have to have our media screened for language before it can get to us. Somehow, somewhere, someone thinks that simply hearing the words "fuck" or "shit" on television or the radio - words most of us hear and use every day - will cause all sorts of harm to our society. I'm all for warning people who might be offended that certain words are in broadcasts, but that shouldn't stop them from being included. I'm offended by plenty of things that I'll never be warned about, but as an adult, I can ignore it. Why are so many people concerned about words?

Interviews, Late Monday Update

Hello all! Late Monday entry, as I'm sick, stayed home today, and wasn't doing much web surfing. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow - at least I was able to get a few things done around the house.

Picture of the day!

Lisa uses my daughter as some sort of very cute weapon against Tolga.

Being interviewed for a feature about you and the group you run? Weird. Twice in three weeks? Weirder.

Hope your Monday's going well, readers!

Fantastic, Take My Table, Meat Loaf, Onion, 15 Pound Animal

Happy Friday, readers! I never thought that waking up to a 15 pound animal kicking your chest and smiling at you would be endearing, but it totally is. Not that everyone should rush out and make/purchase children, but I'm just sayin'.

Picture of the day!

The 15 pound animal in question.

Laugh out loud moment this morning: "Student Fills In New Essay Portion Of SAT With All C's" at The Onion.

Sometime next week, in honor of the release of Bat Out Of Hell III, I'll write about and document my Meat Loaf obsession. It's awesome. Just a warning.

Take my table! Please!

Great table, approx. 3 feet by 4 feet, with a 16-inch leaf extension. Seen a lot of board game action. One leg wobbles, but very little danger of it collapsing (anymore). Chairs not included. It's free to whoever wants to come pick it up at my house. Email me if you'd like it.

Any fantastic weekend plans, readers? Your local blogger wants to know!

Giggles, Santa Ana Invocation, Getting Sick, Free Table

Good day, and happy Thursday! Should be a nice weekend, celebrating the birth of Gary, playing some poker, maybe finally getting rid of my table. Speaking of that, I've got a free dining room table if anyone wants it...

Picture of the day!

Chris preparing for the shot, at my birthday in 2005.

I do believe I'm coming down with a cold, so I'm turning to the voodoo of AirBorne (well, Walgreen's knockoff), hoping to avoid it. Katie had a little cold this week, hopefully I got hers instead of me bringing something totally new into the house.

Over at the Orange County Atheists site, I've begun to transcribe city council invocations, beginning with Santa Ana's for this week:

For God, again we come this evening asking your presence to fill this place, your wisdom would be displayed here and all the things to be discussed, decisions to be made. We thank you for our city and ask blessing upon it. And special blessing tonight upon those to be honored, recognized for their service to the community. In the name of the Lord, we pray.

According to the Council agenda, the invocation was given by Bob Barnett, Police Chaplain. What are your thoughts?

The following made me giggle in today:

What's making you laugh, readers?

Invocations Project, Halloween, Nachos and Hedonism

I'm not typically one to forbid myself things - and my not-too-bad gut is one result of this. I consider myself too much of a hedonist, especially about food, to turn it down - why live life if you're not living it well? But I realize with every action comes a price, and if I don't want to be any more rotund than I already am, compromise and moderation with all things is a better way to go.

Besides, those nachos couldn't have been anywhere near as good as these carrots. No way.

Picture of the day!

Me in Sequoia in 2004. I chose this picture because it totally looks like I was photoshopped in.

I'm actually getting excited about Halloween! We've got a location, and for the first time in 6 years, I'm not running the show. I'll be advising Marek, of course, but it's his this year - should be a great time. I'm also super jazzed about my costume, mostly because I suspect people won't recognize me, even though there's no makeup and the clothing itself isn't that major. I love me some Halloween.

I've put up a page for the Orange County Atheists Invocation Project at http://www.ocatheists.com/invocations. This will serve as the home page for the project, where we hope to end religious invocations at city council meetings in Orange County, or at least bring them in line with the law. If you live in Orange County and would like to help, let me know on that page.

Sending You Something, Invocations, Foley, Whoops

Whoops. I forgot to post this morning. Weird! Happy Tuesday!

Picture of the day!

A bunch of the guys, absolutely up to something.

Hows about this Mark Foley, huh? Republicans, more often than democrats, seem not to realize that conversations are logged and what you say online will often come back to haunt you.

Do any of you gentle readers ever go to your city council meetings? If so, do they do a religious invocation? Let me know, I'm curious about cities outside of OC.

I'm still putting together the "I'll send you something" project, but you'll have your goods soon enough. There's still time to get in on it...

What's new, readers?

Yet Another Police question, Halloween, Baby Pictures, Great Weekend

Happy Monday, friends! Great weekend with Tolga, Lisa, Marek and Chris (plus the girlfriend and baby, of course). Activities included spending the morning at the farmer's market, the afternoon at the Spectrum, a picnic, dinner out at two tasty restaurants, and a very sleepy baby by the evening both nights. Rock!

Picture of the day!

Katherine, taken in late August. While 5 weeks ago might not seem like a long time, it is when you're only 15 weeks old now. It'd be like me posting a picture of myself at 18. Weird!

On that topic, I realized it'd been a while since I posted pictures of Katherine, and while I have a few on the camera that aren't on the web yet, here's a selection from September:

The Halloween party is being planned. It's either gonna be really small, or really big. Either way, it's October 28. More info this week!

Question of the day: I have the freedom to say "I hate the police" and similar statements, but if I were to put a bunch of stickers with such phrases on my car, I think I'd get pulled over more often. Do you think this is the case? Do you think it's right?