Insignifica

No Weekend Plans, Journeyman, The Liberal OC, Friday

Happy Friday!

Picture of the day!

A bus on display at the OC Fair this year. Click for larger - it's got a detailed map of the county on it.

The Liberal OC had very nice things to say about the Liberal Atheist Vegetarian Blog today. That's a lot of linking.

I watched "Journeyman" on NBC this week - it's a new time-travel drama, a la Quantum Leap, though considerably less geeky. Dude goes back in time to fix people's lives randomly. Minor spoiler: (though it's in the pilot, so seriously...) we find his thought-dead ex is alive and also traveling through time, and has been for a while. The show was kinda cool, but has already fallen into one of my most hated time travel fiction problems - he goes back 10 or 20 years, saves lives, but his life (and he returns to his present several times) is unchanged. Every change to the past would affect everything in the future, especially if someone exists that didn't before, and he's in the same city as you. This might not bother causal viewers, but it's a pet peeve of mine. Geek Rant Off. Should I be watching something else?

I don't believe we have any plans this weekend - and we still haven't gotten to finishing the move from my office to baby's room. Not that Katie cares, mind you. But it'd be nice to get things done. What's up for you?

Bad Cops, Autumn, Myspace, Excerise, Thursday

It's Thursday.

Picture of the day!

The staircase in my house, before we moved in. Note my shoe and the horrible tile downstairs.

Walked 1.4 miles today. It might be my imagination, but I think I'm trimming up (regardless of what the scale says). It's interesting. My walks should return to jogs soon, I think.

Another new Myspace feature I noticed yesterday allows you to filter just about anyone's friend's list and show the mutual friends you and that person have in common. I'm still waiting for an app that shows my 2 and 3-person connections to other people I know (like, does Friend A know person B, who knows Person C, who knows Friend D, who's also on my list), but that may never happen.

I'm excited about Autumn. I got my first pumpkin yesterday (mostly for decoration), I'm very much looking forward to doing some baking, and the weather seems to be staying cool. I will miss the summer fruits, however - we've had more (and more good ones) this year than in a long time. I think many, if not most, of my holiday gifts this year will be food or event related - give what you'd like to get.

I've written about police abuse before (here, here, and here), but there's another story - police near St. Louis have been harassing a guy who recorded an out of control cop in a parking lot. He's documented them following him, and a cops website has some pretty severe threats against him, all for recording a stop. It really makes me wonder how many tickets are completely made up because cops are shady, or worse. It also makes me want to set up recording equipment in my car, just in case (and this is coming from a guy who's never been pulled over or had a personal bad experience). Cops who abuse their power need to be fired immediately and suffer at least equally under the law, but hopefully more for their actions. Totally inexcusable.

That's my rant for today. Who's in?

Beard, Vegan Dating, Letter to Restaurants, Bouganvilla, Microplane, Hump

Good day, friends. Welcome to the Hump.

Picture of the day!

Marek, Ken, Kat and Bunny at the Fairway house.

I Microplaned the fuck out of my finger yesterday. Bled like crazy. Still hurts. Watch out for good kitchen utensils!

No walking today, but did battle with the bouganvilla and won.

I've been writing restaurants trying to find out what's vegan and what's not - the LAV Blog has a recap of my first response.

Speaking of such things, here's an entertaining story about vegans and vegetarians dating, and even minor differences between their diets can cause strife. I have it easy with my meat-eater girlfriend.

I'll have to get a picture up - this beard looks like a real beard and stuff. Since I'm about 15lbs lighter than last time I grew one for Halloween, it doesn't make my face looks as round. It's almost, in an 80s kinda way, attractive.

That's it for today. What's the good word?

Life Is Short, Heroes, Walking Diet, Daiquiri Ice, Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!

Picture of the day!

A very cute picture of The Girlfriend and baby.

The (Lime) Daiquiri Ice flavor at Baskin Robbins appears to be Vegan. Good thing, as it's one of my favorite flavors.

Walked 1.4 miles today. I probably slept enough, but we'll see how I'm feeling today at 4pm. while I'm working on trying to lose some more weight (I've been stuck at 211 for many, many weeks), I'm going for health, too - eat fewer processed foods, etc. It's actually hard doing this and keeping vegan, especially out.

Heroes was good last night. It's good to have it back on the TVs.

Life's too short not to get together with friends. I find myself hanging out at home far too often. Let's do lunch, or dinner, or hang out at a park with our kids before it's too cold and rainy. Inquire within, and have a wonderful day!

Memorable Meal, Heroes, Audit, Talking, Poker

It is, in fact, now Fall. Happy Autumn!

Picture of the day!

My torn up tire, and in an unexpected turn of events, my reflection. Click for more tire badness.

I've been playing some online poker again, on Poker Stars. I used to play mainly at PartyPoker, but now they won't accept deposits from US players. Poker Stars, however, will. been doing well, too - cashing enough to win a few bucks a day.

The baby has kinda started talking. She has a sound she says anytime she wants up/out of something - "beeyouuop", or something similar. We're counting this because she hasn't repeated words for things like this before. Good stuff.

Getting a piece of mail from the California Franchise Tax Board saying "Audit" is scary. Considerably less so when they just want me to prove that I qualify for Head of Household. Whew.

W00t - Heroes starts again tonight. It's the only network show I'm excited about - most other shows I watch are Food Network or Discovery or Sci-fi. Yay.

We made the best homemade pizza dinner this weekend (on the grill), and served it with a salad and homemade peach cobbler (from peaches bought that morning at the farmer's market). Some meals are memorable.

How was your weekend, readers?

Slashdot Post, No High Chairs, Walking, No Plans, Solar Death Ray, Friday

Happy Friday, my friends! Thanks for reading today.

Picture of the day!

Solar Death Ray.

Let me explain the above picture. We have great double-paned windows at our house (a huge selling point for our realtor that we never considered important until we started living there). Our bedroom faces west, and while there's a building about 50 feet across the way, the upstairs window get a good deal of sunlight. Certain times of the year, on sunny days, the pattern above finds itself on the facing building. The Girlfriend discovered last month that walking in the focal point of the pattern was like walking in front of an oven or hair dryer - a very noticeable temperature increase, and very focused. Someday, we'll use this to our advantage.

No plans this weekend. Maybe we'll get the desk moved. Maybe.

walked 1.8 miles this morning, and 1.4 yesterday.

We went to 118 Degrees last night, a fairly recently opened raw/vegan restaurant at the Camp in Costa Mesa. There'll be a review at the LAV Blog later today, but let me ask you this, gentle readers - have you ever been a restaurant that advertises as casual (even if it's on the nice side of casual) that doesn't have high chairs? That was our situation last night. Very weird.

This Slashdot thread about the guy who was arrested for not show his receipt at Circuit City has a great post about the right to privacy and liberty. Read and enjoy.

And that's that.

QOTD, 80 Days Project, 118 Degrees, Rainy, Fast September, Thursday

Happy Thursday!

Picture of the day!

Katie at Easter. Aww.

Is it just me, or is September speeding by this year? I can't believe we're more than halfway through, and fall begins this weekend. The sun has already set by the time I leave work, and the temperature drop in the last couple weeks has been drastic. Hello Equinox!

It's kinda rainy out there, and it's gonna rain for real tomorrow and Saturday. Interesting for September!

We're trying a raw restaurant in Costa Mesa this week - any of you readers out there been to 118 Degrees?

Tori's adventures with Jesus have inspired me to finally let the 80 Days Project see the light of day. We'll see what happens.

Question of the day - What amazingly minor thing (good or bad) are you currently putting off?

Vegetarian Sushi, Norcal Trip, Refinancing Mail, TLAPD, Hump

Happy Hump Day, landlubbers!

Picture of the day!

Aye, yours truly , caught stealin' chickens.

Yar, it be Talk Like A Pirate Day, matey. Avast, etc.

So when we got our house, we got an adjustable rate mortgage. Not a scary one like those associated with the record number of foreclosures, but one nonetheless. In case you were unaware, your home mortgage information is a public record, meaning anyone can get access to it. We're discovering through twice or thrice weekly mailings that lenders, lawyers and other people looking to "help us" refinance access these records and send out various and assorted types of snail mail, looking to convince us to go with them. Most are just letters, but we've now received three packages/folders with copies of our records, detailed financing information about what happens if we don't refinance, and personal notes. Some people really want to help you with your money.

A reminder to our Northern California friends - we'll be in town October 28-31 (well, "in town" means Monterey, but it's closer than Santa Ana). If you'd like to come see us (I'm in conferences all day, but The Girlfriend is available while the sun's up), let me know! We'd love to do dinner.

I'm looking for vegetarian sushi in OC. Give a brother a hand.

Avast, that's all for today. What be happening with you?

Cold And Stuff, Cheese, Angels, Walking, Halloween, Tuesday

Hello readers! I hope you're having a great Tuesday.

Picture of the day!

Chris and the Girlfriend at Halloween 2003. I'm on a Halloween kick lately.

Speaking of Halloween, I now have a mostly successful beard. I'm not if it's because I've worn the goatee for so long, but it's blond while the rest is almost black. Looks funny, but it's what I do in the name of the greatest holiday of the year.

1.4 miles this morning walking.

The Angels have a magic number of 5 going into tonight's games, with 12 left to go. It would be very difficult for them not to win their division. I like.

I miss pizza. I'm having trouble finding a good variety of cheeses, and while Rumiano Cheese Company ships, it's expensive because it's got to be quick (like, 3x the cost of the cheese expensive). I need a cow.

It's all cold and stuff out there, especially in the mornings, and it might rain (like Pacific storm, not Mountain/Desert stuff) on Friday. Crazy fast changing weather.

What's new with you today?

Brett Somers, Sleepy, Man of the Year, New Diet, New Tires, Birthday

Welcome to a new week, friends! And a very happy birthday to Marek, who's currently in Paris.

Picture of the day!

Marek, last Halloween

So, new tires! We went outside for a drive yesterday and noticed large gashes in the rubber in both of my front tires - not the work of vandals, just road wear that I hadn't noticed. But it was enough to send me to Costco, where I assumed good prices. Not so much. Luckily, Tustin Goodyear is in the same parking lot, and they're always awesome about stuff, and had the tires I needed for about $100 less than Costco. Unexpected expenses suck, but it was good to get it all done before 1pm yesterday.

New diet going well. I'm baking and cooking more at home, an unintended but appreciated result. That said, the thing I miss most is being able to go out to breakfast and get something involving eggs and cheese. I love breakfast out.

I watched "Man of the Year" with Robin Williams last night as part of my "Netflix shouldn't sit around the house for 4 months" campaign. It was good. Parts were funny. It was rather dark in places. Still, I enjoyed the pacing and interesting directorial choices. One thing it got spot on was the way mainstream politicians act, how they avoid the questions and answer only what they'd like to say, and how no one really likes any of them. I'm certainly in that boat lately. I honestly can't see myself voting for any of the democratic candidates.

Sleepy. My fault for staying up too late, but I could use a few good, restful, 8-9 hour nights of sleep in a row. Of course, with the opportunity, I'd still probably stay up too late doing something.

If not for Wikipedia's Deaths in 2007 page, I wouldn't have known that Brett Somers of Match Game fame died on Saturday. She was always entertaining.

What's new with you, friends?

Weekend Plans, New Shoes, Bloons, Walk, Friday

Hey, it's Friday! Go have fun.

Picture of the day!

The open road on the way to Laughlin.

Walked 1.4 miles today, in nice cool morning weather. Katie and I will likely go for a few longer walks tomorrow, too.

I discovered Bloons a while back, and enjoyed it very much - it's a great style of puzzle game. Recently I found out you can make your own levels (and have them rated and played by anyone online) - I've been doing some of that here. Addicting, and rather difficult to make levels that aren't either super easy or impossible.

My new shoes are pretty awesome, though they are made in China. However, the company says they work with their suppliers to ensure that only non-sweatshop labor is used, so that's ok by me. I think it's been almost 3 years since I've purchased shoes - it'll take a while to get used to a new pair.

Any big plans this weekend, friends? I think we're just hanging out at home. What's new?

Dream Girl, Shoes, Monitor Window, Whole Foods, Thursday

Happy Thursday!

Picture of the day!

Katie in her Rockabilly dress. She kept running away from the camera. Punk Rock.

Went to Whole Foods last night. Ate dinner. Found things I never knew existed, like Tofurkey brand "Jurkey" and vegan "ricemellow" marshmellow substitute. Spent like 90 minutes there, because it's less store and more expirience.

There's a term for taking a picture of the stuff behind your monitor and setting that picture as your desktop, so it looks like a window instead. Do you know that term?

Fedex just let me know that my vegan shoes have been delivered.

The day mentioned in geeky online comic xkcd's "Dream Girl" comic is approaching quickly. I love this idea, but I can't imagine people coming to something if I posted mapping coordinates on the internets. Of course, I'm not nearly as popular as xkcd. Would you come?

QotD, Travel Plans, Warming, Great OCA Meeting, Hump

Hump!

Picture of the day!

A beer so delicious, I took a picture.

We had an awesome OC Atheists meeting last night - 25 or so people attended, compared to a usual 10-12. There's a lot of energy in the group, too - now's a great time to get something done. We just need a project, or to start digging in to an existing one...

It's warming up again. September usually is one of hottest months, but still - the mildness of the summer has been fantastic. Let's keep it up.

Travel plans are set! We'll be in Monterey for 4 days in late October. We'll be going up to Santa Cruz one of those nights, but it'd be superfantastic if some of you bay area folks would like to come down and meet us there (or at least somewhere that doesn't make us do 100 mile round trips 3-4 times). We'll arrange something - it'd be good to see you all.

Question of the day, readers! What food would be the hardest for you to give up if you had to?

BevMo, IHOP, Party, OCA Meeting

Hello my friends!

Picture of the day!

Jamie, Jenn and Chris.

Remember that the next meeting of the Orange County Atheists will be held Tonight, September 11 at 7:30PM at the International House of Pancakes at 18542 MacArthur Blvd in Irvine. Get more info here. Hope to see you there!

I think we want to do a party for Mexican Independence Day. Thoughts? Interest? Otherwise, we might be waiting until either Gary's Birthday or Halloween (neither of which I'm hosting). I get the itch to party, ya know?

I'm going to IHOP tonight for the first time as a vegan. Their chili may be vegan (it's listed as "vegetarian"), and I don't imagine there's either eggs or dairy in their hash browns. Here's to hoping.

We went to BevMo last night for us, as opposed to going to find a gift for someone else. I got a beer for last night (a great German Hefe Weisse, on sale), an awesome looking bottle called "Damnation", a 6-pack for everyday goodness, the girlfriend got a bottle of wine, and I finally found a cruelty free cheese (after a tip that BevMo carried it). Good stuff!

I hope your day's fantastic, friends. What's up?

What's New, Halloween Settled, Vegan, OCA Meeting, Poker Winner, Monday

Hello and Happy Monday!

Picture of the day!

Gary, Heather and Beth, Halloween 2004.

Good times at poker yesterday - for the first time in a LONG time, I won! Played a long but good match against some excellent players. I was almost out twice, but doubled up each time and never got close to out again. Good play and good cards.

The next meeting of the Orange County Atheists will be held Tomorrow, September 11 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!

I'm finding that trying to eat out as a vegan is like going to a party and only having junk foods or a bunch of starches and no proteins. Gary's event yesterday was actually really good for food, but I still left hungry - I'm going to have to do much more planning on this front. Otherwise, things are going well.

Kinda quickly and unexpectedly, I've settled on a Halloween costume. I've already begun working on it, and it'll be a bit annoying for a while for me. But the payoff should be worth it.

What's new with you in this new week, readers?

New look, Hair, Meat Loaf, Friday

Happy Friday, my friends!

Picture of the day!

April and Scott from the 2003 Halloween set. Lots of great pictures in there.

I'm on a big Meat Loaf kick today - somewhere this morning I saw a link to Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", and I've been on YouTube all morning. There are worse addictions. Also, it's not a good Meat Loaf video unless it features a mansion, mirrors, hot chicks, motorcycles, and destruction. Oh, and some kind of ghosts or something.

I combed my hair differently today (mostly because I didn't have time for my haircut this morning, and it's getting too long). Let's see if anyone notices.

Speaking of appearances, I'm kinda tired of my "look", but I don't really want to transition it to anything else (especially considering I'm not buying much clothing lately). For now, the default is fine. But change is good.

That's all I've got. What's new, and what's good this weekend?

Busy Weekend, Desk and Monitor, Cruelty Free, Weather Change, OC Atheists, Thursday

Hello friends, and Happy Thursday!

Picture of the day!

Marek in the stocks.

The next meeting of the Orange County Atheists will be held Tuesday, September 11 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!

What a drastic weather change - on Monday, it was more than 100 degrees where I lived - by Tuesday evening, it was a cool enough to turn off the air overnight. Last night, the fog rolled in, and it was probably in the low to mid 60s - 35 or 40 degrees cooler than just two days before. It's downright wonderful out there today.

Whole Foods (at least the new one in Tustin) has cruelty free dairy (Clover Stornetta products) and cruelty free eggs (from Chino Valley Ranchers). They didn't carry the cheeses I was looking for, but oddly enough, BevMo might. If all else fails, I can have them ship. Welcome back!

Turns out I'll be keeping my desk and monitor, I'll just have another workstation, probably in the baby's room. Every 15 month old needs a Linux box, right?

Busy weekend - might go to the Tall Ships Festival on Saturday, and we're doing poker and a birthday on Sunday. What's new with you?

Where on the Playa is Jesus?

I sent my plastic Jesus to Tori while she was at Burning Man, and the two of them had grand adventures. Check out her photo essay here. Thanks for taking such good care of my buddy, Tori!

Sleep On The Floor, Cruelty Free Eggs, Walking, Hump Day, Birthday

Happy Hump Day! And Happy Birthday Emily!

Picture of the day!

Jedi Katie, at Cinco de Mayo.

walked 1.4 miles today - it's finally cool enough to do that again. Hopefully the weather stays mild.

I'm having much more trouble finding "cruelty free" eggs than I thought I would. There's got to be a small farm or ranch around here that's just got some free range chickens who haven't had their beaks cut off. I don't care if I have to pay three times as much for them, I'm just surprised how hard they've been to find.

Hey you people with kids - my daughter often likes to roll out of bed (while asleep) and curl up on the floor. Is this strange or unusual? I don't mind, I'm just curious if it's common.

I think that's it - what's the good word?

Gmail, Changes, Hot, September

Hello and happy September!

Picture of the day!

Katie and me at Chris and Deedee's birthday this weekend.

Man, what a hot weekend. A bit humid too, making it that much worse. I think between there not being a sea breeze, and us having had a very mild summer, this weekend kicked our asses more than it would have most years. Hopefully it'll cool down a bit more this week.

As September begins, so do the changes - my buddy John at work is on his way to Atlanta for a new job. I took his flashy nice monitor and exchanged it with my old one, so that's something. I opened up a can of whoopass on the house yesterday, finishing packing up most everything in my office, moving the baby's crib (where she never sleeps) into the office, and finalizing plans for computer and desk configuration and distribution. I also moved some stuff downstairs, and rebroke the Grandfather clock when I moved it across the hallway. Last time it was broken, Beth laid hands on it and it was fixed. We'll have to have them over for dinner.

Another change - I've started using Gmail to read my mail on the web, instead of the client my hosting service used. It wasn't bad, but I had to deal with all the spam, whereas Gmail takes care of things nicely, and provides a nice seamless interface for using my Gmail account and michris.com account together. I'm also storing all mail there, which will make it easier to access when I'm not at home.

That's today. Keeping cool?