Insignifica

Enjoy Life! Pinball Museum, Halloween, Beard, Busy August, Awesome Weather, Fair, Luke's Birthday

Friday! Happy Birthday Luke!

Picture of the day!

Just a nice camera phone picture.

Went to the fair last night - good times. We had fun, Katie had fun, and the goats seem content in the knowledge that their takeover of Orange County is almost complete. Next year, I think we'll go twice - once with the kid (and do all the kid things), and once without, so I can wander around the festival of products and the art and the old man stuff in peace.

Also, it was cool and foggy and fuckin' awesome last night, weather-wise. Thanks, late July weather anomaly!

August, which is approaching entirely too fast, is looking to be busy. Birthday parties and Ren Fairs next weekend, then Vegas, then D&D, then likely more birthdays. Oh, then Labor Day after that. Busy!

While there's nothing wrong with it, I'm getting kinda tired of my beard. At the same time, I already hate shaving, and I'd rather not have to regularly shave the curvier part of my face all the time. But for the sake of Halloween, I can't get any sort of laser treatment, since I might want a beard again.

Speaking of Halloween, it's 3 months from today. Time to get planning!

When I'm in Vegas, I'm going to the Pinball Museum/Hall of Fame. I'm very excited.

Happy Friday, my friends! Enjoy life!

What's Up, Fantastic Weather, 35 Counties, Obama Naked with Unicorns, Cheesecake, Thursday

Happy Thursday! Happy National Cheesecake Day!

Picture of the day!

Cheesecake, back in April.

While the above cheesecake is long gone, I baked another this week (not knowing this week had such a holiday), so if you'd like some, and can come find me at my office, I'll have it here this afternoon.

In case you haven't seen it, and enjoy the absurd, check out Unusual Paintings of Obama Naked with Unicorns. It's exactly what it sounds like.

I figured out yesterday that I've been to 35 of California's 58 counties - I dunno if I've lunched in even half of those, but I think that's pretty good. The vast majority of the counties I have yet to visit are in the far north of the state, with Imperial County being the only one I've missed down here.

This weather is fantastic. Fantastic, I say! We'll likely go to the fair tonight to celebrate. Any food recommendations?

What's up, my friends?

Wednesday Kicking Ass, WSOP 2009, Cheesecake, New Shoes, "Compact", Hump

Happy Hump Day!

Picture of the day!

A beautiful shot at the Huntington Library, with no views on Flickr before today. Not sure how everyone missed this one.

A Hummer and a Lexus SUV are currently competing in the work parking garage to see which can best pervert the term "Compact". Bonus points to each for parking at the top of the ramps, so everyone has to cut the corner close.

New shoes! New Balance 474 Running Shoes - made in the USA and non-leather. Also, they were on sale for $50, and I had a $10 coupon (at Dick's. Heh, Dick's). I'm very happy with my purchase - it's been years since I've had a new pair of athletic shoes. One word of warning, though: Some otherwise identical shoes (color, size, model) were made China, while mine were made in the USA. Check the tongue.

I made a cheesecake last night, but had to make it "half" size, as one of my cream cheese tubs had gone moldy. The culprit? Trader Joe's. More and more of their stuff is moldy, sometimes as soon as I get it home. Consequence of freshness? Lack of oversight? I'm not sure.

ESPN has started playing the 2009 World Series of Poker events. I'm very excited. Also, they're in HD, which entertains me to no end.

I hope Wednesday is kicking ass for you. Have a great one!

How's it Going, Violently Cleaned, Exercise, Eating Out, Suites, Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!

Picture of the day!

Cute, short-haired pic of the Girlfriend, taken at the SD Zoo in 2005.

Vegas is booked - I'm staying at the MGM Signature. My last few trips I've become very spoiled by suites. It's nice having a room that's not 85% bed. It helps also that I've heard nothing but good things about the Signature.

On the topic of spending money, the Girlfriend and I realized that we went out to eat at least 6 times between Saturday and Monday, and that's not very conducive to reducing either spending or waistlines. Time for some home-cooked meals...

Got out and walked my 1.4 miles this morning. I realized on my way to take the kid to daycare that my workout clothes, pass, and towel are in my car that's currently having body work done. I probably COULD have worked out, but it was much less effort to do stuff around the house.

My desk got violently cleaned last night - phone was moved, my blinds were ajar, and a rogue duster feather was on the ground. Just thought I'd share that.

Feelin' fine today - how's it going?

July, Vegas, Extra Berries, Relaxing Sunday, Flavor Trippin', Monday

Happy Monday!

Picture of the day!

Katie and a LEGO tower.

Great, busy weekend. On Saturday we had our Flavor Trippin' party, where we sampled the miracle berry and tasted sour foods to see how sweet they became. The highlights: lemons, limes and grapefruits, Guinness (and Guinness floats with lemon sorbet) and radishes. Apparently the V8 also tasted like spaghetti sauce. Thanks to everyone who could make it out - everyone seemed to have a really awesome time.

On Sunday we went out to breakfast, then The Girlfriend took the kid out, and I got to relax, watch the Angels lose, and "work out" at home (meaning I cleaned a closet and moved boxes to the garage). Then we went to see Harry Potter. Good times!

On the note of Flavor Trippin', I still have some berries. I paid $3 each for them - if you'd like a few, let me know, and I'll sell to you at cost.

I've decided I'm going to Vegas the weekend of August 15th. I'm not sure if I'll actually go up on Saturday (the 15th), but I'll be there Sunday (the 16th) and Monday (the 17th), returning Tuesday (the 18th). Who's in? I love a good group Vegas trip because we don't all have to do the same thing - just getting together for a while is fun.

I can't believe we're most of the way through July already. Have a great day!

Kicking Ass, Vegas, Party, Car Stuff, Weather, Friday

Happy Friday! Your word of the day is "blaghversation".

Picture of the day!

Game night!

It seems cooler out today - we had some morning fog which was nice. I'm sure it'll still be a nice warm weekend, though.

I took my car in to get the accident damage taken care of, and will have a rental car for a few days. Enterprise has amazingly friendly people, but there always seems to be a lot of waiting and driving around with rentals. At least it's all being paid for by the other people's insurance company (repairs and rental).

We're doing our Flavor Trippin' party tomorrow, and I'm a little worried about the dryness of my miracle berries. I tried another last night and it worked, but the effect wasn't as pronounced as the day I got them. Considering rehydration. I've also got a LOT to do for that party. I'm not sure how it snuck up on me.

So, who wants to go to Vegas? I'm seriously considering a short trip the weekend of August 15th (Maybe Sat/Sun, maybe Sun/Mon). Who's in?

That's it for this week. I hope you're kicking ass and taking names!

What's Going On, Harry Fair, Pictures, Curtain Call Theater, China, Busy, Cyrus' Birthday

Hello! Happy birthday to Cyrus today!

Picture of the day!

The old guard at my birthday.

I've only been in the office a few minutes, and I'm already swamped with work. And on my deadline day, too. Such is Thursday.

In case you missed it, I ranted quite a bit in the post before this one about buying from China. Take a read - it's important, and everyone can do something about it.

Another cool story: My friend Elysse wrote about my other friend Melissa and her revamping of the Curtain Call Theater in Tustin. Take a read!

I'm still taking a new picture every day, though with the demise of my camera, they've been of questionable quality. Even so, I just counted and realized I've taken close to 1,500 pictures just this year. Wow.

Still haven't seen Harry Potter. Still haven't gone to the OC Fair. Sigh. Soon.

What's going on, my friends?

Boycott China: Start Today

Warning: I'm going to rant and be preachy. You've been warned (or delighted).

In the news: Chinese worker commits suicide over missing iPhone.

A 25-year old employee of Foxconn Technology Group, one of Apple's lead technology providers, is thought to have committed suicide after a prototype iPhone went missing and his company began investigating (or possibly "roughing him up").

This type of high-level, possible-but-not-likely corporate espionage is hardly the worse problem coming from our dependence on Chinese-made goods - while serious, it's rare. Much more common (and in some industries, ubiquitous) is the poor treatment of huge numbers of Chinese (and other third-world) workers all for the sake of cheap American goods.

While much computer and component manufacturing is done by skilled workers in decent working conditions, much assembly is done by the cheapest labor available. Sometimes these workers are treated well, paid well, and their employers follow labor practices we would recognize as acceptable. Often times, however, none of these things are the case. What's worse, there's almost no way to tell, product in-hand, what kind of factory your MP3 player, toaster, computer monitor or children's toy was produced in. Every purchase you make from China has a strong chance of relying on child labor, forced labor, or generally poor working conditions.

It's time to stop buying from China now.

It's almost impossible to find consumer electronics (or any electronics) that aren't made in China or contain components made in China. There are Korean and Japanese manufacturers, as well as others around the world, but the bulk of the western world's computer products, among other things, are made in China.

In addition to electronics, many assembled goods come from China - clothing, shoes, kitchenwares, toys and household goods being prime offenders. Even some foods - water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and mandarin oranges, off the top of my head - are made exclusively in China. It's very hard to escape it, even if you think you have.

So what do you do if you care about the issue, but still want to get your technology fix? You can shop American, Japanese, or Korean, all countries with higher labor standards. Be aware, though, that while your camera may have been assembled in Korea, most or all of the parts inside may have been made in China. You can also buy second-hand/used or refurbished, which take out the direct purchase, as well as keeping your money local. Saving money is also a nice perk with this method.

The next important thing to do is let companies know that you care about labor issues, and that you're either buying their stuff because it's not made in China, or not buying it because it is. Your letter alone might not make a difference, but a concentrated effort certainly could.

Ultimately, however, you're going to have to give up a few things. You might not have the newest piece of technology, or be able avoid the $5, made-in-the-USA version in lieu of the $0.25 Chinese counterpart. But while it's unlikely that anyone was bullied into committing suicide for your cell phone, it's entirely possible children were exploited and workers were harmed.

But we have to do it, and we have to start now. I've been doing it for 2 years, and while it's difficult, it's certainly not impossible. It's important, can make a real difference, and needs doing - the more of us that join in, the easier it is, and louder our voice. Start today.

All I got, Accident, Carle Photography, Complaining, Hot!

HOT!

Picture of the day!

Jesus and me in the snow just south of Primm, NV. So nice and cool...

I'm complaining about the heat, and you don't have to listen. But I do have to complain. Thank you.

I've added a link to my friend Mariah's new(er) photography site, Carle Photography. Among others, she shot these great pictures of Katie (in my messy room, no less), and she does work with kids, animals, grown-ups, flowers, weddings and good looking people. If you're anywhere in the Bay Area and need some beautiful, professional photography, hit her up.

The other driver and insurance company involved in my accident two weeks ago are taking responsibility, so I get my car fixed - life is good. I'll get that set up tomorrow.

That's all I got today. What's going on?

Keep Cool, Social Networking, Pay As You Go, No Comic-Con, Sleep, Tuesday

Hello! Happy Tuesday!

Picture of the day!

Those guys that do that thing.

Tired - stayed up too late, and the cumulative days of 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night are getting to me. I'll be fine today, but likely a zombie tomorrow if I don't hit the hay at 11pm or so. If I'm still up at 11:30, someone come find me and put me to bed.

I'm not going to Comic-Con this year. I would have liked to, but between crowds, kid, price, and heat, I'm not finding the hard motivation. I'm sure I'll go back someday.

I'm switching from a contract to a AT&T (or someone else?) pay-as-you-go cell plan - I just have to see if it's worth it to wait until my contract is up, or pay the fee. I probably SHOULD have paid the fee a year ago, but what's done is done.

Most friends of mine are on Facebook, and a lot use LinkedIn professionally. Do any of you use any other social networking sites regularly? I check my Myspace page here and there for a couple stragglers that haven't made it to facebook, but otherwise, my other accounts (Orkut, Friendster and a few others) are totally unused.

Keep cool, my friends!

Awesome, Camera, Harry Potter, Chubby, Warm, Moon, Monday

Happy Monday!

Picture of the day!

Kresge-Porter meadow. Cameraphone.

Happy Moon Day as well! I wanna go back to the moon (as a species, not necessarily me personally).

It's warm out! The nights are cool enough, but it's all summery and stuff and hot during the day. I'm glad I have air conditioning, I hate how much I'm using it.

Feelin' chubby, so it's back to the gym with me, even if it's just for a little self-reassurance. Only problem with the gym in the summer is the above "it's warm out" problem - I stay hot for like an hour afterward. Oh well.

The Girlfriend went off to see Harry Potter yesterday while Katie and I went out to dinner for my nephew's birthday. This means I need to go see Harry Potter. Who's up for it?

I miss my camera. Back in May (on my trip up north) it broke, and I haven't been able to get it fixed yet. I've been doing my "picture a day" thing with my cheap old point-n-shoot and my phone's camera, but I'd like to be able to take some nicer shots again.

I hope you're having an awesome Monday!

Happy Weekending, Foot, Laptop CD Drives, Fair, Books, Week, Birthday

It's Friday already! Happy birthday tomorrow to Adams!

Picture of the day!

President Clinton, er, Adam, at Halloween last year.

Usually on the week after a vacation, the days seem to drag, but I've been surprised how quickly this one's progressing.

I'm realizing that while books take up a lot of space, I miss having them in my house (they were moved to the garage a while back). I don't really have room for a bookshelf, though. I should work to resolve this issue.

We want to go to the OC Fair, but as is often the case, it's gonna be super hot this weekend. We need a nice cool, non-humid weeknight next week.

Question: Why, after all these years, are CD/DVD drives on laptops so cheap, loud, and buggy? They never work as well as even the cheapest IDE drive.

Foot don't hurt as bad today, and I seem to recall having some issue like this before that got better. I think I'll be ready to work out again next week. I hope so, it's been too long.

That's all for today. Happy weekending!

Happy Thursday, July, Halfling Rogue, 37" Monitor, Foot, Good Day

Good day!

Picture of the day!

Tinker Toys and tiny feet.

Foot still hurts. No idea what's wrong with it. I put Icy Hot on it this morning, which has providing a weirdness that's making me forget some of the pain.

I plugged my computer into my new TV and used it as a 37" monitor. It needed some tweaking (mostly due to my using Ubuntu, not due to the TV itself), but it looked pretty awesome. It'll be nice to not have to have people group around the computer if I want to show them something.

Proving I have too much time on my hands, I've created a third D&D character for another game I'll be playing - this one a classic Halfling Rogue. Because the games are all online and staggered by turn, I think playing in three concurrently won't be too much of a time constraint, though keeping them all separate in my head will be interesting.

We're more than half-way through July. Amazing.

I was swamped all day yesterday, and today's looking busy too. Happy Thursday!

Rock and Roll, Old Man, OC Atheists, Nerd Cred, Meetings, Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! I was just going to type "Hello, it's Wednesday", but my fingers wanted to type "Happy". I'm not one to say no to my fingers.

Picture of the day!

Katie loves the creepy mannequins at Old Navy. She walks up and plays with them and holds their hands every time we walk by the store.

I've had a morning full of meetings. Surprisingly enough, this isn't common for me. But I'm glad they're done.

I'm losing nerd cred - I won't be seeing Harry Potter until at least Sunday.

OC Atheists meets tonight! Come be an atheist with us.

I'm an old man and I'm falling apart. First my neck on Monday (feeling better today), then I hurt my foot mysteriously - every time I take a step, there's pain, but no bruising or swelling or cuts or anything. Curse you, frail mortal flesh!

That's it for today. Rock and roll!R

Hello, Tweaked, TV, Back to Work, Warm, 2,400!

Happy Tuesday! This is my 2,400th post on Insignifica!

Picture of the day!

The hole in our barzebo from some errent tree-trimming. We don't know what fell through, but it was heavy enough to do that.

It's warm out there. It's July, so that's fine, but I'm just sayin'.

Back to work, and it's kinda nice to be getting back into my routine. While I enjoy my time off and freedom, dumb things like showering, medication taking and regular healthy breakfasts seem to get lost in the shuffle. Also, I like my regular life, so the routine isn't bad at all.

New TV is nice and big, with a clear picture. HD looks good, and while I think I've got it all set up right, I need to enlist the help of my more educated friends to poke around and make sure. Only downside so far was plugging in the old Nintendo 64 - those graphics, which were amazing 10 years ago, are pretty big and blocky considering how close you need to sit.

Playing "I'll bounce you on the bed and lift you up to the ceiling" with my daughter yesterday, I royally tweaked my neck. I'm getting old.

Hope you're having a great day. Stop by and say hello!

What's New, House Cleaning, TV, Pechanga, Accident, Back From Vacation, Hello!

Hello world!

Picture of the day!

A funny "stick figures in peril" picture I took last week.

I'm back from vacation, and back at work. I was online the whole time, actually, cause I didn't go anywhere internetless. But I'm back posting, at least. Yeah. Hello.

So - excitement on vacation! On my way to get my car its 60,000 mile service, I got sideswiped exiting the freeway (100% her fault), so I've been dealing with that. No injury to me, but my car's a little scared. Luckily none of the damage affects anything, even the door opens normally. I'm in the long and interesting process of getting (her) insurance to pay for everything.

Other excitement - I went to Penchanga on Friday to play a little poker and wander around the casino. Poker was fun but short (my all-in JJ ran into KK), but the Three Card Poker and Craps tables knew I was coming and cowered in fear - I came out about $300 ahead in my 2 hours there. I actually pulled that much down from Craps alone in 20 minutes - I could not lose.

So what'd I spend my new-found, hole-burning money on? A TV. I wasn't planning on buying one, but Micro Center had a refurbished Olevia brand 37" LCD HDTV for $299. Actually the one I was looking at was $399 (still in the range I'd be willing to pay for), but a display model (with a "temporarily out of stock" ticket) next to it was $100 less, with seemingly identical features. I asked the guy working what the difference was, and he said "pretty much nothing - the cheaper one's just an older model". I asked about getting the floor model, and he didn't help much - so I said "Go find me someone who can help", and he returned 5 minutes later saying they had one in the back that had be reserved but never picked up, and it (the $299 model, but new, not floor) was mine. It's really nice. Usually refurbished is good enough for me to avoid my "don't buy anything made in China" issue, but Olevia TVs are actually assembled IN CALIFORNIA. Win!

With new TVs comes cleaning and moving, so it was nice to do some of that that needed doing as well. We also moved the heavy-as-hell old TV upstairs to its new home in our bedroom, where I cleaned the dusty-as-fuck entertainment center too. A few hacks later, and it's beautiful.

I'm sure there were more little things happening, but those are the highlights. What's new with you?

Gone fishin'!

Gone Fishin'!

Hi there folks, I'm on vacation, and likely won't be posting this week. If you're interested in having something to do, follow me on twitter, where I am posting this week. Have a great one, and I'll see you next Monday!

Happy 4th, Lasagna, Weekday Vacations, Warm, Vacation Eve, Thursday

Happy Thursday!

Picture of the day!

An amusing picture of my then 1-year-old daughter playing with a cardboard tube. Click through, cause it's tiny here on this page.

Today's my Friday, as I'm off tomorrow for the July 4th holiday (observed). Tomorrow also starts 10 days off for me, which is pretty awesome.

It's very warm in the office this morning. This is compounded by the fact that it's been less than an hour since a pretty good workout, and I take a while to cool down. Ah, summer.

You know what'd be cool? Everyone in my smaller circle of friends taking a weekday off so we can take a mini road trip. But I always think stuff like that is cool.

Having lasagna tonight, which we haven't done in a while. For whatever reason, organic ricotta cheese is way, way more expensive than organics usually are. But oddly enough, Mother's Market has an organic brand cheaper than anyone else (Mother's is usually pretty pricey). Cheesy goodness ahead!

I'm not sure where I'll be in terms of updating the site next week - you might see a couple posts, you might not. Either way, have a safe and sane 4th, and a rockin' good time!

Bye!, July, Gym, Statuses, Window Washers, W00t.

W00t!

Picture of the day!

Jennifer and Jane, Halloween 2003.

I know the window washers will be on my side of the building today, but I'm still going to be freaked the fuck up when a face appears outside my third story window. Just letting you know.

I'm looking into third party applications that will allow me to update my twitter and facebook statuses, preferably via a web interface, and with the option, per update, of choosing where each one goes. Oh, and the ability to text the updates would be nice too. Know of anything like that?

Got back to the gym for the first time in 5 days today. Feelin' fine.

It's July. That's weird. We're through 6 months of the year already (today is the 182nd day of the year). I got stuff to do!

AHHHH! The window washers are here! Bye!