Land of the Raven

beep

2009-04-14T13:51:00.002-05:00

still alive...

Anime Detour 2009 Demo

2009-04-04T22:32:00.002-05:00

the dojo (twin cities budokan) did a demonstration today, as we do every year, and it was fun. new hotel is hosting the Anime Detour convention and it's interesting how everying feels the same, yet all mixed up.

i'll be cutting during tomorrows demonstration and i'm hoping i do well cutting two tatami mats. i'm feeling good about it, but have typically done a single mat. so this is like an upgrade that will be more awesome. tomorrow will be the test. with me accident free luck. :)

went to the holy land to get some food afterwards (indian food) and it was most excellent. good food for a good price. Mmmmmm.

(picture does not include me as i'm not cutting until tomorrow.)

1.5 years = ? level

2009-04-02T09:02:00.003-05:00

it's surprising how quickly time passes. it came up last night how long i've been practicing kenjutsu and thanks to blog posts i figured out it's been a year and a half. i guess i feel i still have so much to learn that i shouldn't be six months away from training for two years.

just a tuesday...

2009-03-10T13:23:00.002-05:00

winter
lately the weather has been nice enough to melt the snow then it will get cold again and snow. now i'll have to shovel tonight as it's snowing, but there isn't a layer of ice under all the snow. i shall declare that a win.

reading
it's not going as good as i'd expected, but i am back to reading again. i'll do better once i finish the castlevania game for my ds. oh, how i love castlevania!

need vs. want
there's a difference? (yes!) maybe the want bubble has just grown too large and needs to be shrunk down. how many houses and cars do we have that are just too much house and car for what we need. a lot i'm expecting.

stupid cars...

conclusion
sometimes (mostly) a blog post isn't worth the .... (end transmission)

2009-02-28T20:50:00.002-06:00

things can be reduced and further reduced until you get to the basic idea. i've found a basic idea in getting some things accomplished. so i'll be doing some reading for a while. i'm curious to see how much i am able to read in a month.

reading.... attack!

ereader blurb

2009-02-26T10:33:00.002-06:00

Something I posted to http://dvice.com/archives/2009/02/product_compari.php

I find the sony prs-505 useful for carrying around large books. It's just impractical to carry around a couple of computer books that are very thick. With an ereader I'm able to carry four books with me and it doesn't kill my back or crush my laptop (happened with my old ibook).

The books are cheaper in ebook format from amazon and sony. If I pay more for a paper copy of a book and loan it out to two friends who also loan me books it's much cheaper and I get to read more books. Much like CD's and letting people borrow them publishers are trying to get into a everyone pays to enjoy model. More money for them.

Adobe pdf files are great for books. I can read them on any computer and don't have to worry about if I'll be able to still see this file in a couple years. What does someone do to get access to all these books you are purchasing if your ereader dies? Get another one for hundreds of dollars? DRM means no ability to just view and read them on my computer if I need to wait till I can afford to replace my reader.

so much computing time

2009-02-20T10:43:00.001-06:00

i find it strange sometimes how much our computers are used in everything we do. especially when it wasn't that long ago when computers were hardly anywhere.

friday the 13th

2009-02-13T19:45:00.003-06:00

i am so going to see friday the 13th the movie. i'm not hoping for much, but going to see it anyway.

it is saturday

2009-01-17T13:04:00.002-06:00

vegas was a lot of fun and pen and teller and blue man group were amazing to see. last night pen and teller were on some television show guessing the lyrics in songs to win money for a charity.

there is a bunch of cleaning i am working on getting done today. i'll stop avoiding the cleaning and get back to it.

Las Vegas

2009-01-10T22:39:00.002-06:00

arrived in las vegas last night around 6pm local time. there was an old couple behind us that was a riot to listen to. she just kept talking about random topics and seemed to know everything. well, everything except technology. i also watched as she attempted to turn on the reading light with a pen a couple times before being successful. there was some complaints during the attempts.

haven't left the hotel yet as there are a ton of shops connected to the hotel. i managed to find a first edition copy of philip k dick's the man in the high castle. it was a bit out of my budget at $2000. there were quite a few other books there some very old and prices would go up to $85,000+ for some books.

tomorrow it'll be time to venture out into the wild and hopefully make it to ces and a show.

Truck is in the shop

2008-12-24T11:50:00.004-06:00

my truck is in the shop. it has lost the ability to keep antifreeze. it's like my truck has some sort of nasty flu. the leak has been located and it's right at the lower manifold gasket. so friday someone gets to take bunch of it apart and put a new one in.

the antifreeze issue started on my way home from a late night at the office. yesterday morning was spent waiting for a locksmith to let me back into my running truck. during the wait i realized my muffler was not attached like it should be. there was also a lot of rust. like cancer of my exhaust system.

so i had that replaced. it's pretty darn quiet now.

i'll be hanging out at the house for a few days. time to get some stuff done. maybe...

the axe is a falling

2008-12-18T00:05:00.002-06:00

I am currently in a strange limbo with my job. It's like that moment when someone takes a breath and holds it before saying what they need to. It's pretty much known what they are going to say. It's all in the details that I wait. The details that will shape the weeks and months to come.

I hope I'll still have a job, but I'm already planning my next move. When they get rid of employee's it's not hard to know where us contractors go.

someone has notebook?

2008-11-22T00:34:00.002-06:00

And a friend gets an upgraded notebook computer today. I expect a report tomorrow about it's amazing awesomeness.

I should have something more exciting to write about, but I'm tired and ready to get some sleep tonight. So ... Good night.

yep i'm still alive

2008-11-10T09:03:00.003-06:00

and the updates slow down and i get a bit more busy with things lately. it's gotten cold outside, lots of cool games are being released (that i'm not getting or have time for) and things are going pretty good.

back to the busy of life...

money runs away

2008-10-20T14:55:00.004-05:00

there is something about the get and spend cycle that is difficult to break fully. if i stop paying attention for long enough i end up saying to myself "where the heck did me money go?"

apple releasing a shiny new notebook that i find to be a very sexy machine isn't helping. the cost does help since i'm not mentally ready to spend $2500+ on a notebook when that same amount of money could do so much more. besides my currently computer situation isn't all that bad.

twitter leads to lack of blog posts

2008-10-17T12:08:00.002-05:00

i am going to blam twitter on my lack of posts lately.

the new macbook is tempting me, but it's a lot of money for what you get. there are a fair number of windows laptops (that could run linux as well) that would cost less. so i'll put that spiffy macbook on the back burner and get some stuff donw around the house instead.

minnesota radio

2008-09-26T10:06:00.002-05:00

minnesota public radio had the doctor who wrote the anticancer on this morning[1]. pretty interesting stuff to listen to as he spoke on food, stress and extercise and it's ability to help fight off cancer.

he also mentioned cell phone usage and how most studies are for 10 years of usage and even with smoking you won't see lung cancer that soon. what will we do when everyone starts getting the effects of so much cell phone usage? basically using a bluetooth headset or a wired headset and keeping the phone away from your body during a call is the way to go.

cell phone make your ear warm if you hold it there long enough. microwaves make stuff warm. why are we so afraid of one, but not the other. CONSPIRACY! :)

on another note. i'm totally losing my battle to have inbox zero. [1, google video on inbox zero]

missing time

2008-09-20T00:34:00.004-05:00

it is late and i am tired. spent a few hours getting my mac mini (older one with a ppc processor) up and running with a fresh copy of os x on a 250 gig hard drive. it currently shares the printer and its storage to the rest of the network. good place to stash my music and pictures.

new job has been keeping me extremely busy. quite a bit has been going on and some of my projects require me to learn some new skills. some require a more in depth understanding of some topics i have a general knowledge of.

i'm amazed at how much stuff gets accumulated in a year of being in a house. it always sounds so good to just clear out all this stuff i'm not using all the time, but it's not an easy thing to do. i like a lot of my stuff. :)

it is time for some sleep. need to do a charity walk in the morning.

distract... ohh shiny

2008-09-04T22:28:00.002-05:00

my mind is a wee bit distracted of late. nothing in peticular, just in a distracted hard to focus kinda state.

things i have been doing:
listening to the new slipknot
work
buying stuff online (spore, terry brooks novel)
trying to finish songs on guitar hero 3 (hard)

things i haven't been doing:
uploading pax pictures to flickr
cleaning my pit of a basement
and other stuff i'm sure is really important

pax is soon

2008-08-26T11:47:00.001-05:00

pax is comming up in a couple days. i'll be flying out there on thursday and am excited to be visiting seattle again. i had such a good visit last year.

cleaning in the past

2008-08-17T13:28:00.003-05:00

currently working on cleaning the kitchen. listening to pandora (tool mix, which is apparently my high school cd collection).

all paperwork seems to stop about five feet into its travel into the house and deposits in the kitchen. not the best place for it.

metallica - for whom the bells tolls is playing now and i'm going to get back to my cleaning.

anitvirus eats its own.

2008-08-16T22:54:00.003-05:00

i had to add an exception to my antivirus software so it wouldn't remove a program i'm running. it really is an odd thing to do.

i'm brushing up on some skills for troubleshooting bad network devices.

ds games

2008-08-15T14:55:00.004-05:00

i've picked up a few ds games lately. final fantasy iii and iv, etrian odyssey ii and the world ends with you. i'm happy with all the games and need to find lots more time to play them all.

there will be lots of ds playing at pax later this month.

2008 magic the gathering nationals weekend

2008-08-07T21:46:00.002-05:00

last week i attended the magic the gathering nationals tournament in chicago, il. my brother qualified in a regionals tournament and i went to see how he did and play in the many public events that were open to all players.

it was so much fun. i played so many matches against players better than i was and with better decks and learned so much from each game. a really nice player after me losing helped me out in making my deck better and gave me two free cards. one of them was "doomgape" which is a rare card and was much appreciated addition to my deck and collection.

my brother didn't win nationals and after losing a few matches early on ended up dropping out the second day. a lot of people dropped out by the second day. pretty rough in the nationals area.

sporadic tendancies

2008-07-27T23:42:00.002-05:00

wow. it's been a while since i've posted.

job is switching so it's keeping my mind occupied with all the little details leading up to the switch next week.

once everything settles down i may return to a more normally sporadic posting schedule.

4e version of earthdawn

2008-07-09T15:04:00.003-05:00

i don't know what to think of the announcement to bring the earthdawn world to 4th edition dungeons and dragons.

terry brooks

2008-07-09T12:46:00.003-05:00

what have i been up to?

reading terry brooks books. just finished genesis of shannara book 1 and 2 and book 3 is available august 26th, 2008. i now have running with the demon in the backpack (it's book 1/3 that takes place right before the genesis of shannara) and i'm excited to read it. i started reading it around the time it was initially realeased and got distracted.

it's unfortunate that i'll be in seattle the day after terry brooks is doing a book signing.

recycling is bullshit

2008-07-03T09:29:00.001-05:00

the pen and teller show covers recycling and why it costs money instead of saving it. i always wondered why we don't get paid for recycling like we do if we bring in aluminum cans.

1st edition dnd supplies

2008-06-30T10:58:00.001-05:00

went to home depot and got 100' of rope to tie up the hammock. i kept thinking of buying a 10' pole, some chalk, pitons and a waterskin.

lawn

2008-06-23T08:58:00.002-05:00

weekend is over and that is quite sad. i'm been especially wore out the last few days. i'll attribute it to fighting off a cold. i win, but i'm wore out.

spent a lot longer than planned mowing and trimming the yard on saturday. it looks nice, but it'll grow and need more attention. why do lawns have to be like that?

nintendo

2008-06-19T11:22:00.001-05:00

i could spend a fair amount of time each day with the wii fitness, brain age and my word coach. what's with all this needing to play games stuff.

turf cells for driveway

2008-06-19T10:00:00.005-05:00

very interesting way to make a driveway. probably not as awesome during the winter when you're trying to shovel, but would give your neighbors something to comment on.

it would be so cool to look down the street and see a bunch of lawns that didn't have so much concrete used for vehicles.

i remember reading about it in a book. i think it was in 'divorce your car', but i could be wrong and i no longer have the book. it's one of those that never found it way home after being borrowed.

Turf Cells, a form of porous paving that houses and reinforces turf grass so that you can drive on it, allowed the home-owners to keep the functionality of their driveway yet visually connect it with the garden. And because the concrete portion of the driveway is angled at the corner, it appears to be an extension of the patio's grid of squares.

links [1(pdf),2,(site)3,4,]

credit cards are lonely

2008-06-18T11:09:00.002-05:00

my poor credit cards look so lonely online without any balance to keep them company. i'd feel sorry for them, but i don't. they deserve to sit there empty and worthless.

when it slows down

2008-06-17T01:24:00.001-05:00

been doing so much more than i usually do lately. it's keeping me busy, but i'm also looking forward to life just slowing down so i can just chill a while longer.

week

2008-06-14T09:04:00.002-05:00

what i've been doing this week.

dinner outing with friends to celebrate a birthday
playing wii
reading spiderwick chronicles
shredding a lot of old junk mail
hanging out

been an excellent week. heading to the mall of america today for a little while.

regionals

2008-06-14T09:03:00.001-05:00

i was a little wrong in the previous post. he got 3rd. you can even see the deck he used at wizards site.

mtg

2008-06-10T09:30:00.002-05:00

my brother got 4th at regionals (for magic the gathering) and got an invite to nationals in chicago in august. i no longer feel so bad about all the games i lost to him.

contemplating

2008-06-04T13:14:00.002-05:00

thought i should write as i've been fairly quiet lately.

unfortunately nothing is bubbling to the surface.

this post has been brought to you by the number 7 and the letter e.

$60 in gas

2008-05-30T12:05:00.006-05:00

during my lunch break i got some chipotle and filled up my truck. 15 gallons = $60 in gas @ $3.97/gallon.

two veggie tacos from chipotle $3.73 (and more enjoyable).

tea

2008-05-21T19:57:00.003-05:00

i have been making tea lately and here is my teapot for those that have asked about it. i just place it full of water on the stove to heat the water and it's ready for tea leaves.

it keeps hot for a while and has a nice little plate that it can sit on to protect tables and whatnot.

i also got a little cup for it and some tea to try.

more magic tournament action

2008-05-20T10:05:00.004-05:00

it's interesting playing a cardgame when behind you is a group of twelve people playing dungeons and dragons. i'm not sure exactly what the whole story is behind their game, but it involved a lot of spider webs, three feet of water at one point, a dragon skeleton, and some evil (possibly cursed) magical sword.

laughter would erupt from the group as someone said something funny. i even had to have my opponent repeat their move a few times. made me wonder if i was in the wrong gaming group.

i had a lot of fun at the tournament. it took quite a while to play all three matches (best two of three). i lost my first match (0-2), won my second (2-0) and lost the third (0-2). i made some darn terrible mistakes on the third match and wonder if i would have won at least one. i guess that is where i learn to look before i leap. i'll have to remember that in life as well.

i was able to gain at ten to twelve life once each game as i was lucky enough to draw my only dawnglow infusion each game. i also drafted a foil worldpurge. mmmm... foil.

magic tournament

2008-05-14T08:43:00.003-05:00

attended my first ever magic the gathering tournament last night. games went like this: tie, loss, win.

it was a draft tournament which means a booster pack (15 cards) would be opened, a card would be chosen and it was passed to the left. this continued until all cards were gone and we all had 15 cards. that was continued for the other two boosters and we added land from a big pile to create a deck of at least 40 cards. i barely had time to pick which poor little cards would not get to play that day before we were paired up and ready to play best 2/3 against our opponent.

my brother won all three of his matches with some combination that was almost a complete accident it ended up in his deck. i have played against that deck a few times and haven't been able to beat it. it's pretty darn good (annoying as hell to play against) maybe if i had more cards... (i can beat it with an older deck, but it's not playable in tournaments, so the box of cards i have does not really count... mostly)

waste awareness at the grocery store

2008-05-09T15:34:00.006-05:00

can i see the hands of those that buy stuff at the grocery store with good intentions and end up throwing it out partially or fully unused. i am so horrible when it comes to this. apparently it's been noticed and an divine caroline has an article about 1/3 of what we buy going to waste. there is even some neato fliers that were handed out.

i wonder about all the wasted food from it going bad before someone buys it. at least i can save some money if i'm more aware of not buying more than i need. it has to be balanced with the extra trips required if i run out of ingredients since i'm horrible with meal planning.

nin tickets purchased

2008-05-07T17:03:00.002-05:00

i got my tickets for the august 2nd, 2008 minneapolis nine inch nails concert. woot!

nin - the slip

2008-05-05T08:46:00.003-05:00

i sure as shit hope music artists are paying attention to nine inch nails. fans of music love to take part in what they so much enjoy. trent is allowing fans to do this.

the slip is the newest nin album and is available for free online. available in mp3, flac, wav and apple's lossless format and no drm. it's even released using the creative commons - share alike license. which will allow us to use the music in creative ways and share is all over the place.

it is so nice to listen to music that doesn't feel like i've got some authoritative figure watching my every move just waiting for any excuse to pounce and bleed more money from me. i can listen, create, mix, share and just enjoy the music is so many ways.

i am really hoping this is the beginning of a shift towards a more free music industry. one where we can go back to sharing music with friends that will become the next big fan. creating and stretching the music far beyond what a few are able to do.

jonathan coulton concert

2008-05-02T12:06:00.002-05:00

saw jonathan coulton last night and it was a great show. my back is killing me today since varsity theater would yell at anyone who would sit down on the main floor. even when it was between shows. so i spent five hours standing, which isn't recommended for a cube monkey such as myself.

i posted a video that is the song first of may. it is preceded by a rickroll. it was a brilliant execution since everyone was waiting for him to sing first of may (since it was may first) and didn't think he'd trick us.

it was a very excellent night and morning arrived way too soon.

jonathan coulton has a post about the minneapolis show.

iron man

2008-04-29T22:34:00.003-05:00

saw iron man tonight and it's a good movie. i'll be seeing it again on opening night friday with some friends.

first netflix dvd that didn't survive the trip arrived today. poor cowboy bebop disc 3.

foxboro hot tubs

2008-04-26T11:10:00.002-05:00

greenday is now foxboro hot tubs. rock on. foxborohottubs.com

job hunting

2008-04-21T22:55:00.002-05:00

job hunting is such a pain. current contract is done on june 1st so i need to find a replacement. i've done other stuff since i've been back home, but this is currently on the mind.

back to reality

2008-04-16T11:32:00.003-05:00

quick update...

i'm back at work today (lunch break now)
massive updated to my linkedin profile
started work on fixing my poor little website
updated my anime watched on anime news network
drinking some english breakfast black tea

the vacation is over .. i'm back home .. it's nice and sad to be back home again ..

day in denver

2008-04-13T23:55:00.000-05:00

ate some amazing food at watercourse foods - denver's premier vegetarian restaurant. let me just say this place rocks. it's the second time i've been there and the whole menu is vegetarian and everything can be made vegan. their deserts are also vegan. so very tasty. i always leave very stuffed and with food leftover to take with me.

we followed it up with a visit to a local anime dvd store. it was pretty small and didn't have anything i was looking for. if i lived here i'd find myself stopping there at times.

so with the desire to hang out downtown denver and it being four o'clock with everything closing at five or six o'clock we decided to goto a book store. it ended up being the best bookstore i've been to. very cool two story bookstore in an old historic feeling building with worn wood floors. the tattered cover bookstore is neat. we looked at books, magazines, foreign newspapers and magazines, blank journals and other items. i even found a map of the store with sections listed clearly.

they closed at six and we spend two hours playing tetris in the local starbucks while having our caffeine fix.

just saw angie stevens at the walnut room in denver, co.

garden of the gods

2008-04-12T22:22:00.003-05:00

checked out garden of the gods which is a collection of natural rock formations.

took some pictures with the holga camera which is a medium format camera. it has a plastic lens so it's lomography.

the rental car is a dodge avenger. it's a lot nicer than the normal mode of transportation and is quite nice. so when i visit people i feel compelled to remind them i normally don't drive around in a newer car like this. so not me.

time to sleep as it's been a long day. woke up at 4am for the flight to denver and it's now 10:24.

so ... sleepy ...

anime detour 2008

2008-04-09T09:38:00.003-05:00

Anime Detour 2008 was a lot of fun. didn't get to attend all the panels that I wanted to, but that's alright. i am also noticing my lack of pictures after the convention. i ended up spending a lot of time at our booth and setting up for the twin cities budokan demo.

my second time ever cutting through a tatami mat was a success. i was nervous/shaky after i had moved backstage, but not while in front of the crowd of onlookers. my sword is turning out to be a nice little cutter.

i'm back to work for a few days before taking a few more days off for a quick trip to colorado.

i have a cold

2008-03-31T14:29:00.002-05:00

currently fighting off a sinus infection/cold thing. i am on a few over the counter drugs to help. they seem have made me slightly spacy while getting ever increasingly tired as the day wears on. i don't find the combination to be any sorts of fun.

vacation start tomorrow and i'm off of work till next tuesday. woot!

april busy bring may quicker

2008-03-27T09:04:00.003-05:00

those three things i've got on my mind. let me explain...

april first there is a microsoft server 2008 event. it's basically a plea of how awesome server 2008 will be. we'll see. it reminds me that i need to finish my 2003 server certification so i can then upgrade them to 2008. it's like a hamster wheel with a crappy treat at the end.

anime detour is going to be awesome as ever. i have a lot of fun being immersed in anime for a whole weekend. this year i'll be partaking in the twin cities budokan demonstration on saturday and sunday. my good friend steve from wyoming is visiting during this time as he helps with the convention. so it'll be a whole lot of awesome that weekend.

i work a few days then head to colorado for a visit. it's been two years since my last visit so it's time to head back again. it's a really nice area and will be a fun filled three days (or however long it is).

then it's back to work for a week and a half and the end of my current contract. which leads to a job change of sorts. same people pay my wage, different job description/location.

so that is how i'm going to make april go by very quickly.

journal writing

2008-03-26T09:14:00.002-05:00

did a lot of scribbling in my journal yesterday. filled up six or so pages. at times the feel of a pen or pencil (depending on mood is which is best) on paper is the best. i doodle and write whatever enters my mind.

when the office roams

2008-03-25T10:46:00.003-05:00

i've read articles on those that have no office. they work from any internet connection in a coffee shop, at home and while on travel. so tempting...

[the rise of the new nomadics]

cand-aye

2008-03-24T15:05:00.005-05:00

i went out for lunch today. mainly to get away from work for a bit, get some gas so i wouldn't have to later and get a snack. i picked up a package of airheads xtremes and noticed that there were four empty packages in my truck. it has taken me a few months to accumulate this many, but i really need to give them a break.

OMG I've been here before...

2008-03-19T13:55:00.002-05:00

the fucking goo goo dolls. i swear that recently i've seen someone i know wearing a shirt with them advertised. there is also a good chance it's just from a dream. i bet this is what going crazy feels like. :)

trent and the masses

2008-03-14T15:26:00.002-05:00

amazing what will become of creative commons music from nine inch nails and listening masses. i'm partly tempted to tacked making some little video. probably won't, but i'll keep thinking of it.

multiple laptops and large monitors

2008-03-12T10:37:00.002-05:00

i read an article that brings up the idea of two laptops and also the increased productivity of large displays. oh, how i love the high resolutions. the ability to have multiple items open across a screen really is the best.

* the new two-laptop minimum
* bigger computer monitors = more productivity
* benefits of very large displays

i've been stuck in 1024x768 resolution land and after all these years it's killing me. these articles seem to give hope that my eventual upgrade will be full of productive days and i'll bask in the wonderful glow of high resolution love.

the article didn't touch much on having multiple laptops running at the same time which is what i do on occasion. perhaps that's what those of us with low resolutions do. run multiple machines to separate the spaces.

earthdawn

2008-03-11T00:39:00.008-05:00

lately i've been reading a few books on the samurai and some role playing titles (earthdawn, changeling: the lost, iron kingdoms and savage worlds). i've been playing a bit of knights of legend again, but haven't been doing much in the way of video games otherwise.

i'm also slipping back into my night owl habits and find myself longing for an income source that would be more sleep-in-late friendly.

so back to earthdawn since it's the most on my mind i'm in one of those moods to write something/anything to appease my creative edge.

i find earthdawn a game of surprising depth and greatness. i discovered it a few months before it was released back 1993 and waited anxiously for the next installment of the three piece flier that contained the first adventure. i saved up for the book release and read it all in the matter of a few days. it took a little while since i would try out character creation, combat and read some sections again. it was so much more than other settings/game systems at the time and i still feel it has so much to offer in the terms of storytelling.

it didn't take long to get my friends interested and we were off and playing. to this day it still stands as the longest running campaign i've run.

we really enjoyed the step system which is very solid (explained in great detail in "the bare bone" on red bricks website) and the wonderful setting. i was even able to meet some of the creators at gen con in 1995 and played a few games.

currently i have ebook copies of many of the red brick editions and am very happy with how they combined years of material into a couple books. so much material has been crammed into the two main books (players and gamemaster books) it is possible to run for years. of course the other books give additional information and future books will finally give some much needed attention to some cities and areas of barsaive neglected for so long.

in the words of lou prosperi: "earthdawn forever, baby!" ...

maps

2008-03-11T00:27:00.002-05:00

i think it's the simplicity of the song maps, (by yeah, yeah, yeahs) that i like so much. i learned of the song from rock band and it, as so many guitar hero / rock band songs, manages to burrow into your soul and get stuck.

i've yet to determine if this is a bad thing...

katana i haz it

2008-03-10T21:48:00.004-05:00

this last saturday i received my blade. i earned it and when i've gotten very comfortable with it i know i'll get getting a second blade.

it's amazing to me after just two days of drawing how much familiarity i have gained. i asked another practitioner how long their first blade lasted and it was a year to a year and a half before he got another. it'll be interesting to see how well mine lasts through my training since the saya (scabbard) tends to get damaged by bad draws as i learn the proper way through practice.

the bo-hi makes a slight whistle when swung at high velocity. it will not do this swung at a bad angle and cannot be heard over a kiai.

i have a sword maintenance kit on order that contains oil and a few other things to keep my blade in good (non-rusty) shape.

and for you that doubt my skillz i have not cut myself.

samurai sword (soon)

2008-03-02T10:31:00.003-06:00

i haven't gotten my blade yet, but it's very close. last night's class was full of practicing drawing using a live blade. nothing ensures concentration and focus on what you're doing like having a sharped piece of steel in your hands. add to that it being the sensei's blade and much care is placed in make sure the saya, blade, myself, others or even the floor remain uninjured.

it was a very good night for kenjutsu.

happy leap year

2008-02-29T08:49:00.002-06:00

Today is St. Tib's Day in the YOLD 3174 according to the Discordian calendar. i'd like to thank ddate and steve for the info. wikipedia has neat information about leap year.

chirp, chirp

2008-02-25T10:25:00.001-06:00

huh? oh yeah...

i'm still here, just a bit distracted lately.

step 2: payoff all debt (complete)

2008-02-13T11:11:00.003-06:00

i have finally reached my goal of paying off all my debt. this current and successful attempt started may 23, 2006. it will take a while before i fully realize what i've done.

thanks go out to those that have supported me in my endeavor. looking back i could have done a lot better, but i did make it.

and thus begins the next step in the chapter...

ikea and the infinate sadness

2008-02-11T08:15:00.000-06:00

ikea would seem to be cheaper. feels kinda cheap. looks cool. takes a long ass time to put multiple pieces together if your a bit of a perfectionist.

which leads to my experience of living in a house. people don't include the little fact that it will eat all of your spare time. like some sharp toothed drooling time eater i continue to lose time to making it a better place to live.

a small list of things that have taken place in the basement of lost time. while all this has been going on there has been other projects in the upstairs area that have needed attention.

painting
installation of little square sticky carpet tiles
cleaning cobwebs from everywhere
running cat5 for internet
dealing with the backed up sewer drain (requiring uninstalling some carpet for a while)
putting together a table that had lost bolts (three trips to the hardware store before i got the correct number and size of bolts needed)
pilot light on the heater keeps quitting (seems to be the thermo coupler needs replaced every two weeks, something is afoot)
ceiling lights had to be replaced already (burned out)
lots of moving stuff around to get the other stuff done and have at least some of it usable while something is being fixed/upgraded/repaired
toilet does not work

i still need to figure out the trim since the old plastic black stuff had been ripped out before painting. (apparently bugs like to hide behind trim)

soon i keep thinking. soon it will be completed, it will be heated and warm and i can get back to real projects like setting up my server.

monster cables ripoff

2008-02-08T10:48:00.001-06:00

my favorite line from the article:

"Here's the thing: digital cables, by definition, have no signal loss. A cable is either digital or it's not. As long as its built to HDMI standards, the only difference between a "fancy" digital cable and a no-name one is the price."

to read more on what the markup is check out the consumerist.

eliminate choices

2008-02-08T09:20:00.001-06:00

i found an article [fourhourworkweek.com] on reason why to minimize choices to be interesting.

it reminds me of something else i read about making all decisions within the span of seven breaths.

how to fill your cereal bowl

2008-02-01T12:36:00.000-06:00

had a most excellent (funny) argument between co-workers today about cereal then milk vs. milk then cereal. what do you add first? why?

current count in the office is 4 say cereal first, 1 says milk first.

great points were "when you add milk to cereal the cereal goes up. then you don't know how much milk to add."

ibook and the leopard

2008-02-01T09:09:00.000-06:00

i have updated my little ibook to leopard. it took a few hours with updates and all to get installed. besides a few strange pauses when dealing with disk utility it's been working pretty good.

specs of my ibook: 12" screen, 1.2ghz powerpc g4, 1.25 gb ddr sdram, 160gb hard drive and a dual layer dvd burner. runs pretty well on these specs.

i've discovered opensourcemac.org and am downloading all my needed open sourced applications.

education in the us

2008-01-30T11:49:00.000-06:00

documentary video about education in the united states. it looks like idiocracy is well under way.

the world we suffer

2008-01-28T10:30:00.000-06:00

on the radio the other day i heard a story about a guy who had a tragedy happen to him. this moved him to fight for a law that will help many other people avoid the same fate.

so if something bad wouldn't have affected him, all the other people would still suffer. he wouldn't have done that great act without first suffering the fate.

and still we waste away so many resources in an overseas war.

damn i need to replace my broken ass cd player, so i'm not stuck listening to the news.

rockband and cert exam

2008-01-26T16:41:00.000-06:00

been a little busy lately. which will account for the lack of updates. i passed a certification test on thursday that applies to my microsoft certified systems engineer (mcse). it's good for resumes and filling in those knowledge gaps for crap i don't know yet.

played the rock band thursday night which is fun. i did singing and drums once and stayed with guitar the rest of the night. it was best for everyone involved.

macbook pro (not for me)

2008-01-21T23:57:00.000-06:00

i got the distinct pleasure of ordering a 17" macbook pro with the upgrades for someone else using the company credit card. to make things even better it's more a "bonus" than a company laptop.

i'm typing this on my still mostly excellent ibook.

me 0, big bad world 1

broken bokken

2008-01-13T23:10:00.000-06:00

i had my first bokken break during class tonight. it is possibly from my brutish strength. *Grrrrrr* interestingly enough i had just sanded and oiled this bokken before class. i now have two new bokken and will have them oiled before next weekend.

the black on the bokken is from striking tires. it was a strike to a tire that broke this bokken. (almost all bokken i've seen break this way. only once during sparring.)

new years resolution

2008-01-07T16:13:00.000-06:00

(the picture says "focus on your goals.... just don't get caught focusing")

now is the time (actually like 6 days ago, but who's counting) to plan the new and better self. everyone is doing it. it is the in thing to do.

i think i will concentrate on slaying demons of the past. i've got a small list of things that have nagged me from my subconscious and to-do lists for far too long.

if we are lucky i might even get them posted here as i work on them. i'll post two of them as proof there is something really going on.

1. destroy debt
2. clear my clutter

sad money day

2008-01-07T15:51:00.001-06:00

it is a sad day today. i removed the counter from my debt payoff. i'm much closer than i was when i started, but will not be able to reach the goal by the end of the month. i will leave the percentage left up so you can watch it's awesomeness as it slowly dwindles.

pitfalls were:
* spending too much (always is the problem)
* not tracking my spending as much as i should have.
* falling for sales

good things:
* i have not increased my debt, it has only gone down

i will most likely update the counter with a new date once i figure it out.

the basement chronicles

2008-01-07T13:13:00.000-06:00

chapter 1: the old one returns

it had tentacles and smelled of something foul, most likely what the great deathly beyond reeked of is the smell assaulting me. i had left my +1 bokken of tentacle beast slaying at the dojo.

"blasted" i said as i stumbled up the stairs to grab my -2 bokken of looks pretty. i grabbed my weapon all black and shiny with runes etched on the blade and raced back downstairs to defeat the beast.

it was hiding near the washer and i had it corned. the battle lasted only 20 minutes, but it lay slain in the basement. reminded me of something you could make sushi from so i did.

i'm not feeling particularly well after the tentacle monster sushi roll. i hope it was not toxic or .... Ahhhhhh

pompeii

2008-01-07T10:16:00.000-06:00

mt. vesuvius erupted on august 24th, 79 AD, burying the city in a thick layer of ash. when it was rediscovered mysterious voids were found and filled with plaster.

the science museum had an exhibit on pompeii and we went to see it the last day it was here (yesterday). there were a lot of artifacts and information about daily life in pompeii. all learned from the remains found under the ash from the volcano.

there were a couple of casts of bodies that were discovered, but i was disappointed they didn't have more. i was able to find more online [1, 2, 3, 4].

a very interesting article on pompeii was discovered looking for an image for my post. you can find it here.

my curse

2008-01-04T08:29:00.000-06:00

most awesome killswitch engage song.

water bottle

2008-01-03T13:23:00.000-06:00

i have purchased a sigg aluminum bottle. i stumbled upon it at whole foods while shopping last night. it is my effort to keep from using those darn plastic bottles that are so easy to find at coffee shops and convenience stores everywhere. they also have thermos type containers which would be nice for stops at the coffee shop. i can feel my bottle get cold when filled with cold water, so hot tea would be a challenge.

linux webcam found

2007-12-29T23:04:00.000-06:00

i battled with the webcam last night. tried it on two xp machines and it just wasn't wanting to cooperate. so the old webcam is currently fired and a new one has replaced it.

it took a little bit of research, but i've loaded skype 2.0 beta for linux to get video support and a logitech quickcam pro 9000. it required no configuring and just works under ubuntu 7.10 and skype 2.0 beta.

Skype 2.0 Beta
List of webcams that work in Skype under Ubuntu

guitar hero

2007-12-28T08:28:00.000-06:00

rumors are true. it has invaded the home. i have finished easy level. i see many lost hours in the near future.

einstein puzzle

2007-12-17T16:12:00.000-06:00

it took me a while but i was able to solve the Einstein's Puzzle without resorting to any cheating. WOOT! i'm all puzzled out for the evening. i think a lot more than 2% of people can figure it out if they work at it long enough. ... ... well people i'd hang out with.

Fight

2007-12-14T08:38:00.001-06:00

Steve sent me a link today how many five year olds could you take in a fight. apparently i'm able to take 36 five year old kids in a fight. i wonder how their moral would hold up after 36 of them lost?

the internet is a strange, strange place.

welcome to crystal, mn

2007-12-04T09:15:00.000-06:00

important statutes to remember while parking in crystal, unless you enjoy $34 fines:

1310.07(1) No parking 2-5AM or truck parked over 2 hours.

1310.03(5) No parking within 10 feet of a fire hydrant.

1310.05(1) It is unlawful to place a vehicle on a highway to display the vehicle for sale or exchange. A vehicle is deemed to be displayed in violation of this subsection when it is found standing upon a street or highway, and bearing a sign indicating that it is for sale or exchange.

i would like to thank the city of crystal and all involved in making my second day in crystal memorable.

moved

2007-12-03T12:11:00.000-06:00

we are now moved into the new house. if you can call the fact that all your crap is in the new place still in boxes. i'm hoping for having a somewhat normal life by the end of the week.

i'm wore out and tired. sleeping in a new place is hard at first since there are crazy noises and you don't know what any of them are. "WTF was that?" Also discovered there is a dog in the neighborhood that likes to bark early in the morning.

casualties of the move include two lamps and a glass while i was packing and one or two other little things i can't recall at the moment.

my friend joe summed up the end game stage of moving quite nicely:

you'll have everything you need unpacked, look at the stack of boxes left and say 'what the hell is in those boxes'. tape them up put them in the basement and in one year burn them all.

Big thanks to all who helped (Joe, EJ, Kris).

preparing for the move

2007-11-25T16:47:00.000-06:00

packing, listening to music, cleaning.

middle of november noise

2007-11-19T21:37:00.000-06:00

had some work done on my truck since i received a recall notice a while ago for my cruise control and my engine light came on. ended up being some engine heat regulation crap. my heater works a lot better now.

heading back home for a few days. got myself world war z to listen to in audio format on the road. i really should ban myself from book stores as they are just too costly.

finished an eberron novel (dungeons and dragons setting) and reading another full of short stories. also finished the hobbit (finally). my latest kick is eberron books.

packed up some stuff already for the big move end of month. still lots to do, but it'll have to wait for my return this weekend.

i've been busying myself offline a lot more lately. that is causing the lack of updates to the blog. i'm still here. just busy reading, swinging a sword, relaxing around the house, playing dragon warrior i & ii, or staring at the ceiling.

dvd storage

2007-11-14T11:02:00.000-06:00

flickr set about cutting up dvd covers and stuffing them in little boxes. it's better than i make it sound.

heavy metal blade

2007-11-12T15:33:00.000-06:00

so i'm killing time today doing those little tasks i've been putting off when i think of something.

a katana from Bugei is made with Swedish powdered steel. so it's made with Swedish metal. so if they were to play some Swedish metal during the forging process it would create the ultimate blade. would it create a better blade if the band played live instead of a recording? hell yeah it would!

so which band would mix best in a Swedish metal katana? Opeth, In Flames, Dark Tranquility, Evergrey, Soilwork, Meshuggah? as i lay dying would be sweet, but it's really an american band with the influence.

and then... check out the singer arch enemy - we will rise.

week of the cold

2007-11-11T16:56:00.000-06:00

i've had a cold slowly building up this week. it decided to strike on friday and saturday. today is sunday and i'm feeling a lot better, but still a bit more tired than i should be.

i did find puffs with lotion and vicks. what a combination.

your skill in swords has increased by 1

2007-11-04T23:03:00.000-06:00

saturday was dungeons and dragons day and i played in the local adventure at the source. we managed to make it to the end and defeat the evil drow. it probably helped that there were seven instead of the five that it's written for. i played a elven ranger from last years adventure. i was able to get a couple of good shots during the dungeon crawl. so i'm reading my dnd books again. "would you like to play a game?"

tonight i was able to do some draws with a live (dull not sharp) sword in my kenjutsu class. it was awesome. it'll be a while before i get to do that again as it was more a circumstance thing. i'm still working on my sojutsu (spear training).

i'm still wound up from my class so i'm going to do a little bit of readin before i sleep. tomorrow is going to arrive too early.

trent and saul

2007-10-31T11:24:00.000-05:00

trent reznor and saul williams are doing an album together. it can be purchased from the saul williams website for free or $5. it'll be available for download tomorrow.

now this is the way music should be. read an article about it today and pre-order and have a link delivered to my email tomorrow.

if you are curious about saul williams check youtube and you'll get a few hits.

nymag.com article and interview where i first learned the news.

in flames studio diary

2007-10-25T11:52:00.000-05:00

in flames has posted on their myspace page video diaries. good stuff.

afro samurai (anime)

2007-10-20T07:40:00.001-05:00

i picked up afro samurai last night and watched it. totally worth the purchase. samuel l jackson does the voice of afro samurai, the animation is great and all five episodes rocked.

On the dark path of swordsmanship in a "Futuristic" yet Feudal Japan, it is said that the one who becomes No.1 will rule the world. But the only rule in this world is that only the No. 2 is allowed to fight the No. 1. The No. 2, the Afro Samurai, travels the road looking for revenge on the man who murdered his father in front of him when he was just a boy, a three-armed gunman who is the lord of the dark swordsman's road and the current No. 1.

an interesting thing about this anime is that it was done originally in english. check out the trailer on the japanese site.

why i'm fucking late all the time

2007-10-18T10:33:00.000-05:00

interesting article over at oprah.com (i didn't find it it was sent to me) about monochrones and polychrones basically comparing people who do one thing at a time versus those that take on the world all at once.

i took the little quiz and got the following result:

The Time of Your Life Quiz Results Your score is 37, in the 30 to 39 range.

You have to pay attention to scheduling, or you're likely to miss some important events. Take some time to plan and practice dismount skills so that when the pressure's on, or you're doing something really absorbing, you'll know how to tear yourself away.

interesting results since i keep arriving at the conclusion that i need to drop some things in my life. an inventory of the crap at my place will tell a story of things i've done, do, have tried and wanted to.

i'll end this with my favorite quote from the article that is really funny to me since it happens at times.

I explain to everyone I deal with—co-workers, children, friends—that I'm transitionally challenged and they should call me on my cell phone if I'm even a few minutes late. Such calls often come in when I'm happily writing or rearranging the furniture.