SLIGHTLY BLURRY

Stayed up waaaay to late/early last night for a work night. My stuff and also helping Tonbo with his modified game board.

Thought I was ready to go to sleep, but apparently that new Paradise Tropical Tea that Tonbo bought from our business has more than enough caffeine to keep my mind running around for a bit longer. I've never been a big black tea fan, but this stuff is really good. I know my green teas are on the low end of the caffeine spectrum, and Snapple is about a Coke. Black tea, however, can yield up to 110 mg if steeped over 5 minutes. I think Tonbo let his batch stew all day on the patio. 0_0;

Anyway, looks like Paradise also makes a decaffeinated version, which I can also buy from my biz, and while decaff teas still have a little caff in them (unlike herbal teas which I'm also found of), it's better than straight up. Like up until 2 am.

Working on work. Missed my closing window of opportunity to get home before the storm and traffic, so am hanging out for more of both to pass.

Got the printed template for 365 done, which leaves me with still a list of grunt production work to do. Definitely one of my more ambitious one-offs. :)

QA TODAY

Other than a 2 hour meetingmeetingmeeting (would you like some meeting with your meeting?), spent the other 7 hours QAing a site.

I really do like QA work because it utilizes my skill of attention to fine detail (compared to other areas of my life where it gets on people's nerves :). And it makes a good site great. It amazes me how many typos one can find online these days, even with the availability of in-application spell-checks and handy little sites like Dictionary.com.

Spent lunch on the Browncoats board at the official Serenity site, the first time I've really had time to read and even do a little posting. Lots of great reports from the panel at Comic-Con - thank you! The movie is over 9 months away but this is still an active and fun fandom.

Firefly fandom is one way I've been spending a lot of time in my comfort zone, attending to my genius, and generally having fun. Been a while, I guess. I've also gone through my last box of anime trading cards in order to have a current update to my trading cards page. Hope to get that up sometime next week.

Looks like my music videos used up 7.2 GB of bandwidth over the weekend.   0_0;  
Funny, flattering, and scary at the same time. But I can't really complain because I keep linking out to them.

JUST ANOTHER MONDAY

Pretty much sums it up. Work on regular projects. QA on spastic projects. Updates on late projects. Had lunch with Nissan and Grape which was fun. Getting out of the cube is usually fun. Getting out the cube forever will be the best day of my life (up to that point. From then on, it's nowhere but up! :)

Think I've pretty much decided what to do about my SG site, just need to create the content. Which is the easy and difficult part. I love the research and writing, it just takes time to do, and my dial-up at home doesn't make it any faster. But the alternative is staying late at work who's T1 makes at least the research faster. It's just nice to be home in the evenings, although sitting in the cube can make me more productive.

Beautiful, 70-80F weather thanks to the cold front that came through over the weekend. A wonderful present for a Christmas in July. Still no rain, although there is hope later in the week. The cracks in my garden are about 3" deep, so any water from the sky would be welcome. Otherwise I'll have to break out the soaker hoses and fear my water bill.

ARTHUR, KING OF THE WOADS

Got my 6.5 hours of sleep and then was awake enough to finish up some contract work I had to get done this weekend. Tonbo had a window job in the morning, and then we hooked up for lunch at Quizno's and went to see King Arthur.

I initially went to see Keira Knightley kick butt, but wound up enjoying the whole movie. I enjoyed all of the lead characters, and it's an interesting take on the Arthurian legend, probably the first movie to show Arthur and Lancelot in full Roman regalia.

I do admit to laughing when Tristan's hawk shows up because it's a Harris Hawk who's native territory is desert-like areas of the southern US down to Argentina. Granted, they are an extremely popular falconry bird in Britain today, but in 450 BC, were they even on that island? Regardless, he's a beautiful bird, although probably a bit cold in all that snow. ;)

Overall a fun movie that had more going for it than I thought. Very cool soundtrack by Hans Zimmer as well, featuring Moya Brennan of Clannad fame.

Saw an extended preview for Sky Captain, and waaaay too many pre-show music video snippets and commercials. Remember the says of going to a movie and as soon as the lights dimmed there were only a few previews and then the movie? Ah, the golden days ...

THE CUBE

Tonbo's went to the office early this morning and I slept in. :)

Misc. putzing around, hoping it will rain so I'll be able to do some work in the garden tomorrow. It did end up cooling off in the afternoon enough to open the windows for a while, which was really nice.

Got my order from Barnes & Noble the other day: Lirael, Abhorsen, and The Cube. Didn't really need them, but since BN is now a Partner Store, I used the purchase as rationale for a QST.

Decided to play the Cube and ... wow. Interesting, fun, insightful stuff. The first part of the book are the questions that get you to form a mental picture involving specific objects. Then the middle part of the book is the interpretation of those objects. Very similar to various email games that I've had float through my inbox before, although none seemed as (for me) accurate as the Cube. There are also several celebrity reports of their Cube adventures, and the origin story from one of the authors. Overall, a neat way to spend an afternoon, and I can see how this would be a big hit at parties amongst groups of friends. Or a way to break the ice amongst strangers.

One of the review, and even the book itself say you can't play it twice since once you know the secret, you can't "un-know" it. True, but the book also points out you can always go back and review your mental picture at a later date and see how it has changed, since you now know certain insights you didn't before.

Tonbo made a brief appearance and than went down to a CASHFLOW game
at our BST's house. I had Pizza Guy for dinner and watched the rest of Snow Fairy Sugar. And for those of you who are wondering, that big floating piano Saga sees as a child makes perfect sense after you watch the last episode (#24). I love how anime does that! :)

Tonbo came back around 1:30 am, and we stayed up talking until around 4 am. It'll be really nice when we able to do such a thing on a Tuesday.

ASSOCIATESSHOP.COM

Wow, I have found a beautiful thing - http://www.associatesshop.com/

Played around with a store for KFF, which I will likely implement at a later date.

In the more immediate future, however, there will be a new shiny store for my Cardcaptor Sakura vs. Cardcaptors fansite. Got the basic structure down, and am writing copy for the various links. Hope to have it live by the end of the month. And of course I'll post about it here as well. :)

You can really customize an incredible amount of stuff, and so far, I've only run into two snags, to which I found work arounds. Not as refined as I would like, but it's nothing to really complain about at all, given all the other positives about this tool.

4 LAWS

Tonbo was still feeling bad so we had dinner and a Farscape and then he went back to bed. Didn't really want to be on the computer again, so I picked up The Four Laws of Debt Free Prosperity.

Easy, pretty quick read. And the 4 Laws are things I knew, and have practiced, and still practice. The story itself was cool, then the last couple of chapters were evidence of Sturgeon's Law. The copy I was reading had a copyright of 1996 and 2001.

Obviously there are still a lot of "buy and hold" books out there, and compound interest is truly a beautiful thing, but socking away your savings in mutual funds on the hope of a 12% return is (IMHO) insane. And taking a loan to buy real estate in the hopes it increases in the next few years is almost as good as gambling. Now, on the other hand, if that piece of real estate costs you $1200/month, but brings in $1500/month, you are doing something right and more power to you!

Anyway, the same info presented in a different way is pretty much always worth a browse since maybe this time something new will sink in.

How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt and Live Prosperously, on the other hand, was a totally different kind of read. This is not a story, although it does use other people's lives as examples. Pretty hardcore, it can be a real eye-opener. I felt very fortunate that I did not relate to a lot of the profiles.

I had a very specific reason to debt for about 2 years. That reason is now gone, and I'm working my way back to debt-free, a state I have lived in most of my life. Having been at the bottom of the credit barrel, as it were, I now have an experiential understanding of how much worrying about money can screw up your health and the rest of your life.

Been there, did that, ain't going back.

ANIME DAY

Anime Day is happening Saturday, August 14th at The Center At the Square of Richardson Square Mall.

OP IN TX

October Project is coming to Austin, TX on July 29th, 8:30 pm, Cactus Cafe! Their site has a nice little PDF poster that you can download and print and show to all your friends. Really wish I could go.

Someday ...

BLURRY

Some work work some unwork

Having a difficult time staying focused. And I'm cold. It's 95F (feels like 99F) outside and the good ol' Texas air conditioners are doing their best to keep internal tempeartures around 68F. At least that's what it feels like, as I sit here in my t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, and fleece vest.

Have finished my YSB Firefly mv, but will wait until the first of next month to put it up. I'm a little concerned about the bandwidth draw, but then it's cool in it's own way if it (and my amvs) consume 40 gigs in less than a month. The Firefly mvs already out there are of very good quality. As many anime music videos as I've seen, these FF mvs really hold up and surface near the top. And some of them are by amv creators as well. :)

Updated the blog and that always takes more time than I expect. It's all those Amazon.com links I put everywhere. But that way people can find out more info about what I'm referencing, and if they happen to buy, I'll get a few cents worth.

Which can help pay for all that mv bandwidth ...

SCI-FI TV & MOVIES

It's officially CMYB's last day and she will be missed.  We had a kind-of group lunch on Monday where the topic of conversation, when not about work, revolved around the various Star Trek franchises. 

I grew up on the original series, and was really into the books by Timescape, then Pocket.  How Much For Just The Planet?, Yesterday's Son, and Ishmael are still favorites. 

I remember first hearing about the fact they were doing another series called The Next Generation.  I watched the pilot and the first few eps.  And they weren't that good in the way that most TV series' first eps aren't that good.  And then they found their voice and their own stories and it was suddenly a very cool show.  When I went down for college orientation at UT, I spent the night in a hotel on my own.  First time for that, and I was a bit nervous.  Turned on the TV and there it was, Star Trek: The Next Generation.  It was safe and familiar and exactly what I needed at that point. So if for no other reason, I will always be thanks for that.

Deep Space 9 seemed a little more interesting, but again, TV was dropping down on my priority list. Voyager didn't do anything for me. It was watchable, but I was getting out watching TV in general at that point.  And then Enterprise, the less said about the better. There was no way I was going to make time to watch that. I have heard that the later seasons were better (when there's no place to go but up, as it were ...), but I still have no desire to see it.

Farscape, on the other hand, has surprisingly grabbed and held my attention.  Almost done with the first season and definately have interest in seeing more.  Although it'll have to be through a loan from friends, because I'm not shelling out over $100 for a single season of a TV show.  Aint' gonna happen. At least not for Farscape. Maybe for Next Gen ... Guess I'm spoiled with SG-1 box sets for $60-$80, with lots of extras and audio commentaries.

On other sci-fi fronts, SG-1 season 8 has started ("Teal'c, what's with the hair?"), as well as the spin-off Stargate Atlantis.  Both of which I'm eager to see.  Except I need to see SG-1 Season 7 before 8.  From the premise, I think it would be fine to watch Atlantis, but not having cable puts a damper on that.

Oh, cool! While linking up the SG-1 sites for this post, I saw that the Sci-Fi Channel is doing a production of
Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea cycle (The Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu). Out in December of this year, it looks interesting. All of her books are amazing. Lathe of Heaven has been made into a movie twice, once by the PBS (1980) and then by A&E (2002). I've only seen the A&E version, and while it did omit parts of the book (I assume the PBS version is more faithful), it was a good movie in and of itself.

And while I'm plugging sci-fi/fantasy, a movie that goes near the top of the list of "better than it has any right to be" is Equilibirum featuring Christian Bale (who has grown up very nicely since Empire of the Sun, and is now filming Batman Begins) and Sean Bean (LOTR's Boromir). Bales is incredible and embodies the sentiment "if you are serious, they will not laugh" because this movie could be such a joke, and it just isn't.

On the work front there were 2 focus groups today which made for a very long day. Took more out of me than I thought and after getting home and after talking a bit with Tonbo, we watched the first of a two-parter Farscape (if I had known it was 1/2, I probably would have suggested other entertainment). Way to wiped out to watch 2/2, and it's not like it's a Stargate SG-1 ep, which we have stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish. ;)

THEY STILL LIKE ME

Another 2 gigs of bandwidth used in about 24 hours.

Wow.

Sat in on a focus group tonight to take notes since I'm going to be picking up the backend of the project.  Interesting stuff.  Pretty different from the one-on-one interviews I've usually done.  And the free dinner was nice. :)

THEY REALLY LIKE ME

Checked bandwidth at my new hosting company


and since putting up my new anime music video on Friday, transfer was up to 5 gig.
 
O_O;
 
Granted, it probably won't stay that high, but it was nice/shocking/flattering to see that this morning.
 
And it means I need to prioritize all my other fan sites, since I also have another project for the business I want to get online by the end of Q3/Q4 this year.
 
 - Be Crofty became a splash page.
 
 - Platform 9 3/4 (once it resolves to the new DNS) has an updated home page with links to where you should go if you want really want content. :)
 
 - Cardcaptor Sakura vs. Cardcaptors will get an update before the end of the year when I get it transferred over to the new hosting/domain.
 
 - Ditto above for Kestrel's Financial Freedom
 
 - There will be more amvs and mvs this year because I do want to play around a bit within my genius as well as working it
 
-------------------------------------
Am slowing advancing in Browncoat rank, thanks to acceptance of my trivia question.  Reading the different forum posts of fans' encounters on set as extras and with the stars of Serenity are a lot of fun. I don't know that the actors really understand what a thrill it is to see them, talk with them, have a picture taken with them.  I've been fortunate enough in my encounters with KF:TLC fandom to get up close with a few of the stars and it was a really shiney deal. My thanks to all actors who take the time (and patience and understanding) to indulge their fans - you really light up a lot of lives. 

OKAERI

No rain, other than the few drops I felt at the parents house yesterday, but the cold front did come through so my headache is validated and we won't reach 100F today.  :)
 
Tried to plant the columbine Mom brought up but the ground is so cracked and dry that it was too much effort.  Did some monthly financial stuff, had a late lunch and watched Snow Fairy Sugar.  Then it was time to pick up Tonbo at the airport.  Got there early and checked the monitors every now and then to make sure there wasn't another gat change to a different terminal.  Very nice to have him back home again.
 
Watched The Princess Bride - Special Edition DVD and the extra specials which were fun.  Cary Elwis looked so different in his interview, and it wasn't just the years either.
 
Checked the Web site and found out I actually won $3 for my Lotto ticket that I bought on Saturday afternoon.  Cool - $2 profit!

TINSTAFL

Up early to take Tonbo to the airport to catch a plane to California for a friend's wedding.  Then swung by the parents place to drop off Mom's monthly order from my business.  Since I was so early, I had extra time to help them do the packing/moving thing again.  This time it was the shed in the back.  Very impressive, actually.  And most of the house is cleaned out as well.  Has a bit of a barren feel to it, but it makes it easier to show.
 
Nice lunch as Soup 'N Salad and then I headed home.  Picked up the K.I.S.S. Feng Shui book again, and started reading, then ended up leafing through it.  Overall, I'm sure it's a KISS version of everything the author knows (which looks to be an incredible amount) and the history and background is interesting info, but I do prefer the more Western-like mindset book of Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life.  Got a couple of ideas from the KISS book and then went back to MYS, CYL.  Work on my Prosperity gua, and did a lot of work in the laudry room which is part of the Prosperity gua and had been rather badly ignored.
 
Gave Tonbo a call before I was going to go to bed and caught him just as he finished checking into his hotel.  Heard about his very interesting day (last minute gate change=missed plane), and the wedding and the reception.  It was nice talking with him, and thanks to the wonderful world of telecommunications, he didn't sound any further away than when I call him at his office.

TGIF

So after another 10 pm team call no-show last night, I'm not traveling next week.  Fine by me.
 
Shipped the auction stuff off this morning.  Looks like the post office website is a little bit off in its estimations, and I lost money on shipping because the options I thought I was going to use weren't available. I don't understand why it's that complex, but I'm thinking about UPS or FedEx next time I do this.  At least for foreign stuff.

Moved all my anime music videos to my new domain and uploaded a new one: Sylvia Tosun's "Sleepless Dark Water" to the anime Blue Sub 6 DVDs. 
 
Am able to take advantage of Summer Hours this week, so after I get the oil changed in my car, I'll have the rest of the afternoon to do stuff.  Like excavate the dining room table. Or my bedroom. Or the office.
 
Or maybe I'll just read. :P 

PARTNER STORE BARNES & NOBLE

w00+! 
 
Barnes & Noble just became a Partner Store.  That means I get paid to buy books. Ha-pi!  And they have the same "free shipping when you buy $25 worth of stuff" that Amazon.com has. And I get paid to buy books.
 
What a concept. :)

IT'S A CONSPIRACY

Frohicky was in town for his biz and stopped by the office. Had a chance for him to catch me up on his latest enterprises. He's very cool, doing very cool stuff.  Here's to 3%er friends!
 
Rest of the the day was much less interesting. Still haven't had an internal project kick-off for something I'm supposed to be in another city for most of next week.  Yep, yep, yep.
 
Tonbo went off to pick up his case-breaking stuff so I nuked some dinner, watched some Saiyuki, and had a nap.  Got up again and unpacked my Ditto Delivery packages and rounded up stuff to ship from my eBay auctions.  Surprisingly nice results and it's the first time all buyers have been in countries other than the US. 
 
Paypal is my friend. :)     

PAIN

Vocabulary and contextual misunderstanding with Tonbo this morning, which pointed out several things to me.  One of which was that last night was a bigger beating than I originally thought.  And that I need to give myself credit for it, compared to writing it off to "something I should do and therefore it is not worthy of a reward."
 
That, and by the time I got to work my brain feels like it's 2 sizes too big for my skull and is therefore exerting significant pressure as it tries to escape from behind my eyeballs.  How's that for a headache description?

And I feel old.  Used to be able to get rid of, or at least significantly dull these weather-pressure headaches, but the Coke and Advil and Coke and Snapple have had little effect.  Seems like since all that rain in June, they tend to come on strong, stay that way, and mutate into carsick-like nausea.  None of which is conducive to detailed work, or even the basic concentration I need to get my office job done.
 
So I grabbed a bunch of stuff in case I was functional in the evening and went home to lie down in a quiet dark room.  Which helps, but being unconscious and not having any dreams helps more.
 
Headache had mostly receded by evening, but the nausea was still there, so I only got about 2 hours of actual work work done.  Watching anime is a whole lot easier.  Saiyuki plots have started to bridge across more than one ep and I am rapidly approaching the need for the next DVD.

WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME

Stayed late at work because I was going to be heading farther east for dinner with a millionairess.  Arrived a little early and said "hi" to people I knew.  Was asked to address an email problem which I took a stab at giving some alternate solutions for.  Guest of honor arrived and greeted me by name and a hug.  She sees and ins involved with lots of people.  But she knows who I am and that's a really nice feeling.
 
Tonbo and gang showed up and joined me in my booth.  Dinner then listening to business advice from someone who knows what she's talking about.  Left around 10:30 pm as things were pretty much wound down.  Said good-bye to her and she gave me an update on 365 - she loves it, but doesn't want it to get lost in the changes that are currently going on, but will also show it to Tennis.  That part surprise me, because he's way up the line.  So looks like 365 won't become a reality until 2006, but that's okay.  It's out there, and that's the important part. 
 

4 HOURS LATER ...

In order to start work on a Firefly music video, I first had to get my anime mv off my laptop. Or at least I told myself I did, otherwise I'd keep putting it off. The mv has been finished for about 2 weeks, and in my mind, it's done. But I do want a couple of tape copies, and so does Tonbo, and it makes sense to have some digital back-ups, and then there's the version to post on my website (still not up, but soon ...)

So I start rendering. And there's a flaw. So I fix it. And I render again. And there's a flaw. And I fix it. And I render again. No flaw, so it's time to rig the laptop to the TV and commence with the taping.

Which means run the video. Then rewind and watch it. Fall out on the tape. Crap. Find new tape. Run the video. Then rewind and watch it. Looks good. New tape. Run the video. Then rewind and watch it. Looks good. New tape.

And a few hours later I'm done.

Now I have to create the web file.

Sigh.

Now that I'm truly done, I have to wait until Monday to burn a backup of the megafile onto a DVD-R, since I only have my little 4x CDROM burner at home.

BUT ... I can now begin my scathingly brilliant Firefly music video that will be released ... sometime ... later.

Got through the first 30 seconds and it's cool. First time I've editing "live" footage compared to anime/animated footage in a loooong time. Different. Fun. Difficult in it's own unique way.

I usually wait and show Tonbo the final product, but I asked him to check out the work-in-progress and he laughed in the right places so I am re-assured the concept will hold up.

DEEPER REALITY

Looking at the TTD (Things To Do) list that has piled up over the last few weekends, I eliminated some and selected a few to actually accomplish today. Made myself presentable, and went thought the office closet cleaning out audio cassettes for a 1/2 Price Books run. Not that I think I'll get much for them, but at least I'll get more space in my closet. :)

Tonbo had left early to help his Mom move stuff in anticipation of family guests and was then heading to a BDS, so I'm on my own until about midnight.

1/2 Price was relatively empty (at least the selling desk) for a Saturday, but I was there fairly early as well (before noon). Dropped off my boxes, moved the car, and almost made it through the comics shelves before they called my name. A whole $24. w00+!

Took a stroll through sci-fi in the hopes of finding a paperback
Terry Pratchett but no such luck. Actually, for being the biggest 1/2 Price in the area, I've never had that kind of luck. Guess people who buy Pterry books hold on to them. Can't imagine why ... :P

Was randomly looking through a non-filed pile of book and picked out one because of the cover. Garth Nix's Sabriel. Barely a one sentence blurb of plot, that sounded like every other fantasy novel on the market, but Philip Pullman wrote a really good review, and that's what sold me. I love his His Dark Materials trilogy - very different and very cool.

Took a swing by the Feng Shui books and my dad calls. Seems he's got more boxes of kindling I can have, so we decide to meet at Henk's for lunch, since I'm already almost there. Used my credit to buy Sabriel and went by the cafe for an Arizona Green Tea (the only other tea-in-a-bottle I like besides peach Snapple) and say down to read Sabriel.

I do like this kind of writing, where you learn about the world as you experience it. No big glossary, you can pronounce most names without pain, nice little map in the front for reference if you want, and a flowing, easy style that plays like a movie in your head. And then he used "treacle" as a metaphor and I knew he was some how British. Actually Australian, but non-American enough to use the word treacle. :)

Joined the parents and had a very nice lunch w/dessert and picked up some dark bread (Henk's was on my original list of TTD due to its proximity to 1/2 Price and the fact I was out of dark bread). Also picked up wafers for me and a chocolate for Tonbo. Well, I picked them out and Dad paid for them. My parents are really that way, and I do appreciate them for it.

Home to random stuff and reading more Sabriel. Actually stayed up until around 1:30 am to finished it. Very enjoyable. Looks like I'll have to get the other two book in that world now as well: Lirael and Abhorsen

Tonbo had a really good BDS, going there with his brother and one of our group. It was held at a new venue, so their help was appreciated. It would have been nice to see him in action, but unless the speaker is someone I really want to hear, I still stay away from them.

And I had a great day in my own way, so all is well.

ps. taught the spell-check the word 'treacle' - my day is now complete

Testing photo posting with Hello. This is my most excellent MYST-like birdbath.

FIREFLY / SERENITY PAGE

Did real work and then started looking for more info on the Firefly movie which will be released into theaters on April 22, 2005 under the title Serenity.

Then became a Browncoat and had to create a page for it. Have an idea for a quote database as an exercise in db programming/structuring, so we'll see how that does.

In any case, buy Firefly, watch Firefly, get your friends to buy and watch Firefly, visit my Firefly / Serenity page and become a Browncoat (I promise to take pics of any merchandise I can get with my credits :), and go see Serenity next Spring.

Many times.

With friends.

BEARLESS

Forgot to bring in a new bear for this month to my cube and it's a little empty-looking in that corner.

Lite on the productivity, but as usual, there was stuff to do at about 4 pm. Yep, yep, yep, yep ...

Finished off the last Farscape Patryn had lent us and yes, I've asked if he has more. It's an easy watch during dinner, and the writing and acting is quite good. Kinda like BBC sci-fi, but with higher production values.

J.K.Rowling announced the official title of the 6th Harry Potter book. No word of a publishing date, although personally I'm hoping for a Summer 2005 release. It's so cool to see all of the languages these books have been translated into. And it will be interesting to see how many "book sets" will be released. They just did another 1-5 set (with leather bookmark - woo!), so that means there will also probably be a 1-6 set, and then the Complete Harry Potter Collection after book 7 is released. Go for it - I'm happy to give JKR my money for creating such an incredible world.

VACATION - DAY 5

Ugh, starting to have that "vacation is almost over" feeling ...

Tonbo went to work and ended up coming back home in the early afternoon. His eye was still bothering him where he'd rubbed it with DEET-covered fingers, although it's a lot less swollen and scary looking that last night. He napped and then joined the parents and I for a Quizno's lunch.

Meet Mom at Home Depot where we picked up rocks and concrete stones for the mud path and some flowers for the front. She's not supposed to be working, having one arm enveloped in poison ivy, but that's never stopped her before and certainly won't today.

I told her about my path idea and we were distracted by that for a while. Have it laid out with the white bricks and am working on killing the grass before laying down the shadecloth. She did a lot of clean-up in the front, and I worked in the back. I still wear out a lot faster than here, despite being half her age. I'm a gardening wuss, but it's fun and that's what counts.

Showed off my MYST-like birdbath and omiyagi windchime. Very happy with both of them. And the windchime is working just as planned - I can hear it in almost every room of the house, and it rings with just the slightest wind, compared to the stronger breezes needed to ring Baby Ben.

Dad drove up for lunch (the Porsche needed exercising ;). Mom took some pics of the garden with her new digital camera (which totally stomps mine, but my budget has always been more limited than Dad's, especially when he's buying gifts for Mom ;). Then they left and I needed a nap. Yes, I'm a gardening wuss.

Easy evening with the unfortunate ending of having to go to bed early since I have to go earn my living again tomorrow.

Ah, but it was a glorious vacation ...

VACATION - DAY 4

So cool. Normally Sundays are left to running what errands I've put off all weekend and getting ready for work on Monday. Except this time, Monday is the observed 4th of July holiday and I'm not going to work.

Heh.

With the aid of a stabilizer bar on his 20 ft ladder, I joined Tonbo on the roof of my house.

And was very scared.

Once up there, it wasn't too bad, but getting there took a lot of work. I don't really like heights, but the idea was to try this in the daylight before attempting it tonight to (potentially) see fireworks. Which was a good idea, because I figured out pretty quickly that I didn't want to do it again - at least not any time soon. We can work our way there for next year.

But it was worth it for the view of my garden. Gave me an idea for a new path that I'll run by Mom tomorrow when she comes up for Garden Work Day. And Tonbo said he'd be happy to take pictures for my next time he went up there. :)

Had fun doing whatever I wanted. Would start something, go to another room, do something there, wonder back past the iPOD as it filled my home with anime music, finish up something started 2 started-things ago ... this is what I want my life to be. Pretty much stress-free and a lot of fun.

Went to Michael's to wander around and found stuff for rainy day England's cards. Made 5 cards and will ship them out on Tuesday. Very happy with the way they turned out. The first time. Which is unusual, but there were 5 of them, so maybe that counts as 5 versions, in which case that's a little over par for satisfaction with my work.

Turns out there was another good reason to go onto the roof in the daylight. Tonbo went up as soon as we heard the local town fireworks and he couldn't see them at all. Standing down on the sidewalk in front of my house we could see a bit of them through the trees and over the roof of the neighbor's house across the street. Nice red/white/blue flag looking ones this year.

Then it was back inside to watch more Millennium Actress. I think this movie means more to the people familiar with Japanese history and Japanese film. It was cool to watch - interesting story, very nice animation, some interesting editing, and a beautiful soundtrack that I will someday own ... but it wasn't Spirited Away or even Perfect Blue (though it was the same director as PB).

VACATION - DAY 3

Broke out my last 2 boxes of anime trading cards (Angelic Layer set 1 & 2)and had a lot of fun. Also worked on my trading card page, but it'll be a while before that is updated and online over at the new domain.

Started reading Wishcraft by Barbara Ster & Annie Gottlieb. I tried this book about a year ago and for whatever reason didn't get very far. I was trying a lot of books at that time and this one fell by the way side.

Today, however, while sitting in my backyard on a beach towel in the shade of my oak tree, well covered in DEET and a peach Snapple by my side, I decided to try this book again. And so far, am really enjoying it. I've got a blank book with me as I read and write and draw the random things that come to mind as I go along. Very interesting/insightful stuff if you do the exercises she outlines.

Still watching Farscape with Tonbo in the evenings, and despite the muppets, I'm sucked in. And we've finished the Season 6 box set of Stargate SG-1, and have to find something to watch until October 19th when Season 7 is released.

VACATION - DAY 2

This is a stay-at-home vacation, but home is a really great place to stay, so it's cool.

Tried a bit of weeding but the mosquitoes forced me back inside. Will ask Tonbo for some DEET protection when he gets home from work.

Updated and moved my anime fanart calendars over to the new domain. Am working on the production cel gallery and will upload that later. Discovered I had a few more cels that weren't listed in my personal gallery, nice Yukito cels, that I'll have to scan and get online. I'm not actively collecting anime cels any more, but it will be something I pursue again once I gain financial independence.

Did a bit of business in that I moved all of my 401k into a fixed return fund. Pathetic return percentage, but at least I'm not loosing money to funds that don't even perform as well as the S&P Index or to "fees" that eat away at what little ground I gain. I can't actually get to my money (fancy that, I thought it was my money) until I turn 59 1/2 or am no longer working for my current employer, which isn't going to happen for a while. But at least I'm not loosing money any more.

And for anyone who thinks fund managers have your best interests at heart and that mutual funds are a good idea, I highly recommend listening to Kim Snider, get her stuff, and take her class if you can.

The idea of "buy and hold" is based on the idea that over time, the stock market goes up. It also, in the average lifetime, takes 2 significant drops. So you're not advancing as much as getting back to where you were before the drops. If you haven't got enough time to recover ... sorry. And come 2010-2015 as the largest segment of people to ever work their way through the American economy Baby Boom their way across the age of retirement, the stock market is going to get very interesting. Because they need that money now. And they are going to take it. And hopefully there will be some who aren't prey to mis-managed pension funds and other executive decisions that made off with money that wasn't theirs.

But, hey, "I'm on vacation". :)

VACATION - DAY 1

So, finally, vacation time. 5 back-to-back days of doing what I want instead of what I have to in order to earn a living. Sweet!

First - Sleep Late.
Like until noon. That's a good time to start to think about beginning the day.

Second - Eat.
I limit my eating out due to budgetary reasons, but this is vacation to it's time for a trip to the Pizza Guy.

Third - Entertainment.
It's not that I don't have anything to watch, it's that I don't have anything I really want to watch. Anime Pop can solve that very easily. Kino's Journey #2, Saiyuki #2, and the last 2 DVDs of Descendants of Darkness (Yami no Matusei).