THE POWER OF SCOOTING

Tremendous headache in the morning, but that just confirms the weather forecast that we're going to get another huge storm and temperature drop on Tuesday.

Felt a bit better after lunch & a Starbucks chai. Tonbo came by to mow the lawn, and I excavated my desk, recording receipts and relocated other pieces of paper to their permanent or semi-permanent resting places. Then I did a little banking, setting up some direct withdrawals and paying some bills online. Have I mentioned that I love the Internet lately?

Tonbo left to do some homework for a potential new job, and I tackled the last block of furniture still in the garage. With another potential hail storm coming in, I really want Jumper1 in the garage. The plan was to dust off as much stuff as possible until Tonbo could come back tomorrow evening and move it into the house.

So much for plans. Having decided somewhere in the back of my head that 30 hours was too long to wait, I moved 2 file cabinets, 1 bed-end chest, 2 end tables, and 1 small cabinet myself.

How, you ask?

The Power of Scooting, I answer.

A towel on the linoleum and a piece of cardboard on the carpet does wonders for ease of movement of large objects. I don't have to really carry anything, I just need to be able to lift one end and push like crazy, scooting the stuff around until it's where it should be. Or at least where it's not in the garage and not too much in my way.

By 5 pm, my car was in my garage, an impossibility since mid November when this whole fix-the-house-foundation mess started.

HAIL

I'd been watching the storms that have given me headaches all this week surge north of us all day. This evening, the little red line of weather that had been marching its way across Texas finally caught up while Tonbo & I were getting dinner from the Pizza Guy. I cringed at every loud and potentially-damaging thunk of thumb-sized hail that landed on Jumper1 and slightly boggled at the ones that slid down the windshield. March may have left as a lamb, but April is coming in like an mad horde of spitting elephants.

DRIVE THIS SUNDAY

The premiere for the new Tim Minear (and Nathan Fillion) TV show DRIVE is this Sunday, April 15th on FOX, 8/7c.

There was a special sneak preview of the first hour of the 2-hour premier yesterday, and this photo is from a lucky SoCal Browncoat who got to go and see it, and Nathan. I envy their opportunities, but not their state income tax.

clipped from www.flickr.com

PITCHED

So in the 12 years and 4 months I've been with my company, I have only been on a pitch once. Today was the second time. I knew two of the four people in the meeting, so it wasn't completely cold as the first pitch I was on years ago. It would be fun, challenging work, with a bit of travel to a warm location.

And while other projects are progressing, I still need this job as I have not lost my fondness for hot water, shelter, personal transportation, and electricity.

ING ORANGE

I love the Internet. I love companies who use it effectively to add convenience and offer custom products to their customers. I love my new ING Electric Orange checking account.

It's Sunday evening, and I have opened a checking account, printed a form to change my paycheck's direct deposit, set up automatic monthly deposits to my Orange Savings account, and will be receiving a debit MasterCard in a few days that I can use fee free at an insane number of ATMs across the country. And while I was at it, I opened a 1 year Orange CD. That alone will get me an extra car payment worth of funds. ^_-

Oh, I also currently get an interest rate of 4.00% APY on this no-minimum required *checking* account.

Pretty spiffy, and a nice addition to the backpack of financial freedom tool I lug around with me.

WAITRESS

Nathan Fillion's new movie Waitress will be in theatres May 2nd, with a bunch of advance screenings happening across the USA. Check out the Waitress website to see if you can catch one.

clipped from www.foxsearchlight.com

LET IT SNOW

Really, as I write this, it is snowing. Should be more tonight and into tomorrow morning.

Ain't Texas weather swell?

Global warming my long underwear

HANA KI SOU

So I bought the hana (flower) version of the Hana Ki Sou anime trading cards on eBay because I liked the artwork, and then I became a bit obsessed. There is dialog on the backs of the cards, but I can only understand about 1% of it (I did figure out (I think) Kurotaka on my own, but it's probably bloody obvious to a native).

A dictionary and a lot of hours later, I'd understand more, but I went to the Internet instead. A lot of hours later, I still don't know that much more, but I now have the opening animation which is uber-cool*.

If you know details about the story link of Hana Ki Sou, can you please tell me? Domouarigatougozaimashita!

I have reached a new level of otakuness in that I now want a Japanese PS2 game even though I understand minimal Japanese, just so I can try and find out more of the story. ^_^;

* this is different from what's on YouTube in that it doesn't have the voice actors speaking over the music.

To download a copy for yourself to see the bishies and hear the fantstic music:

1. go to the DOWNLOAD page on the HaccaWorks website

2. click the middle link:

clipped from haccaworks.net →ダウンロードページへ

3. scroll down the new page and click on the DOWNLORD icon:

clipped from haccaworks.net

Enjoy!

PAPER MOON JAPAN

I've been on eBay for years, selling and buying, one more than the other, and it's easy to guess which is which. I've been fortunate that in all of my transactions I have only had 1 person not send the stuff I bought - they just disappeared. It was less than $10, so I didn't care too much.

I go to eBay specifically for anime trading cards. It is my biggest and most expensive addiction. I've slacked off on the non-sports trading cards, but the anime ones still lure money out of my pocket about every three months. I'm even to the point I'll buy boxes of cards from shows or games I know nothing about, just because of the artwork (Hana Ki Sou being the latest incarnation of that fact).

Anyway, just wanted to let anyone know who was interested that Paper Moon Japan is an excellent source of anime trading cards. Great communication, fast shipping (the EMS package arrived within a week of my payment), and a dangerous selection (e.g. I can easily spend too much money there).