Ick.

Has anyone else ever done this?

"Hmm.. I'm hungry. I wonder if there is anything good in the fridge."

"Let's see.. Salad.. ..no. Soup.. ..nah. Hey - what's that?"

"Whoah cool! I didn't know they made frosted strawberries!?"

"...Oh... ...these aren't frosted."


I need to clean out my fridge more often.

-iRob

"There is little choice in a barrel of rotten apples."
-William Shakespeare

iPatch

Hey,

We celebrated 'Talk Like a Pirate' day at work last week. In honor of this, there were cheap, black cardboard eyepatches left on every desk by the fun-loving management team.

I didn't think to wear a costume (shame) although many did. However, I took a friends idea and ran with it.

I turned my patch inside out so that it was plain white cardboard. Then I wrote the word 'iPatch' on it in big black block letters. Then I amused myself for 8 hours by watching the reactions of people who read it.

Good times.

-iRob

“The average man will bristle if you say his father was dishonest, but he will brag a little if he discovers that his great-grandfather was a pirate.”
Bern Williams

All Hail The Great D*Con

Behold my illustrious post. BEHOLD IT!!

O.K. so I'm working up the energy to make some sort of post on DragonCon, but it's a bit problematic.. I have the memory retension of wet sand, and it's all congealed into one big giant sludge of imagery and memory.

I'll start with the beginning, and work forwards from there, as that would seem to be the most satisfying, chronology-wise.

The Thursday before leaving was given over entirely to preperations. I took the entire day off of work, to pack, clean, and generally prepare. I'm not really that sure anymore what took so long or required so much energy, but I'm sure it made sense at the time. I have a vague impression of emergency costume repairs and paint fumes, but nothing solid. Oh well.

Long story short, we decided that in order to get to the airport on time, we needed to leave the house at 4:30 am. I wasn't previously aware of the existance of this time, but I assure you that it is there. It hides neatly between bed-time and civilized morning.

So in order to get up at that time, we decided that we needed to be in bed at 10. 8 pm would actually be mathematically correct to get us 8 hours of sleep, but we aren't nine-year olds, (we're grown-ups) and that didn't seem feasable.

So at 12:30 when we finished our packing, panicing, and preparing, (the three horsemen of air travel,) we got precicely 3.5 hours of sleep, and then got up to face the day. I've never woken up screaming before, so that was a first. Very, very painful.

So up we got, and my Father, was waiting downstairs with a couple of large coffees to ferry us to the airport and point us in the right direction. (Thanks Dad!)

The flights themselves were uneventful, which is the best kind of flight. There were five flights and five cities in total: Edmonton, Salt Lake, Memphis, Atlanta, and one other.. (can't even remember anymore.) That's total, not one way. Two flights there, three back.

So we get to Atlanta at 7:00 on the evening of Friday Sept 1st. 3.5 hours of sleep, 7 hours in the air, 11 hours travel time total, and two time zones. Clearly, the only sensible solution is to party into the wee hours, which we did.

Will post more later. Same bat time, same bat channel.

-iRob

"Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions."
-Peter Hoeg

Warning - CPU use approaching 100%

Hey kids.

I've been very much incommunicado lately - My bad. I'm spending a lot of time away from my computer these days, (intentional) and what little time I do use it is looking for jobs. Applied for 10 this week. Blah.

My work is actually more fun and tolerable than ever before, that's becoming less and less the issue. The issue now is the fact that I am paid approximately 42% less than I should be for the duties I perform. (My original Job description was something akin to 'file clerk'. I'm somewhat closer to a 'Junior Human Resources Generalist'.)

That is not my assessment, by the way, but impartial experts. It has also been acnowledged by not only my manager, but my manager's manager's manager. (Seriously.) They know that I'm payed way too low, but they are not sure how to correct it. (Insert mumbo jumbo about 'headcount' and 'pay codes' here.) I'll give them a hint: "More money." They are 'looking into it'. I'm not waiting.

I'm not super comfortable posting the details here, but those of you close to me are free to ask privately.

So not having what we call 'Good Times' lately, but things are looking up for the future. There apparently is a Labor Crisis in general, and HR in particular. (Thanks to M for sending me that news article, it goes a long way towards helping me keep my momentum, and sanity.)

So I have options, and no longer feel trapped where I am. It'll all be O.K. And I'm sorry to those of you I haven't emailed lately, I'll do better.

Cheers,
iRob

“I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
-Stephan Grellet

EDIT - Yes, yes, D*C info is coming, hold your horse.

User is now operating in Safe Mode.

Yawn. Good morning!

Well, let's see.. I got back 4 days ago, and now it's the weekend. At this rate, by Monday I should be hitting on all cylinders again. (Currently I am running without any unnecessary drivers or programs, to prevent crashes.)

Dragon*Con was an absolute blast - Much more so than I had been anticipating. Everything went off without a hitch (more or less) and much fun was had by all. I took about a bazillion pics to remember everything by, which was what I intended given a) How lousy my memory is, and B) How much I spent on my fancy new camera and accessories.

Speaking of pictures I can't be bothered right now, but the definitive collection is here. Click to your hearts' content.

We arrived without much in the way of firm plans, which I think was wise considering how much there was to do. I did have to spend a lot of time asking the question "Sooo... what are you up to now?" - becoming completely transparent was the fact that I neglected to do my homework, but that's o.k. If I had actually sat down with the program I would have gone insane with all of the things I couldn't do. Choosing any one thing means 9 more I will never see, but would know about. That's hell for a completist.

There is so much to say about the trip that it's hard to get started. So I won't.

Cheers,
-iRob

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."
-Lao Tzu

Post

Hello,

Haven't posted in a while. Work is hard and not fun, more so than usual. Life is stress preparing for fun, and if that isn't ironic you can call me Alanis Morissette.

So here is my post: Post post post. (NSFW)

Will post more later, when I wake up.

-iRob

"And isn't it ironic, doncha think?"
-Alanis Morissette

Vanity, thy name is Professor Farnsworth!

I couldn't resist.

Hot on the heels of Slashboing, as ever, is my latest post. I'm not feeling terribly creative right now so this is a shameless rip off of my good friend's recent entry.

Come on, though. You can't tell me that you aren't curious as well. Check it out here. Do you hear the voice I heard? "Come on, you know you want to. Dooo it."

So I opened my Pandora's box. Kent gets Russel Crowe and Tom Cruise. I get attractive women and Art Garfunkel. Sigh.

-iRob

“There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it”
-Mark Twain

My wish is your command

Argh!

If you care to read the comments on my last post, Dr. Haggis has made it too damn easy for me to spend my money. He arranged for the creation of this baby at a passing comment of mine:


Kent - Please stop pinching out merchandise that sings to my soul - It's getting expensive.

-iRob

"I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something."
-Jackie Mason

A good time had by all

In the aftermath of the lastest anual Con-Version I have come to realize something.

Even with the toys, the panels, the guests, the costumes, and everything else, what really makes a Con great are the people.

I have just been to one of the best Cons I have ever been to, and the reason is the people. The people who flew in to meet us all, the people who came to see and enjoy, but by far and large the people who made it work.

I can't express enough thanks to Kent and Rae for putting this together. It was more than great, it was amazing. The sheer amount of work and sacrifice they made to make certain that all things were right at all times is staggering. I can only hope that in all of that they had a few moments to indulge as well as create, but I think that they did. Thank you two, it was wonderful.

Special thanks to Michelle as well for putting together the TruceFest Dance. A wild, exciting evening of music, drink, and dance. Truly it was a Disco Inferno.

And a special note on this years programming - This year Con was honored to have a special guest, Jeremy Bulloch. For any non-geeks who have stumbled across my blog by mistake, Jeremy is the most feared bounty-hunter in the galaxy, as well as a world-class great guy.

I was thrilled to have some time to speak with Jeremy, and gain his insights into the original Star Wars Trilogy, the prequels, and miscelaneous other things. All in all he is pleasant, funny, and infinitely patient when confronted by a human wall of adoration, such as getting cornered in every public area he visited. Possibly best of all, he is a Boba Fett fan, a fact which makes me grin uncontrollably, and I'm not sure why.

Thank you everyone, for making this the most memorable convention I have ever been to.

-iRob

"Tell me what company thou keepst, and I'll tell thee what thou art."
-Miguel de Cervantes

Mmm.. Cheese..

Take 5 cups of your favorite small pasta. (I like rotini.) Start that boiling in a huge pot.

While that is cooking, in a large bowl combine one can of condensed mushroom soup, 1/2 cups milk, 2/3 cup each (chunks, not grated) of cheddar, mozzarella, and swiss cheese, and 1/2 cup of bacon bits. (Real, unless religion forbids.) Nuke that for 2 min on high and then stir, and then two more minutes and stir at the end.

At this point start your oven and set it to 450 degrees ferenheight, but on 'broil' so it's only hot from the top.

When the pasta is 95% done, (very slightly chewy) strain it and pour it into a large oven safe pan. Add the (now melted) cheesy, gooey, mushroomy bacon mix and stir thoroughly.

Grate equal parts cheddar, swiss, and mozza again until you have 2 cups of cheese. (About as much as before.) Sprinkle that on top of the mix and try to cover it evenly. Then sprinkle another 1/3 of a cup of bacon bits on top.

By now your oven light should be out, meaning that the oven is hot enough. Put this all in for around 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is browning and crispy.

Then eat this:



Then die happy.

-iRob

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all."
-Harriet Van Horne