Grimenstien's Lab

Not quite a year.

Fri, 22 May 2009 10:50:58 GMT

I meant to do a post on my birthday, but that never materialized. Lazy me.

Anyway, I could do an update as to what happened over the last year, but it would sound all emo and such. So, I'll just say it was kind a little depressing. But, what's life without some ups and downs, Eh?

Off to Anime Boston this weekend. Next weekend in The Funspot's annual classic arcade game tournament.

Hopefully, I'll be more diligent in updating of this journal. I give it about a month before I lose interest again.

Red ring of Death!

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:46:56 GMT

My Xbox360 has just come down with a bad case of redringofdeathitis. I am not happy. I've got those 3 red lights mocking me.

A few days with family.

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:01:56 GMT

Camping was fun, like it always is.

The six hour car trip from Coventry, RI to Hershey PA was no more or less annoying than any other car trip. We didn't leave when we planned to because of a few nuisances, such as the family's boat sinking. That's right, it SANK. I think it's kinda funny. The water behind our house is pretty shallow, so it didn't sink very far. It's been salvaged and taken for repairs, so it'll be fine. There were other delays and whatnot, but that's the most amusing.

We got there around 10pm and were the first to arrive. This was problematic, as the only lantern we brought broke on the way down somehow. No flashlights either, as they had been forgotten. We had enough batteries for them, but sadly no flashlights. We also didn't have our camp hatchet/hammer to pound in the tent pegs either. This state of ill-preparedness is particularly embarrassing for a pair of Eagle Scouts.(my father and I) We eventually got things set up and we all went to bed. The rest of the clan arrived the next day.

It rained on both Friday and Saturday. Not for very long each day, so it didn't ruin the day for us. We went to Chocolate World on Friday and to Hershey Park on Saturday. It was fun. It's always nice to catch up with the family. Some of my cousins had expressed sadness that I hadn't been able to make it down for Christmas the past few years. I told them I'd make a better effort this year. All in all, I enjoyed myself and it gave me a lot of time to think.

We returned on Sunday, and I made the error of mentioning that I also had Monday off. So, my Dad pounced on that and I helped him with some stuff at my house and then at his house. It really didn't take long and he seemed real happy that I was helping him take care of his house for a change, so I guess I really can't complain. I'll probably be helping out his place a little more in the future.

I had a nice conversation with Libby. She wants me to start working out with her after work sometimes. I think I will. It's about time I stopped being such a fatass. Tomorrow morning I'm getting up early to take my parent's dog, Linus, out for a walk. Gotta start somewhere, right?

My family and I all went to see Wall-E tonight. I really liked it. I've said that about a lot of movies recently, but I think they've all be valid statements. I got quite a few really good laughs out of it, and I thought it was very cute and clever.

dot dot dot...

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:05:56 GMT

Well, Stephanie and I are going to try being friends for a while. I'm not going to go into details, but for now I think this is best. I still felt pretty mopey yesterday, so I went on a vegetative movie binge. I watched Bambi 2(only to hear Patrick Stewart's voice, I swear) Cars, a Ronin Warriors OVA and the Batman Beyond Movie (Not Return of the Joker, the beginning movie).

Right now I'm preparing to go to Camping for the weekend. It should be a good time. I'll be back Sunday late evening.

Movie critics can bite me.

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:51:57 GMT

I would like to talk about 2 movies. Speed Racer and Get Smart. I was highly entertained by both movies. Are they blockbusters? No. Are they entertaining? You bet your ass they are! I think I've seen maybe 4 episodes of Speed Racer and Get Smart combined, so I didn't have a whole lot to go on for each movie, but I found both films to be fairly silly and entertaining. Neither movie should be taken seriously, which is what I thing these so called "critics" who saw the movies did. I'm looking forward to when Speed Racer comes out on DVD.

I honestly can't think of any real criticism for Get Smart. I really can't. Is it ridiculous? You bet. Does it take itself seriously? Nope. Are there events that would never ever ever occur in real life. Sure, but what move doesn't? Is every line of dialog a joke of some sort? Just about. Slapstick? You betcha. And there's a reason for much of this. The first few lines of the credits reveal that Mel Brooks was a consultant for the movie.

Mel Brooks.

XD

Play the silly turkey game!

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:33:57 GMT

This is what I've been saying all weekend.

I'm at The Funspot's 10th annual classic arcade tournament put on by Twin Galaxies every year. I'm having a lot of fun. I suck at 9 out of the 10 games, but I'm #1 at a very silly shooting game called.......Turkey Shooter.

It is very silly.

I may or may not stay until the end of the tournament. I haven't decided yet. It ends at 5, but I wanted to be home by 5 to see my girlfriend for our usual Children's Show and family dinner get together. I suppose I'll make a real decision tomorrow.

Funny how that works out.

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:07:31 GMT

I've just had an interesting chain of events happen to me. I find it rather amusing.

I had to dress in business casual today and tomorrow. Silly me, I packed pants, shoes and underthings, but no shirts. I mention this last night at dinner and initially intended to go buy a couple of shirts rather than drive all the way to Bradford from my parent's house (easily $15+) just for a shirt. My mother actually produces a polo shirt in my size she bought from Job Lot intending to give it to me anyway. Lucky me.

I go to work today, and go to a "Town Hall" meeting. (The very reason i needed to dress up) We sit through a presentation of Metlife stuff, and then get to ask questions. I ask a moderately useful question. Now, all day I've been regretting not having a t-shirt on under my polo shirt, like I ususally do and really wanted one for tomorrow. Low and behold, the pass out little prizes to people with the guts to ask a question. My prize? A Metlife T-shir commemorating 20 years of the Metlife Blimp. Score.

After work, I head to Stephanie's work to say hi. I end up buying some Pirate fruit drink (which are very tasty) and she pays me back for a donation a made to the Children's show a few weeks ago. It was our first joint "purchase". We each donated $50 to the URI radio station during a fund raiser, and this was her share. Actually having some money, I decided to go to the Job Lot near my house to buy another cheap polo shirt for tomorrow. I buy a black shirt (thrillsville) and scope out the place.

I hadn't actually been in a Job Lot for a long time. It was still the same old "fell off the truck" feeling I got in the other stores, but it was weird. The building used to be a Walmart. Which I find very amusing, given that Barry is probably going to be working at that location and given his past Walmart employment.

But now to the last bit, which is the funny part. Upon exiting the store, I see one of those claw machines. You know the ones that have all the stuffed things in them and you try to grab 'em? It cost $1.00 for to tries. In my wallet, I know I've got a 20, and ten, and a 1. Now these weren't your average cheap crap. Some of the stuff looked really nice, so I slide in a buck. The claw comes to life and I scan for something I want. There was a full sized Carebear, some other cute stuff, and a lot of other crap to choose from. Low an behold, in the corner of the bin, in the back is see a blue fuzzy lump. It's a Stitch! Huh. First attempt goes horribly awry, as the claw bumps into some other stuffed thing and grasps at nothing. Failure. Undaunted, I try again. It grabs and starts to life. At first I thought it had grasped at nothing again. However, it appeared that it's leg was caught in the prongs. A few seconds later, I' was staring at my $1.00 Stitch plush. Not bad.

So, 2 new shirts, a t-shirt to comfortably wear tomorrow, and I won at the claw game. Sweet. Even better, now I'm off to see Speed Racer with Stephanie. What a nice day.

Huh.

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:17:56 GMT

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Wizard/Cleric (2nd/2nd Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-12

Dexterity-11

Constitution-12

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-14

Charisma-15

Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Secondary Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron's vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity's domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric's Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (26)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (25)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (18)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (22)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (21)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Chaotic Evil ---- XXX (3)

Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Chaos --- XXX (3)

Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Evil ---- (0)

Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Dwarf ---- XXXXXX (6)
Elf ------ XX (2)
Gnome ---- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Halfling - XXXXXX (6)
Half-Elf - XXXXXX (6)
Half-Orc - XXXXXXXXXX (10)

Class:
Barbarian - (-25)
Bard ------ (-17)
Cleric ---- XXXX (4)
Druid ----- (-23)
Fighter --- (0)
Monk ------ (0)
Paladin --- (0)
Ranger ---- (-2)
Rogue ----- (-4)
Sorcerer -- (0)
Wizard ---- XXXX (4)

21/49

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:00:15 GMT

We're putting up railings on the stairs this week at the house. That's it. It'll be finished as far as large projects go. A little yard work and some cleaning and it's out on the market it goes. We've actually hired the Real Estate Agent that sold us the house in the first place. She was impressed with what we did with it and thinks we can turn a pretty good profit.

It surprises me just how much I inadvertently learned with this house. I can almost describe myself as being fairly handy. I can paint. I can put up drywall and spackle. I can lay tile flooring and make it look nice. I can build a room/put up walls and such. I could put a roof on a house. It somehow feels very strange when I realize I know how to do this stuff. Sure, most of it is pretty basic, but at least I could take care of my own house.

11/49

Insert coin..........It's the Children't show! 90.3 WRIU!

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:44:34 GMT

I'd like to take a moment to point out my favorite radio show. Every Sunday, from 5pm to 8pm, the URI radio station, 90.3, puts on a "children's show" that amuses Stephanie and myself to no end. We make a point of listening to it every week if we can. Anybody can call in and request a wide variety of songs. They'll play almost anything they've got on file. We usually request television openings or silly songs. It's called the children's show, but it's not limited to children's programming. I've heard the opening to Police Squad and other more mature programming. They'll also play video game inspired music and/or soundtracks. I've requested several anime openings. I've never requested anything too obscure, though. I recommend trying it out at least once. It's kind of heartwarming to be driving along and hear some random gem from a show or movie you haven't thought about in years. Suddenly you feel like, "Aww, I loved this show" or "Wow, that movie was great" or "I can't believe anybody else remembereds this"

Some of our favorites include:
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
and
The 5 Second Rule

1/49

Oh yes, Livejournal.

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:44:09 GMT

Happy Easter, everyone. Even if you don't celebrate Easter, there's no reason I can't wish you a happy one. If it's just another day to you, then I've still wished you a good day, haven't I? My family has already eaten Easter dinner, as my dad had to head in to Channel 10 for the 4:30-Midnight shift. Tasty tasty Ham. MMmmm.... I'll be here waiting for him to watch the new Justice League animated feature when he gets back. It looks nifty. I gave it to him on his birthday about a week or so ago.

The house should be on the market by early April. Even with the housing dilemma, we should be ok. It's south county, and I'm told that I've got nothing to worry about. It will sell and I'll have a nice tidy profit.

My relationship with Stephanie is going extremely well. We have an emotional hiccup every now and again, but what relationship doesn't. We enjoy each other's company very much. I'm going to head over to her house in a little while. They haven't eaten yet, so I don't know what I'm going to do while they eat. (so very not hungry) But, she would like me there so I'm going. Maybe I'll play on my new PSP.

I bought a PSP, by the way. I cashed in some "coins" from work and got about $200 American express gift cards. Then, I cashed in some DS games I don't or have never played and got some more stuff. All in all, I spent $15 on a Psp, memory stick, 5 games, and a reservation on the Ghostbusters video game coming out in October (hopefully).

Anyway, I've been feeling a card game itch recently. Next time I'm able, I'm going to reorganize nearly every CCG I've got and put them into clearly labeled boxes. There are so many of them. Raw Deal (dead game), Shadowfist (Alive, but not widely sold), UFS (alive, but not actively buying), RAGE (Fan supported only), Lord of the Rings (Dead game), 7th sea (dead), MS War (Dead)

What I'd really like to do is start going to some Shadowfist tournaments. There are some coming up that seem like doable. Shadofist.com started listing all the tournaments being run recently and I know I should be able to make the Connecticon tourney. I'd love to go to Gencon, but that's probably not going to happen. Oh well.

Vacation starts Friday.

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:19:11 GMT

I've decided to take an impromptu vacation. I've been feeling stressed out at work and had about 5 vacation days that were going to be added to the 5 I had carried over from last year. I felt that a nice relaxing week doing nothing would feel pretty good. Limited plans include Golden Compass viewing with Stephanie tomorrow, and then playing History of the World at Uri with the guys. Saturday is a holiday movie in the AM with my mother. The Showcase shows holiday movies on Saturday mornings that are free with canned good donation. This week it's The Grinch (the feature film) After that I'm picking Stephanie up for a get together at Sean and Eileen's apartment, with should be a lot of fun. I'm having new carpet up in the house on Tuesday, so I'm gonna be there while they do that. I go back to work on Friday, then off again for the weekend. Starting Thursday night, I have to pet-sit at my parent's place as they're off to Florida for the weekend.

I received a pleasant surprise today when I logged on to Xbox live. There was a Culdcept demo available! Woot! It looks very spiffy. The computer's intelligence seems to be tooled up a little bit. I can't tell if it is still a dirty cheater or not. It landed on my tolls and couldn't kill my monster enough times that it seemed fair. There is some new card art and some art carried over from the old game. Some cards got new rules text and I got to see quite a few newer cards. Unfortunately, the you don't get to edit the starter decks and such in the demo, but that's understandable. Vs mode can carry up to 4 people and you can choose from one of 5 starter decks. There are new creature and spell mechanics on the new stuff that is really cool, such as certain spells letting you cast an additional spell after it, and creatures that get a territory command as soon as you put them down. I can't wait for it to come out. Maybe I'll take that day off of work and play that all day.

Not staying up late tonight. Going to catch up on some Zzzs and get up whenever I wake up.

Ups, downs, lefts, rights....I threw them out the window.

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 23:03:31 GMT

It's been quite a while hasn't it? Well, in reference to my last post, I did get my luggage back the next day. Now let's move on other stuff.Lots of things have happened since August.

My relationship with Stephanie is going smoothly and better than I had ever hoped for. Yay us! We spend almost all of our free time together. I pattern most of my free time around what her schedule is. The exception to this Friday nights. Even before we started dating, she knew I was part of the Friday night gaming group Sean is part of and, as she puts it, "Friday nights are sacred". I've assured her they are most assuredly not "sacred" as I've missed them in the past to do other things, but she's ok with that being a set gaming night. She attends family dinner with me every Sunday, which is what I'm now waiting for. We watch anime and movies, go shopping, and just generally hang out.

In other places, things are not looking quite so hot for Mr. Grimm. I need to have my transmission rebuilt. It's always been rough when going into third gear, but my engine light came on, and now I know that there is an actual problem. I also need to get a catalytic converter replaced. That's $700.00 for the transmission, $300 for the converter. I'm on money saving mode now, which really blows. No unnecessary trips. No unnecessary purchases. Nothing major, anyway. I also need to cut down on what driving I do while the car is sick.

I've been watching more of my backlog of dvds recently. Every morning, I watch a few episodes before I go to work and/or an episode or two before I go to bed. I finished the first season of Avatar, the entire Sonc the Hedgehog SatAm series, Happy Lesson, my one dvd of Cyborg 009 and I'm working on Kikaider. I think the next one on my list is either Nuku Nuku DASH! or the first season of Dragonball Z.

I'm inviting a number of people over for after Thanksgiving gaming on Friday. I'll be sending out emails later tonight.

I've done a variety of other things, but it's time to go pick up Stephanie. So, in parting....

Lets101 - Free Online Dating

Figures.

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 05:33:03 GMT

Guess who's luggage is lost.

Trapped in an airport again.

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:28:06 GMT

Seriously, I just can't win.

I've spent the last week down in Florida, and I've had a great time. More on that later. Today is my flight back. You all should know my luck with airports by now.....

My father and sister's flight was early, so they had to be at the airport by 7:30am. My mother and other sister are leaving Orlando, so I have to stay here at the airport. My flight leaves at 6:30pm. We packed up and left early this morning without breakfast and came here. Because my flight leaves later tonight, I can't check my bag. They won't let me check it until 6 hours before the flight. So, I'm stuck outside of security at least 'till then. Guess where the the food courts are? Right outside the terminals. *sigh* Jake and his father are eventually going to come and pick me up to hang out for a while before my flight. They may or may not come before 12:30. *sigh*

I got a ride to the airport early Tuesday morning thanks to barryr and spent about an hour or so more than I really needed to at the terminal. I overestimated how long I had to be there. Better safe than sorry, right? Anyway, I barely make my connection. They were boarding my flight about when I landed, and I had to rush to make it. Once on the plane, we spent about 1/2 an hour sitting there due to the fact that a truck had broken down directly behind the plane. >.<

We spend a few days at Universal Studios this year. They closed my favorite attraction, though. No more Back to the Future the Ride. It's eventually going to be some kind of Simpsons ride, I think. Shreck 4D was pretty cool, as was the Spider Man ride. Sadly, I was highly embarrassed that some of the roller coasters were a very tight fit. They have special seats on each ride for people with "Larger body dimensions" *sigh* I had to sit in the fat seats. :(

I did get to see three movies while I was down here. I saw The Last Legion, Bourne Ultimatum, and Live Free or Die Hard. The Last Legion was kinda bad. It made me want to go watch Gladiator. I haven't seen the other 2 Bourne movies, so the third one didn't make too much sense to me. Live Free or Die Hare was AWESOME! I'd forgotten how much fun Die Hard movies are. John McClane spends the whole movie just annoyed. He didn't even seem that angry, he was just fed up and started kicking butt. I'm definitely buying this one when it comes out. I think Barry is a Die Hard fan, maybe we'll watch one or more when I get back.

We got a 2 room hotel suite with a built in kitchen this year. Two full beds in one room and a queen in the other. I was kicked out of the bedroom because my snoring kept my grandmother awake. I spend the last 2 nights on the couch. Nice.

This wasn't the greatest vacation I've ever had, but I've had worse. This was my first ever Paid vacation, so that was kinda cool. I'll be glad to get home to see Stephanie, though. I missed her.

Fantastic.

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:06:27 GMT

Renee is gone.
Libby is partially moved out.
I spent spend a fantastic evening with a woman I care about and hope to see a lot more of.

Wow. ^.^

So I went on a date last night.

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 06:16:14 GMT

I was reacquainted with a girl from High School named Stephanie at the wedding and wedding reception. We hit it off and I asked her out. We just watched a movie and then talked most of the night. She just went home a little while ago. I really like her. She thinks I'm cute. Cuddly too ^.^ We're going to see each other again on Saturday night after she gets out of work. I'm helping move Renee out of my house on Saturday, too. Goodbye annoying roommate!

I may not get to keep the house, but at least life is getting to be a whole lot more pleasant.

Well, that ends that.

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 05:01:36 GMT

Had a nice time at the post rehearsal party on Friday.
I was one of the Groomsman in a friend's wedding on Saturday, then had fun talking to a girl at the reception.
Went to another friend's graduation party on Sunday.
I got the appraisal on my house back on Monday.

Failure. I can't keep my house. The end.
I'm sorry to everybody whom I bothered about renting from me.

I'm going to play the demo of Dynasty Warriors Gundam until I fall asleep now.

***Edit*****

My father is still trying to convince me that I should go ahead with it. He thinks we can make it work with the loan, but I would just owe my sister the remainder to be paid when I eventually sell this house. I would basically owe her a percentage of the house on it's sale.

I refused.

I've had issues with my sister for years. She's a college dropout, who managed to find a job 100 times better than mine, but managed to fuck it up, and now she's off to live with my aunt FOR FREE and taking this pharmacy teck course that my parents are paying for and may well end up getting her a job that would still pay more than mine IF she doesn't screw it up.

And I'm supposed to be indebted to her? No. My tattered pride and what's left of my dignity will not allow it. I know I sound bitter, and I admit that I am. I just can't stand it any more. She puts almost no effort into life and it just seems to come out roses for her.

I show up in in the daily statistics at work as Grimm, Cliffo

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 03:50:59 GMT

Therefore, at work I am known as Cliff'o the Grimm. I have weird coworkers.

Things are running as smoothly as can be expected in the world of Cliff'o the Grimm. I met again with the mortgage guy from Washington Trust, and liked what he had to say, and somebody is coming to appraise the house next week. If the house comes back at what we think it will, then we're all set. Either too high or too low, then I'm in trouble. Oh well. The hardest task in front of me right now is finding a renter. My first few choices turned me down for entirely understandable reasons. There are some offers on the table that haven't gotten back to me yet. Tim and Debbie are looking at a house later this month, and if they either a) like it a lot or b) are able to force a low price down the owner's throat, then they may go with that. If not, they say they'll probably rent from me. It hadn't occurred to me rent this room out to two people untill Tim suggested it. Even if they don't rent together, Deb said she'd consider it herself if they don't get the house. Tim and Deb are awesome, so it would be pretty cool having them as roommates.

I'm still accepting applications, so if anybody who actually reads this journal needs a room and are fairly reliable about payment, comment and I'll send you the cost sheet I have for the room.

Flew out to AC last Friday after work.
Got off the plane. Bused it to the hotel. I almost went to the wrong hotel by saying "Whyndam" instead of "Westin" That would have been very bad. Got there too late for registration, so I found my roomies and just hung out the rest of the night. There are a bunch of Smash Bros fanatics, so i ended up watching/playing that for a good chunk of the con. I got to see the guest of honor's Q&A session, which was cool. Rob Paulsen is a funny guy. I wanted to slap a few of the questionnaires, but it was mostly pretty cool.

I watched one of my roomies get really really drunk. His brother got real concerned and had to watch him for a while. He was running the Smash Tournament, so I gathered all his equipment, went down to the game room and announced his delay. After the setup, I went to playe RAGE with fenris_lorsrai and a large group of newcomers. I was forbidden from using the puppy deck. Game is so much fun. :p

I got next to nothing in the way of commissions, but I got a couple of pieces in the art show. I did a lot of aimless wandering, too. Not a particularly eventful or goal oriented con. Just hanging out.

I'm off to Connecticon and a Bachelor party tomorrow. Going down with barryr and then dashing off to Mohegan sun for the dinner/party bachelor thing being thrown by the groom's new father-in-law. Weird. His Wedding is next weekend.

Wow, I'm a busy guy! After this weekend's con and party, there's a wedding next weekend, I hope to close on my house by the end of the month, I may drive to FAU, and then I go on a week's vacation to Florida. Go me?

One last note. There's a Gundam game coming out in the style of the Dynasty Warriors games. If I can't play as Zechs Merquise and use the Tallgeese, then I'm gonna be pissed. They even got Brian Drummond to reprise his roll. Sweet!

And the saga continues.

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:56:57 GMT

I keep meaning to make a life update here. Instead, I've put it off so now I only get to post the latest stuff. Oh well. That'll teach me.

Before I go into the life update, let me say this. Ratatouille is very very entertaining! I just saw it with my Dad. It's kinda strange that my father wanted to go see that with me today. The suggestion just kinda came out of nowhere after we finished the day's work on the house.

Speaking of the house, for the last 2 years I've been telling people that I'm going to make a bunch of money off my house by avoiding capitol gains taxes and selling. That's not the plan anymore. Now I want to keep it. Working on this house has taught me a great many things. It's also made me very attached to it. I've met with a Washington Trust and I'm refinancing my mortgage. My sister's getting paid off and I'm keeping the house. Pretty cool huh?

This house is only affordable if I have two roommates. I still have Bob. Renee and Libby are moving out. PRAISE GOD!!! Now I just have to secure a second. First dibs goes to barryr. I've always told him that I'd have a place for him, and I felt he deserved first crack at the room. I'm currently awaiting his decision. He's with his Dad for the weekend, and they're discussing his options. Next up on the list is zotmeister. I had planned to buy a house with the proceeds from this somewhere in between his work and mine. In keeping this house, I'm going back on that plan. I hadn't expected any interest from him due to the fact that his work is at least 45 minutes away. However, he has a coworker who lives in Bradford, so he'd be able to carpool. The next stop on the offer train is theperfectdoug. Another scheme of mine was, after the sale, getting an apartment close to work. The original time frame had me finishing the house about the same time his current lease was up. That date's come an gone, but I still would like to offer it to him if Zotmeiser doesn't take it.I've made a few other offers, but nothing as concrete in my mind. If anybody else is interested, comment here and I'll email you the preliminary details of the costs involved.

Keeping the house has also been made possible by my employment at the MetLife call center. The pay is good, and my boss is really impressed by my progress. I'm doing all the right things in order to progress internally. I'm much happier there, and I hope the people around me have noticed the changes in my personality. This job has provided me a set schedule, a reasonable pay, and nice little touches that I can look forward to.

There are more updates I want to make, like little epiphanies and observations that I want to share. But it is getting late, and I'm a little tired. Another update tomorrow morning maybe.

Calling all Star Trek Fans

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 11:50:16 GMT

I need episode suggestions.

My friend barryr is a die hard Star Wars fan. He's never really bothered with Star Trek stuff, because of the sheer volume of things he'd have to catch up on. I think that's a shame, as Star Trek is fun to watch. (at least in my book) I want him to at least watch some of the movies, but he wants some background from the original series first.

What I need: Key Episodes from The Original Series. I'm downloading episodes onto my Xbox 360 (Dam you Microsoft points! Addicting!) and I would like suggestions. I've already downloaded "Space Seed" and "The Doomsday Machine" We needed the Kahn episode, and I just really like the Doomsday Machine episode.

I'm off to the Funspot Classic Arcade Museum for the weekend. See you all Sunday night.

Another birthday has come and gone.

Sat, 19 May 2007 07:28:36 GMT

I've now been on this planet for a quarter century.

I have friends over to the house, with more coming in the morning. Just a nice little gathering. Mostly the shadowfist players. There will also be video gaming. I broke down and got an xbox 360, so that's going to be tested a bit.

Life is pretty good right now. The house is growing ever closer to completion, I like my job, and I have a cool easygoing social life. Not much to complain about here.

Camping

Sun, 06 May 2007 23:24:58 GMT

Back from camping. We took a nice 6 hour drive to the mountains of Pennsylvania for the annual family camping trip. Everybody had a lot of fun. Even my 84 year old grandmother went. That was quite the surprise to my Aunts. My grandmother swore she'd never go camping again years ago. My mother invited her, and said ok. We kept that a secret from my mother's sisters for months. It was worth the wait. ^.^

Camping is always great with my family. We just mostly hang out by the campfire and tell stories. I got a lot of questions about how I like my new job. I told them how much I'd learned and how much I'm enjoying it. Plus, there was lots of good camp food. I also managed to get past a particularly troublesome segment of Phoenix Wright: Justice for All.

Back home now. Mom and Dad have to work tonight, so we left a bit earlier than usual. I cleaned up the waterfront of my parent's house a bit as a thanks for the trip, then came home and mowed my own lawn. I'm a little sore and tired right now. But, it's all good.

I have a kitty cat now. My sister never got her cat spayed, and now it's had kittens. (shocker -.- ) Anyway, I've decided to keep one of the three. Two look like their mother. I'm keeping the one that does not. She's a grayish color, and smaller than the others. I think she'll be a dwarf cat like her mother, and thus look like a kitten forever. I've decided to call her Mia.

Now it's off to Disgaea. I'm about to start chapter 4, but having fun with the item world first. Laharl's got a level 2 Imperial seals,(one level ten) and a Dark Rosary. He's evil, and likes it that way.

Disgaea

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:35:16 GMT

Once again. This game has proven one fact for me.

I am no match for Mid-boss.

My first attempt failed miserably. I didn't opt for the new game+. I just turned the game off and went to bed, in shame. I beat him this morning, after redoing the first few stages for experience and money. My party consists of Laharl, Etna, 8 Prinnys, and one low level human warrior named Cliff. He's got an ax. I save enough points to make him "Average" rather than the good-for-nothing Prinnys I've got.

DOOD!

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 02:50:14 GMT

A week after the event:
I had a load of fun. I picked up Barry after work on Friday, and we arrived in Boston fairly late. We were still in time to get to Registration before in closed. We found the rest of our adventuring party, and I manged to catch the very end of Versus.

Saturday morning I got up and brought in donuts for the crew. I left the crew to go watch an anime that I'd been in search of for about a decade. One day back when I was in high school, I was flipping channels on Saturday morning. One of the Boston TV stations (channel 38 I believe) was showing this anime. I stopped to watch, as it was fairly cool. They showed it ALL DAY. I think it was still going long after I had to leave. I must have watched 10 or more episodes that day. I got into it, but never saw the ending. They never showed it again. I remember the english title was Technoman or some such thing. I was bummed that I never saw the end, but didn't really search too hard for it. The schedule for the con said Tekkaman Blade. Hmm....that sounds fammiliar. So I watched. Bingo. I found a good deal on the entire series in the dealer's room later that day.

Hentai dubbing was so funny, it was painful. Or maybe it was so painful it was funny. I forget.

The AMV competition was cool. Lots of fun. Especially the pun that I'm ashamed to say I never thought of. Anime-niacs. Heheh...
They also showed Haloid. If you're fan of Halo and/or Metroid, you should search this out.

I could not find a Prinny to save my life. Annoyance.

Lots of awesome Cosplaying going on. I saw at least 3 crews of people going around as the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Crew. Lots of other nifty things, too. Cosplay chess was hilarious. I am very very tempted give cosplaying a try.

I got to meet a webcomic artist that I think is really cool. Bought some stuff from him, too. You can check out his stuff at www.venisproductions.com Angel Moxie is funny and adorable. Realms of Ishikaze is great. Apparently, he shares my dislike of the Narutarded, as he drew a number of sketches that he had for sale, that Barry and I promptly purchased.

The initial confrontation.....

A simple beating is too good for them.

It appears that more extreme measures are needed.

The best solutions are often the simplest.

And that was Anime Boston. A good time was had by all.