Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Great Weekend

I had a very nice weekend, although since I had to work on Saturday so I didn’t get as much rest, sleep, or time as I would have liked. Friday when I got off work Ke came over to she and I could drove down to Bloomington to go to a party with muppetofthenight and my sister. We had to nap before we left since we were both so tired, and on the way to the party we stopped at my mom’s to pick up a dishwasher.

I had fun at J031’s birthday party, even though Ke and I couldn’t stay late since she had class in the morning and I had to work. We made it back to my apartment alive and slept until I had to go to work and she to class. We were anticipating trouble getting downtown because of a marathon that day, but while Ke had problems dealing with the marathon fans I got in without incident.

For a Saturday, work wasn’t actually that bad. When I got off work I intended to go straight to St. Louis to see Ra, but I forgot my cell phone hands-free so I had to run home before leaving town. The drive was long but uneventful, and I got into St. Louis around ten PM, calling to tease Ra that I was just leaving.

Saturday night Ra and I kissed, cuddled, and snuggled up on the couch to watch Buffy season five. Ra’s husband Sckl had to go to bed earlier than we did, so we turned the sound down and watched two more episodes with the subtitles on since our hearing isn’t the greatest. Ra and I stayed up long enough to finish the first disc, and then joined Sckl in sleep.

Sunday morning Ra and Sckl let me sleep late, while Ra grabbed a shower and Sckl made us breakfast. I got up and ate, and the three of us re-watched the Buffys that Sckl missed because he went to bed earlier than Ra and I. We discussed what we wanted to do that day, and decided to go comic shopping before Sckl’s date with M@-6.

Sckl and I grabbed showers and snuggled Ra until Sckl had to leave for his date. Ra and I went out comic shopping and grabbed lunch. We went back to her apartment and snuggled more before moving to the living room to watch more Buffy. We ordered pizza and watched Buffy until Sckl came home, paused it to hang out until he went to bed, and then stayed up watching more.

Monday morning after staying up late watching Buffy with Ra I slept for about four hours before having to get on the road back to Indianapolis. I reluctantly kissed Ra good-bye, wishing I could stay longer, and then drove back to Indy, going directly to work. Work was busy but got quieter towards the end of the day since I’m back on the late shift, so I had time to catch up.

I went to Jero’s after work, with the intention to hang out and MUX. Unfortunately, I was so tired after four hours of sleep, four hours of driving, and eight hours of work, that I was too tired to RP and instead semi-idled on the MUX while discussed Gen Con plans with Jero. Eventually I became too cranky and sleepy to even do that, so Jero and I gave up and went to bed.


“Already, the Kay report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations."
-- President George W. Bush, in his State of the Union address, on evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq

"I don't think they existed."
-- David Kay, after stepping down as the U.S. special adviser leading the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, on the lack of evidence proving Saddam Hussein's alleged arsenal (Newsweek)

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Designated Control Freak

I think this is a *great* idea. I do a bit of this already, but making it policy sounds perfect.

From http://www.polyamorousmisanthrope.com/ --

Designated Control Freak

One of the issues that often arise in poly situations — especially in group living is who decides what gets done.

Sure, sure, a consensus model works. But have you ever gotten more than two people to happily agree on more than 50% of decisions? (The “happily” part is important in the long run. Just going along without being happy means that you’re gonna have some resentment along the line).

When the consensus model won’t work, there’s another option: The Designated Control Freak.

I found out about the whole concept of the DCF from a good friend of mine, and thought it was funny and cute and a nifty way to solve decision issues. I told my roommate about it, who also thought it was cute, so we jokingly implemented it.

It was at least six months before we internalized the awesome power of the system.


( The System )

Friday, April 18, 2008

Experts: Titanic sank due to 'weak rivets'

You know, I'm no metallurgist, but...

From http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/18/titanic.rivets.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest# --

Experts: Titanic sank due to 'weak rivets'

NEW YORK (AP) -- The tragic sinking of the Titanic nearly a century ago can be blamed on low-grade rivets that the ship's builders used on some parts of the ill-fated liner, two experts on metals conclude in a new book.

The company, Harland and Wolff of Belfast, Northern Ireland, needed to build the ship quickly and at reasonable cost, which may have compromised quality, said co-author Timothy Foecke.

That the shipyard was building two other vessels at the same time added to the difficulty of getting the millions of rivets needed, he added.


( More... )

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Family Weekend

This past weekend I spent a lot of time with my immediate family. Saturday after I got off work, I waited a bit until Chhu and muppetofthenight got into Bloomington, and then headed down to help Chhu move into muppetofthenight’s apartment. When I got there two of their friends were helping already, which made things go pretty smoothly, aside from the fact that Chhu’s stuff was going to three different locations.

Sunday morning I didn’t get back until late from hanging out with Chhu and muppetofthenight, so I slept in before driving down to have dinner with my mom for her birthday. I took Chhu, Mom, and my Aunt Jamcde out to the Great Wall for dinner, and then we took her shopping for food staples since she just moved to Bloomington as well. Then I helped Chhu move more stuff before heading back.

I’m happy Chhu has moved to Bloomington, and it’s good that Mom is nearby as well. With all of us in-state, I’ll be able to see Chhu more often, and as a happy side-effect, get to see A13 and muppetofthenight more as well. I’ll be able to help Chhu take care of Mom more often, which will take some of the stress off of her. And now Chhu lives close enough to role-play again! W00t! B^)



"Everyone is a citizen of the world. But living in America for me has been my life, and I'm very thankful for living here. To be able to now say I am American is nice."
-- French figure-skating champion Surya Bonaly, who became a U.S. citizen in Las Vegas (San Jose Mercury News)

Announcing Google Weblogs (beta)

*snicker* This will make blogging MUCH easier!

From http://buzz.blogger.com/2008/04/announcing-google-weblogs-beta.html --

Announcing Google Weblogs (beta)
April 1, 2008permalink
Today we’d like to offer you a sneak peek at an exciting new product we’ve been working on: Google Weblogs.

Since Google bought Pyra Labs in 2002, we’ve been dreaming, planning, and implementing the next revolution in personal publishing: Google Weblogs.

Google Weblogs, or “GWeblogs,” or “Gblogs,” which will launch later this year in a public beta, is the next revolution in personal publishing. Here’s what you can expect:

Don’t limit yourself to “reverse chronological” publishing. Our advanced Google algorithms put your best content at the top of your blog. Even if your later work goes downhill your previous posts will still shine.
No more template languages to mess with or sidebars to get right. Our advanced Google algorithms automatically populate your blog’s sidebar with the most relevant possible content.

Stop worrying about your PageRank or your search engine optimization. Post directly into Google search results for maximum visibility.
Save your readers time and effort. We’ll automatically extract the most relevant sentence from your post for the index page, along with any necessary ellipsis. We'll also put some words in bold!

Your blog’s header will stay fresh with new images from our team of artists, each and every anniversary of a scientific achievement.
Unsure of what to post about? Just click “I’m Feeling Lucky” and we’ll “take care” of the rest!

Excited? So are we! Take a look at this sneak peek of Blogger Buzz, powered by Google Weblogs.

We’ve put together a quick video tour to take you through the highlights of Google Weblogs. Check it out!— Pete


*chuckle*