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Category: Home Base
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Urpiness (adj.): feeling as though urping is imminent.
Ah, the joys of parenthood. It’s a wonder sometimes that the whole human race hasn’t been wiped out by germs and viruses – when we have a situation like we have now, where the three of us are handing illnesses around like hot potatoes, I really wonder how the species got this far. Evan’s had a second round of urpiness, Jan’s feeling urpy, and I’ve never really stopped feeling urpy. The only real unexpected part is really trying to figure out who will be the next to lose their lunch. Place your bets now. For breakfast this morning, Evan’s had a chopped-up banana and some Cheerios (minus milk) as finger food, and I’ve let him pace himself on how fast he wanted to put it down. So far, so good – I’m finding that in many cases, taking a bit of a zen approach and letting him choose his own pace is the key to figuring out what’s up with him. And I have yet to see him feed himself so fast that it comes right back up. I know it’ll happen someday, and that I can’t let him graze freely forever, but for right now it’s useful. Me, I’m still down to one meal a day – I just don’t feel like my stomach can handle any more than that. (I tried to eat twice on Saturday, and paid for it rather messily.) But I’ve got this perpetually dizzy/shaky thing going on that makes me suspect I need to be eating more – I feel really disoriented. I’ve been hitting the multivitamins for the first time in ages to compensate. Maybe I should try some banana slices and O’s…
Potentially more troublesome was my wife freaking out, after bringing Evan home from having his chickenpox shot on Tuesday, when I told her I don’t remember ever having chickenpox when I was little. Apparently this is a biggie, because the vaccine was after my time. Evan came home early from day care on Friday with a high fever, which apparently isn’t that uncommon; a few days after getting the shot, kids can run this little fever for 2-4 days. But if he’s got a fever, he’s contagious, and between not having had the vaccine at any point in my life, I’m the most likely target. And according to everything I’ve read, if I’m exposed while my immune system is already distressed (see above week-long bout of urpiness), I’m really screwed. But despite Jan’s efforts to keep me separated from Evan for a couple of days, in the end, if I’m really screwed, I’m already really screwed and we might as well buckle up for the ride (and the medical expenses).
I was watching the Disney Channel’s newfangled CGI-animated take on Winnie the Pooh – you know, the show where Pooh and Tigger are detectives and Christopher Robin is nowhere to be found (what’s up with that?) – and happened to notice in the end credits that the show’s music is by Andy Sturmer. Holy Jellyfish! Though now that I think about it, there is something very Jellyfish…ish…about the show’s music. In a “Bye Bye Bye” / “Ignorance Is Bliss” kind of way. I’m always glad to find out that one of the ex-Jellyfish guys has landed some sweet deal. Sturmer is kind of conspicuous by his absence from the ranks of Jellyfish alumni with burgeoning solo careers, aside from fleeting appearances on the L.E.O. album a few years ago (has it been that long already?), so it’s cool to hear what he’s been doing with his time: sounding like Pooh.
OK, Evan’s just dumped his last few O’s in the floor, put the empty plate on his head like a hat, and taken off into the rest of the house at a run. Looks like the zen approach worked again – I’m glad somebody’s feeling better.… Read more
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The new and improved Vomitronic 5000
So a little bitty guy urping 3-4 times in one day wasn’t enough for you? Step up to the new, king-sized Vomitronic 5000…also known as “Evan’s stomach bug finally got daddy.” Put simply, the stomach virus that Evan had on new year’s day pretty much had its way with me.
Be warned, the details of this gastric misadventure are not for the weak of stomach. … Read more
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Resolutions high and low
I was amused to run across this post from a year ago, in which I apparently – and I had forgotten this – set working on the PDF DVD and finishing it as a new years’ resolution. Holy crap, I actually kept a new years’ resolution? Put a star on my calendar. Now let’s talk about this year’s resolutions (or lack thereof). … Read more
De-rezzing the game room
Ever since I moved into this house – heck, the very day that I started moving stuff into this house – my game room has been, for better or worse, probably the most thought-out-in-advance part of the place. Building on the game room I’d put together in our previous rental house, I wanted the game room to instantly say to anyone who walked in, “This is a place where classic video games are played.” But it’s time for a rather major rethink: now this is a place where classic video games are played, and where my little boy lives and plays. … Read more
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The rumbling of ramblings
I hate being sick, but being sick in the run-up to Christmas sucks big time. I’ve gotten no shopping done at all. (Being broke has nothing to do with it – when has that ever stopped the average American consumer?) I’ve had days recently where I’ve just been capable of the bare minimum of taking care of the kiddo, and that more than anything makes me feel like a large failburger with a side order of fail fries. I’ve been wanting to write something or create something…and just haven’t had the energy. I’m just kind of running on automatic pilot. It’s hard for me to just sit immobile and rest at the best of times, and nigh-on-impossible with the boy to take care of. He’s also still under the weather, though he’s gradually showing more energy and enthusiasm than I am, so hopefully this means he’s coming out of it. His cough is going away; mine seems to have moved in for the winter. I just want to be out from under the cloud of “blah” and be able to enjoy the holidays – is that so wrong?
In other news, I finally got around to upgrading the WordPress installs in most areas of theLogBook.com, some of which were still running very old installs indeed. It’s good to bring things up to speed security-wise, but with every successive WordPress update it seems like there’s a change-the-admin-dashboard-for-the-hell-of-it thing going on, and I haven’t liked it much since, oh, about 2.4. (The current version is 2.7.) Maybe this is just a sign that I need to try to get involved in the process rather than sit on the sidelines and bitch about a free piece of software, but I just don’t “get” some of the changes that are implemented – some of them seem incredibly arbitrary, or like cosmetic fixes that just don’t seem to be needed. I suppose it’s what you, the readers, see that’s important, and in that respect not much is changed (though I was irritated to see some previously “hidden” categories emerge front-and-center in the music review section – there are fixes for those that I’ll need to implement soonish). I do like the new “drafts” window though – when you’re dealing with as much in-progress content and as much scheduled-in-advance content as I do on theLogBook, that’s awfully handy.
Seems like there was something else I was thinking about thinking about saying here, but I’ve forgotten what it was, so this just wound up being random complaining. I think you all are used to that by now though.… Read more
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Will the real Kevin Moon please stand up
So today, I had to go to Wal-Mart and have one of my wife’s tires patched. I gave them my phone number, found out it was probably going to take close to two hours, and then set out to Braum’s on foot for lunch (about half an hour away). I had just left the farm before this, so I wasn’t exactly dressed nice…which is probably for the best since part of that walk practically takes you through a ditch. Anyway, I took my time eating lunch and then waddled back down the road and across Highway 64, which is about 6 lanes at that point with absolutely no crosswalk whatsoever. Helpful. Anyway, I got back to Wal-Mart, picked up some baby stuff, and took my loot to the automotive section where I hoped I wouldn’t be waiting too long. I fired up my minidisc player and listened to the end of a Doctor Who audio that I had started earlier that day (Masters Of War, about which I shall wax rhapsodic at a later date). Having finished that, I sat and waited.
Finally, the barely-helpful lady from behind the counter looked straight at me and said “Kevin Moon?” It just didn’t register with me that she was addressing me, because (A) that’s not my name, and (2) I was really tired by that point. I had to come out of my haze a bit to really comprehend that she was calling me by one of my friends’ names. Then I kinda perked up. What? Kevin’s here? I asked the lady if she had said Kevin Moon, and she said “That’s you, isn’t it?”
Flash back to about two or three years ago, when Kevin made one of his road trips through the area; he had a flat tire and I’d had to lead him to Wal-Mart so he could get his tire patched. As he didn’t have his cell phone with him on that occasion, I gave them my number, and his name. That’s how they had me in the system: Kevin Moon. Never mind this whole Earl Green business that I’d told them about when I checked in and gave them the keys.
Having gotten all that sorted out, I was able to get on with my day. Really, it’s too bad Kevin wasn’t there – he could’ve saved me that whole hike-through-the-ditch thing. I’m sure, given how I looked from working outside and walking through a little bit of mud (the ditch wasn’t really that bad), everyone at Braum’s assumed I was living under a bridge and finally saved up enough for a down payment on a bacon cheeseburger! 😆 … Read more
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Ah great
Once again, Obi’s decided to run out the door full tilt and inspect the property. It upsets me when he does this, on behalf of Evan – he’s supposed to be my little boy’s cat, and ya know, it’s gotta do a real number on your self-esteem when your bestest furry buddy routinely runs away from you.
It’s just as well then that Evan’s spending tomorrow with other members of the family, mainly because his daddy’s sicker than a dog. I’ve taken so much Benadryl in the past 24 hours that I feel like I’ve been smothered with a blanket. Several times. I’m switching to a less ….debilitating antihistamine tonight, to deal with the chills, the fever, the aches and pains, and the fact that the hills are alive with the sound of mucus. And yeah, I know, I’m a real pansy if Benadryl knocks me out. Hey, I’m a square. I don’t drink or do drugs recreationally. It doesn’t take much. I didn’t go to the farm today – which is okay by me. I’m not sure I can handle a farm routine that Hannah isn’t a part of. I’d prefer feeling better to feeling like crap with a crapital crap, but I was relieved to not be at the farm today, as much as it might’ve inconvenienced everyone.
I did make the mistake today of watching some Sarah Jane Adventures; don’t get me wrong, it’s a great little show, and almost more like classic Doctor Who than the current Doctor Who is. It’s gotten a big boost this season from getting to cherry-pick from Who mythology as background info, as well as developing its own ongoing stories. But the two-parter I watched today was a slightly more convoluted take on the Doctor Who episode Father’s Day, with a nearly identical paradox. Benadryl-addled brain + temporal paradox = not my friend. But I kid SJA – it’s a great show, and so amazingly unlike anything that’d be rolled out for the early teen age group over here. In some respects it’s almost Buffy-esque in how it deals with “real life problems.” I’m glad it’s back for a full season in ’09, because with “light duty” for both Doctor Who and Torchwood, it’s gonna be a painful year.
Finally, a big shout-out to Jess Ragan for selling me a shiny new Mobilepro – well, okay, not new, and he keeps trying to warn me that it’s not especially shiny – but it’ll be a huge help to be able to stay connected while on the move. Evan’s entering the “stick everything in his mouth” stage, and as much as I’ve tried to keep hazardous objects out of reach, it stuns me what the little guy comes up with – he finds hazards that I didn’t know were there – and as such, sitting at the computer and merely listening isn’t an option. I either need to be close at hand, actively engaging him, or at least close at hand keeping an eye on him. Not having the means to walk around and do the wi-fi thing has been aggravating for the past month; I look forward to being “on the air” again.
Hopefully there’ll be an Obi cat at my feet while I’m doing it, too.… Read more
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Wretched hives of scum and villainy
This time last night, I was having a major, major, major allergic reaction to…something. I don’t even know what. I was broken out in hives (all of which felt like they were full of bees) from head to toe, and even my fingers, throat, tongue and eyes were swelling. I wolfed down some Benadryl when I noticed that the problem was going from “slightly annoying” to “this is kinda scaring the bejeezus out of me”, but what really scares me is that I don’t know what it was an allergic reaction to. I didn’t handle any hay last night at the farm while we were dealing with Hannah’s situation, I didn’t eat anything yesterday that I hadn’t eaten a zillion times before, and I don’t recall coming into contact with anything foreign enough to make me say “yep, that’s it – that’s what I was allergic to.” It was more than a little bit scary. I felt better this morning, but at the same time still felt like chicken fried crap because of the Benadryl – that stuff leaves me in a fog for days, from a single dose. I was also worried about whether or not it was a contact thing that I might pass on to Evan during a diaper change or other routine contact; fortunately, this seems not to have been the case.
Fortunately this happened at night when I’m not the only person around to take care of Evan; if that had happened while I was here alone with him, I think the situation would’ve been ten times scarier. As for right now, I’m still a little itchy and my hands/fingers are still a bit swollen, but really my main problem is still trying to come out from under the Benadryl. One Benadryl. It’s kind of embarrassing to realize how easy it is to put me under like that.… Read more
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My assistant editor
So I had to rebuild some of PDF Level 2 tonight when I discovered that Evan had apparently done some…ah…work on it. Note to son of mine: if you’re angling for an “assistant editor” credit, you actually have to leave intact some of what was originally there. :shocked: No sweat, though, because this one’s almost a breeze to put together compared to the first one, at least where compositing and other things come in. Part of the whole reason to have an Avid at home, whether I’m still “in the biz” or not, is to keep discovering new tricks and, yes, new workarounds. Knowing how/why the machine does some of the things it does helps me find ways of tricking it into doing certain things for me, perhaps more efficiently than I’d done them before, and occasionally allowing me to do stuff that I simply hadn’t worked out how to do before now. It keeps me in the loop. Or it keeps me loopy. Not sure which, really. Suffice to say, even Evan deleting a couple of layers of effects/text/compositing wasn’t a disaster – it was a head-scratch and 15 minutes of rebuilding what had been there before. No sweat. I really wish I’d known some of these tricks when I was working at the station, but hey, no biggie. I still like what I’m doing now better.
CGE DVD news: pre-orders begin very soon. There have been just a few last-minute course-corrections on the homestretch, mainly of the “how are we gonna do this?” variety, but be looking very soon for a pre-order page with packaging shots, maybe a video preview or two, and other assorted goodness. The delivery date has slipped to right after the new year, but I think the results are worth the wait.
If all goes well, I’m hoping to record all of my intros and voice bits for the year-end podcast thingie tomorrow morning; I’ve got all the stuff written, now I just hope my sinuses clear up and my voice doesn’t sound like chicken fried crap. Or doesn’t sound more like it than usual. I’ve had a nasty bug since Sunday morning, but it’s been a stomach bug that’s had me stranded in the bathroom a lot (which is, I’m sure, more than you ever wanted to know); now I’m trying hard not to catch what Evan and his mom are in the process of getting over.
Under 24 hours to go on the Torchwood figure auctions; links if you wanna see ’em: Captain Jack, Weevil, Cyberwoman.
Also, if you’re aquainted with the apparently-un-chase-away-able phenomenon known as RugalSizzler on Digital Press and other forums, you need Sizz-wear. Trust me on this one. (If you have no idea what it’s about…stay away! You need your brain cells intact.)… Read more
