Category: Home Base

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...And Little E Makes 3 Home Base Serious Stuff

Patching up some holes in my genes

I’ve been almost incommunicado this weekend because I’m about knee-deep in a little project that I’ve wanted to do for a while; having a baby on the way and some other recent things have brought it forward in the priority just a little bit. It’s time to clear some brush around the old family tree and take a look at it.

Family Tree

Using various online resources (the first of which is a page out of one of my previously mentioned “baby books,” filled out by my mother, without which I’d be dead in the water), I’ve accomplished what I think it a pretty impressive amount of work for having started a couple of days ago. One line, on my grandmother’s father’s side, I managed to get extraordinarily lucky on and trace all the way back to England in the 1300s with a fairly high degree of certainty thanks to someone else’s dazzlingly meticulous research. There’s some Scotland and Ireland in there too.

The sad thing is that there just isn’t very much solid information about the Green line. Either that, or it’s completely buried because, well, y’know, it’s such an uncommon and distinctive name, though I have managed to get as far as finding out that, unless I’m barking up the entirely wrong family tree, the Greens have been working-class and stuck in Arkansas for nearly 200 years, with allowances for minor excursions that always ended up back here within a given person’s lifetime. I’m really wanting to find out where that line comes from. … Read more

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Gadgetology Gaming Home Base

Can I cook or can’t I?

Did quite a bit of cooking today, including a chocolate cake I’m a little bit too fond of. Also swapped out amps in the living room so the Mrs. would have her beloved KLH amp back in place. The big difference between that one and what was in there? A remote control. I also found that I had to rewire the entire speaker system because a number of small, four-legged rewiring experts who shall remain nameless had undone a lot of what was already in place; amp swap or no, two speakers out of a five-speaker surround setup were still plugged in. Argh. I redid it so that there aren’t any dangling speaker cables for the, erm, experts to play with.
Here’s a little sneak peak at a DVD intro that isn’t going to happen, which utterly breaks my heart. (Yes, I know that there are a couple of models that turned out to be completely screwed in there, as well as one or two that completely vanished come rendering time. ???) The models were downloaded, but some of the authors basically said “no way” to their models’ inclusion in an intro for a for-profit DVD project, enough of them to make me reconsider the whole thing. (The intro, that is, not the DVD project. You don’t get that lucky.) In the meantime, enjoy the show. I think the intro would’ve been beautiful. And probably three times as long in its finished, more polished form. 😆 I Squeezed this into a larger Flash movie than usual for you, just because the detail is worth it. Some of the models are just deliciously photorealistic, and it’s no accident that the “camera” starts out at the eye level of a small child before it really takes flight.
In any event, my heartbreak is cushioned by the fact that someone else is doing something like this that would’ve put anything I could’ve come up with to shame – and when the day arrives that an actual PDF documentary project is ready to go (rather than this one which, while much-requested, still feels like a bit of a placeholder to me), he’ll probably be unlucky enough to be on my speed dial. 😆 (Besides, his home arcade would make a damn fine shooting location, except for the great likelihood that I wouldn’t be able to get any work done there. Ever.)
I’d love his arcade…but I think I’d hate his electric bill. Maybe he should see about making the new arcade outbuilding he’s working on (see his blog) solar-powered. 😀… Read more

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Funny Stuff Home Base

Let me sit on the ground and tell sad tales of the death of weird plasma lights

Stinky Plasma LightAlas, I bid farewell to one of the weird light fixtures that has graced this house since we moved in. This somewhat embarrassingly shaped plasma light has been kicked to the curb – tonight, it suddenly decided it was going to start smelling like it was about to cause a fire. That’s usually a good indication that its time is up. Ah well, it solves one question – I was at a loose end for where it was going to be situated once the baby arrives. It can’t be in the game room at all because it interferes with raster monitors and, strangely, interferes with the panel controls on any/all of my Samsung LCD monitor/TVs. (It’s been in the bathroom for the longest time, with my Krillitane action figure propped up on top of it in a “flying” pose.) That certainly clears that question up. It didn’t have to scare the hell out of me to do it, though…
And now for a good laugh for your weekend, I present to you a very brief clip from a Big Finish Doctor Who audio drama I listened to today, featuring Colin Baker and Claudia Christian (of Babylon 5 fame). The story it’s from is The Reaping, available in theLogBook.com Store, and I’ll leave it at that – it’s funny enough without any further context. 😉
[audio:https://www.thelogbook.com/earl/podcast/podcast.mp3]… Read more

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Home Base Music

I don’t remember anything after that

Turns out I have the mother of all sinus infections. Loverly. I’m on some meds for it, not sure if I’ll be back at work by Wednesday or not. Ick.
Got the new Intrada CD of the original 1968 Alex North sessions for the 2001 movie score that Kubrick rejected. Without wanting to upstage the eventual movie review too much, this CD is awesome if you’re a 2001 fan, an Alex North fan, or still curious about North’s unused 2001 music even after the 1993 release that was arranged and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith (North himself having passed on in 1991). The music is very different from that recording in some places – it’s often a matter of the balance of instruments used, the timing, and other subtleties, but there are some sections of music that, despite the 1993 Goldsmith recording, are completely new to me. The booklet itself is worth the price of admission too – I had no idea that the whole thing had led to this intractible feud between North’s widow and Kubrick, and wouldn’t ever be settled until both she and Kubrick were gone. I highly recommend it. I’ll slot a more comprehensive review into the schedule soonish, but it may be a couple of weeks – I’m still happily digesting it all.
I see that the ELO fan club, or at least its UK congtingent, is working to make “Latitude 88 North” an iTunes hit. Hey, if it worked for “Love Don’t Roam“…
I’ve got some more news…but of course I can’t tell you what it is just yet. 😛… Read more

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Critters Home Base

My nose isn’t running. It’s engaged in a carefully planned tactical retreat.

Fevered thoughts:
To work or not to work. I don’t see how I can possibly go to work tomorrow. I feel like total crap. Every sneeze makes my head feel like someone’s shot me from the grassy knoll – back, and to the left, back, and to the left. I don’t see how the hell I’m going to get any sleep tonight. And yet if I don’t go in tomorrow, I can’t pick up the paycheck I wasn’t able to pick up on Friday. Worse yet, between snow and adventures in the emergency room, I only worked one day last week, and not even a full day at that. The place where I’m working right now is so tiny that it operates on an “if you don’t show up, you don’t get paid” system. At that rate I might as well be working from home already – I can sit around and edit video in this state, but answer phones? Don’t think so. And yet my not being able to get my check on Friday already has us in the hole. All of this scares the crap out of me when it comes to the impending arrival of a third human being in the house. As if the state of the house itself wasn’t already scaring me for that reason.
I missed the Super Bowl, but I am watching the Puppy Bowl. Might as well confiscate my testes now, what kinda red-blooded American male does that? 😆 Seriously, since I can’t sleep and I’m still up doing laundry and working on the site and a video assignment, I’ve got the replay of the Animal Planet Puppy Bowl on. As much as I love the little camera at the bottom of the water bowl, that Puppy Bowl (and the Kitten Halftime Show) kinda creeps me out a little bit. I doubt very much the animals are being mistreated, but there’s just something about it that makes me look at it askance, sorta like “would these animals be in that room, under those lights, doing those things if they didn’t have to be?” Then I get to wondering why Oberon tries to run out of the house if a door’s left open just a little too long, and the whole free will thing bugs me even more coming from the other direction. I’m hoping I can chalk this whole philosophical dilemma up to being sick as hell, but if watching a bunch of frolicking kitties and puppies on TV puts me in this state of mind, I’m not gonna survive having to raise a critter with two legs. Then again, I’ve heard enough about my utter unsuitability as a potential parent from some corners that I’ve probably got a reservoir of doubt built up.
On that cheerful note, I think I’m gonna finish my hot chocolate, chase it down with some Nyquil, and maybe actually get some sleep.… Read more

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Critters Home Base Music

…and tired always followed sick.

Thanks a lot, Oberon. Little fart ran out of the house around this time last night, and I had to get something/anything on to go outside and fish him out from under the side deck, again. This time Xena was no help at all – she thought me wallowing around in the snow on the ground was a sign that it was playtime, and wound up scaring Obi back under the deck repeatedly. The result? I woke up this morning feeling like death warmed over, and not even properly warmed over, but like someone kinda half-ass read the microwave instructions for warming death over and forgot to peel the film back on one corner of death and didn’t stir death halfway through, so the applesauce is still frozen and the melted cheese hasn’t melted over anything that it was actually supposed to melt over. (In fact, half of it is in the applesauce.) I must really love that little dipwad because that’s the second time in a week I’ve had to go retrieve him before he wanders too far off, and the second time with snow on the ground.
The wife was unbelievably happy that I made Jello for her tonight, like it’s the most remarkable thing anyone’s ever done for her. Erm…okay. Maybe I need to make Jello more often. It’s a kitchen challenge that taxes my cooking skills to their very limits, and maybe someday I’ll be ready to move up to Jello Pudding! Not that there’s anything wrong with making her happy, especially when she’s lugging my two-headed mutant love child around in her belly, but I’m just gonna chalk this one up to the hormones. 😆
I’ve been munching on some Reese’s chocolate dipped peanut butter cookies lately and wondering why it is that no one outside of the Girl Scouts can seem to nail down the perfect balance between peanut butter, chocolate and cookie that we mere mortals know only as Tagalongs. Then again, if Tagalongs were available more than once a year, I’d probably be hovering closer to 350 pounds than 250. The terrifying thought also just occurred to me that, no longer working at the station, I can’t order my usual annual forklift pallet of Tagalongs from Donna anymore. Holy crap, my source has dried up! I’m going to start having tremors somewhere around Easter weekend.
Without even really deliberately setting out to do it, I embarked on something of an exploration of electronic music today, from Raymond Scott’s 50s and 60s experiments to the non-Doctor Who repertoire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to Hot Butter to Jarre to Art of Noise to early Juno Reactor and Christopher Franke. (And some other stuff in between that I’m probably forgetting.) I need to hurry up and get a USB MIDI cable extra soonish because I’m feeling the music-making bug chewing away at the edge of my consciousness almost around the clock right now. Maybe it’s inspiration from recent events, but I’ve had some lyrics that were very vague suddenly swim right into focus, along with a lot of other stuff, and I’m charting out arrangements as best someone can when they can’t actually read or write music, working out and practicing guitar parts, that sort of thing. I’ve got one humdinger that I’ll probably use as my first experiment, but it’s a bit daunting, what with some rather specific instrument sounds that I’m gonna have to coax outta Cubase, and at least 8 part harmonies on the vocals. (Yeah, fair warning, I’m probably finally going to sing.) (Gee, I wonder who could’ve inspired me to pile that many vocals on something?) But it’s the one piece that’s just burning a hole in the back of my brain, so challenging or not, that’s probably the one that needs to come out of my head first. I’m not sure what’s flipped a switch in my head that’s made me feel like actually exposing the rest of the world to my singing voice, aside from the possibility that I’ll be having to sing to someone a lot here in a few months.
You have been warned.… Read more

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Home Base

Poopapotamus

Urgh. What a couple of days it’s been. Turns out that the wife probably did indeed have a stomach virus, because something’s been making me feel like crap, both figuratively and literally, for several days now. I left work early Friday and only reluctantly moved around today, though I’m feeling significantly better (but still craptacular). I’ve probably mentioned before the family code words for how much of a bathroom visit I’m in for, and over the course of the past 2-3 days, I’ve hunted for poopapotamus in Poopopolis repeatedly, as well as fighting the battle of Crappamattox, passing my craptitude test, and just plain sat on the captain’s chair making log entries. (All of which I’m sure you wanted to know.)
MobilePro 780c - you'd be amazed how much of the site is written on this these daysMuch of today was spent writing stuff on my Mobilepro and firing it across the network to the PC where most of the site is put together, so whenever I was finally able to leave the bathroom, I had some stuff I could plug into the site. It just wasn’t a pleasant atmosphere today in the house, two miserably sick people and one of ’em already uncomfortable because there’s an extra passenger on board. I just hope that passenger’s getting through this whole thing better than his/her parents are.
I’ve gotten my appetite back, though for the moment, eating anything still has pretty immediate results. Anyway, enough about my digestive system.
Can’t wait to see how compatible this state of existence is with the task of shoveling other creatures’ crap on Sunday…… Read more

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Gadgetology Gaming Home Base Television & Movies

Great, kid – now don’t get cocky

Did my first weigh-in tonight, a week after starting the diet. I figured, what with discovering that I was going to be daddy just a few days into the diet, I probably would’ve gained weight from nervous nibbling. Nope – I actually lost two pounds. Which ain’t too shabby.
The Mrs. and I were actually embarking on this weight-loss adventure together, but I guess she’s going to have to postpone for a little bit, isn’t she? (Actually, somehow she lost six pounds, which is kinda scary, considering.)
I’m up late reconfiguring my LAN to be, well, more of a real LAN. Orac II has been wiped clean and has had Win98 installed on it (it was a Win2000 machine in a former life, but I actually need it running 98 – what a motley assortment, a Win98 box, an NT box, and an XP box – plus a couple of handheld PCs running old, old builds of Win CE). The reconfigured LAN will allow me to get stuff from the Avid to Zen much, much faster, without wasting a lot of time uploading and downloading to my web server (which merely steals from the monthly bandwidth allowance that, by all rights, belongs to you, the reader). It’s time to get some real live workflow ability going here if I’m going to be sitting here all the time with video to edit and a baby to feed. Or is that the other way around?
Speaking of video to edit, I was playing around tonight with a very, very simple effect – making something semi-transparent in a shot. (Easy: shoot the same thing with and without the object in question.) I then messed around with some lighting and other effects, and…
Cybermen vs. Holo-Dalek
…voila, Cybermen staring down a “holo-Dalek”. Kinda cool, eh? I’d show you video, but I’m not sure there’s a need – that still frame pretty much spells it out for ya, and there really isn’t much movement to the video anyway. (The Dalek lights up different colors, but that’s about it.) (And between the diffracted light and the soft focus, it looks so ’80s.) But hey, I moved it via the LAN, so it was as good a test subject as any.
There’s supposed to be a gaming get-together at Brian’s (icbrkr) new place this weekend; there’s also supposed to be half a foot of snow, slush and ice. This is something like the third or fourth time his gaming gathering has been scuttled by the weather. I’m watching the schedules for CGE and OVGE this year very closely, with one eye on wanting to go, and one eye on possibly needing to stay. :/
By the way, if you’ve never had to do it, puzzling out what kind of devices are on a new machine so you can find the bloody drivers for them is a huge pain in the ass. Thank God for pcidatabase.com.… Read more

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Home Base

Brrrrrrrr III…in Brrrrrrrr3-D

Here’s the verdict after an HVAC service call.

  1. The heat and air units are as old as the house is. At least as old. The units are so old that they may have arisen from the primordial ooze and the house may have simply been built around them.
  2. There are three “heat strips” in the unit. Two are burned out. One is good, and it’s never been used anyway, because the electrical wiring for the furnace was never completed to support the voltage for all three. That good one has been swapped out for one of the others, so we’re at about 50% heating capacity.
  3. After about 2 1/2 hours of being on again, the house is now as warm as it normally is in the winter. Which likely means that one of the burned-out heat strips was burned out when we first got here. Which might explain the electric bills we get in the winter.
  4. We still don’t know the answers to “how soon” and how much”, but in the meantime…we’re back to status quo.
  5. We should really look at replacing the whole thing, but at least no one’s trying to sell us on a $10K dongle for the upgrade.

So, yet another piece of bizarre wiring/plumbing, the latest in a long line of such, rears its head in our home. The former owner, God bless him, gave us a steal on the place, largely because he didn’t want his ex-wife to get any more out of the deal than necessary. But he wasn’t a DYI guy – not a handyman. I’m not either. The difference is that I’m willing to admit that I need to have someone else come and do it, because I just don’t know how to do some of this stuff. The guy who used to own the place…well…he left us many puzzling bits of wiring and plumbing to unravel over the past three years. I’m sure with the best of intentions, but some of these wiring jobs were pretty ghetto, almost dangerously so.
This is kinda like that.
PS. It got down to 22 degrees last night.… Read more