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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Did everyone get online to get their free Dr. Pepper coupon today? If not, click here – you’ve got about 10 hours left. Bear in mind that the server is pretty much swamped. And if you don’t care for Dr. Pepper? Heck, send me the coupon. I’m a stay-at-home dad, I could use some free caffiene. (For those wondering why Dr. Pepper is giving away the farm, the president of the company made a bet that he’d give everyone in America a free Dr. Pepper if Guns ‘n’ Roses actually got their zillion-years-in-the-making album out this year. It was a pretty safe bet, since Axl’s held off on releasing the thing for over a decade now, but lo and behold, Dr. Pepper’s gotta pay the piper. I don’t care a thing about Guns ‘n’ Roses, but thanks for the free soda, guys.
I’ve been ignoring the ads on the right side of my screen on Facebook, but I did see one last night that I had to check out: Squirtshirts.com. Holy cow, I wish I’d known about this place sooner. They do pop culture-themed infant and toddler wear, bibs, diaper bags and so on, sort of like ThinkGeek’s T-shirt section, except for kids; their designs riffing on Lost and Star Wars are fantastic – I love the Dharma Initiative “Changing Station” symbol. 😆 If I had any money right now, I’d spend it there. Well done – this is a case where targeted advertising works (well, aside from the part where I’m broke so there’s no follow-through that actually generates any kind of revenue…)
Still keeping the house toasty, but I’d really like to have the central heat back up and running soon.… Read more
The one guy in the county who will bother to look at our apparently outdated furnace is unavailable until Monday. We’re on our own since then. Borrowed a couple of space heaters from “the fam,” despite my huge, huge, huge reservations about those things (especially in terms of putting one in Evan’s room – I think I finally stopped looking into his room every half hour at around 3am), and we’ve kept the bathroom heaters running full-tilt too. I’ve also been doing a heap of cooking – tuna casserole, chicken, brownies…today’s menu probably includes hamburger helper (with ostrich meat instead of beef – I’m aiming for a minimum of beef usage, or, if you like, keeping it all to a “beef min”) and some teriyaki yumminess. The oven heat vents mostly inside the house (have I ever gotten into how weirdly this house is wired/arranged?), though not all in one place, so there’s a method to the cooking madness.
Evan’s already got a snotty nose, so my race to keep him from getting cold was probably lost on Thursday night when the heat stopped working. He slept warmer last night, though it took him forever to get to sleep with the space heater in his room – it has a blower in it, which made plenty of noise. It was either that or have him sleep in the playpen, which is in the game room – lots of glowy lights generating heat, the Avid making about as much noise as the space heater’s blower…same difference really.
I’ve been trying to do some PDF II work while the Avid’s fired up, but I’m running low on inspiration at the moment. I’m urgently needing a bit of a vacation from the boy, as much as I love him, and you know, working my ass off on the farm on Sunday doesn’t really meet any of the prerequisites of being that vacation. I had to be reminded that yesterday was Friday – the day of the week is pretty meaningless when you’re “on” 24/7 regardless. In that context, weekday or weekend ceases to have any meaning.
Anyway, I’ll stop there before I start getting really grumpy.… Read more