http://www.zefrank.com/redalert/index_better.html

I bought a used copy of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman a bit after Christmas at Half-Price books here in Columbus.
I opened the book last night for the first time because I just finished my current book (Count Zero, by William Gibson).

This is what I saw.



That's right. It's signed. By Neil Gaiman.

We are not going to have any sort of spring break weekend party this weekend. Steph can fill in a larger post if she wants, but the short of it is that last Thursday her  grandpa came up  to Columbus (actually Wednesday night and stayed over) to go to OSU's cancer hospital for a consultation on the blood stem cell transplant he was going to do. It's a pretty high-success rate procedure but can only really be done if the patient is otherwise fairly healthy and it hasn't spread too much.

They told him they aren't / can't do it now, and changed him to a different chemo taken orally in pill form. Steph's pretty torn up about it and wants to take the weekend to go home instead.

We'll probably have a party at our place sometime in the future. At the latest, we are planning to move in May if we find a good deal, so a big housewarming party would be ideal around then.

I learned something today.

"Buggery" is a British word for Sodomy. This is now added to the list of British curse words that Americans think are cutesy.

If that doesn't make sense, think of how many times you have heard an Englishman call someone a "little bugger".

I just got laid off.

TDCI cut their budget from 10-11 million to 8. Something like 12 employees were laid off, and the ones that stay are taking a pretty significant pay cut.

Trying to look on the bright side. I remember reading that the employees laid off are the luckiest ones because they can go somewhere else before their home company tanks completely.

Found this on Digg. lulzy

Been listening to a lot of Nine Inch Nails lately, and I have been streaming the album Year Zero since I don't have it anywhere yet.
I popped over to wikipedia to get the tracklist since I was trying out a site called GrooveShark (nice site, you can make playlists of streaming music, and pick songs on-demand, unlike pandora).
Then I stumbled upon this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_timeline_of_the_Year_Zero_alternate_reality_game

Trent Reznor, along with some group called 42 Entertainment or something cooked up this MASSIVE viral campaign. Trent Reznor talked about it like it was not a marketing gimmick, but the art he was trying to put out itself.

This is what a viral campign is supposed to be. It feels real. It's deep and feels not-so-far-fetched. Some of it was downright saddening and unsettling. GraceTheTeacher.com felt like reading a short story. It was rather sad.

If you take the time to browse, definately check out the links they posted that fans discovered. The concept is that they were sent back to 2007 from 2022, so the visual glitches are intentionally added. Just highlight the text with your mouse to read anything that is blurred.

I think I might actually BUY some NiN and support Trent Reznor. I won't buy a CD, though. I'd rather do the online distro stuff he did with Ghosts so I know 100% goes to him.


Also, the songs in Year Zero are great too :).

Every invisible minority (sexual preference, religion, political leaning, etc.) has a sort of "coming out" event if they are breaking significantly from their upbringing.

Sunday (irony?) I was talking with Mom and Jenny. It started somehow about mom saying it was unmotherly of her to be cussing and self-deprecating (something about her "fat ass", as she put it, fitting in between the table and chair I was sitting in.) Eventually, she asked who we would rather have raise our kids, her or Nana.
Nana was a wonderful person, one of the nicest and most generous people you'd meet. She was also a devout Christian and sunday school teacher. Nothing inherently wrong with that and I am certainly not ashamed of it. I made the comment, however, that I would rather not have her raise my kids because I intend to raise them as Humanists rather than religious (I may have said Christian, w/e).

After letting that cat out of the bag, I found myself defending myself from Mom a little, but more from my sister. At first it was really a very typical discussion about religion and philosophy. Point, counter-point. Evolution, morality, science, history, etc. etc. The thing that really annoyed me was how Mom kept agreeing with me, but saying she can intellectually say it's not real, but she emotionally comes back to it in crisis, and kind of dismissed me as being in a phase, saying to wait for my first big crisis, then I'll know for sure.
Eventually, however, all three of us ended up in tears over what this talk will always lead to. Jenny asked me if I thought "this is all there is". That, for her, lead to talking about Selena Gamble and Jack Volgares who lived next door. For anyone unfamiliar or unaware, the young (8-year old?) girl who lived next to us for a couple years was killed by her father for wetting the bed and buried in their backyard in a trash can. They ran, were on America's Most Wanted, got caught fleeing to Mexico, and were put in prison. For Jenny, she said it's all that keeps her going knowing that, to use her words, "when I die, and I'm in line with him, I'll get into those gates and he will be left behind" or something of that nature. She also went into wanting to believe that Selena hasn't "just disappeared".

Then, after Jenny left crying, I started to choke up and reminded Mom that I had been through my crisis already when Papa died. That got to her really bad too. I can honestly say I never looked to God, never prayed, etc. when he was sick because I honestly believed it wouldn't do a thing. I told Mom about how enraged I was at the man who did the ceremony at Papa's funeral. She said she didn't register a word he said, but the only part I still remember was that he took the opportunity to preach to us that the problems with America today comes from Godlessness and atheism. That had no place in a funeral. If I was a little less restrained, I would have got up and punched him in the jaw for having the audacity to, at my grandfather's funeral, tell everyone that my beliefs or lack thereof are what's wrong with the world.

Here's the thing. Nothing about atheism is easy. At the darkest hours, I almost wish I was a child who could believe the fairy tales again, just like I could believe in Santa, or real justice, or happy endings. But, I grew up. And growing up is the hardest thing in the world for a rational minded agnostic-atheist. It amplifies everything. Life is more precious than ever, but death is more tragic than you can imagine. And more terrifying.

I know why people want to believe in an afterlife, trust me, I do.
Sometimes I wish the stories were all real.
I sometimes wish I could go back.
But I can't, so I just have to be strong.

Guys, Minnesota's college band just rickrolled the stadium.
I have the Indiana at Minnesota game on, and I heard a portion of "Never Gonna Give You Up" coming out of the band.

...

This is what the world has come to.

Yay for requirement changes post-development!

May 30/31 would be the ideal weekend for the bachelor(ette) party. We could possibly do the weekend before that if absolutely critical that we not use the 30/31st.

Does anyone ABSOLUTELY have no way of making it to a party that weekend?
We will be in the new apartment also. Directions will be posted later, but it's really pretty easy to find. It's just off of 270.

Doing it 28-30 anyway.
I was gonna try to plan it so all the bridal party types could make it for sizing.

New decision: Jeff = eat a dick. You get to go to Florida, so you get to track Steph and/or I down to get sized for your suit.

Everyone else, get to CBus the weekend of Marsh 28th for booze and probable pronz.

I need groomsmen to let me know what weekends close-ish to spring break they will be free to come up for a party. I need them all in one place for fitting purposes.

IF anyone else has things preventing them from coming up a certain weekend, also let me know. I want to organize a party since we haven't had a nice group drunk-tank since New Years.

This started as a reply to Jenny's post, but the scope of it creeped to the point that it merited its own post.

McCain is a nice guy and all, and I firmly if it was him instead of G.W. in 2000 we would be much better off.
But in 2008, I can't justify voting for him. From being against universal health care, to supporting private school vouchers, to STILL supporting No Child Left Behind (which was a nice concept-ish but FAILED MISERABLY), to supporting staying in Iraq for decades...
Not to mention he has a big problem keeping the conservative base because he's pretty soft on the social conservative stuff. Honestly, though, that'd be my favorite thing about him. That and his ability to appeal to both parties better than any other Republican that was in the field.
But, really, we have to be honest about why McCain won.
*Rudy fouled up his strategy by wasting his early lead by ignoring early states
*Romney flipflopped worse than Kerry and showed himself to be a giant sleaze-ball who would do anything to get the nomination, *Thompson just seemed completely disinterested
*Ron Paul was a small internet fad but was a horrible candidate (lol gold standard?)
*Huckabee was good with Southerners and Evangelicals, but was very liberal in his record, particularly in economics.

Essentially, McCain lucked into the nomination by default because everyone else was terrible and he was the best they could muster.

The Dems have the opposite problem of having 2 EXCELLENT choices for our nominee. Both would make presidents I would be proud to follow.
I voted Obama Tuesday and expect him to win eventually just because Hillary can't mathematically win with pledged delegates alone unless she crushes Obama from here on, which is just unreasonable. The only way she wins it is if superdelegates break from the voters in their respective constituencies and give it to her. However, I don't see that happening because that would alienate primary voters who would feel that their opinion was ignored, potentially causing them to stay home in Nov.
And yes, I do see why people believe that the continuing the dem primary can only hurt, and it has merit. If there was a solid presumptive nominee, s/he could focus on fighting with McCain instead of feuding between themselves. Also, if anything really damaging comes out (see: alleged pandering to Canadian officials about NAFTA), then it could be used by McCain in attack ads.
At the same time, there have been plenty of highly competitive primaries in the past that didn't destroy the party.

We'll see. I predict Obama will be our President come Jan. '09.

Friday March 28th.
My apartment.
You bring the liquor*, I let you sleep here.
You all know the drill.
Be here.






*I might have communal booze, but my payday is the end of the month, so as long as I am frugal, I should be ok.


P.S. Groomsmen are required to attend so Steph and I can fit you in your suits we got you.

I am gonna be moving into my new place this weekend. I'd like to have a big ass party, however I am going to delay it until the second weekend of Oct. (12-14). 

There's not a whole lot to say now until I compile some really detailed directions to the new place. It's off-street entrance and has no public parking lot, so I admit it is problematic, however everyone can park on the street.

There should be plenty of room since it is a 2 bedroom that I got for pretty cheap. The second room will just end up as an office, but if I manage to drag a second or third couch up, one would probably go there.


So, pencil in a trip to Columbus for that weekend in Oct if possible. Possibilities of stuff like Shadowbox or whatever are still TBA, but viable options, depending on interest.

Ok, I have avoided mentioning this, telling anyone, or even acknowledging it for some time.

My grandpa Ray has been diagnosed with cancer, and is dying. The doctors aren't giving him much time. Like well under a year. By all accounts, it's not going to get better. It was in his liver, I think, and perhaps colon, and it may have spread elsewhere too. I really haven't kept it straight. Regardless, the doctors have more or less told him to get his affairs in order.
I stayed in town last Monday to have some extra time with my family. Papa has been moved into my room so Mom can keep an eye on him and give him his medications and shots. He has lost a lot of weight. I'd say at the very least 40lbs. since Easter.

Anyway, I felt like I should tell everyone. I'm not fishing for e-hugs, I just figured you all deserved to know what's going on with me.

SOMEONE TOOK THE SCRUBS EPISODES OFF GOFISH AND I CAN'T WATCH FREE SCRUBS WHENEVER I WANT.

RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEE

RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

HULK SMASH!!!!!!!

Current Mood: angry