Further Assimilations

The RoVaCon 15 Starfleet Vice video, as threatened promised...



So, I'll explain a little of what's going on. I'm in the wheelchair because I'd been in a life-threatening car accident only weeks ago, but I was too stubborn to miss the con. Heather and Valerie are dressed in costumes from the anime Dirty Pair. Mike Allen represented KODRA, a ruthless Klingon-Orion terrorist organistion out to rule the Alpha Quadrant; while Markus... well, he had a lab coat, so we worked that in. And of course, Tom, Mike, and Beth were solely there to support our blatant swipe of Monty Python material.

I don't remember the name of the dude working the camera... but he really liked the anime costumes.

For those of us at work who can't have streaming video running, is anyone on my flist 'taping' the inauguration?

While installing OS X Leopard on a customer's computer, we chatted about fine-scale modeling, digital video production, and modern professional typesetting. Suddenly, it struck me: I'm not making this stuff up, I actually can speak with some authority on these topics, cause I've done them, and made plenty of mistakes while I was at it!

Some facets of my life might have been easier had I been able to take a more direct path to where I am now. Thinking about that can sometimes disgruntle me a bit. It's cheering to be reminded of how much I've managed to learn, and how much fun I've had on the way. When I look back to consider what I've actually done with my life, the answer turns out to be more than I thought at first glance; and that somehow makes me look forward to the future even more.

Nice when a bit of unexpected perspective is not bitter, but a treat!

Most weeks I wait impatiently for my Kingdom of Loathing turns to build up to a useful level. This week, I've been sitting at the max of 200 turns for days, but I don't have time to mess with it. I guess it's a sign I'm using my time well... KoL isn't exactly productive... but on the other hand, you can't be productive all the time. Makes Jack a dull boy, you know.

On that note, I am going to watch a movie this weekend. Either in the theater, or from my list of DVDs to watch or re-watch. I don't remember sitting through an entire movie since we watched "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" together.

Large Hadron Collider webcam.

One of the two 400MHz CRT iMacs that have been sitting in my office gathering dust since I left Decipher has found a good home - it's in the possession of Starr's youngest sister. She'll probably want to give it an external FireWire HD and/or a memory upgrade before long, it's only got a 10GB drive and 256MB of memory. But it'll do Word and Photoshop and play DVDs, and she seems thrilled with it, so happiness all around. I need to find some old games to pass along that don't involve serious mayhem.

Speaking of productivity, I am attempting to do something personally productive at least once a day. Either spend at least an hour on a personal project, or sit and write something with some thought in it (thus the recent outbreak of philosophising every week or so in my LJ). It doesn't come easy: I am a slacker and procrastinator. But time moves with or without me, and I'm not going to be left behind.

meiran posted this. It's silly, it's fanservice... and it's joyously wonderful.

The cat wishes everyone to know that he was highly paid for this television appearance. The hamster... would like some more carrot bits please.



Game blogger Tobold suggests that WoW players would reach endgame with far better raiding skills if there were quests where you had to practice raiding with sets of NPCs. Aside from the time pressures, one reason I don't do instances is that I'm not very good at them, and I think this is a fine idea. When I do have to hit an instance dungeon for a quest, I usually end up in the company of several far-higher-levelled guild mates, and my presence becomes a bit unnecessary. This idea would mitigate the problem a bit.

rhaps and shrewlet are coming down this weekend, which is a good thing because my Technicon experience was extremely rushed. I envy Rhaps' new iMac, which is the same model as my Mom's. But I'll have my Mac Pro soon enough.

Paying bills, finishing paperwork, getting all sorts of ducks in a row this week. (They were sitting out front again this morning, enjoying the humid weather.) It all feels good. Also: new blender yay :)

While I'm working on Saturday's report, I forgot to post this little nugget from Friday's dance: "The Internet Is For: PORN"

(For those who've never seen this: probably not work safe. Quite possibly in bad taste. If you think it's silly watching World of Warcraft characters sing this, keep in mind that it's originally sung by puppets in an award-winning Broadway show.)



EDIT: And, by a weird coincidence, tonight's DVR'd "Ace of Cakes" showcased an Avenue Q cake. Huh.

Sometimes, people post things on the Internet that just plain make me feel glad to be living in a world where someone spent the time to make them up.

The "Lions In Kenya" and "Shirley Bassey Getting the Party Started" videos are two examples. Here's another:



I successfully stayed up all night on Saturday night. We decided that our level 56-ers needed to hit 58 This Weekend, which we reached about 6 am. It was nice to know that I can still do that... a year of 10pm bedtimes had left me doubtful. Still, I had to down several Tums, as one of the tricks my body uses to try to get me to go to bed is surges of stomach acid. Also, I was kind of out of it the next day; so, I've learned from this that I can do it, but not easily.

Found a website that generates an automatically updated stat block I can use for my characters, like so...



Too bad that the servers are now far too overloaded with requests to actually function properly. (This one won't update, it's static.)

Local TV re-ran the Special Edition "Trouble With Tribbles" this weekend, so last night I dug out the "Trials And Tribble-ations" DS9 episode for Starr, who'd never seen it. Great fun! And then it hit me... there's no way in heck that J.J. Abrams' Lt. Uhura will be running around in that red minidress. Not in a 2008 feature film. I weep.

More WoW.

Mirandala just dinged 65, which means she can cast the Shattrath Portal spell as soon as I find the trainer. 5 levels to go before I hit the current cap; the last 5 levels took me... hmmm... 11 months.

Boy, I'm addicted, aren't I?

(Okay, I did level Circy from around 5 to 55 in that period, and messed with a couple other alts. Still, that's not setting any records.)

Interesting WoW rock video to the tune "Rock Rockin' Tha Spot". Despite the quality of the work, I feel I must warn potential viewers about the swear words and the Blood Elf nudity.

Just watched Unlimited Escapism, Vol. 0, by "Baron Soosdon". 14 minutes of wild visuals and trance music... nicely soothing on a Woden's Day evening.

This image of Petite Nikita, however, made me want to run a Shadowrun (2nd ed.) game set in a highly-technological future of Azeroth...



I doubt that anyone would be thrilled to find that their back-alley street doc was an undead Forsaken :)