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June 10th, 2008
09:42 am - Heading West
With some luck and hard work, ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) swan_tower and I will be heading west today. I'm packing as much as will fit into the Prius, and then we're en route west as rapidly as is reasonable, shooting to be in San Mateo some time late Friday or early Saturday so that I'll be around in time for our rental tour on Sunday and my work start-date on Monday. If you need to reach either of us, cell phones are probably the most reliable method, at least until this weekend.
To those Indiana folks I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to, I'll be coming back to help my lovely wife pack our worldly possessions in advance of her move, which probably will be occurring some time around August or so. Otherwise, if you're ever in the Bay Area, drop me a line.
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June 5th, 2008
04:29 pm - Goin' Away Get-Together
So!
I will be heading off to the Left Coast next week, and before I do, my lovely wife decided I needed some sort of send-off party thing. To quote the important particulars of her post:
WHERE: Castle N (e-mail for directions, if you need them)
WHEN: Sunday, starting at 6 p.m., going until whenever
WHY: Because you're going to miss him She also said something about bringing something vaguely party-like to prevent me from being a host, but you can ignore that bit.
Anyhow. Feel free to spread the word. I'll be emailing a selection of other Bloomington locals as well, but I'm sure I'll miss folks on that list, and it'd be great to see you all before I take off.
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May 31st, 2008
02:20 pm - Home!
We arrived back in Bloomington this morning, as our Chicago to Indianapolis flight was canceled due to the nutty Midwestern storm system. ...but I'm back, and I'm hoping to have some actual content that isn't related to my honeymoon soon. Likewise, if you're expecting an email back from me, please give me a few days to go through my backlog.
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May 12th, 2008
01:30 pm - Preparing for Departure
Wednesday, I depart for Rome to begin my somewhat-delayed honeymoon with the lovely swan_tower. Today and tomorrow are largely devoted to getting last-minute purchases, calling credit cards, and confirming reservations.
It should be cool. Four days in Rome, followed by an eleven-day cruise around the Mediterranean, hitting Athens, Rhodes, Ephesus, Delos, and Istanbul. Should anyone want anything from this trip - souvenir, postcard, symbolic pilgrimage, or what have you - you should comment or email me soon, as I don't know how frequent my Internet access will be once I'm in Europe.
Also, I'm currently looking for a ride to the airport on Wednesday. My flight leaves at 2pm, and it's the domestic leg, so I will only need to be there in the 12:30 to 12:45 range, but the only offer I have at present (thanks to moonartemis) would get me there four hours early. I have a fallback offer if all else fails (thanks to drydem), but if it wouldn't be a bother for someone to drive me up in the late morning / very early afternoon, I'd be very grateful.
N.B.: We have the ride back on the evening of the 30th planned, thanks to moonandserpent.
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May 6th, 2008
10:35 am - Bachelorhood Revisited!
Today, I drive swan_tower to the airport. She's off to London for a week, after which she'll be meeting up with me in Rome, where we'll be doing the tourist thing for four days before going on a cruise to Athens, Delos, and Istanbul for another ten days. ...but while she's off in London, I'll be around and about, doing the bachelor thing again before I take off for Europe.
Drop me a line if you're free, in Indiana, and bored as well. :)
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May 5th, 2008
12:39 pm - Three Things
- Voted early! Woo! Yay, civic duty.
- Happy Cinco de Mayo, folks! Drink at least vaguely responsibly.
- Also, new (free!) Nine Inch Nails release. Go get it!
That's all for now.
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April 25th, 2008
12:32 pm - Employed Again! ...Or Rather, Soon...
Today, I officially accepted an offer to start working for Akamai Technologies again, this time in San Mateo, California, starting June 16th. I'll be a Senior Network Operations Engineer, which is a step up from my previous Akamai position. This means that, while I'm still looking for work in the (very) short-term, I've got a new job on the horizon. ...on the west coast.
Phew. That's more or less over with. Now just the worrying about moving to California. :)
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April 3rd, 2008
07:47 am - Unemployed Again
As of this morning, my erstwhile employer filed Chapter 11. I am thus out of work. No, I don't really have more information than that quite yet. Likely, I'll be diving into a rather frenetic job search process now.
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February 19th, 2008
07:55 am - [Indiana] One Small Step for Sanity...
Gay-marriage ban fails in Indiana, but only because it's already against the law. This was an attempt to put it in the state constitution, as well.
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February 5th, 2008
09:42 pm - [Indiana] TMBG at the Bluebird
For those who are interested, They Might Be Giants are playing the Bluebird in Bloomington, Indiana, at 9pm on Thursday, February 28th.
swan_tower and I have tickets. Hopefully, we'll see you there.
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June 11th, 2007
11:57 pm - Not Dead
I am apparently more than not dead. I'm even have the cardiovascular endurance to run a mile without stopping, which is new for me. I'm hovering at about 8 minutes and 30 seconds at present, which while not great, is certainly far better than passing out from exhaustion at the half-mile mark, which is what I'd have done just a few months ago. Moreover, I'd not have discovered this fact without having started up again with my personal trainer who ... well ... let's say that I'm going to be a wobbly mass of protesting muscles tomorrow, methinks.
On a related note, the gym I go to is having some sort of sucker your friends discounted rate for friends of members promotion this week. They're also offering free admission for friends of current members, presuming they are accompanied by a current member. Thus, on the off-chance that a Bloomingtonian I know was thinking of joining SportsPlex, I intend to be going there Tuesday and Thursday of this week at about 7pm and Saturday around 10am (give or take a half hour or so). If you're interested, drop me a line.
On a similarly related but "Why would we care?" note, the fitness regimen has resulted in "ideal" blood pressure, "good" cholesterol levels (according to my doctor), and no cavities (according to my dentist).
I'm also idly pondering getting my teeth whitened, but it seems like an awfully large amount of money for what amounts to vanity. The counterbalance to that argument is, of course, "wedding in a little over three months," but my brain keeps trying to point out how many books I could buy with that teeth-whitening fee.
Ah well. Perhaps I'll post something less mundane later in the week, if I can get some of my wedding checklist taken care of....
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May 15th, 2007
03:11 pm - Something of an Update
First off, I'm not entirely dead. I've just been moving apartments. I'll be posting swan_tower and my new contact information under a custom friends lock for those I've actually met. If you don't see that post shortly after this one, feel free to comment here to be added to the filter and / or contacted.
Secondly, Jerry Falwell just died. This is quite unexpected to me, actually. I am of the opinion that he was a bigoted hypocrite who sowed more discord than he actually evangelized the teachings of Christ. That said, I hope that those who were close to him find some solace, and I hope that his death was painless. To wish him ill or revel in his death, regardless of my opinions on his politics, wouldn't be very charitable of me.
That said, Sylvester Stallone is quite alive, and he just pled guilty to drug charges in Australia. For an actor whose intelligence I have some respect for, that's just stupid.
Anyhow. I'm not dead, some news is happening, and I'll see if I can post more regularly now that we're moved. Ciao!
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May 6th, 2007
08:07 am - About 80% There...
Well, I am posting this from the new apartment on the east side of town. The majority of our stuff has been moved, though we're still missing most of our food and dishes, about half of our clothing, and far too much random crap from my office. We have the critical stuff at this juncture, however, and Bryn already started shelving DVDs. I expect that the books will be mostly shelved by this evening. That's just the way that she rolls, you see.
More trips today, of course, but they'll be smaller trips, and the end is in sight, and it's not waving a menacing-looking bat at us, which is good.
Special thanks to our friends who have helped us in the past few days packing, loading, unloading, and loaning us televisions to test the cable connection, including: unforth, gollumgollum, squishymeister, the Squid, drydem, deadmanwade, danielmc, moonartemis76, and oddsboy. My apologies if I forgot anyone; such omissions aren't intentional.
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February 28th, 2007
02:16 pm - [Bloomington Gamers] Oscar Pool Results!
So, pursuant to the rules I posted for the pool, the big winner is, in fact, kitsune_zen, who picked four of the six big categories. In the runner-up category, we have a three-way tie, between tooth_and_claw, moonartemis76, and golconda2, who each successfully predicted two of the major categories and nine of the eighteen others. ...though I'll note that if robin_d_laws had played with his predictions, he'd have tied precisely with kitsune_zen, with four out of the big six and ten out of the remaining eighteen. That said, here's the full breakdown, in the reverse order in which the predictions were sent, as I'm too lazy to reorder them:I'll happily act as intermediary for the antes you have implicitly promised, or you can feel free to arrange directly with kitsune_zen. As to the three runners-up, I'll be contacting you each to see how you want your brownies delivered.
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January 30th, 2007
01:15 pm - [Bloomington Gamers] Oscar Pool!
As with last year, I'm putting together an Oscar pool, since Matthew Baldwin at Defective Yeti once again provided a script for generating the setup.
( The Fine Print )
To clarify, this is entirely for fun, and it's entirely honor system. I'll put together a list of people who agreed to chip in, but they don't have to specify how much they're chipping in in advance, and you won't get much more than a verbal slap on the wrist if you fail to pay up. I do promise brownies to the overall winners, either way, so there's already something in the pot.
The pool will be distributed some time in the month following the Oscars ceremony ... probably at a game or social event that the winner(s) attend with me. (If you're reading this and thinking of playing, then you probably play in a game with me.)
Please make sure that you enter your full name, as I only see your names on these submissions, and no email addresses. Thanks!
( Side note for people who might be perturbed that I've referred to these categories as the big five... )
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October 17th, 2006
01:44 pm - (Indiana) Voting
I just found out that you can confirm that you are registered to vote at your present address at this site. I feel like a bit of a heel for not posting this earlier, as the deadline for registration is past, but at the very least, it helps to verify that you are registered. You can also find your polling place there. Absentee ballot applications, however, can be found at the Indiana Secretary of State's site. Various other bits of information can be found here, including district maps and the like. Unfortunately, Monroe county is divided amongst U.S. Congressional Districts (4 and 9), State Senate Districts (37, 40, and 44), and State House Districts (46, 60, and 61). Frankly, this smacks of rather rank gerrymandering to me, but then again, I'm relatively new to Indiana politics.
For those who don't know who their present U. S. Congress(wo)man is, check out the little tool at the top of The U. S. House web site.
After a good half hour of searching, I'm finding really no good sites that cover what issues we'll be voting on come Election Day. That said, here are a few Monroe-county-centric pages that might be useful: Candidate listing [county clerk's office], Indiana candidates [uselections.com], Indiana candidates [politics1.com].
Edit: Monroe county party websites, alphabetically:
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August 3rd, 2006
11:50 am - [Bloomington Gamers] Geoff and Jenni
As per Geoff's request, I bring you a brief message from them:Sorry I can't do more in the way of communication right now, but we are crashing with my parents while we wait for our new apartment to become available and we have limited access to the net and stuff.
Do me a favor as a side note. Post something on LJ to all of our loyal viewers when you get a chance. Basically, just say that Jenni and I are still around, but don't have access or time to chime in with an update. Expect to hear from us after the tenth of August. ...for all you wanting to know about the whereabouts of julyflower and moloch871.
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June 19th, 2006
04:31 pm - Indianapolis-Area Stuff
First off, the movie website was incorrect. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth opens this coming weekend at Regal Village Park Cinema 17 (2222 E 146th Street, in Carmel). I know that moonandserpent and buzzermccain had indicated interest. I probably wouldn't be able to do it this weekend or the following weekend (since I'll be in Boston then). Any thoughts on possibly seeing it in the evening some time next week or (if it stays around that long) the following weekend?
Speaking of the following weekend, I just found out about the Indianapolis Communications and Technology Expo (aka "The Indianapolis Hamfest"), which is going to be taking place on the 8th. I haven't ever attended, but if it's anything like the MIT Swapfest, this could be an opportunity for tech-minded folks to pick up some pretty good bargains for cheap. Particularly on more esoteric technology. If folks are interested, please leave a comment.
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March 30th, 2006
02:46 pm - Been A While
I've been remiss in being entertaining and interesting here. A few mentions:- swan_tower's novel is starting to appear in stores across the country. Go find one, tell her, and cause her to hide under the bed again.
- In the SpecFic world, the last week or so has been a sad one:
- ICFA was interesting and fun. Apparently, despite my goofy smile, James Patrick Kelly believes that swan_tower and I are the power couple of 2012. Best start gathering power, then, I suppose. The eight-Bloomingtonite-strong contingent was a lot of fun and a change from the previous years.
- While I was in Florida (basking in sun that was similar to Indianapolis today), a crew of us also went to see V for Vendetta, which I highly recommend if you want to see one of the best comic book adaptations ever.
- I've been obsessing about espionage lately, and I've been availing myself of my local library, which has lots of books from the '90s and before on the topic, but precious little covering post-9/11. Any recommendations from folks in the audience?
- [Indiana natives:] They Might Be Giants are playing the Vogue Theatre on May 8. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. Anyone interested in going to this?
That's about it for now.
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March 5th, 2006
12:01 am - Last Call: Bloomington Oscar Pool
Don't forget the Oscar pool I set up a while back. Voting closes at 8pm today, so hit the voting booth now. Make sure you put a name in there that I recognize, as I don't actually see your email address. Take a crack at some brownies and beer money!
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