Gamer Droid

No wonder Obi-wan used his Jedi mind tricks to keep the stormtroopers away.
With a droid like this Artoo unit, who'd want to give it up?!?

With eight... EIGHT!!!!... game consoles, a projector, and a sound system this droid rocks!

I tried to find more pictures and information about this project, but a Google search just turned up a bunch of sites repeating the same limited info.

Needless to say, somebody with a little too much time on their hands and lot of technical savvy deserves an award for this!

What An Idiot

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed in the morning.

At lunch this afternoon, I took off from work to run to Target and get some stuff.
The weather forecast showed rain, but at noon the sky was clear and blue. In fact it was quite warm.
So I rolled down the windows as I was driving around around to get a breeze in the car.

I got back to work and went inside to eat my lunch.

As the day progressed, it began to get darker and the beautiful blue sky of earlier was replaced with cold, grey colds.
Then finally around 4:15 the clouds broke open and DUMPED rain like you wouldn't believe.

We all watched it coming down and joked with each other about having somebody bring our cars to us so we wouldn't have to get wet.
I even made a comment about needing to open my car windows so it wouldn't be all 'stuffy' inside when I left work.

It rained hard for at least a good 20 minutes or so, then slacked off a bit into a steady regular rain when 5:00 rolled around.

I got my stuff together and went out the front office to my car to discover....
that I had left my windows open the WHOLE time it was raining.
Both of my front seats were soaked and there was a little pool of water on the floorboards. (thankfully I have rubber mats so it didn't soak into the carpet)

Aw man!
I quickly rulled up the windows and then went back inside to get some newspapers or cardboard to cover my seat so I wouldn't have to have my butt get soaked on the drive home.

Now I'm home. The car is parked in the parking area at the house.
And I have to figure out how I'm going to dry out my car seats while it's expected to continue raining the rest of this week.

It never occured to me that my windows were still open from my lunchtime driving.
In fact, I can see my car in the parking lot from my desk and I didn't notice they were down at all.
I totally spaced on it, all the while the inside of my car got a nice shower.

What an idiot.

Comedy, Tragedy & Babysitting

A lot happens in between the posts here.

My last entry was on Wednesday the 23rd, and since then I have done a lot stuff that kept me from the computer.

Thursday started out with work as usual. Nothing exciting there.
But that evening, I had plans to meet up with Elwood and go see Christopher Titus at the Snoqualmie Casino.

I left right from work and got to his house to pick him up, then we grabbed a bite at a local Mexican place before heading to the Casino.

That place is freakin' H-U-G-E!
I'm not a gambler, so I don't spend a lot of time checking out casinos. My only other experience was back when I saw ZZ Top and G-rod & I stopped into the Muckleshoot Casino before the show. It was kind of dark inside and not a place I thought I'd find myself coming to again.
But the Snoqualmie Casino was really nice.

The show opened with Duane Goad who was pretty funny and great start to the main act that was billed.
Then Christopher Titus got on stage and started in.
Most of his performance came from his "Love is Evol" tour, which I'd seen on TV a while back.
It was just as hilarious to see it live and he really does a good job.

We both stayed around for a bit after the show. Elwood tried his hand at one of the poker tables, while I walked around and looked at everything.

I dropped him off afterwards and got home myself sometime around 11:30-midnight.

I didn't have to work that Friday, so I took advantage of being able to sleep in. Which was really nice after getting home so late.
My big plan for the day was to go babysit my niece and nephew that afternoon.

I got there around 1:00 p.m. and my niece met me outside looking like this:

She said she got all "fancied up" because her uncle was coming over.
(She's been on a "Fancy Nancy" kick lately)

Her brother was asleep when I got there, so the two of us had a late lunch, walked around in the backyard, read a book and dressed up Barbies. (Yes... you read that right. I dressed up Barbies.)
When her brother finally woke up, we went to the park where I kept them entertained and out of their mom & dad's hair until 5:00 p.m.

Then we all came back and by that time Uncle Ferretnick was pooped!

I came home and made dinner and watched "Shoot 'Em Up" before falling asleep early and going to bed. (In that order!)
-------------------

Saturday found me up shortly after the sun was up (so much for sleeping in again).
I bummed around the house for a bit and decided I wanted to get out of the house instead of sitting inside all day.

I took off for Bellevue to see if Uwajimaya had any Ultraman toys (which they didn't. Well, not what I was looking for anyway).

Then I drove up to Lynnwood and picked up comics where I ran into Technogreek, back from his recent Euro-trip.

It was starting to get later in the day and I needed to get back pronto, as Hotness and I had tickets for the ballet that night.

Got home. Showered and shaved. Ironed my clothes for the evening and took back off out the door.
Traffic was good for a Saturday evening, so we made it in plenty of time.

The evening's performance was "Romeo & Juliet".
This was a more modern and minimalist version of the production, with music by Prokofiev (who's best known for his children's piece "Peter & the Wolf")
We'd seen this version before, and thought it was... okay.
Actually, I think that Hotness liked it more than I did. But I'm more of a classicist and enjoy the version with the elaborate sets and music by Tchaikovsky.

This production, while very well done and well-performed by the dancers, just didn't hold my interest. Especially the second time around.
We ended up leaving after the first part during the intermission and coming home.
We got home and went straight to bed to sleep.

Sunday was a do-nothing day.
We did some shopping for a project I wanted to start on, but I've had to give up on it for now.
I have this great idea visualized in my mind, but when it comes down to making it a reality I need to work on it some more and get it fleshed-out better.

That evening we had dinner with our neighbor and watched some TV with him.


And that brings us up-to-date to today.
Back at work again and nothing exciting to talk about.

Learning Korean.... The Hard Way!

The other day I was killing some time and found myself shopping around Hmart in Lynnwood.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular. Just browsing around at all the funky packages and taking in the smells of the seafood dept. (which seems to be found throughout the entire store) when I happened along a sale of a particular product.

The sign said they were "stuffed pancakes", but as there were two very different looking pictures on similar-looking packages, I figured that one of them (the one that actually DIDN'T look like a sort of pancake) had to be something else.
Ironically enough, it was this other item that looked more enticing to me. Unfortuantely both the packages were in Korean, so there was no way to tell for sure.

I looked the package over, thinking "Well, they gotta have English directions on here", only to find:

that it didn't.

I studied it for a while and figured that according to the picture, all I needed was;
a package of the mix (250 g)
one egg (approx. 50 g)
and liquid, presumably water (70 ml) with a little extra to spritz on the rolls(?).

"Okay. Good enough for me", I thought. After all, I'm no dummy around the kitchen, so I could probably figure it out. Besides, maybe they had English directions inside the package. (One could hope, anyway)

I opened it at home and discovered that was sadly not the case.
I decided to hold off until the weekend to make them so I could spend some time on them instead of trying to figure it all out after coming home from work.

The next day, I went online and looked for the product via Google.
Keep in mind... the package was all in Korean (except for "Enjoy Home Baking" on the front), so I really didn't have a lot to go on.

I muddled around online for a bit when I came across a blog that described making this very product. YAY!
Of course, it was all in Japanese so NOW I was trying to decipher how to make a Korean biscuit(?) using Korean to Japanese directions.
It wasn't looking good.

One of my coworkers suggested I translate the page using Babel Fish.
Good idea! .... sort of.
It translated the page, but I think it actually made it worse.

There was a lot of references to "Military officer" and "empress" but not a whole heck of a lot of info about how to actually make the darn things.
I did see that it's called 'Kaechal bread', but whether that's the Korean name or a Japanese term for it isn't clear.

I'll try to attempt making them soon and let you know how they come out, but don't expect great results.
I'm going to be working blind.

So... I guess I don't really have a point to this story except to say this:
If you are in a foreign foods market and buy something "cool", you'd best be prepared to know what you're getting into if the directions aren't clear to you.
Lesson learned? Probably not. I'll most likely do it again.

Oh Snap!

I've been "Kanye-fied!

It's Not Blog Neglect... Honest!

Yeesh!
The posts around here have been pretty lean lately, huh?

It's not that I'm tired of this blog or anything.
I just haven't had a lot of things I wanted to devote a post to.
Usually when I find something funny (typically a news story), I've been posting it over on my Facebook page. I don't feel like writing up some big involved post about it, so it's just quicker to put it there.
I've also had a couple of recent posts over at the Comic Stop blog, so it's not like I've deserted Blogger.

But I finally had something I wanted to put on here, so if you're still coming by here and reading this thing every so often, well today's your lucky day.

A while back (in March, to be precise), I made a gift certificate for a friend and offered to take him to a Mariner's game as a Birthday present.
Life quickly got in the way of things and there were a couple of comic book conventions shortly afterward, so going to a game sort of became an afterthought.

Not much was said about it until the other day when I reminded him that my offer for the game was still open if he'd like to go.
He was still up for it and as luck would have it, the next game coming up was Sunday against the New York Yankees.

I got the tickets through my work and we made plans to enjoy the game that day.


We met up in Lynnwood and carpooled into Seattle from there.
Traffic was lighter than we expected, so we had lots of time to kill before the game.

We parked and then walked to Uwajimaya to get something to eat.
Then we walked around the International District for a bit. (I wanted to stop into Pink Godzilla and a Japanese toy store while I was there)


While we were wandering, there was a large group of people gathered at a small park in the neighborhood.
We asked one of the police officers what was going one and they said it was Chinese National Day celebrations.

Looked like they were all excited, but we had a game to get to, so we headed back to Safeco Field.


We missed the National Anthem and the first pitch, but got to our seats not too long after.
Our seats were in the 1st row, right off the third baseline. A great view with nobody in front of us to spoil it.

I'm not a big sports fan (hence the lack of "sports talk" on this blog), but I do enjoy a fun game with the sun shining and spending it with a friend.
Especially one that answered my questions about the things I didn't understand.
(I finally learned how they figure baseball averages, and why the home team didn't need to finish the last inning if they were ahead. Things like that.)

The Mariners scored two runs in the first inning and then 5 more in the second inning.
The Yankees only scored one run, but like I mentioned to George, it seemed like they weren't even trying.
So overall it was a fun game but not very exciting. Glad that the home team won anyway.

In the last inning, a foul ball headed our direction.
George went to catch it but it got knocked out out his hand. One of the players threw it back and this time George caught it.
It was a nice way to top off his birthday present!

After that, we headed back up north to get my car and parted ways.

And that was the highlight of my weekend.

Coming up:
Ballet season starts this week
New Ultraman news
Learning Korean... the hard way!

Fair, Camping, Bumbershoot

I had planned on being back and posting long before now, but I just kept putting it off.
I'm sorry if I've kept you waiting.

Anyway, I could ramble on and on about everything, but it'll be much simpler to just post some pictures and give you captions to fill you up-to-date.
--------

Back in late August, Hotness & I went to the fair;
Where I had my annual Purple Cow*


We also checked out the floral dept.
They had a big display of carnivorous plants

As well as a live tarantula in one of the other displays


Hotness was not getting any closer than she had to, to see that.


Other than that, the fair was the same old, same old.
Nothing has really changed.

Oh! I did buy some lottery tickets to win a mobile chicken coop.


I haven't heard whether I was the winner, but at least I can figure out how to build this style from these pictures if I wasn't.
-------------

On Labor Day weekend, I went camping again.
This was the last of our "group camping trips" for the season.

It pretty much rained the whole time, but that didn't prevent us from having any fun.

We had a nice big tarp over the table, so we were able to prepare food and eat without getting too wet.



And on one of the few breaks in the weather I was able to pursue my quest for the perfect S'more.

This one includes a whole Reese's Peanut Butter cup.


It was extremely close to perfection!


I got back from camping on Sunday, and then on Monday I scooted off for Bumbershoot in Seattle with a friend.
It was rainy off-and-on, but we had a lot of fun despite the indecisive weather.

The first thing we did after getting inside the event was to get ourselves a pass for the comedy stage.
Then we headed straight for the EMP SkyChurch to watch an indie band called "Dept. of Energy".

They did a cool rendition of Van Halen's "JUMP" using a vibraphone.

Then we wandered around for a bit until going to the Mainstage to watch the "Black Eyed Peas" perform.

We got pretty close to the stage. Close enough to get a good view.
(That's Fergie standing on a speaker directly above the guy in the orange jacket)
They put on a really good show, although they blew an amp at one point and so they lost their sound for a few minutes.
They got it back and then lost it again.
Finally everything got figured out and the show went on.

Here's a view of the crowd from above the main floor:

That's a LOT of people!

We left the concert early so that we could get in line for the comedy stage we got passes for earlier.
It was an improvisational Shakespeare group, and that was one heck of a funny show!
Unfortunately we couldn't get any pictures or video, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
But it was well worth the money!


After that, we wandered around and looked at the art on display and then checked out Flatstock 22.


There were a couple of concerts coming up later in the evening, but by that time we were hungry and our feet were starting to hurt from all the wandering and standing in lines.
We grabbed a bite outside the Bumbershoot grounds at a nifty little Mexican place.
After talking it over we decided that we'd seen enough and that we really didn't need to stay.
We both had work the next day, and it was in our best interests to get back home so that we weren't dragging the next day.
--------------


Since then, nothing much has been happening worth noting.
At least, not until last evening.

A few of us got together to help celebrate Palindrome's birthday with burgers at Red Robin followed by aimless wandering at the nearby Target.




And THAT catches you up on things in my "exciting" life.
The fun never ends, does it?





* A "Purple Cow" is a float made out of:
Blackberry ice cream
Lemon-lime soda
and a bit of blackberry syrup

Rodents Of Unusual Size

It's like a scene out of "The Princess Bride".

A new species of rat was discovered in Papua New Guinea that measures almost 3 feet long and has no apparent fear of humans.

It was discovered inside on the inside of a volcano crater (and not the"Dreaded Fire Swamp") by a film crew who were filming a documentary about the area.

That is one FUGLY-looking critter!


(via the Presurfer)

* FYI: Actual content to follow soon.
I forgot to bring pictures to post, so you'll have to settle for this random news tidbit in the meantime.

Meat Slug

Isn't this just a thing of beauty?

Aw, c'mon! Don't get all grossed out. It's just a turkey tenderloin before I put it in the oven for dinner last night.

It came out looking like this when it was finished

and with a few carefully selected side dishes turned into this

The stuffing on the top-right, is just regular old Stove-Top Stuffing.
But I had cooked up some pork sausage and added a cut up apple from one of the trees in my yard to it.
It went exceptionally well together and really help bring dinner up a couple of notches.

And let me just say.... dinner was fan-freakin'-tastic!

Deep-Fried Anything

I'd like to tell you that I've been really busy and just haven't had time to post anything cool until, but I'd be lying.
In reality, nothing exciting going on and therefore a lack of any blog posts with substance.

Hotness and I went to the fair this past Sunday where I took this picture:

 

I can only imagine what "red neck sushi" could be. It's obviously not something natural.

No, I didn't get anything here. I had my deep-fried Twinkie last year and it was enough for me for the rest of my life.

Other than that, nothing else unusual to report.

Just the 'same old, same old'.

   --------------------------------------

In other news:

 The whole "Disney buys Marvel" has been talked about a lot lately.

I don't really have anything good or bad to say about it.

Whether I like it or not, it's going to happen without my say-so.

I will say this, though...

If it means that we'll finally get a "Peter Porker: The Spectacular Spider-Ham" comic book again.... I all for it!

Also, it might open doors for Marvel to expand on some interesting stories if the characters are allowed to enter each other's universes.

For instance, I wouldn't mind seeing a team-up of Howard the Duck & Donald Duck. (A couple of high-strung, cantankerous waterfowl and their exploits.)

Could be funny if Jeff Parker gets to tackle it. Or very dark if Mark Millar does.

It'll certainly be wordy if Bendis gets to do something like that.