The New Obsolete

We really like having nice tech toys. Not bleeding edge stuff (can’t afford it, plus I like to wait for a year or two so they can work the bugs out), but nice stuff none the less.

We don’t have a whole lot of money, so we have to do it frugally & smart. We buy most things used (our Wii, 360, and most of the games we got for them are used), with the others either being on sale (my tv was nearly half off on some crazy labor day sale), or my personal favorite: Obsolete.

Rather than get a Blueray player, we’ve gone for the “obsolete”  HD DVD player, specifically the one you can add on to the 360.  I was able to track one down for under twenty bucks, and that came with three movies (decent ones too: Serenity, The Big Lebowski & Dune, which I watch purely for snark factor).

Individual movies are almost all under five dollars, with the exceptions being reasonable: I paid under twenty bucks for the Ultimate Blade Runner set (yes, the one with the toy police spinner and the briefcase).

It’s not that this format was inferior to Blueray, it just was on the losing end of a the typical tech industry money & politics game. Lots of really good flicks came out on the format, (my next pick up will likely be John Carpenter’s The Thing: can’t wait to see that in all it’s glory) and can now be had for a song. Sure you have to work a little harder to get some of the titles, but I tend to enjoy things more if I put more effort in them anyhow.

Sever

A friend of mine lost a leg on Friday.

If you know him as well you likely already know, and if you don’t know this isn’t the place to find out. He’s a friend from work, so that should cause the pool of panicked concern to narrow.

I’m not sure what happened, I just know that a MAX train was involved, and that he’s lucky to be alive. I’m going to the hospital to see him in a couple of hours, and to let him know that he will receive all the support he needs. There are already plans forming to help him financially, and all the emotional support he wants will be available from myself, and a wide pool of concerned friends & coworkers.

My friend & union brother (he is very active in Local 5) is hurt, and while  I cannot imagine his pain,  by Roddenberry’s bones I will help him through it.

Random Things at my Sister’s

Tonight we’re at my sister’s doing our occasional bit of babysitting. The following is a rundown of some of the random thoughts and incidents of our little stay:

While watching our niece, I fell asleep listening to my wife read a bedtime story, yet the 8 year old wouldn’t.

By Roddenberry’s Bones I will bring a can of WD-40,  fix the squeaking doors, and leave it here for future de-squeaking.

Despite the fact that I work in a bookstore, I feel compelled to raid my sister’s poetry collection to read the Leonard Cohen book I’m too impatient to wait for a used copy of.

It’s amazing the level of quiet that two adults who desperately don’t want to wake a sleeping child up can engage in. Also amazing is just how loud the little noises said child makes are when you really want her to stay asleep.

Why can’t I beat this level of Lego Star Wars? I’ve gotten through it about 5 times before. Is it because the kid is watching? Probably. I’m not going to find out though, as I already owe about .75 cents to the swear jar from that frelling game.

Movement

With the old housemate gone, and one new in with the other landing in the next week or so, we’ve had a chance to make a few changes around the house.

The big one is moving our bedroom to the downstairs space.  It’s quite a bit bigger, has a fireplace, and more room to hang stuff on the walls. We’ve been transitioning most of our art down there, leaving the hallway space for family photos.

The kitchen is seeing some changes too. We got a couple of kitchen type things as wedding presents, so some things had to go to make room. Although I still haven’t opened our new plates, and won’t until I figure out what to do with the old ones.

Which brings us to the biggest problem…we have too much stuff. I’ve gotten rid of some of it, but need to move out a bunch more.

There are two categories of items that we have shocking numbers of: books, and craft supplies. Books are a natural problem here. We both work in a bookstore, and have done so for years, each of us bringing home an average of one or two books a week.

Here’s the math, assuming 1.5 books a week each:

1.5 x 52 x the 9 years we’ve been together x 2= 1404

It’s true that this does not count the occasional selling back of a few books, but it also doesn’t take in to account gifts, crazy weeks were one of us brings home 10 books, or the massive collections of books we each had coming in. As I’ve said before, we are book people with a space problem.

The craft supplies are a different issue altogether. They include my paint rig, unpainted minis, random bits of terrain, Sadimac’s sewing machine, bags of random cloth, old clothes for repair or re-purpose,  hundreds of other small odds & ends, and damaged books for paper projects. There is of course more (the stack of Styrofoam in the garage is stunning), but it’s really too much to list off.

The back bedroom is where most of the craft stuff was living, but we need that for our incoming housemate. No time to sort, no time to junk, so off to the garage and attic for most of it, with a couple of choice bits to the office.

The cat’s reaction to all of this is of course, another entry entirely.

Cooking Diner with a Naughty Dog

So there I was, cooking diner.  Chicken, basil & tomato sausage with garlic over capellini (or what ever, it was in the pasta drawer) and an attempt at steamed asparagus that was thwarted by poor vegetable refrigerator management on my part.

Not the most ambitious meal I’ve ever made, but a delicious one all the same.

However, a naughty dog was in the way the whole time. Fidel & Sebastien are the two Great Danes who are now living with us permanently, along with their person Sean. Sebastien was no trouble, just watched me cut up some sausage, looked sad, and went to lay down.

Fidel’s sins require a list

• Bit Sebastien’s leg
• Put her head on the cutting board while I was cutting meat
• Got into the cat food
• Tried to chew up a bottle of ibuprofen
• Tried to get into a bag of crackers
• Would not stop barking

I’m nice, I’m firm, and damn it I’m patient, but I really can’t take too much of this (I’m much more patient with the cats, but then again they don’t pull shit like this). Eventually I had to put her out (where she barked some more) to save my sanity.

She’s not a bad dog by any means, but last night she was in rare form. I finally got her calmed down at about 11 o’clock, then  Sadimac & I curled up to fold some laundry, snuggle cats and catch up on Torchwood. Not a bad night once the beastie was calmed.

Glorious San Fransisco

It’s been a damn fine day. In fact, apart from my wedding day (which was phenomenal), this was the best day of my year.

It started when I dragged my ass out of bed at like 4:45 and some how got myself out the door by 5 AM. My breakfast was truly uninspiring (an omelet  of questionable provenance, and a medicinal bloody mary that in theory had vodka in it), but I managed to get on the plane and have a good flight down to the city that once defined my weekend to do list,  San Francisco.

It’s been 15 years since I’ve been to this stunning city (way too long as it turns out), but I felt that I was back in it’s rhythm by the time I left the airport. Shame I was only in town for a day.

I finally met the storied Aunt Frida, who was just as much an awesome presence as my wife & mother-in-law have made her out to be. The woman is a giant in a wheel chair, and epicenter of a creative micro universe.

After introductions and a bit of recovery, I went to get some pictures of the Bloody Thursday portion of a nearby mural, then I explored some of the book stores of the Mission. Dog Eared and Modern Times were great old school bookstores with accommodating staff. I snagged a shirt from Modern Times, and lingered until my true target, Borderlands Books opened up at noon. Now that was a fun store.

I had a lovely chat with one of the owners and an employee about the business, and American Apparel’s novel ideas about shirt sizes. The employee turned out to be one of the owners of Night Shade Books, the publisher of Wind Up Girl (which sold well before it started getting awards, then really took off once they started rolling in). We both realized that we had met each other years ago at a PNBA convention.

I bought a Night Shade shirt, then as a thank you for his books selling so well at BLB01 he gave me a couple of freebies: a collection called Sympathy for the Devil (including stories from a ton of good writers, including my favorite Neil Gaiman short, The Price), and a zombie parody of Garrison Keillor’s endless stream of home spun bullshit called The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten. We chatted for awhile longer then I went back to Frida’s to rest up before the party.

I won’t go into detail, but it was a blast. I met a great many folks I’m now related to, and made fast friends with a few other folks. Uncle Davey was there of course, so I got to hang with him for awhile as well. It was a blast.

After a few hours of revelry, I had to go back to the airport. The cab ride was a pleasure (one of the best cabbies I have ever had the pleasure of giving $30 to ), and security smooth. My pre-flight therapeutic drink was of decent quality, and horrific price ($9.09 for a 7&7? It’s a good thing for them I need booze before I step foot on an airplane). That leaves us at now, with me sucking down airport wi-fi and longing to go home to my wife.

Damn fine day. Once I’m back in my wife’s arms it will be complete.

Good night San Fransisco, I hope to see you again soon.

Bradbury Love (NSFWish)

Best song about wanting to get it on with a classic Sci-Fi writer ever.