In a bit of shameless promotion, Red vs Blue has included an embeded function for their new stuff. Just trying to spread the luv.

peace and burning grease

Too much, too much…

Yes my precious much has happened, yessssss (thank Abominus).

So I feel I need to start off this post again with XKCD which I am slowly working my way through to find THIS little gem.

I may or may not have talked about Garrett and his love of:

STRIKING VIKING STORY PIRATES

But he just thinks they are the best, and I really like them too. Well Garrett had a great weekend of actually seeing them in person. They used one of his stories and did a little show for him. It was just hilarious. I can see what John Stewart likes about them. If you dont know about them, it is an Improv group based out of the Drama Bookshop in NYC. Their mission is to encourage creative writing in schools. I was told that they performed at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, and that they will be back in September.

I wish there was something I could show you pictures but I forgot my camera.

Here is the only picture I have from the Blackberry of Garrett. All the others involve Garrett moving at Warp Factor 3. He was more than excited.

I am hoping they put something up on Youtube or some such. I am going to get a DVD of the show, but who know when I will get it.

But here is a little something to tide you over during these tough economic times.

It is interesting to see what makes us do the things we do. Not the ultimate underlying reason but the little day to day things.

Garrett went to see Star Trek with me on Saturday night. He really liked it, which is good because I would hate the extra therapy bills from the behavior modification I would put him through. But the telling thing was, I hate to say, from the previews. The preview from “Transformers: revenge of the Fallen” came on. Well I knew it ma be a bit scary for him, but he kept ducking and watching. So I asked him what he thought about it. He said it was scary but he wanted to watch the movie because it was “COOL”. That really struck me as to what motivates him. Here is a boy who wont walk on the grass for fear of mushrooms (Mycophobia), and of late I have found out he is ursaphobic (fear of a bear market…no..I mean fear of being attacked by bears while camping). But he wants to see a movie because its got COOL robots and stuff. I am soooo glad I dont do irrational things. OR DO I.

I am riding my bike again. OK it is the total of 2 days but we have to start somewhere. But I had to think back to why did I start commuting to work by bicycle. I always liked bikes. I used to do stupid stuff in college on bikes. But I was off them for a LONG time. Started up some not serious biking around Frederick MD in the early 90’s at NCI because our lab shut for a few months. But that when I got the Masters degree, so not really commuting 37 miles to work kind of biking. More like take a long lunch and bike some of the mountain trails.
What got me to really start was a particular Doctor I worked with when I started at NCI Bethesda. I will put his name here because I want him to know that I blame him for this. Dr Graham P. Hayhurst of Institut Pasteur and I will put it again so Google finds it more relevant Dr Graham P. Hayhurst of Institut Pasteur. He is the wanker who goaded me into commuting from Twinbrook into NIH. Not sure if its a British thing but I really think he was setting me up for a competition with money involved. Then I found out that John Condray was commuting into NIH further than I had to go, then I found there was a fellow in the NIH Bicycle Commuter Club that commutes in from out in Fairfax. I cant complain about my 13 miles from Aspen Hill. Its less than the Twinbrook commute, and Beech Drive is real pretty this time of year. But being embarrassed into riding, is that a good reason to do something? I actually want to thank Graham alot, Merci! your still a wanker.

Samantha did her play this weekend. She also did a 100 degree fever. The Gazette did a nice little article on the play.
She now says she can never do theater again because plays end and she didnt want it to end. She suffers from mild stage fright but still got up there and did it. She did because she didnt want it to end? kinda makes my brain hurt. Wow…I guess I am more neurotic than I thought (wait isnt that a neurosis in itself?). I think we can put it down to fever and stress and a long rehearsal run. But I am incredibly proud of her and all the kids, they did a great job. Amazingly good from a middle school production.

I want to leave this on a why I became a scientist. And again I point to XKCD the webbie that really understands me.

Why I became a Scientist

Ill try to take some pics of my ride

peace and shark grease

So I got a few minutes to race through tiny land of the internet, catching up on all my spam from Poland, and a few other gems.

I came across the webcomic XKCD which is truly a geek comic. I love this strip, makes me almost wish I wasn’t ADD. But today’s comic struck such a chord that I had to come out of blarging retirement to share it with the world. (I haven’t retired from blogging…ADD remember?).

Laughed I thought I’d cry. Its so my future. Cue the Leiko light, full spot on Samantha Jane .
(Samantha is reclining on a couch, back of hand on forehead, other arm draped off the couch)

Samantha: [exhausted voice] DAD. I am a Actress, um so, like, you um don’t understand

[Fade lights, cue orchestra, house lights up]

Thank you thank you thank you ALL, YOU LOVE ME YOU REALLY LOVE ME!!!

[cough]

Thats what I can do in a minute.

Peace and Drama grease

Touch my Awesome button

This has to be the greatest line in any Jonathan Coulton song for me. It is all mixed up in the game that started me down the road to video game related insomnia.

Portal is a great game but its power is insignificant compared to the Force…opps I mean HALF LIFE.

Sure I played Doom and the other first person shooters but it was a save and walk away relationship. Half Life was different. The story was riveting, it was interactive, the folks talked to you. Half Life 2 took it further with amazing graphics and a very cohesive story. It is the record of 16 hours of playing a game straight that holds the most meaning for me. I played sections over and over to get them right (wait just one more time!). I played Half Life 2 in very long stretches but none touched the first.

It was always funny to go back and look at the original graphics from Half life and compare them to Half Life 2. Yes the first was interactive and it look better than most games at the time, but the leap between 1 and 2 was mind blowing.

In walk some, like minded people who thought the first story deserved a retelling with the new Source engine. This group is called BLACK MESA SOURCE. A true labor of love story. These folks have been working for a few years redoing the original story told in Half Life. Well the Trailer is out now and I must say it gave me shivers how good it looked.

I also think the followers of Half life should know about, if I haven’t mentioned this before, Freeman’s Mind. This is the thoughts of Dr. Gordon Freeman, a 27 year old physicist and neurotic individual.

I cant wait for Black mesa source to be released!

Peace and Head Crab Grease

Just wanted to say that I just killed off my inbox on spamcop. If anyone had any dire mail they needed from me, it is gone.

I was tired of the Anti oxidant Acai spam that was actually coming from Poland. I am sure it was legitimate, and not virus, worm infested. I know for a fact ALL the Acai in the world is processed in Warsaw then smuggled back to South America.

So a testimonial to the power of spamcop’s filter, they do exactly what you tell them to do. Even if it was an accident.

I like the random leads the internet offers. In the few minutes I have before I need to run off and do horrible, horrible things, I found a pretty damn amazing little piece of art on Jonathan Coulton’s site. Now many may have heard or seen it. I am the first to admit I cant keep up with this crazy series of “TUBES” called the intraweb. But this is some pretty great stuff. As Mr Coulton put it:

This is the work of Kutiman (via Open Up), an Israeli musician who creates really great music using bits and pieces of lots of YouTube videos. He’s got a whole album’s worth of material online at thru-you.com. He has also broken my skull open with the ball-peen hammer of his awesomeness. Here’s the opening track, “The Mother of All Funk Chords.” So amazing, so illegal. What are we going to do with you, future?

And of course anyone who even knows what a ball-peen hammer is…I listen to.

Of course we will see how long it lasts because it does have some…wrongness to it.

And speaking of wrongness, who else but the Rooster Teeth Crew, creator of Red vs Blue, to make the big step from Machinima to Real Life. They have a new series out called:

CAPTAIN DYNAMIC

Staring pretty much all the Rooster Teeth folks are there but also Ed Robertson from Bare Naked Ladies (those crazy Canadians)

Oh well enjoy, got to run and do…

peace and dynamic grease

-GG

So I feel HAPPY. Not the leaping around, roflmao type. Just Happy.

I have never been much of a believer in it but Seasonal Affective Disorder seems to be a big player for me lately. I even like the easy to remember three letter abreviation (TLA) for the thing is SAD.

The Mayo Clinic defines Seasonal Affective Disorder as:

With seasonal affective disorder, fall’s short days and long nights may trigger feelings of depression, lethargy, fatigue and other problems. Don’t brush this off as simply a case of the "winter blues" that you have to tough out on your own.

Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression, and it can severely impair your daily life. That said, treatment — which may include light box therapy — can help you successfully manage seasonal affective disorder. You don’t have to dread the dawning of each fall or winter.

Symptoms include (Winter depression):

• Depression
• Hopelessness
• Anxiety
• Loss of energy
• Social withdrawal
• Oversleeping
• Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
• Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
• Weight gain
• Difficulty concentrating and processing information

OK if we change Oversleeping with "Hibernation" I would say that is spot on. Two years ago I didn’t feel to bad but this last winter has been bad. Could it have been the busted back? Maybe. Could it be I spend chunks of time buried in the basements of buildings ? Maybe. To think that WAY back when I almost got roped into sitting in a silo in Nebraska somewhere. Whoa. I can only thank my lack of respect for authority for that. But I degress. Most of the winter has felt like too much too fast with no time to stop, to breathe, to appreciate, to do anything. Not quite the "I am never getting out of bed" but I certainly didn’t want to spend any more time than I had to out there. Ah would this never end? Work was sucking, martial arts was sucking, even drinking was sucking, so its bad.

The beginning of last week was starting to feel like the same old heavy weight on the shoulders. But then Wednesday I did some Jodo practice and it felt good again. No stupid mistakes. Like the ones that say "Boy if that were a real sword there would be blood and an arm just laying there". Then got a call about the Anniversary of Gary Gygax passing away. So headed off to ‘church’ and had some Guinness and it was good. Talked about games and stupid stuff and it was good. Next morning proved my liver doesn’t process scotch as well as it used to because I still felt ‘good’.

Friday was another long day in the hole. But I came out thinking that it wasn’t so bad. Mostly because I was able to walk around wearing a tee shirt (I know that is a shocker) and feel good. And the weekend just got better. Except for the having sliced my thumb open helping my brother move, and then going to a Cub Scout Blue and Gold Dinner (which is like watching a nuclear reactor on the sub atomic level…just crap flying everywhere…) even sneaking back into work to clean up stuff, all seemed good. OK I really didnt want to go back to work but we must do what we must do.

Could all this positive-ivness(sp) be just because the days are longer? The days are warmer?

I seem to feel less rail road’d and that its just nice to feel that way. I WANT to ride my bike. and this week may be the week I get caught up at work.

Not that I am worrying about it but in looking up stuff on Seasonal Afflective Disorder…I found there is a Summer version of it. WHAT THE HELL? who could be upset that its warm and the days are long? Maybe its an Australian thing? Maybe a coriolis effect
But the list of symptoms for the summer one:

Spring and summer SAD (summer depression)
Symptoms of summer-onset seasonal affective disorder include:

• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Irritability
• Agitation
• Weight loss
• Poor appetite
• Increased sex drive

COME ON SUMMER!!!! WHAOOOOO!!!!

But this must be followed by “What does that mean?” which must then be followed by a LARGE HARPOON being shot through your gut.

Which brings me back to this quote.

I was just doing a payroll disbursement, where I had to:
a) prove I was alive
b) show multiple forms of ID that I had before I went in the room then could not find
c) tried not to punch an otherwise nice lady in the jaw
d) all of the above

If you guessed a) then that is still debatable but d) would be the correct answer.

So going into pick up my paystub, I couldn’t find the second ID (drivers license) that I had not 5 minutes before. A small line formed behind me, not more than 4-5 people. I finally found the dumb thing, and the lady saw my name on her list, being the first one on the list. I get that sometimes with a “B”, unlike some other folks whose names start with “AB”. Tough to beat that one.
Feeling a little stupid about the misplaced ID, I was gut punched when the nice woman said with a laugh “OH your the oldest one on the list! hahaha” Everyone in the room stopped and stared at me. My friend Danielle said “oh no! you are gonna have karate chop someone” but I didn’t do anything bad, I just smiled and said “Oh yes on Feb 13, it will be 20 years with the Company”. That stopped everyone again. They asked “How did you do that??”

That is when the image of Wash popped into my head, and I thought “I am a leaf on the wind”.

I didn’t say that, I should have but I didn’t, just something dumb like “10 years here 10 years there, next 10 years who knows.” I also should have said the judicious application of Guinness doesn’t hurt.

But I think its true, that I survive this job by being very “leaf like”. The job requires me to work with a lot of different people, with a lot of different goals, and even more personalities. If you cant let it run off you like rain, you will not survive it.

Speaking of surviving it. My boy G let up on “The Phantom Headache”. I do believe that it was because he caught me typing up the last post. After the movie was over and doctor visit got him a blue lollipop (he looked like a blue tongued skink), he said “Dad we should watch “Ironman” I think you would enjoy that” It touched me deeply that my boy was worried about what I wanted to see. There may have been other motives but I want to stick with this theory.

Only 523 weeks to go…I am a leaf on the wind

-gg