The view of the strip from up on the Stratosphere
The Strat View
Posted by Steve
on May 1, 2008
No comments
On April Fools.
Posted by Steve
on April 2, 2008
No comments
I love practical jokes. When I was growing up I would always try and play jokes on my brother and sister. I remember one time we even went as far as to pull the mattress out of a sleeper couch and roll myself and a friend inside (in place of the mattress) and wait for my sister and her friend to come along and sit down, then reach through the couch to scare them.
When I was in Tech School I actually drafted paperwork to have a friend redirected from her current assignment to go to Greenland instead. This involved the paperwork and all of the instructors to be in on the joke. She reported to the TI’s and complained about the new assignment but was relieved when she found out it was a joke.
And that is the key here. When it was all said and done, in the end, it was just a joke. We all had a good laugh about it. She swore revenge and I was all for it. I don’t mind jokes played on me. If they are good ones, I will suffer the humility of being gotten and laugh with the rest of them.
Since all of this, I have come to realize that there is really a time and a place for jokes in the caliber that I enjoy. That time and place is April Fools Day. April 1st comes around once a year and if you know anything about anything you know that if something gets announced on that day, take it with a grain of salt.
Just this year we saw a Project venture between Google and Virgin, Vir-gle, for a mission to Mars. agree on a buyout price, and a full new lineup of Think Geek products. Now, the un-knowing person may think, “MS and Yahoo are merging? I should buy stock!!” But a knowing person would realize that 1: it’s April Fools day, and 2: These people do this all the time.
Yesterday I got a few people. Most of them got a little giggle when it was revealed to be a joke. Some people saw through it right away. I will admit that offing my cat may have been is bad taste, which is why I only let the joke go for about 4 hours. This is certainly not the worst I have done, and it really wasn’t even the worst that I was planning to do. But in the end, it was just a joke, and a reminder that you really shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet, ESPECIALLY on April 1st.
To those who were horribly offended by this joke, I apologize. Yes, it was dipping into the bottom of the humor barrel, but after some of the other things I have pulled, I really was amazed that anyone didn’t see it as a joke.
My Miracle Cat.
Posted by Steve
on March 23, 2008
1 comment
Charlie is one of the best cats in the whole world. If you don’t believe me, ask anyone who has met him for any length of time. When we found him I was living in Denver at the time and we went to the local shelter to find a cat. He was the loudest cat in the whole place. We took him back into the visiting area and he decided that we were his. That was back in June of 1998 and he was about 2-3 years old. 10 years later I am still very much his staff and he never ceases to amaze me. People are always amazed at how I can talk to him and he listens, he follows instructions (when the outcome benefits him) and is always happy to talk back and carry on the conversation. He is, without a doubt, the best cat in the world.
Don’t worry, all of that is in the present tense, Charlie is still here and doing quite well. That’s the point of the post really. You may recall a few years back when Charlie had a few issues and needed to be rushed to the vet. Well, we took him in for a visit to the new vet since we have moved to check on a few things and just give him a once over. First of all, every Vet Tech in the area came out to see him and comment on how they have never seen another cat that had his coloring and that his personality was just the best. Charlie knows this all to well and will strut his stuff along the counter. The overall exam was good. We were concerned because every now and then he will have some issues passing food and this will cause him throw up a few times. This is usually like once a month. The vet said that it’s normal with the food that he is on and that we can try to introduce some more fiber to his diet.
She took a blood sample (Charlie was very displeased with this process) and said that she was astonished at the levels for his Kidneys. Back in the June 27th 2006 post I mentioned that there are two levels that directly relate to the kidney functions. At that time those levels were extremely high. Well apparently as of now his levels are just 1 point above Medium levels. The vet said that she had never seen a cat come back from such a traumatic event in the way Charlie has. She advised that whatever we were doing we should keep it up. We did introduce some pumpkin mixed into his wet food to give him a little more fiber and help with digestion and we also had them check his urine (currently awaiting results).
Overall Charlie is in great health. After his check on Saturday we took him to Pets Mart and he got to crawl around on the Carpet Trees there, lay across my shoulder while we walked around the store, and be adored by everyone there. He took a walk on the leash around Best Buy and marked his territory there, then came home to curl up by the fire. It was a long day for him and he took the rest. Of course this meant he was wide awake when it came time for US to go to bed. But hey, that’s normal…..for Charlie.
I am not young anymore!
Posted by Steve
on March 23, 2008
No comments
So this last Friday I decided that we needed a family night out. We had been cooped up inside for far too long due to weather or projects or just general laziness. I found an interesting little place just on the other side of Dulles called Panther Family Fun Center. They have Indoor mini golf, Laser Tag, and a slew of arcade games. This seemed perfect. It should be noted that when I mentioned the place to Andrew, his comment was “I will own you in both of those!!” There were four of us with Andrew’s friend Zach along to even teams out. We got there early and the place was pretty dead. Not surprising seeing as how it was out in the middle of no-where. We jumped into a game of “Cosmic Golf” which is Mini golf with black lights. For the most part it was ok. The course was a very very basic Mini golf course and the challenge level was low. It was still fun though. Final score here was 1st: Zach, 2nd by 1 point): Me, 3rd: Andrew, and 4th: Sarah.
We decided to hit up a local Kabob place for dinner and come back to the fun afterwards. When we did we went for some of the Arcade games first. Sarah is a big fan of Skee Ball and I love Air Hockey. As of right now I am still champ of the Table as I took on Sarah Twice and Andrew once, 3 for 3 Baby!!! We found that Sarah pwns at Skee Ball and that the Wheel of Fortune Coin drop machine gives a TON of tickets.
It was now time for some Laser Tag. Our first game was a free for all with about 8 total people. Now here is where I see a definite gap in age and tactics. When I was young and played Lazer Tag (yes, they had it back then, you just had much bigger guns and vests.) you would run and weave and hide. The goal of the game was to NOT GET HIT. I think some of these kids need to try out paint ball FIRST and then come back to Laser Tag. Most of them were just wandering through the maze and shooting at random, not trying to hide or anything. Me? I was in corners, covering my back, and keeping a sharp eye out. If I was tagged, I would use the 5 seconds of down time to run quickly to a new spot. Kids today. Second game. This time it was teams. Sadly it was the same tactics. They would wander around and not care, I would run from place to place, defend my position, call out to team mates, etc.
This leads me to the title of the post. I managed to get through two solid games. By the time the second was done I was beat. In this respect, (and only this) I admire what those kids were doing. By running around, ducking dodging and weaving, I managed to wipe myself out. Now I am paying the price for my winter break from exercise. My legs are killing me!!! Andrew and Zach went in for another 2 games while Sarah and I relaxed and played some Pinball. Then it was home to collapse on the couch. Overall it was a fun time for all, but wow, I am not young anymore!
So it’s been a while
Posted by Steve
on March 12, 2008
No comments
Yeah well, it’s winter time (or at least it still feels like it) and not a lot happens. The real story here is that I was pretty sick for a while. All Respiratory stuff so I was wiped out from just climbing stairs. I am just starting to feel better so things may pick back up. It weird, I had a ton of stuff I was working on and then I got sick and bam….nothing. So now I get to play catch up. There is some work to do on my Batman costume, I want to build new gauntlets for my Nightwing, pick back up with drumming…. The list goes on.
On the gaming front, we have tried out Galaxies again and found the game in much the same state as when we left it. Broken. It’s sad to see a genre that you love get raped so badly as this game has. I am still playing a little, there are things I want to see, but the over all feeling is that it’s dead, and something better is coming.
I also picked up Bully: The Scholarship Edition. This game is hilarious! The hoopla about it is overblown by people who have never played the game. On that note, I hate hate hate these people that get on TV and go to the press saying how these games are ruining our children and setting a bad example, yet they haven’t bothered to actually try the game or see what it is about. Bully is a great example of that. They say it teaches kids to be bullies and pick on younger kids. It’s also been called a “Columbine Simulator”. Yet, in the game, if you try and pick on a younger kid, you get pounced by the prefects, there are no guns, and the over all goal is to STOP bullies and let all of the students get along. Not to mention that, along the way, there are classes you have to attend and they actually TEACH real subjects. Things like English, Math, Geography, Biology, etc. Maybe that’s what happened is that some 50 year old Lawyer tried to play the game and got frustrated when he couldn’t find Botswana on the map!
Sheesh
Whirlwind recap and what to do!
Posted by Steve
on February 20, 2008
No comments
So many things going on I feel a bit un-organized. There is still so much to go through and I am feeling un-motivated. We need to get organized really bad.
Ugh
In lighter news, Farpoint was this last weekend and we had a blast. The Ghetto Garrison was out in full effect and it was great to see everyone again. I tested out a few costumes that I am tweaking for DragonCon and got some good comments. But mostly it was the partying that I was there for. A great way to blow off steam and stress. Sarah got to see the GG in full effect and was probably a little frightened but they welcomed her with drunken arms and a few of them even threatened death upon me so they could steal her. Saturday night was awesome with the party room and the drinking and the food and…. Woah… ok so it’s important to remember that if Cheri hands you something blue DO NOT DRINK!
Back on the homestead, I finally got my new glasses! When I ordered them I wanted the lightest ones I could get. The old ones were pretty cheap and fairly heavy so these new ones are adamantiam frameless and feather light. I will have a pic or two soon.
Lee and Doc convinced me to give Star Wars Galaxies another try. I haven’t touched the game in 4 years. A lot has changed but most of it still has that familiar feeling. I really missed the space combat and it still feels awesome. We’ll see how this progresses.
I also entered into the music scene with my first real instrument purchase (for myself). If you remember, a few years back we bought Andrew a guitar. I couldn’t play because I have “stupid fingers”. While I have always had hand drums around the house I never really thought of playing on a full kit. Well Rock Band kind of spurred me towards trying it at my friend Daves place and I took to it pretty quick. Enough so that I wanted my own and I want to take real lessons. So I found a good electric kit that wasn’t that expensive. The Yamaha DTXplorer. I loves it so much. I can just turn it on, sit down, and play a few rhythms. Then walk away. Once again, pics soon.
The rest of the month looks pretty quiet. Will hopefully get that motivation thing taken care of soon, and the organization thing will be worked on this weekend. (I hope)
Updates
Posted by Steve
on January 28, 2008
No comments
Ok so with all the hustle and bustle of the move I have left out a few things that have happened along the way. I have been just too wiped out or neurotic to do any posting. I say neurotic because I have been trying my damndest to get all un-packed and stuff put away. One thing for sure, we need more art. The walls are pretty bare and most of what I have for art is geek related. Since we are trying to contain the geek to the rec room (with minor spillage) it’s is kind of limiting. Mostly the frustration is just with the last few boxes of random stuff that was the last to come over. Mostly just things that should stay in a box and get thrown out next move but I need to go through them anyways. I also need to Sort through the storage room and reorg it so everything is accessible.
FUN!!
Well On the flip side, I do have a few things in the works to distract me from that whole moving and unpacking thing. We should see some new costumes for conventions very shortly. I am working on one that I have been wanting for a while but haven’t been brave enough to try. It will also have a side kick that Andrew can do and we are making it special for him.
On the gaming side I have been sending some attention towards three games. 1: Uncharted for the PS3. The game is beautiful and funny! 2: Half Life 2 Episode 2 (now with gnomey goodness!) and 3: Burnout Paradise! Each of them is great in their own regards and have helped me de-stress when I needed it. The only real problem I have now is that the TV, that was perfect for the apartment at a 37 inch size, now is kind of small in the townhouse and it’s a bit farther away from the couch so…..sigh.. I need my glasses on to see it. I have an eye appointment on Saturday so maybe I can get some new cooler lighter glasses.
Upcoming events are:
Farpoint in mid February
And that’s about it right now.
