Ten Tentacles - So many arms, so little time.

Via sivatonight:

1. EVER BEEN GIVEN AN ENGAGEMENT RING?:
   No, but I’ve given two.
2. LONGEST RELATIONSHIP:
   My marriage. Over fifteen years now.
3. LAST GIFT YOU RECEIVED:
   A knitting kit for Jayne’s Toboggan.
4. EVER DROPPED A CELL PHONE?:
   Oh yes. Several.
5. WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT?:
   Monday, in foil class.
6. THING(S) YOU SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON:
   Fencing and console games and shoes. Shutup.
7. LAST FOOD YOU ATE:
   Two slices of pumpkin bread with olive oil spread.
8. FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX:
   Depends on how much they’re wearing and whether they’re coming or going. If you’re going to force me to name one, it’s hands. I’m pretty big on the whole girl, though.
9. ONE FAVORITE SONG:
   Overkill by Colin Hay
10. WHERE DO YOU LIVE?:
    Stuart, VA
11. HIGH SCHOOL YOU ATTENDED:
    Roosevelt Roads High School and Point Loma Senior High
12. CELL PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER:
    Cingular
13. FAVORITE MALL STORE:
    EBGames
14. LONGEST JOB YOU HAD:
    My current one: Cingular Wireless.
15. DO YOU OWN A PAIR OF DICE?
    I own whole bags of them.
16. DO YOU PRANK CALL PEOPLE?:
    Not since high school.
17. LAST WEDDING YOU ATTENDED:
    Keith and Lori’s. It was very cool.
18. FIRST FRIEND YOU’D CALL IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY:
    Corrie Ann, first, then Keith … we have world domination plans to finance.
19. LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR BEST FRIEND:
    Sometime before Thanksgiving.
20. FAVORITE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT:
    Quizno’s
21. BIGGEST LIE YOU HAVE EVER HEARD:
    “I’ll be ready in just a second, honey.“
22. WHERE’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT WITH FRIENDS?:
    Anyplace with decent food and a good sized table.
23. CAN YOU COOK?:
    Oh yeah! And never let you forget you’re a man. Wait…
24. WHAT CAR DO YOU DRIVE?:
    Scion xA
25. BEST KISSER:
    Me! Come’er, I’ll show ya.
26. LAST TIME YOU CRIED:
    Um, a really good cry and not just tearing up over some movie or show? It’s been a long while.
27. MOST DISLIKED FOODS:
    Brussel sprouts and nori. Apart from those two, there isn’t much I won’t put in my mouth.
28. THING YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF:
    My ability to remember almost anything I see or read.
29. THING YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF:
    My inability to know when to shut up.
30. LONGEST SHIFT YOU HAVE WORKED AT A JOB:
    Slightly over fourty-eight hours.
31. FAVORITE MOVIE:
    Impossible to name just one.
32. CAN YOU SING?:
    I don’t know. You decide.
33. LAST CONCERT ATTENDED:
    I think it was a Shawn Colvin show at the Coach House.
34. LAST KISS:
    God, I hope not!
35. LAST MOVIE RENTED:
    This is Spinal Tap
36. ONE THING YOU NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT:
    My wang.
37. FAVORITE VACATION SPOT:
    Anywhere that takes me somewhere new. I like new.
38. LAPTOP OR DESKTOP COMPUTER?:
    Laptop. I gotta be mobile.
39. FAVORITE COMEDIAN:
    George Carlin
40. DO YOU SMOKE?:
    Sometimes, but then I slow down.
41. SLEEP WITH OR WITHOUT CLOTHES:
    Just in my skivies.
42. WHO SLEEPS WITH YOU EVERY NIGHT?:
    Corrie Ann
43. DO LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS WORK?:
    Not in my experience.
44. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN PULLED OVER BY THE POLICE?:
    Wow. At least ten?
45. PANCAKES OR FRENCH TOAST?:
    Waffles, actually.
46. DO YOU LIKE COFFEE?:
    Oh, yes.
47. HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS?:
    Scrambled, please.
48. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY?:
    I’m an Aquarius. We’re too flighty to believe in that stuff.
49. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE:
    Corrie Ann
50. LAST PERSON ON YOUR MISSED CALL LIST:
    Corrie Ann
51. WHAT WAS THE LAST TEXT MESSAGE YOU RECEIVED?:
    “Jim Kent (no network) wrote on your wall …“
52. NUMBER OF PILLOWS:
    3
53. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW?:
    Green workout shorts with yellow cuffs and my green NCUSFA 2005 t-shirt.
54. PICK A LYRIC, ANY LYRIC:
    “If you could only see how blue her eyes can be when she says … when she says she loves me.
55. WHAT KIND OF JELLY DO YOU LIKE ON YOUR PB & J?:
    Welch’s Grape Jelly
56. CAN YOU PLAY POOL?:
    Does pocket pool count? Or how about Puerto Rican pool? That’s where you put the stick in the pocket and leave the little balls out.
57. CAN YOU SWIM?:
    Like a fish. Wait, did you say drink?
58. FAVORITE ICE CREAM:
    Ben & Jerry’s Double Fudge Chunk
59. DO YOU LIKE MAPS?:
    Like? Maps is a slammin’ hottie!
60. TELL ME A RANDOM FACT ABOUT YOURSELF:
    I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue.
61. EVER ATTEND A THEME PARTY?:
    Oh, yes.
62. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?:
    Winter
63. LAST TIME YOU LAUGHED AT SOMETHING STUPID:
    Everytime I see it.
64. WHAT TIME DID YOU WAKE UP THIS MORNING?:
    Nine-ish
65. BEST THING ABOUT WINTER:
    The smell of wood burning fireplaces in the air.
66. LAST TIME A COP GAVE YOU A TICKET:
    Just before last Christmas.
67. NAME OF YOUR FIRST PET:
    Don Q.
68. DO YOU THINK PIRATES ARE COOL OR OVERRATED?:
    Totally cool.
69. WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEKEND?:
    Celebrating Chrismakkuh or Hanumas. I forget.
70. BIRTHDATE?:
    January 26th, 1971
71. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?:
    A writer.
72. ARE YOU ON A LAPTOP?:
    Yep.
73. ARE YOU SMILING?:
    Not this second, no.
74. DO YOU MISS SOMEONE RIGHT NOW?:
    Yes, but I’m taking better aim.
75. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD YOU GO?
    Antarctica
76. ARE YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL?:
    Ha! No.
77. DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH?:
    Yep.
78. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NAME?:
    Grimsdottir
79. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BATHING SUIT?:
    Black and tan
80. ONE PIECE OR TWO PIECE?:
    Of cake? Two please.
81. DID YOU GO ON VACATION LAST MONTH?:
    Yes. A vacation from my health.
82. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A CRUISE?:
    Yes.
83. DO YOU HAVE A SISTER?:
    No.
84. ARE YOU UPSTAIRS?:
    I took some stairs to get here.
85. ARE YOU IN LOVE?:
    Oh, yes.
86. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN THE HOSPITAL?:
    I was born in one. Since, I’ve been back a few times. I wouldn’t recommend it.
87. DO YOU WISH YOU COULD SEE ANYONE PARTICULAR RIGHT NOW?:
    Yep.
88. WHAT JEWELRY ARE YOU WEARING?:
    I don’t wear jewelry, but I do want a necklace.
89. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO AFTER THIS SURVEY?:
    I think I’ll have some cake. I suddenly want cake.

Good LORD, that was long. Whew!

Via Kelly:

Look! It’s Mario as a Lego-looking dude, or something, and there’s a special holiday greeting for you if you follow this link. It’s also a neat sort of social experiment. The chain appears to be huge. Go and read it and join in. At the very least you get a Lego-looking you out of the bargain.

A couple of new Web 2.0 applications have come across my desk in the last few days:

First, thanks to the ever wise Reverend Jim, I am now on Facebook. If you’re there, you can find me here (or with the new Facebook badge in the sidebar). If you’re not on there yet, you should be; it’s like MySpace, only without all the ugly and the silliness.

Second, thanks to Cory, this blog now has a loop. Loopnotes is a neat little application that lets you set up notification loops. Think of them as high tech calling trees, only that each person in the tree gets to decide how they receive the message (text message, IM, email, RSS feed), and only one person has to actually pass on the message. Cory uses it to notify all the coaches in the local youth soccer league of game schedule changes. I’ve set up a loop for this blog so that you can get notified, via your chosen method, whenever I post a new article. Go on, sign up. You know you want to.

On an unrelated note, regular readers may remember I’ve been having problems with my iPod. TechRestore did a great job replacing the faulty hard-drive, but, about a week after I got it back, it started doing what it was doing before. Suspecting that it was a problem with the battery (which would barely hold a charge for more than a couple of hours anymore), I ordered a very inexpensive battery kit, which came with the tools to open the iPod, and replaced the battery. It’s working like a champ now. My guess is that as the battery drained, the voltage would drop enough to not allow the hard-drive to function properly.

On a final note, for tonight, I pass on the funniest thing I’ve seen this week. To understand this tale, there must be a little stage setting. We have, sharing our humble abode, three dogs (all at or near seventy pounds each), and two cats (there are other animals but they aren’t relevant to this story). So our cats don’t starve, we keep their food bowls up on our dinning room table (the dogs can’t reach up there), on a tray to keep everything nice and neat. On the one or two days a week I am fortunate enough to work from home, I work at the self-same dinning room table (with the leaf in it seats eight comfortably … it’s a big table) because it’s a nice airy room, is central to the house, has lots of outlets, and gets the best cell reception.

Recently I have been given a Blackberry, as my new position with the company requires it. The Blackberry makes new and apparently frightening sounds. I was quietly working, the Blackberry at my side on the table, when Khan, our sixteen-year-old orange tabby, jumped up to eat. As he was eating the Blackberry went off, vibrating against the table like a rattlesnake. Khan jumped so high and so hard that the whole table shook. He then stared, pupils completely blown, not at the Blackberry, but at his food bowl. When the Blackberry vibrated again, almost immediately, he spit out the food he still had in his mouth and tore off. I think we’re going to have to get him a new bowl. He’s convinced his current one is mad at him.

A few weeks ago I made mention of my desire to learn to knit and the existence of a pattern for Jayne’s Toboggan. I think I actually called my pal, Cameron, out when I made mention of it because she was the one who told me about it.

A week or so ago Cameron hinted at something she had for me; she said it was a Hanukkah present and that she would bring it to epee class on Friday (this would have been Friday last). Unfortunately I missed last Friday’s epee class, ironically enough, for Hanukkah, heh. As a result, Woody brought my Hanukkah present from Cameron in last night, to foil class.

Placed into my hot little hands was a yellow, Bubble-lite 5 package with several curious postmarks on it. This one immediately caught my eye:

As I looked over the rest of the stamps a sneaking suspicion began to form in my mind:

The suspicion was confirmed when I opened the package and found a kit for Jayne’s Toboggan.

In addition to the kit itself, which came with all the yarn needed and little stitch counters and stuff, there was a stack of instructions detailing the whole process and a letter from Jayne’s mom about the hat. The instructions and letter were printed on paper with a Blue Sun watermark. It really is the coolest thing ever and I really do have the most awesome friends ever. Thank you so much, Cameron! You rock!

Now all I have to do is get way better at this knitting thing and I’m all set!

Via The Sneeze:

Over a week ago I came across this over at The Sneeze. I didn’t post about it then, but I passed it on to a few folks via IM, and it ended up over on mnenyver’s journal, where I was promptly blamed for the pain it caused. This made me grin. Today, though, the pain is new and improved. Eric Maziade, at Zombies? has animated a zombie, singing the treasured holiday tune. It’s priceless.

And thus, the pain is renewed…

[fa:p:id=321312928,j=l,s=t,l=p][fa:p:id=321313585,j=r,s=t,l=p] She’s back in full swing, with two new marquees in less than a week, though I think she’s maybe lost her mind a little. I’m not entirely sure what either of these mean. Maybe you guys can figure it out. Click on either one for larger, legible versions. I’m still on the hunt for her, trying to capture a shot of her in action. She’s proving more ellusive than Bigfoot. Stupid Bigfoot.

In other news, I finally went and looked at some game play demos of Gears of War and Call of Duty 3 and wow, was I blown away. You can see them for yourself here and here.

Finally, it appears Nissan has ripped Jeep off. I honestly can’t see any reason to complain. Bounce! Pogo, pogo, pogo. Up! Down!

Via chrisdiclerico.com:

Since the noise about next-gen consoles started, I’ve pretty much had my mind made up to go with the Xbox 360. This has nothing to do with any sort of Microsoft brand loyalty (anyone who knows me knows that such is far from the truth), but is entirely due to the types of games the Xbox platform focuses on. I’m a big FPS and Action/Adventure fan, when it comes to video games, and the Xbox delivers huge properties in that arena. Case in point, Assassin’s Creed.

Game Trailers has an in-game demo of Assassin’s Creed running on the 360 and I have to say I was completely blown away by it. Bear in mind the shots you see here are not from a pre-rendered cinematic. They are screen captures of the in-game, real-time demo. And if the juicy graphics aren’t enough for you, Assassin’s Creed’s story line is intensely compelling.

Jade Raymond, Producer of Assassin’s Creed, has done several interviews about the new direction they’ve attempted to go in with Assassin’s Creed.

…anything that sticks out two inches is an interactive ingredient.

The crowd game play and free-running that they’ve made the focus of the game is amazing. The actual assassinations almost play second fiddled to the freedom of movement that is promised in this demo. I can see hours spent just exploring the rich cities they’ve created, interacting with NPCs and leaping between rooftops. The idea of social stealth is also amazing.

…an idea that you’re not hidden when you’re in shadows or light, you’re hidden when you are doing things that are socially acceptable.

I have been, for a long time, a huge fan of the Thief franchise. I have played the game in all its versions on the PC as well as the Xbox. It is the same with the Splinter Cell franchise. I like games with deep, rich stories where it’s more important to find one target than it is to meet out mass destruction and rack up a body count. I am now looking forward to Assassin’s Creed with that same level of fervor. Just, wow.

Something is very, very wrong. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, I’ll provide a small example. Today I pulled into the drive-through at one of the big three fast-food joints. This is not remarkable in and of itself, but off to the side I saw two of Greensboro’s finest, their motorcycles parked, talking to a young black man (I say black because in Puerto Rico we say negro … it means black … why is it most of the people I have met who are offended by this are white … why aren’t they in turn offended by being called white). Pay close attention now because here’s where the wrong comes in; I wanted very much to walk up to the young man and ask him if he was OK. I wanted to make sure these police officers weren’t harassing him.

Like the firemen in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, who start fires instead of put them out, police men, in my mind, have turned from peace makers to peace breakers. When did this transformation occur? Am I the only one who feels this way? Is it a symptom of my generation; of the younger generations? Have we seen so many examples of police corruption and brutality that we no longer feel safe, and in fact feel threatened, when we are in their company? Is it just because I, too, am an ethnic minority?

I know, logically, that the vast majority of police officers are not corrupt, but I can’t help but continue to hope that young black man is all right and wonder if maybe I should have overcome my fear of those officers and made sure he was OK.

Via vaspider:

Rules are pretty straight forward I think; copy and paste the first sentence from the first post for each month of the last year. I think mine was kind of boring.

January
Day one of the year 2006. I spent it, mostly, getting organized.

February
With Valentine’s Day approaching, I thought it important to remind all the ladies out there just how bad it could get and that they should consider themselves lucky.

March
Look! It’s angry, haggard, make-my-day Mario.

April
At the risk of sounding like I’m making excuses, I switched to a new grip this week.

May
So, my second weight-loss goal has expired.

June
I’ve been doing more picture taking and playing around in photoshop.

July
This has to be one of the cutest commercials I’ve seen in a long time.

August
Well, it seems my suspicions were correct.

September
You are Aramis, the Musketeer priest.

October
Wow, it’s been a little over two weeks since my last update.

November
It’s been a big week and the start of a big weekend.

December
After a long hiatus, filled with birth announcements, festival advertisements, and pageant winners, the Marquee Comic has returned.

Via Woody:

Which B-Movie Badass Are You?

The Pork Chop Express.
Take this quiz!

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I gotta say, I’m pretty OK with this result. I loved that movie!