The flights were both flawless: on time, smooth, and uneventful. While waiting in DFW we stoped at an Irish pub I hit sometimes where I travel to Dallas on business. Corrie Ann and Devin seemed to enjoy the food.

“Dad, my favorite bacon cheeseburgers are from Irish pubs,” Devin was heard to say. The Guinness was definitely worth it.

We stayed over night in San Diego, then picked up our rental car and drove up to Costa Mesa. On the way we had Rubio’s fish tacos for lunch. Oh, dear Rubio, how I’ve missed your sweet, sweet … ahem.

We made it up in time to attend a BBQ, which was awesome with lots of good food and old friends. Some of the kids there I hadn’t seen since they were younger than Devin and now they are all graduated and living on their own.

Today, I am not sure what’s on the agenda. I really hope it involves more food. I’m starving.

And happy 29th birthday to my lovely wife!

Corrie Ann says, “New category of meanest person evahr: Airport Gift Shop Lady!”

Devin says, “Daddy, you spelled ever wrong.”

Back to being the Luggage Master; it’s going to be a long day.

Corrie Ann and I have been, for well over a year now, wrestling with a desire to once again have an SLR camera. Having both grown up using Pentax K-1000s and reveling in doing our own B&W prints, we always felt a great void in the features that were available to us in the point-and-shoot cameras we’ve been using for the last several years. Going digital with an SLR seemed only right, but we needed a camera that met both our needs (Corrie Ann is getting into astral photography). After lots of research and much consultation of photographer friends (thanks, Reverend Jim!), we settled on the Cannon EOS Rebel XT. We then checked Amazon.Com and placed the order.

We ordered the camera with several other things. All the other things were shipped and arrived in due order, but the camera, despite having been listed as in-stock, was curiously delayed. When their estimated ship date, over a week after the order was placed, finally rolled around and it hadn’t shipped, I called. The nice man in Bangalore told me that it had not shipped because the price was changed; it had gone up $140. After I railed about bait and switch tactics and the fact that it was a great shame I was the one who had to contact them, he assured me the original price would be honored, after they charged the current price to my card and then credited me the difference. I just wanted my freakin’ camera and I agreed. A new delivery date, two days hence, was set.

On that date, they bumped it out another week, and on that third date it was postponed yet another week. Seriously, any sane person would have given up by now, canceled the order, and gone down to Best Buy, and I really wanted to do that, but it was a matter of principle now. Despite the fact that the camera’s ship date was now set for a full month after I had ordered it, I resolved to stick it out, get my camera, and force Amazon to honor their original price.

Yesterday my new baby arrived. I’m happy with it, but greatly disappointed in Amazon. I will likely continue to buy books and DVDs from them, as they seem to have no problem delivering these things on time, but I think this will be the last piece of major electronic equipment I buy from them.

Incidentally, I note today that Amazon has it listed as only available from external sellers. When I ordered it it was available, and listed as in-stock, from Amazon.

Boo, Amazon. I love you my little Rebel!

So, it’s getting better and at a quicker rate, it seems, than I was lead to believe by my Interweb diagnosis. It still creeps me the hell out, and I have had this constant, phantom ache in that eye ever since I discovered the existence of the blood spot of doom, but I think I’m getting over it.

The weekend was good; lots of burgers and brats were had, along with my mom’s now famous potato salad. Dessert consisted of brownie sundaes, with homemade brownies, choice if ice cream, hot fudge, real whipped cream, and a cheery. Tres yummy.

My dad didn’t seem too impressed by my self diagnosis of the blood spot of doom. Of course, he’s at that age where every little health thing could be a signpost for a more serious ailment. He also thinks that if he’s concerned about it I should be as well. I know he means well, but honestly? I can wait til I’m forty for the regular ass examination.

The Boy is now, officially, done with school for the summer. Today marks the first day he’s home with me while I work. I told him last night his first task of the summer would be to clean his room. When I got up this morning, he had already picked up most of his room and was watching YouTube videos of Halo CE mods. Really, he is so much more the parent than I am. I think I’ll suggest he vacuum his room a little later.

… and maybe my office too. Heheh

So, last night Devin and I swung by Wendy’s to pick up some quick dinner. As we’re waiting for our two Mandarin Chicken salads and one Kids Cheeseburger meal to arrive he says, “Hey, dad. What’s that red thing in your eye.” I didn’t really think much of it until we got into the car and I could check in the vanity mirror.

… yipe!?

The above is what I saw and, the entire fifteen minute drive home, I think I could feel my eye pulsing. I was convinced I was in eminent danger of stroke or heart attack; anyone who knows me knows I have an eye thing. This was MY eye. It freaked me the hell out.

I got home and immediately hit Google. Turns out it’s a subconjunctival hemorrhage, and quite common. And I did, in fact, have a hellacious sneezing fit yesterday (damned allergies).

It still freaks me out, though. *shiver*

I guess all the retooling done, for faster leveling between levels 20 and 60, really has done the trick … up to and including focusing leveling in Dustwallow Marsh with its 60 new quests since patch 2.3. Hurray for me!

Yeah, yeah, I know. What the hell is that? Honestly, I nearly drove past the dude with the stop sign holding up traffic. I had to hit my breaks so hard I stalled the car. All this happened, mind you, while I fumbled for my camera phone and cursed myself for not having my regular camera in the car with me.

I tried to get a better shot of it, but as you can see the zoom feature on the old camera phone sucks big donkey gonads. When I saw the giant chainsaw suspended from the helicopter I nearly crashed again. Why haven’t we seen one of these things in a zombie movie!?

I realize these photos don’t do it justice, so I found this video. Seriously, that’s one badass piece of machinery.

If they’re still around tomorrow, I’m going to try and get down there with my real camera and get some decent photos. Honestly, I had no idea something like this even existed! I mean, wow, could it get more dangerous for the pilot?

Note: I think this explains the inexplicable power outage that happened yesterday at my house; the power went off and on long enough to knock me off line, reset the satellite TV and every clock in the house, and bum my niece out, who was watching Spongebob. I bet you the knucklehead hit the line.

Several things on the list I would attribute to natural genetic propensities towards nurturing; testosterone and estrogen do funny things to people, and anyone who has ever been on hormone therapy can attest to this. Does it mean that one sex cannot and should not assume the perceived roles of the other? Most certainly not. But, there is certainly a genetic preference. Is that genetic preference wrong. I don’t really think so. It could be that I’m just not seeing it, but then again I don’t really consider myself a feminist or feminist-ally. It’s not that I’m against the movement, it’s simply that I think equality and fair treatment is a universal axiom and should not just be fought for for one special interest group. Race, creed, gender, class … these are all ways we find to label segments of the population and ascribe preferential treatment. No one group has any more right to freedom than the other and the fight -should- be towards universal equality.

I’m sure someone’s going to yell at me for that …

But, as I said, it was a convergence of things that got me thinking. John Scalzi, who I’ve only recently discovered but am enjoying immensely, posted about pronouning hermaphrodites this morning. What does that have to do with feminism, you ask? Why, the non-gender specific pronoun of course. He pointed to this interesting article over on Grammar Girl, which again I found myself nodding to. I honestly, and admittedly my memory grows fuzzier with each passing year, can’t ever remember using ‘he‘ or ‘him‘ as my genderless pronoun; I almost always use ‘them‘ and ‘they‘. It’s not a linguistic anomaly either … Spanish, my first language, is very gender oriented. It just, for me, is.

So, what does this all say? Sexual harassment, rape, unequal treatment, reproductive rights, contraception, domestic violence … are these wholly feminine issues? I know that women are in the majority of sufferers when it comes to these things, but is fighting it all on one front the answer? And what does remembering to clip your kid’s nails have to do with it? Honestly, I guess I’m not really sure. In my house, when we fight about chores it’s not from the perspective of how one might think it’s simply the other’s duty, but from the simple fact that either one of us can be a lazy fuck at times. I might not think to bathe The Boy, when I should, but it’s not because I think that that’s my wife’s job; it’s because I’m busy playing World of Warcraft. She might not remember to change the oil in the lawn tractor, not because she’s thinks it’s my job as man of the house, but because she’s too busy lugging her telescope outside to try and find the crab nebula.

I think, as I ponder this more, that this is the central problem with many modern feminists I know and why I don’t consider myself one of their number: too many things are laid on the altar of anti-feminism and misogyny. That very word, in fact, gets bandied around, I think, without much thought to its real meaning.

Friday, I held a door for a guy in a wheel chair on my way into Barnes and Noble. On my way out I held the very same door for a woman, behind me, who gave me a dirty look and let the second door swing shut in my face. I’m sorry, but I hold doors … and it has nothing to do with me hating women. I do my own laundry, not because I think that I’m being an ally to my wife’s femininity, but because she messed up some uniforms of mine when we were first married and since then I have done my own laundry because I like the way I do it better. I bathe my son and take him for haircuts because he’s a dirty, little monkey (as he should be), I vacuum because the Roomba is so much fun to watch, I feed the dogs on the nights it’s my turn, and I even make sure she finishes first because, dammit, that’s fun to watch too.

I do these things because I want to, not because I think any of them are my job or are hers. I sometimes have to be reminded to do some of them, but it’s not because I hate anyone. I’m just lazy.

So, what is the problem and what makes one part of it? Human nature. We still have a lot of evolving to do. A week ago, 10,000 mostly white kids lit up and smoked out with not a single citation issued; today a young black man trying to turn his life around, who my wife was a character witness for, got 10 - 15 years for trying to sell 5 oz. of the very same herb.

Excuse me, I have to change over the laundry.

After Fozruk, we headed over to the Circle of Inner Binding to turn in the quest. I had a sneaking suspicion something wasn’t quite right, so I urged my brother to assist me in knocking out surrounding mobs before the turn-in. This proved to be a sound precaution, because Thenan attacked. We had no problem knocking him out, or his twin, to complete the quest for both of us.

I-I am going to be a storm-a flame-
I need to fight whole armies alone;
I have ten hearts; I have a hundred arms;
I feel too strong to war with mortals-
BRING ME GIANTS!

/cheer

I actually moved over for a better view, as this progressed, and sat down and just watched. When he was all done, I complimented him on what I’d perceived to be an astounding feat, and asked him how he’d done it; he was gracious and very forth coming. All of this hoodoo led to a re-speccing of my Paladin. Below you’ll see both my very minor first attempt at Paladin AoE (though still a situation that before would have easily squashed me), as well as the moment of fourtiness (it’s a word). Wee!

As per usual, I took some screen shots as well. Below is Jawani decked out in full plate, a shot of her on her Warhorse, and a shot of her on her Elekk (because I play WoW like Pokemon … gotta catch’m all).

Oh, the fun.

Incidentally, the built-in video capture features of the Mac OS X client for World of Warcraft rock! I think I need to play around with them some more. I also think I’m going to keep playing WoW in Spanish for a while; it’s fun!

I just … well … yeah.

Had to be done.

Here’s what Ahibiel looks like on her blue turk - er, I mean Hawkstrider. Now only four other mains to get to 40.

And, because I haven’t yet posted it, here’s Grindil on his grey Ram, that The Boy helped me pick out.

Oh, yeah. It’s made of awesome.

Enjoy!

Shutter - I went expecting The Ring or The Grudge and got The Suck. I think it suffers most from its PG-13 rating. Don’t even bother with the DVD.

Horton Hears a Who - Both The Boy and I liked this a lot. It’s much longer that the source material (maybe a little too long), but entertaining throughout. We’ll likely buy the DVD.

Doomsday - Mad Max/Road Warrior meets Escape From New York with requisit 80s, squishy gore. It won’t win any awards, but damn was it fun. Pure nostalgia. Also, Rona Mitra looks great in form-fitting body armor and spandex; I’d like to butter her English muffin.

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising - Watched this on DVD. The Boy seemed to like this one, though in places it lost his attention. For me it might have been better as a made for TV movie. It felt like a lot was left out. Rent, don’t buy.

Semi-Pro - This was not Talladega Nights. This, in fact, wasn’t really a Will Ferrell star vehicle. Woody Harrolson stars and there’s more drama there than you might think. Very funny too. I liked it but won’t see it again.

10,000 BC - If you are expecting anthropological and historical accuracy, stay home and watch the Discovery and History channels. If you are hoping for a fun fantasy story, see this movie. Whatever else you want to say about it, visually it is stunning. I’ll likely be adding this one to my DVD collection.

I think there are a few others, but I can’t remember them right now (which probably is review enough if I could tell you the titles). If I remember any, I’ll include them with the review of tonight’s movie.

Tonight I’m seeing The Ruins and having my last taste of buttered, movie theater popcorn for the next long while. More on that, and my thoughts on The Ruins, later. Here’s to hoping the R rating at least keeps it from being boring.

In the news today, there are reports that fourteen members of the house sent a letter to The Boob In-Charge urging him not to attend the opening ceremonies of this year’s 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, in protest of China’s human rights violations. My response to this? How about doing something about the human rights violations in your own fucking back yard before you go ruining the Olympic experience for hundreds of athletes.

Will His Honorable Boobness’ absence really ruin it for the athletes? Actually, that in and of itself might improve the experience, but what it will do is set a precedent and add fuel to the calls for an all-out boycott of the games.

Let’s think, for a second, about what it really means to boycott the Olympic games. Who really loses? Will China lose a little face, probably. Will they change because of it. Very unlikely. Will it crush them? Most certainly not.

Who will it crush? Yeah, those hundreds of athletes, some of whom get one shot at Olympic glory. Did the US boycott of the 1980 games in Moscow change the USSR’s policies in Afghanistan (the US protesting atrocities in Afghanistan — can you say oops)? Hardly; that occupation lasted another nine years. It did end the Olympic dream for many young kids. Dreams. Crushed.

You want to make a statement about China’s human rights violations; one that makes about as much sense as boycotting the Beijing games … and one that would crush a heart near and dear to you? Tell your kids you won’t be buying any more products made in China. Or, you know, better yet. That nice check you’re getting from the Moron on the Hill? Yeah. Send it back to him. Guess where that money came from.

It seems as though April Fool’s Day is in full swing at Blizzard Entertainment. I love these guys. The effort they go to, art wise, is phenomenal. I mean, check out the trailer for World of Warcraft: The Molten Core. I particularly like, “Glorious 192i resolution.”

And the Bard Class for Wrath of the Lich King!? ZOMGWTFALPACABBQ! If only it were true! Then I could transfer my shredding Guitar Hero skills over to WoW and pwn you all with wicked licks of PvP goodness. Seriously. I’d be made of awesome.

The fun has begun!

After one year and seventeen days I have finally had a toon ding 40! For those of you not in-the-know this means that one of my characters in World of Warcraft has hit the illustrious first milestone level of 40; all levels are milestones, but 40 is the first major one as you are, for the first time, eligible to purchase a mount.

For those of you in-the-know, I was in Dustwallow Marsh killing Dustwallow Crocolisks for The Grimtotem Weapon quest. I still had a few of the buggers to nab before the quest was done, so I finished those out and then hightailed it to Ironforge to pull all of the chainmail, I’ve been collecting for the past little bit, out of my bank and transfer some gold from my bank toon to Grindil for the mount purchase.

I don’t have a before picture, but trust me when I say he had some boring ass leather gear and a leather cap that made him look hilarious. Not that his new gear is all that, but it’s chainmail and it’s new to me! Woo! In case you hadn’t guessed already, Grindil is a Hunter. He’s also one of my very first toons, so it’s fitting that he should be the first to reach mount status.

I haven’t actually bought the mount yet, because I promised The Boy he could pick out the color. So, I’m waiting til I get home from the fencing tournament (North Carolina Youth Divisionals), I’m currently working, to make the actual purchase. He seemed pretty excited about it when I talked to him on the phone.

Hey, what’d you do with your kid today? Me? We slew DRAGONS!

So, today was our first official session of WoW together, me and The Boy. We did two quests together before it was time to stop and do some chores. I am happy to report that Cozom and Roywinkle performed admirably, and neither died even once! This is saying something, as the last time I played with The Boy I distinctly remember mountains of mobs being pulled down on us; he has vastly improved in his game play.

It’s been a whole father/son computing weekend, though. Some months ago The Boy asked me about having his own Facebook page. At the time I didn’t see anything wrong with it, so we tried to sign him up. Turns out they have a minimum age and so that put the breaks on, then and there. I told him then that, if he was really serious about it, we could get him his own domain and set up a Wordpress blog. He said he’d give it more thought, which I encouraged, and not much was said about it again until this weekend.

Yesterday morning he decided on a domain name, and if you follow the link up there, in the first paragraph, you’ll see what he picked. At first we just registered the domain and installed Wordpress; I figured it’d be a few days more of showing him how to post things, and how the interface works, before he’d be making actual posts. He’s eight. I often underestimate him.

After the morning of setting things up, he and I drove into the neighboring town to see Horton Hears a Who (which was pretty damned funny, by the way). On the drive we discussed his new domain and the blog. The conversation went something like this:

“… so, once you learn how to log in to your …”
“I know how to log in! I was just there this morning.”
“No, son. That’s just navigating to the page. You need to log in in order to post.”
“Oh. How do I do that?”
“Well, you click LOGIN, and type in your username and password.”
“What are they?”
“Well, your user name is [redacted] and your password is [redacted].”
“And then what?”
“I’ll show you when we get home.”
“Just tell me.”
“Well, basically, you click WRITE and then type in a title and the body of your post and click PUBLISH.”

That was the whole of it. He nodded and turned his attention back to his DS. We had lunch and saw the movie and went home, and there really wasn’t much more conversation about it again until this morning. That conversation included his mother, and went something like this (and yes, I do have a particular fondness for the word AND):

Mommy chides the boy, “So! Have you written a bunch of posts yet?”
Daddy cuts in, “Nah, I haven’t shown …”
The boy pipes up, “Yup! Two!”
Knowing his son is sometimes prone to exaggeration, especially when goaded by chiding parents, daddy says, “No you haven’t! You don’t even know how to do it yet!”
The boy replies, offended, “I do so! You told me in the car!”
Mommy arches a brow at daddy, who rises and checks the boy’s blog.

I’ll be damned if there weren’t two posts there: one, a brief treatise on how to leave a map in Halo 3, and the other a correction to the first. He accomplished this with just the verbal instructions in the car. I repeat, he’s eight.

After this discovery, we immediately spent a little more time talking about how to correct a post, rather than posting a correction, how to upload and post images, what is and isn’t appropriate, how the spell checker works, and a few other things, and I pretty much left him to it. I will be monitoring things closely, of course, but I also see it as sort of an experiment; I’m interested to see if he sticks to it and what he’ll make of it.

All in all, a very productive and entertaining weekend. Poor Corrie Ann is still sick though, and my brother and his family are all quite sick as well (tis the season). Seems like everyone I know is either sick or recently recovered. Bleah. Here’s to hoping everyone is healthy soon!