Has anything of interest happened to you recently?

Cool story bro.

I never said it was it wasn't a possible thing. I didn't even say it wasn't a likely thing. Guy could've been narcoleptic for all I know. Not really sure why you're pickin' at it.

That shit can go south pretty quick and that sucks majorly?

Well, that was a day. Despite all the crazy/frustrating stuff that happened, I got to Live The Dream by eating bacon at each meal and I got back my spot on the executive board of the local Chamber of Commerce.

I also found a 6-pack of Hoodoo Wet Hop IIPA in a cooler at a beer store I wouldn't normally be driving by, so I guess things could have gone worse.

I find the idea of RyanMM as an upstanding member of the community to be quite hilarious. but cool. but hilarious.

Upstanding is stretching it.

My sister and I are talking to each other again. First time in two years. I sent Christmas cards back to my extended family for the first time in that same length of time. I hadn't talked to any of them except my parents since my dad got sick. Finally mending those bridges.

Secret Santa, fingers crossed, is going off really well.

I'm tired, work's been constant, family's got me running all over, everything's a little unusual this year, and I've never felt fully on top of anything, not Secret Santa, not Christmas shopping, not scheduling things for the holidays, not vacation plans -- feels like I'm almost always running a little to catch up.

But fuck it. My family is talking to me again, there are two threads in this subforum of people being completely awesome to each other and I had some small hand in it, and there's a Christmas tree in the other room with a bunch of presents under it that I got my wife and she got me, and on Tuesday we're going to sit down with hot chocolate and open them and be completely stupid for each other and grin like fools for hours.

I don't quite know when I started loving Christmas again, but I did. And that's interesting to me.

Got tickets to go to the Bay Area.
i'm leaving LA.

i'm scared what if there are like evil sharks and people with stabby things ahhh
aaaaahhhhhhh

Shhhh. let me be afraiddddd

Yeah after that six pack of Hoodoo he was more flatlaying.

This post made me really, really happy. Also, you had way more than "some small hand" in the Secret Santa thing. It's been a lot of work and you know it, and we all thank you for it. I know participating has made my Christmas a hell of a lot more enjoyable, and I am grateful to you. ((hugs))

Got mail from a collaborator last night. Our latest paper was accepted. But only with a few tiny corrections - which means I have to re-analyse some data from scratch. Few hours of work. Deadline ? Today. So much for my Holidays and for my last minute Christmas shopping.

Absolutely!
Apart from just being plain awesome in itself, this our first Secret Santa at BF was the final proof that BF isn't just some small disgruntled offshoot of QT3, but it's own living and thriving thing - the fact that ours had bigger participation doesn't only prove (at least to me), that we got the better part of that community, but that we with the people that weren't from QT3 or at least not active there are our own community, and that's really great to know.

So I'd say that you putting in all that work played a pretty darn significant role.

So we're having our Mexican-themed holiday party in the office in honor of those crazy Mayans, and the boss passes out holiday gift bags to everyone. Unexpected, but nice. What's in the bag?



Aw yiss. We know how to party in this office.

Bah! To really celebrate the Mayans, he would have included mini-bottles of mezcal. Morning after will feel like the world ended even if it didn't.

Everyone got something different. Bulleit, Crown Royal, and Cuervo Especial for the assistant directors, Cap'n for me, Midori and Bailey's for the two coordinators in the department. Most of the office knows that tequila is one of my two great weaknesses, and that while it's fun to watch me get fucked up on shots of Jose at the bar, I am much more of a rum drinker by choice.

I'm kind of terrified to ask, but what's the other one?

Redheads.

Can't blame you for that. I've got a thing for them myself.

I want to say "Me too!" and make some joke about having my way with myself but that's just too crude for this group.

I just ate a phalanx of asparagus and now my pee reeks of grim death.

If only there was snow.

Fun trivia time!

There are two genetic components of asparagus pee effect: one that controls whether your pee smells, and one that controls whether you can smell it. You can have one or the other, or both, or neither!

When the day comes that one can pick from a menu of genetic changes, I am definitely getting the "smelly pee" and "can't smell it" package deal.

That would be the best Schoolhouse Rock lesson ever.

The company I work for, Athena Wireless, is one of the winners of the Arizona Innovation Challenge for the second half of 2012. After 2 and half years of making things work by hook or crook, and a astounding number of non-paid work hours, we get a non-trivial amount of prize money that will allow us to hire some business folks! Woot!

Even better, the exposure is already getting us some much welcome attention in the field. Probably not all that interesting to anyone else, but, Lord, it feels great to get some recognition from outside the company. (I am really lucky in that the owner of the company to whom I report is a great boss and not stingy with the kudos)

I went shopping at Costco today. That's usually not something "of interest", but this outing was special. Everyone (and I mean *everyone*) acted like they had taken a hit of Grade A Christmas Cheer. The place was packed, even though I went Friday at noon. And yet, everybody was super polite, super helpful, and aware of everyone around them. "After you, sir." "No, you first, ma'am. I insist." There was none of the mole-like bumping into each other that usually happens during crowded Costco trips.

On top of that, during checkout this large dude with a cart *full* of stuff noticed that the lady behind him (who had two kids in tow) only had 3 items, and he let her get processed before him. That was pretty nice, but I've seen that level of kindness before. What blew me away was that three other customers noticed his act of kindness and thanked the dude for being nice to that lady. It was like an episode of the twilight zone. An awesome episode.

I'm sitting next to Eva the cat on the train. I feel compelled to compose a cat version of A New Argentina.

The cat just so happens to be sitting on the lap of a cute blonde girl. TOTALLY UNRELATED.

Don't cry for me, tin of tuna!

Speaking of cats, we dropped ours off at Cat Prison today. Jack was so unhappy, I'm going to feel guilty for days. Lizzie didn't seem to mind.

I'm assuming a boarding place for cats.

Correct.

EDIT: It has a terrible website, if you're oddly curious: http://www.thecatsinn.net/

When your neighbor asks you for help at one of his rentals, and says the words "yeah sewer pipe is cracked we gotta cut through 4 inches of concrete foundation and dig it up"...

just say "no thanks." Trust me on that.

My mother started whispering and it gave me an incredibly uncomfortable feeling and i asked her to stop
and she just started whispering "no". And she wouldn't stop.


Today I learned that I can not handle the sound of whispering. Makes me really itchy.

Um. I think ... I think in this case, you're entirely justified. Given I'm sort of creeped out just reading about it.

No power since 10am. Is now after midnight. Winter RULES.

You guys getting hit hard on the west side? We got a shitload of rain and wind today, minor snowfall that melted instantly, so nothing too bad.

In other news, I spent 9am to 2:30pm at Kuhnhenn's for their Winter Solstice party. Copious amounts of their Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine and samples of a half-dozen others were consumed.

Mostly just wind, which apparently hosed something in my neighborhood really, really bad -- sounded like branches took down some lines, which in turn caused a transformer to blow. They have a ton of trucks at the end of the street working on it still. Hit a pretty large area in town, although nearly everyone has been back up for hours -- we're just among the lucky few still waiting.

I am having a great solstice. Cookies, champagne, and 4 episodes of Supernatural in front of the fireplace with an ersatz Yule log with my sweetheart. Very enjoyable :)