2003/08/31
19:05	Link
Money to Burn I really wonder what people are thinking sometimes when they bid on eBay for a bra that fell out from someone's ceiling space. As of this posting, the price is up to $103.27. Courtesy of Flabbergasted, which is in Dutch, so I can't read it.

2003/08/30
22:44	Link
Recall Since I'm moving to California, the recall election suddenly becomes much more relevant. Fortunately, I was able to run into some excellent insight on the political race tonight in a convenient Flash animation format.

22:12

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Go West

I've been pretty tight-lipped about a few things in my life recently. Partly, it's just so chaotic that this blog would be an entire mess of possbilities and anxiety. Quite frankly, much as I might say I'm going to spare my audience that trauma, I think it's more accurate for me to say that I didn't want to think about it enough to put it into meaningful sentences.

The other part of it is I'm superstitious enough to not want to jinx the process.

At this point, I think I'm far enough along that I can risk opening my trap. I got an offer letter on Friday from Freeway. That's not the company's name, of course, but it'll suffice. Changing names to protect the innocent, after all. The hard copy should reach me sometime after Labour Day, but for now, I have all the pieces I need (including the immigration lawyer) to get me ready for my border run for my visa. Things are going to start moving really fast here.

First order of business is I have to get all of my stuff packed up in boxes so that they're ready to ship across country. Did I mention that Freeway is in Los Angeles and I'm currently in New York? Hiring a mover will cost too much, so I'll pretty much have to ditch the furniture and ship the rest UPS Ground.

Once I have the immigration papers in hand, hopefully by mid-week, I'm going to take the cats up to their new home (or a convenient stopping point nearby) in western Massachusetts, then continue on to the border to get my visa. If possible, I might give a slight detour through Fall River a try to see some people and to close out an account I have with a comic store there.

After that, it's all about handing the boxes over to UPS and flying my butt out to Los Angeles. The rest of me should probably go as well.

Barring any oddities, I should be on my way westard within a couple of weeks!

Go Bolt!

2003/08/28
21:25	Link
Wasn't there a blackout? Ever wonder what a major blackout looks like from a satellite? Why wonder? Click on the image for a larger view. Update: It's a fake. Figures, when the blackout area is somehow blacker than the Canadian tundra. Courtesy of Sanjay.

08:09	Link
If you love Gollum like I love Gollum You'd probably still need to love him more before buying a talking Gollum plush toy. Courtesy of Xkot.

2003/08/27
20:32	Link
I thought I saw Ron Jeremy today But I didn't.

20:31

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All About the Pigskin, Part Deux

Here are the results of the other draft, the KKL B1 league. There are three fantasy football leagues at my old workplace, with the B1 and B2 leagues feeding into the A league like minor league teams in baseball. This league's a redraft league with movement of players from league to league dependent on performance. My goal this year is to get back into the A league.

Quarterback
Tommy Maddox (PIT)
Michael Vick (ATL)

Running Back
DeShaun Foster (CAR)
Ahman Green (GBP)
Antowain Smith (NEP)

Wide Receiver
D'Wayne Bates (MIN)
Plaxico Burress (PIT)
Chris Chambers (MIA)
Quincy Morgan (CLE)
Santana Moss (NYJ)
Terrell Owens (SFF)
Donte Stallworth (NOS)
Peter Warrick (CIN)

Tight End
Kyle Brady (JAC)

Kicker
Aaron Elling (MIN)

Defence
Colts (IND)
Seahawks (SEA)
Steelers (PIT)

I wonder if I have enough receivers...

2003/08/26
19:11	Link
All About the Pigskin, Part One The first of two fantasy football drafts came and went tonight, this one for the initial year of the DeadSquid keeper league. Here's how I fared: Quarterback Jay Fiedler (MIA) Matt Hasselbeck (SEA) Vinny Testaverde (NYJ) Running Back Marshall Faulk (STL) William Green (CLE) Emmit Smith (ARI) Wide Receiver David Boston (SD) Chris Chambers (MIA) Johnnie Morton (KC) Eric Moulds (BUF) Todd Pinkston (PHI) Antwaan Randle El (PIT) Tight End Randy McMichael (MIA) Kicker Aaron Elling (MIN) Defence Falcons (ATL) Panthers (CAR)

2003/08/25
23:09	Link
Need an online dice roller? Irony Games has an online dice roller that will email two parties with the results of the roll. Pretty handy.

12:55

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Inigo

I don't have air conditioning. It's not that I don't have an air conditioner; it's right here in the hallway, unplugged. It's just that one window I have is barred up and the other is hidden behind my dresser and television and is so old that I don't feel confident that I can put the air conditioner in without it falling out the window and crushing something's brainpan below. As a consequence, any part of the summer that I've spent in Brooklyn has been oppressively hot and humid.

What, then, you may ask, does air conditioning have to do with Inigo Montoya? For that matter, what does Inigo Montoya have to do with a story that's really about a cat?

Due to the heat and humidity oppression, I've spent a few evenings out on the front steps of the brownstone, often on the way back from grabbing dinner. The neighbourhood being what it is, a lot of times it was fried chicken. Having food makes one popular with the strays and there was one stray cat that would be bold enough to come up and nuzzle for food. I think he originally came from the house next door (the one with the Bloods). He was a cute little thing and tiny, by my cats' standards. He was grey, had never gotten The Snip, and had these pairs of peach coloured slashes on his grey cheeks. I nicknamed him Inigo: "The six fingered man leave me alive, but he left me this and this."

This morning, my housemate Jeanne discovered Inigo on the front steps. He appeared to have been run over by a char and his hindquarters were a mess. The vet hadn't opened yet, so she made him comfortable in vestibule and continued with some early morning prep work for her classroom at school. I had an interview this morning, so the best I could do was say a few words to him on my way out.

Jeanne was the first one to be able to get back and he really was in a bad state. The vet had her take Inigo to the animal hospital where they determined that he'd have to have a tail and hind leg amputated: "there's no tissue here for me to work with." He was also suffering from a broken leg, necrosis and maggot infestation. Altogether, had we tried to save him, it would have cost thousands of dollars, taken a lot of time, and the poor cat would never be the same again.

So Inigo was put down early this afternoon and Jeanne stayed with him while he passed away.

May he find the six fingered man in kitty heaven.

2003/08/24
20:38	Link
This is not my room This isn't my room, nor do I ever want any room that I own to look like this. However, that doesn't stop me from drawing amusement from this fella's Room of Doom. Courtesy of Sloth. UPDATE: If the link doesn't work for you, try the one in the Google cache.

2003/08/23
11:29	Link
Oh, my sciatica... In case you didn't think that sitting still for over 11 hours was a fun thing to do, allow me to suggest the extended version Lord of the Rings marathon. Looks like New Line is planning to release the extended versions of Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers in December, and then have them run back-to-back on 16 December, just before the late night premiere of The Return of the King. I hope they have bathroom breaks...

11:17	Link
Real or Fake? Did these letters actually show up on the game show or not? Courtesy of Debbie.

02:16	Link
Granny Gundam in 2005! Can you picture your grandmother in a mobile suit Gundam? Well, it might be in the near future. A company in Japan is creating a powered exoskeleton to aid the elderly in their mobility. Courtesy of Slashdot.

02:16

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Developments

There are some things floating around that need to find a place to settle, but there are definitely a few changes going on. I'm going to be moving soon, though I don't know where yet, so I'm repacking my stuff. It may be as early as next week, it may be the week after.

The cats are probably going to go to Massachusetts. I won't be.

Issues regarding immigration should be settled soon.

And I should probably start looking for a car.

2003/08/15
06:50	Link
While I'm here... Xkot has a fantastic Matrix-related link. Neo, the ASCII has you. Lesley has a link to elfinate your name. Yes, you too can be an elf. I'm Brookbank Farington.

05:52

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Dark Dungeons of a Different Kind

My communications are limited at the moment as my cellular service appears to be unreliable and I don't have consistent access to the Internet. For those that knew that I was in Los Angeles, I'm no longer there. I flew into the blackout in New York last night, which is proving to be its own new adventure.

I've had no contact with my housemate, Jeanne, and anything I've tried so far has failed, which means I fear that I won't be able to talk to her at all until I can find a way back to my place in Brooklyn. For the time being, I am in Hoboken, where the power was just restored this morning. If you need to reach me, call my cell phone and leave a message. I'll be checking as regularly as I can.

If anyone is able to contact people in Ottawa and can get to my family, please let them know that I'm okay. I've been unable to reach them, too, but maybe power hasn't been restored there, yet.

2003/08/12
09:55	Link
More Dark Dungeons Hey, now it's the MST3K version! Courtesy of Ian (another Ian).

2003/08/11
13:19	Link
Dark Dungeons or Dungeons & Dweebs? Gamers, which do you think is more accurate in portraying the roleplaying gamer reality? Dark Dungeons Dungeons & Dweebs Courtesy of Scipio.

2003/08/06
00:48	Link
More than one way to skin a tuna Today, I added another "first" that I had never done before: strip a tuna. The fellow that lives downstairs, Paul, went deep sea fishing on Sunday and came back with a pair of albacore tuna, having given away the other six that he caught. Tonight, he taught me how to strip the tuna of its meat, which was a lot of fun. Sorta like high school biology class, but with an appetizing goal at the end: we had super fresh albacore sashimi and toro, while only using up half of one fish to feed a half dozen and more people. Needless to say, there's a lot more fish to go, and Paul plans to go fishing again on Sunday.

2003/08/05
13:50	Link
Soo Sun and Henry Got Married I finally got around to finishing up the pages around my trip to San Diego and Los Angeles in April for the wedding of my friends, Soo Sun and Henry. If you have any interest at all in what a Korean wedding or a Chinese wedding might look like, go for it. If you like to read me running off at the mouth, go for it. I hope I've managed to convey the emotion of the day appropriately. Soo Sun and Henry have their own page, but their lives have been somewhat too hectic to really update it at the moment. There is a reception in NY/NJ this weekend, one in Philly on Tuesday, and another in MA next weekend for those that weren't able to make it out west for the wedding. It's like the wedding that never ends.

2003/08/03
15:43	Link
Random Musing Will it have to get darker before it gets light? Is that what is pre-ordained?

2003/08/02
21:27	Link
Who am I? Picture proof that I am not human. I am a cartoon.