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February 26, 2006
Zed!
This weekend my old RPI friend Ed "ZeD" Lopez was in town. We hooked up both Friday and Saturday night, and had a great time despite being in Dallas ;-).
Friday night I took him to Nakamoto's in Plano, where we had dinner with Charles and his girlfriend Megan ("Weasle"). Our loud denouncinations of President Bush and the GOP had me a bit worried about getting out of the Plano restaurant in one piece, but I think we made the Freepers dining there more uncomfortable than angry.
After dinner we went down to the Raddison in Richardson, where ConDFW was in full swing. I brought my game kit, so we played Cosmic Wimpout and Illuminati! (with the Y2K expansion set) in the lobby -- effectively crashing the Con. In a surprise upset, Weasle won (Charles would have won in the next turn). I saw Melanie as well in an evening of good food, talk and gaming.
Saturday I met ZeD at Nerdbooks in Richardson, around the corner from where PSI used to be. This is the best damned computer book store in Dallas, and not just because they have a wall of O'Reilly Books:
After that we went to Chili's in McKinney to meet Anne and Alanna after their day-long UIL Solo and Ensemble Contest (see ... for the story). We ended up back at the house for the evening, where we talked, watched silly video and flash animation, and played with the cat.
Minuet decided that she had to get the pull fob on our living room fan. The problem is, it's seven feet above ground. How to get to it? Why, simple! Trick one of the monkey-boys to stand under it and then use them as a scratching post climb toy:
She actually climbed
Posted by Steven at 03:03 PM | Comments (1)
Minuet vs. Forte
When we brought Minuet into the house, Forte was (unsurprisingly) pretty hostile to the new critter. He hissed, spat, and even attacked whenever she got within a certain radius of him. It looked pretty bad.
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| (In these images you can see the two cats actually sharing space in my loft office. Forte was growling in a low rumble, while Minuet was taking it all in stride.) | |
At day five, they are getting along much better. First came the acceptance in the same room, then the same square meter. Eventually, Forte would allow her to eat alongside him, and Anne reports that they even share the litterbox in realtime. That's a lot of accomodation in short order for Forte.
Now I'm beginning to wonder if Forte was simply trying to warn us about Minuet. You see, she's something of an imp. This morning she knocked over a flower pot, and she's shredding the dining room chairs faster than Forte was (and he's three times her size). He's already laid back while she is wired, frenzied, crazed, and that's between naps. Immediately after feeding, no ankle is safe in the house.
For such a dainty little thing, she's turning into, as our vet told us, "the alpha queen cat" of the house. Poor Forte ... never had a chance. Like Yoda said, "Size isn't everything! Look at me!"
Posted by Steven at 02:45 PM | Comments (1)
February 25, 2006
Alanna Earns First Division Rating in Area Solo and Ensemble Contest
After weeks of prep, Alanna earned a first division rating (a '1') in the Area Solo and Ensemble Contest at North Garland HS today. She and a substantial number of her MNHS Band peers advance to the State UIL Solo and Ensemble competition in May, in Austin. We'll probably all come down for the event.
Posted by Steven at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2006
Minuet's First Friday Cat Blogging
Images of Minuet, our new tabby kitten.
Posted by Steven at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2006
Snuffers Update
The current best-guess date for opening the McKinney Snuffer's is next Monday, the 27th.
You may now return to your normal broadcast programming.
Posted by Steven at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2006
New Cat Today
We're expecting our second new cat, Minuet, sometime today. Details as they arise.
Posted by Steven at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)
Still Got Virus?
Yeah, still got virus. My stomach and I have been at war, and naturally, I'm losing. No actual worshipping at the porcelain altar, but lots of nausea at night and day, and wooziness. Yesterday it felt like it was over, and then I ate some spaghetti for dinner. Now I don't want to think about spaghetti. Ugh.
The only bright side? I'm below 185 lbs. for the first time in quite a while. I may just stay sick until I hit 180 :-(.
Posted by Steven at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2006
Meet the New Publicity VP for MNHS Band
I got an e-mail from the McKinney North HS band booster President, asking me if I'd like to assume the role of VP of Publicity for the Boosters. I've been doing a lot of the work for this post, so it was a natural fit for me, but I'm glad the woman who has been doing it finally stepped down. She's been dealing with sick parents all year and was really overwhelmed, so I tried to "step up" and help as much as I could. Of course, that included taking 12,000 (more to come) photos, and redoing the website to her surprise (and at times, shock). Still, I got the band mentioned in the new Dallas Morning News edition (McKinney Neighbors) more than once, and that's in color.
This will give me a little more "throw weight" when the Boyd Band Boosters start to organize this next month.
Posted by Steven at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2006
What's Your Home Worth?
Following a link from Political Animal, I discovered a new web service called Zillow that will tell you what your home is worth.
It's pretty amazing to see what is public info about one's castle. Oh wait, that's terrifying, not amazing.
Posted by Steven at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2006
Cat Basket Blues
Posted by Steven at 05:13 PM | Comments (0)
VW and Google Plan Car Nav System
VW and Google are preparing an in-car navigation system using Google's Keyhole software system running on nVidia display chips.
The partnership of Google, VW, and nVidia proposes a concept that will jump ahead of existing systems on two fronts: it will offer actual images showing terrain, roads, buildings and foliage, and provide real-time information on services; for example, gas stations that are open currently, not just 18 months ago when the car's DVD disc was manufactured. By seeing the roadway in the context of nearby buildings and landmarks, drivers will have a better sense of where they are and whether they're on course.Other nav-system vendors are working on the timeliness issue too, with hard disks that replace or supplement the map DVDs. Updates would arrive either wirelessly (via satellite downloads or cellular data), by WiFi to the car when it's parked at home, or (the least likely method, because it would require user intervention) removing the hard disk and docking it to a USB-connected PC.
A prototype of the Google-VW technology at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in January gave attendees a taste for what may be possible in a couple years. Using cellular wireless such as EVDO or other high-speed wireless (WiMax is a possibility), the system calls on Google online maps, Google Search, and Google Earth capabilities. The route, other key roads, and POIs (points of interest) are overlaid on the images. Since there's a wireless link to the Internet, the driver could check on gasoline prices or determine if a restaurant is still open.
But photorealistic views may not always be better in a moving vehicle. Some drivers might find it a challenge to orient themselves quickly with the image, even when it's facing in the direction they're traveling. For one thing, the images are shot from overhead. Also, images shot in winter, for example, may not resemble those shot in spring (less of a problem in urban areas where skyscrapers look the same all year).
I hope this comes out in time for me to get it in my next VW!
Posted by Steven at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)
Eighteen Years!
Eighteen years ago ... I proposed to Anne at Martha Cates' home (if I can find the photo, I'll post it). Imagine that ... our engagement is old enough to vote, and recently gained admission to The SUNY Albany campus. Eighteen ...
Posted by Steven at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2006
Aunt Jewel Has Passed Away
My great-aunt Jewel, sister of my grandmother (on my father's side) died today of complications following a severe stroke. She lived in Conroe, TX with her daughter for the last several years. I hadn't seen her in quite some time, and alas, she was suffering from Alzhiemer's and wouldn't have recognized me if I had seen her.
(Pictured at left) Clemmie and her late sister, Jewel. More images here
Posted by Steven at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2006
Star Wars Valentines
I gotta admit, this is hilarious.
There are more.
Posted by Steven at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2006
Top Ten SciFi Films ... That Never Happened
This is an interesting web page about some SciFi movies that were never made.
My favorite:
3. Snow Crash Directed by someone like Terry Gilliam"Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live,devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad."
That's the sort of thing Neal Stephenson writes in his hacker novel Snow Crash, a fascinating, horrifically violent semi-satire where the hero/protagonist of the story is named Hiro Protagonist.
But the all-time #1 movie on my list remains: Ringworld.
Posted by Steven at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2006
Successful Predators in Stonebridge Ranch
You think this is about Yuppies? Nope, today a rabbit (probably living under my neighbor's pool) bought it on the street right in front of our house. Around 2pm Anne called up to me to tell me that a hawk was eating it.
I took 139 photos of this critter ... mostly of him tearing strips of flesh from the carcass. Rather remarkable raptor, isn't it?
Posted by Steven at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)