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Guest Weasels Sat Dec 31 15:20:13 CST 2005
Mood: happy Music of the Day: Invader Zim on TV
Well, I have some guest weasels staying over a for a while. Winter (and myself) have been rather down since Shadow passed. So Amythest sent her two fuzzballs over for a visit. Arwen and Frodo (her ferrets) came over and have ran Winter's legs off. But he's much perkier with the company...and so am I. Nothing like watching 3 ferrets explore, play and get into trouble. Though I need to work on better ferretproofing of my bedroom, Frodo has figured out how to get under the door to the bathroom. Oh well, I do have years of ferretproof under my belt. So, some plotting to ferretproof things better. *smile* Hurrah for ferrets, they do wonders when I'm feeling down.

Cassie Thu Dec 29 18:54:21 CST 2005
Mood: Happy Music of the Day: History Channel on TV
I just caught Cassie being cute...

Sunday and Monday Thu Dec 29 11:41:10 CST 2005
Mood: good Music of the Day: Nightwish - Wish I had an Angel
Cthulhumas day dawned bright an early...ok I woke around 10. Hey, for a day off that's kinda early. ;) Went over to Amythest's to do our gift exchange. I got some cool stuff from her, including a sign for my wall titled ' The Looney Bin'. I squeed rather loudly over it. She liked her loot as well. Then we settled in and watched The Golden Child, well most of it. We had an invite to xmas lunch with another friend. Had a nice time, had roast goose...which was rather tasty, and watched Stealth (again). Still mockable. After dinner, we met up with Techie to see Casanova. Now that was a fun movie, very funny. Lots of laugh out loud spots. Came home afterwards, ate a snack, and sacked out early.

Monday I got up again fairly early, and made my way to the flagship HalfPrice Books store with Amythest and Techie. 20% off sale = happy fox. I didn't over splurge, but I did find a few weird fic books I'd been missing. Also got to look at the Decamp book collection. For those not in the know LeSprague DeCamp is a big fantasy author, best known for his addons to the Conan saga. He lived here in DFW until his death in 2000. Halfprice had bought a large chunk of his massive book collection from his estate and has it on display/for sale. Found a few things I'd cheerfully kill for, including a signed Clark Ashton Smith...but I can't justify $600 for a book. Oh to have won the lotto... *laugh* Oh well, I got my books, then we headed to Don Pablos for lunch. Yay texmex. After that I went home, and curled up with Meg...the book, not the girl. Funny that reading about a giant prehistoric shark will be relaxing. ;) After reading I watched some TV, played a little World of Warcraft, read some more and went to bed...so I could show up at work bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Saturday Update Tue Dec 27 20:18:33 CST 2005
Mood: ok Music of the Day: Legend of Seven Golden Vampires on DVD
I woke up fairly early on Saturday. Did my usual morning stuff, read emails, etc. Once I was fully awake, I popped in a movie (Pitch Black) and started wrapping presents. Got that done fairly quickly, then I generally bummed around the house, read and played World of Warcraft til about 4, when I packed up and headed over to Mom's. We exchanged gifts (she got books and chocolate, I got cash...I'm hard to shop for *wink*) and gabbed til dinner was ready. We had some chicken potpieish things that my uncle sent her, very very tasty. After dinner we popped in the movie Clue, which my mom had never seen. We need a good laugh, and it provided them. Afterwards I headed home, watched movies and played more WoW ;) I watched, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Rock and Rule (my xmas gift from Nymaz) and House of the Dead. So two bad horror movies (as traditional for Xmas eve for me) and one really good animated movie. While watching House of the Dead, I let Winter have a good romp, he seems to be dealing with Shadow being gone better than I expected. So have I, I still get sad alot...but not as bad as I expected. So I expect I should have a nice little breakdown in a while, but we will see.

That was my Saturday. Next post, we'll have the details of Sunday and probably Monday too.

Weekend Update: Part 1 Mon Dec 26 00:58:12 CST 2005
Mood: tired Music of the Day: Chef on TV
Well this weekend was rather busy, so I'm splitting up into days. Friday was Amythest's birthday. So me, Techie, SugarFae, The Grim Squeaker and Kailan met up with her at Red Lobster for lunch. She was a happy redhead stuffed with seafood. After wards we went to a local mall so the gals could do a little clothes shopping. 2 days before xmas...traffic sucked, but sale clothes were had. From there Techie, Amythest and me headed to Costco then back to his place to kill time til that evening.

Amythest decided for her birthday she wanted to go iceskating on her birthday, so off we went to mall #2. Spent a long time in traffic, but got there in one piece. The D/FW Ufies List gathered, and we got on ice...I lasted about 5 min. I have a bad ankle, so ice skates and me made a bad combo. Plus the whole fear of taking a tumble added to my general desire to deice myself. So back off the ice, off with the skates and relaxing time. After the gang was done with icecapades, we got hot drinks and cake, and gave Amythest her gifts. Afterwards some of the gang left, and the rest of us got solid food. Then we went off to see Memoirs of a Geisha. Which, suprisingly I really enjoyed. It wasn't cheery, but it was pretty and interesting. Pretty girl on screen is always good, and Ziyi Zhang was very pretty. All in all a good film, if a little slow in spots. After the movie, dropped off the redhead and headed home. And as you may have guessed, I headed to bed and slept fairly well. Ready for a busy Cthulhumas Eve. ;)

Shadow Wed Dec 21 14:58:38 CST 2005
Mood: sad Music of the Day:
Shadow died this morning sometime after I left for work. I came home at lunch to give him his snack, and he was curled up in his sick-cage, looking for all the world like he was asleep. But he'd gone. And he's not sick, or listless or seizuring any more. He's off playing with Amergin, and Merret, and Gwennie, and Taz and Batboy and probably even Trinity, even if she never was fond of ferrets much.

I'm going to miss you Shadow, so very much...I love you.

Quick weekend update Sun Dec 18 23:54:03 CST 2005
Mood: tired Music of the Day: Are You Being Served on TV
Quick post, it's been a heck of a weekend, I won't go into alot of detail, I'm tired and it would take a while. So I'm just covering the high points.

  • Looking at Xmas lights on Friday.
  • Watching (and mocking) Stealth with friends on Saturday evening.
  • Shopping for Cthulhumas pressies for the critters Sunday.
  • Watching Chef Sunday evening with Amythest.
    Hopefully this next week will be mostly calm...gods I hope so. I need some lack of stress.

    • Weekend Update Mon Dec 12 14:37:16 CST 2005
    Mood: tired Music of the Day: King Diamond - Eye of the Witch
    Yep, another update about my weekend. Only time anything interesting and postable happens. Well, my weekend started Thursday night. Hung out with Techie and Amythest. Had dinner at Chilis, did some shopping, came home. And honestly, I can't remember what I did after that. I know I worked on some work foo, things that didn't get setup/done while I was in the office, that I didn't want to put off til Monday. So, nothing too fun I guess.

    Friday I was off, I slept in...after a small argument with my brain to let me sleep past 8am. I puttered around the house for a bit, then headed to walmart to get groceries and Xmas stuff. Spent ALOT, but I did good I think. Got food for a week +, got a tree, got ornaments, got stockings, and even a few gifts for people. Came home, put everything away, then get computer bits...but I already talked about that last post ;) Friday night I went out with Amythest, first to her niece's Middle school band concert. It was...interesting. And I have to remember they're kids, but boy...I still have an ear for notes being off...*wince*. And the guy who arranged the music was on crack. But it could have been more painful I guess ;) After that we went to another friend's holiday party. Sat around, chit chatted, drank cider til about 10:30. Took the redhead home, then headed home myself to...

    Down cable.

    Argh...ok, try the tricks again. No dice. And while trying to get the modem running, cable TV cuts out. Ok, that's bad. Call tech support...yep, my whole area is having 'issues'. Ok, take that as a sign from on high to go to bed. Which I do. Well I read a bit first, then sack out.

    Saturday I get up, get all together and head out to see Narnia, on the way I stop at Chick-Fil-A for lunch, get back in my car. No start. No click, no nothing. Curse. Alot. Hoof it to movie theater, glad it died across the street from it. Meet up with friends, vent alot. See movie, enjoy it alot more than I thought I would. I never read the books as a kid, at least as I recall. And, it had a talking fox, so that rates it extra stars :) Get out of movie, call tow truck. wait 1 1/2 hours for them to show, including them getting their directions crossed and going to the wrong town. Get a ride to my place from Techie, get presents, go to holiday party for the D/FW Ufies List. Party went rather well, my gifts were a hit. I also lucked on loot myself...I'll post a detailed list around the holidays...mostly since details are a little vague in my brain right now due to work. Though the White Elephant gift I snagged was neat, a mini stuffed killer rabbit from Toy Vault. For now, he's called Jaws. :) We also played a party game called Dirty Minds, boys vs girls...the boys got killed. Also, some of the group did this insane freeform Xmas RPG...I thought I was going to laugh til I fell over. Much happyness was had by all. Headed home, watched a little TV then went to bed.

    Sunday I sat around the house waiting on the car, played ALOT of WoW. Dual monitors are my friend. SSH session into Shub-Internet, plus Firefox = a well connected fox ;) Around 3-4 or so the mechanic calls, dead battery. *thud* Something I could have fixed, but since it died so suddenly, I assumed it was something else. Have them replace the battery. Head over, thanks to Techie, pick up car. Go home. Veg. Get pizza. Veg more, veg alot. Veg to bed. Sleep. Wake up at 6am annoyed. Don't really get back to sleep for any length of time. Gods, I hate that. Get to work, start the insanity all over again. Only 4 days...that's my mantra.

    Zhothaqquah Upgrade Fri Dec 9 16:37:07 CST 2005
    Mood: Geeky Music of the Day: Show on Sparta
    Well the upgrades I ordered from Newegg came in today. I got a new USB/firewire combo card and a pci radeon 7000 video card so I can do dual monitors. Install went like a dream, really plug and play. Boots up, setup dual monitors in about 30 seconds using the old KDS monitor I had. 3200x1200 desktop. All is well, and then the network dies. ACK. Play with network a bit. No dice. Play with cable some, call up to find out if the DHCP server had died or whatnot. Nope. Ok, follow the instructions of the cute sounding Comcast tech. Amazingly, it works. Some days computers are just demented. But it's all good. Now to get a 2nd dell monitor to replace the KDS and Zhothaqquah is set. Well til I need a DVD burner ;)

    Home Safe Wed Dec 7 18:41:09 CST 2005
    Mood: cool Music of the Day: Andromeda on DVD
    Well, I got home safe from work. For those who don't know, DFW got hit with a nice little icestorm. Yes I only live a mile away, but it's still a heck of drive in the ice. So I'm home safe. Got a big plate of cheesy hashbrowns for dinner, and I'm connected to Shub-Internet via a Cygwin shell on Zhothaqquah. I installed Cygwin for a work project. I want to add a Unix-like fileserver at work, that uses the domain controller at work for authentication. Now I can use Samba to do the same thing under Unix, but since I don't know Samba well enough, this will do the job nicely I think. Secure copy for adding files, DC for authentication, much wootness. Now to design the hardware specs for the fileserver, get approval for it, and get it done. Assuming the admins agree, but when I wrote up the basic idea I got approval. So good for me. Now we'll see how it goes in reality.

    Holiday News Wed Dec 7 11:14:44 CST 2005
    Mood: Squamous and yet Jolly Music of the Day: Mercyful Fate - Come to the Sabbath
    Breaking news, Fox is celebrating the holidays this year.

    Yes, the permenant scrooge has decided to hang up his nightcap. Why ? I used to love the holidays, not the forced cheer, but time with friends and family. And putting up the tree, ornaments, wrapping presents, goofy music and movies. Fun stuff. After dad died, I threw all of that in the bin. I'd celebrate to a point if I was dating someone who had the xmas cheer, but boy would I be unhappy. But, after a long talk with a friend on the subject, and alot of thinking...I decided I missed having the holiday traditions. So, I'm starting my own holiday...

    Cthulhumas!!! *laugh* Ok, only in part. Skippy does have a santa suit. I do have a stocking with the Dreamer in R'yleh on it. There is A Very Scary Solstice. But there is also more traditional activities, like putting a up a tree, eggnog (if I still like it that is), and watching a bad horror movie on xmas eve. (ok, that's traditional only for me.) So, I've decied that yes, I will have some holiday cheer this year. And if it causes me to have an emotional meltdown afterwards, then I know I shouldn't do this. But if not...*evil grin* then a Merry Cthulhumas to one and all. Even you Tiny Tsathoggua ;)

    So, this week I'll be shopping for a small (desk sized) tree, and stockings for the critters. And wrapping paper and gift bags. And I'll have a very scary solistice *humming "We Wish You'd Bury the Missus" from a Cryptkeeper Xmas* Oh yeah, and some mistletoe and a girl or three to kiss would be nice. *laugh*

    sub Weekend Update Tue Dec 6 12:10:05 CST 2005
    Mood: ok Music of the Day: The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets - Sounds of Tindalos
    Well I had a good weekend all in all. Friday a bunch of us were going to go to Six Flags for Holiday in the Park. Amythest had a coupon to get people in cheap. But, we misread the ticket...it was only for Saturday and Sunday. So instead we went to one of the gang's house, played a boardgame and watched Fargo. Now that was one screwed up movie. But fun. Came home, vegged a bit, went to bed.

    Woke up, puttered around the apartment, then off to see Aeon Flux. Wasn't a great movie, but it was ok I guess. Lots of tight outfits and wiggling gals. And booms, can't forget the booms. After that, I bummed around a while, then went to a suprise birthday party for one of the D/FW Ufies List members. Went very well. Played Munchkin, goofed around, generally had a good time. Headed home around 11 or so, played a little (very little) World of Warcraft, went to bed and read for a long time. Yay books.

    Sunday, Sunday I woke up in an odd mood. Took mom to Walmart...ye gods it was kinda crazy. But got her taken care of. Afterwards we tried to hit Six Flags again...this time they were open. I had a mostly good time, for those who don't know I tend to have issues with my mood around the holidays. Since my father passed away I've become a bit of a Scrooge. Now it's gotten better over the years, thanks in part to friends who really love the holiday. But still, I tend to dislike this time of year for all the forced xmas cheer. But I didn't have too much on the dislike at Holiday in the Park, more sadness. More missing my dad, and what the Holidays used to mean to me. ANd part of me wants to get that back, and part of me wants to hide it back down in the box it was locked in...it's worked for the last 13 years...*sigh* But enough about my mood issues. I did have fun at Six Flags, no rides for me, save the antique car ride...which is more of a big loop in a car on a track ;) Came home, ate, played WoW, watched Are You Being Served and went to bed around midnight.

    Monday was another hyperbusy day at work, made me very glad when I got home last night. Watched TV, including the directors cut of Underworld. Took a shower, read for a little while, and was asleep by 10pm. What can I say, I was dead tired. Dreamed weird dreams about going to some pagan outing with a bunch of non-pagans. By a lake or something. It was rather pleasant all in all. Didn't want to get up today. But here I am, at the salt mill. Weee. Only two more days in my work week after this one, burning off vacation time by taking every friday in Dec off. Woo. Hopefully I'll get a nice bit of rest in.