This weekend was another blah weekend, I was sick so I really didn't feel like doing much of anything. Saturday was spent mostly playing World of Warcraft. Have to say, this is one of the Best MMORPG's on the market right now. Very stable, very well populated, and very very entertaining. I think I will probably write up something more about it later this week.

Since Saturday was kind of a lazy around the house sort of day, we decided to try and get out on Sunday. Of course that didn't last long, as I started feeling sick again. While out, we stopped by Wal-Mart and picked up "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and the curled up on the couch to watch it.

This was a good Flick. Very "Film Noir" style of filming with a 30's sci-fi theme to it. The cinematography was amazing and the special effects were awesome! The acting was good, not great, but good. Overall I would recommend it out to people. On a completely side note I would like to ask a question about the DVD I purchased. On the front of the DVD case it said "Special Collectors Edition." In and of itself that's not bad. What was bad is that 1: This was the only version available for sale, and 2: There was nothing special about it. It was just like any other DVD with some extra features. I know it's just some marketing ploy to sell more DVD's because they are the "Special Edition". My Question is, what will they call it when they, inevitably, release the real Special Edition. They always do that with these movies. The initial release comes out and then a few months later the special one with all the cool stuff comes out.

So anyways, that was the highlight of Sunday. The down side came in about 2pm when I started to get a headache. This, of course, turned in to a full blown migraine by around 4:30ish. After a 30 min shower I finally gave up and turned off all the lights in the house and curled up in bed. I don't think I can adequately explain how much having a migraine hurts. You literally want to pull your head off and smash it against the wall because that would probably hurt less.

And of course this is the time when my entire family wants to call me and chat, or ask questions. My head hurt so much, the Light from the Cell Phone sent stabbing pains through my brain and the ringer was louder than if I pressed my ear against the bells of Big Ben. I really hope I am feeling better this coming weekend, I have far too much to do.

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That's how I have felt today. I have been super busy at work. The way my "Cubical" is set up here I have about 3 Computers on my Desk (which is a full U shape) and then a "Laptop Deployment Station" (which consists of a table with an Ethernet plug and power) at the end of my desk.

Well I have been bouncing between the 3 computers and the Station all day long. Thus the reason I have not really had the chance to Post much today. And worst of all, it's Friday! I have no idea what all is going on this weekend. I guess assuming it's halfway decent outside I may try and clean that shed out, but I know it's going to be crazy cold.

Part of me wants to go out and do something, the other part wants to stay in and clean and stay warm and play on the PC. Not sure which part is going to win as of right now. I think this weekend is going to be a play by ear weekend. I honestly think I am getting over-stressed and I am not even sure why. Anyone ever get that way?

/sigh

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Ok, so someone needs to loan me 15,000 bucks! I have to buy this car. If you look in the "About Me" section you will see me in front of a mock up of this car. I have always loved it. If I could afford to own a Delorean I would. But this guy goes one step father and actually Mods the car to Back to the Future Standards!!! Is it too late to ask for this for Christmas??

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Ok, I noticed that a bunch of the blogging crew (seems everyone has one now) have been writing about significant memories. Seeing as how I rarely want to be left out, I thought I would bring to you this little story. I wrote this a few days after the September 11th attack. Some of you know that I was in the Pentagon at the time. This happened while Heather and I were still married, and I was still in the military. In case you were wondering, I did speak to a counselor after the incident and I was suffering from a bout of Survivors guilt, but I have since overcome that. A very Wise person explained to me that fate works in mysterious ways, and if I were meant to survive the way I did, then I should be content and give thanks for what I have.

Once again, this was written just a few days after September 11th 2001. This Story is entirely un-edited or revised. This is how I wrote it over 3 years ago.

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I thought I would write this down to let you know what Happened. Tuesday I went to work for a very normal day. The morning went fairly normal and standard. Then we saw then news about the WTC. At first I thought that it was just a terrible accident. My friends Doug and I left the office and headed to the ATM to get some money for Breakfast. While waiting for the ATM to open someone came by and said that a Second Plane struck the WTC. I started to realize that this was odd. But I have a great amount of faith in my Military and knew that the investigation had already started. To me at the time it was still just a CNN image. Doug and I got our food, bagel, bag of chips, and an Iced Tea, and came back into the office to watch the report. I finished my Bagel and sat down at the Internet computer. 9:43; I heard a Noise that sounded like a Generator starting up. For a split second, because of the thought of terrorism on TV, I thought Could it? Nahh, this is the Pentagon. So I started to send Heather a Text message to her Cell phone. "2 Planes hit World Trade Center. Turn on CNN".

I logged off and Sat at my desk. Started eating my chips and decided to call my Friend at Clarendon (another building nearby). I picked up the Phone and Hit the speed dial Button, but noticed the Numbers on the phone were all wrong. When I hung up to call again, someone came in a said "get out" Having My Tea and chips still in my hand I ran for the door. The thoughts going through my mind were "This is just a standard Precaution, Just Routine" I exited the Pentagon through the 8th Corridor Exit to North Parking. Walking out of the Building I started to realize the Magnitude. I looked over my shoulder and stared at the Black Plume and Flames coming from the building I was just sitting in. I moved with my co-workers to the middle of North Parking and we started to keep lookout for others from our area. We sat and watched. The only thoughts going through my mind were of somehow getting a hold of Heather and telling her that I am ok. I thought "I just told her to look at CNN and she will see this". It was soon after that someone came with reports of another plane.

I ran.

With others from my office in front we ran to the end of the parking lot. We saw a Van with some people we knew and got in. They drove us to the Vienna Metro Station, which is on the west side of DC. I live on the East side. In the Van I was loaned 2 Cell phones. One was calling heather's Cell, the other calling my parents. The Cell network was swamped. I got through to my Mom First. When she answered the phone, I knew the emotion going on in her head. I said "I'm Ok. I made it out ok" The relief I heard from her was overwhelming as she said "thank you" We hung up quickly so that others could do the same. I still tried desperately to reach heather. I boarded the Metro at about 11:20. We started out eastward Back through Washington DC. Every now and then I would ask someone for the use of their cell phone. One of the Calls I was able to get through to Heather's Voice Mail and I left a Message on the home phone saying, "I'm Ok, I am on my way home" But I still had not talked with her directly. After leaving the Pentagon, I heard nothing else about what was going on. I didn't know if she had been evacuated or hit.

Every time the train stopped when not in a station I had fears, my heart leapt. I had visions of Japan attacks on the subway. On top of everything else, I had to Pee. Bad. I reached the Stadium Armory Station, The sop to change to the Blue line that would take me home. I saw Train right after train come through. Leaving Stadium Armory the trains come above ground for a moment. I borrowed another cell phone and called Heather. I got through. I told her I was ok and that I loved her. She said she loved me. And I lost signal as the train went underground. It was 12:30. I got to Addison Road and went across the street to a Barber shop to use the restroom. I would like to say that on any other day I would have done my best to make it home before going into there because of the neighborhood I lived in. I was in Uniform and for one of the first times since living here, I saw no hate on anyone's face, I didn't see a Hispanic person or an African person. I saw an American person. Concern painted on everyone's face. I got a ride home from another Military person and borrowed the key to my house from my neighbor. My keys were still in the pentagon. Everything was there. I didn't even have my hat.

I had 13 messages on my machine. So many people Called to hear from me. So many people cared. I finally talked with Heather. She was locked down on Bolling AFB and couldn't come home. A fellow military member invited her to their home. I went about calling everyone who took the time to call me. Heather got home at 5:30. Tuesday evening I went back to the Pentagon to retrieve my things. I walked in and there was a thin layer of smoke in every room and hallway. I could smell the burning. It sickened me. I was smelling the Burning remains of my Military Brothers and sisters. I got my stuff and got out. Heather and I went home and I showered. I went to sleep, and thankfully, didn't dream.

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I like the simple things in life. Sleeping in on a Saturday morning, a warm Chai on a cold morning while looking out at the snow covered trees, spending time with friends and laughing about the time I lit a bottle rocket attached to my shoe and it didn't fly (but I sure did). The world is a very complicated place, I realize this. We have silly things like war, famine, crime, poverty, organized religion, and other things that make life on this plane of existence a pain in the tuckus. My question is, why?



Why is there War? Apparently, someone back a thousand or so years ago didn't like someone else for something they did to their father or land or sheep, and because of this, we have millions of people pointing guns at each other. But why? What does it solve now? Over the past bajillion years we have grown as a human race to the point of drawing lines in dirt to say that "This dirt is mine, that dirt is yours." Now there is no Un-Owned dirt. We war with each other because your dirt is better than my dirt and I want it. Even more so, we war with each other because my god is better than your god. But more on this later.



Why is there Famine? When I moved into my new apartment, I looked around the area and noted to myself that there was a grocery store located nearby. I knew that in order to purchase food from said store, I would need a job. That job would require me to exert energy to produce a product of some sort for my employer. In return, my employer would then give me money. With that money I can buy food. For that matter, in older days, mankind would plant their own food and harvest it themselves, thus exerting energy to produce, well, produce. Now, knowing all of this, why do I turn on my TV and see commercials about "Feed the starving children in Slabdonia!" If Slabdonia doesn't have food, and can't produce food, and they can't somehow produce something that can be traded for food, why do people live there? We have lots of starving people where in the USA, why wouldn't we send money to help feed the starving children who are already here? I saw 2 "homeless" people on the street, one with a sign that said "Hungry, please help" and he was just laying there with a cup. The other was playing a Sax, his sign said "Hungry, but at least I am not sitting on my ass with a cup." He was playing pleasant holiday music and providing some sense of atmosphere to the street life. He was producing, and I, as a walker of the street was his employer. I gave him money.



Why is there Crime? Mostly I believe that crime centers on greed. The essential "I want what you have because I don't have it" syndrome. So instead of finding the above mentioned job and exerting the above mentioned energy, a different kind of energy is spent to induce potential risk to achieve a product. But why? Is the risk worth the goal? Does it really take that much more energy to just work for what you want? The person who has the product now apparently worked for it.



Why is there Organized Religion? Keep in mind when I ask this that I am all for people having their own beliefs. I don't fault the Bhuddest for believing in Bhudda, I don't fault the Pagan for believing in the earth. What I am asking about is the Money Grubbing Churches that ask people to send them their fortunes so that they can buy more airtime on TV. The Religions that beg for money, so that they can send people overseas to other regions, to convert people who don't believe in their god. The people who Go on TV and beg for money to feed the starving children in Slabdonia, then use the money to make more TV ad's to beg for more money. They claim that it only takes 17 cents a day to feed a whole tribe there. How much did it cost to make that commercial? Couldn't you have just given that money to them? Come to think of it, why are they in Slabdonia in the first place? Didn't we already learn that they can't get food there? Besides, all you want to do it Trade them food for them believing in your god, so they their neighbors will war with them and steal their food! This has been going on for eons! The organized mob that claims "My God is better than Your God, so you better choose him!" WHY??? Why can't we just let it be? You believe in your god and be happy, I'll believe in mine and be happy. You know what would happen then? You would find that we have something in common, Happiness! We are both happy, living in our little patches of dirt, working in our little jobs producing what we want to produce to get money for things that we want (like food), and worshiping who we want to worship.


Why is this Such a hard concept to come by?


Sorry, Felt like a rant. We now return you to your regularly scheduled madness. In the Meantime, here is some Pie.

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Well, you may notice from my Absence that I was away from the ol keyboard for the whole weekend. It was nice to Unplug, sort of. I really did plan quite a bit for the weekend. Too bad I didn't get much of it done.

Thursday, as you know, I was off for the Inauguration. Was nice, I think we stayed in for most of the day and went with Paul to Macaroni Grill for dinner. Friday was all me. Amy went to work so I was home all day by myself. I probably would have gotten a lot accomplished except that Lee and Doc also too the day off and we ended up playing EQII all day long. Seriously, we played all day.

Saturday it snowed like crazy. After spending a little time on the couch waking up, we decided to go out and do some shopping. I needed a new coat, and I wanted to drive on the snow in the truck. So we went to Galyans Sporting goods and looked at a bunch of them. I ask you, why would a simple winter coat cost like 300 bucks?? Seriously! It was crazy, almost all of them were around 2-300 bucks! I finally found what is probably "Last year's model." It cost me $50 and it really nice (you can see a pic of me in it on the photoblog). I also needed some shoes so we stopped at REI next. Here is a tip, don't go to REI for shoes. They are overpriced and they hardly have a selection. It was Modell's Sporting Goods next on the list. Now I am asking myself, "why I didn't go there first?" They had some nice jackets for $20. They also had some great shoes at good prices. Well after all the shopping it was time to hit Starbucks. Paul met up with us and we just hung out for a while.

Sunday was a different story. I cleaned up the Computer Desk area and even combined it down a Bit (what did you know, the file cabinet fits under the desk) so now I have a lot more room over there. I didn't get to the outside shed because, obviously, it was freaking cold. Also due to it being cold my knee started acting up a lot. For some reason by around 9pm Sunday I was just exhausted so by around 10pm I was in bed. I felt kinda bad because Lee and Doc were waiting on me to come back into EQ2 but I was beat. Guess I will make it up to them tonight.

Today at work has been moderately busy, mostly just trying to catch up from Friday. I may also be working late because of it. Ah well. Possibly more later.

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So here it is, almost midnight Thursday night, and I am no where near tired. It donned on me that I hadn't posted all day. That's what happens when I am not at work and have a PC in front of me through out the day. Actually, today I didn't play hooky at all, we got the day off for the Presidential Inauguration. I suppose it would have been cool to go down to DC and see all the hoopla, but to be honest, the thought of crowding around thousands of people and stand out in the cold to see the President from about 10,000 meters away didn't sound appealing. Yes, it's one of those once in a lifetime things, (assuming your lifespan is about 3.9 years) but I found that there were better things to spend my time on. Like spending time with Amy.



Now, tomorrow is a different story. I figured, I had Monday off. I went to work Tuesday and Wednesday. I get Thursday off, why not make it a four day weekend and enjoy it. So I took Friday off as well. Sadly, Amy is going into work so it's just me here all alone, but that will give me the chance to finish up my "Minimalizing" process. I think I will attack the outside shed and back patio tomorrow. This way I have more storage space to clean out the den with.



Things in Oregon are going as expected. My Mother is getting stressed out dealing with all of the preparations for my grandfather's memorial. I heard that they read the post that I wrote about the rock and have decided to read it at the service. From what I understand, I have a tendency to make people cry when they read this blog. Who knew! (: and here I am just trying to write out what I am feeling and experiencing in my life.




One thing I have noticed is that the 24th is creeping up. What is the 24th you ask? Why, one year ago on the 24th is would be the first day that I actually posted a "Blog" type post to the net. I know this is going to sound silly, but when I did it, I had no real idea about what a blog was and how many people were using them. I just wanted to start an online journal because I knew I was going to be facing a lot of challenges. Since that day I have, Gotten Divorced, Exited the Military, Moved to a new apartment by myself, Joined the 501st, Got a new job that I love, Traveled to Vegas, established a net domain, Started dating, Experienced numerous hardships, experienced just as many joys, and brought it all to you via this medium. I am like my own HBO Mini-series!



One of the whole reasons I started up the Blog was so that I wouldn't have to constantly explain what was going on in my life to so many different people. You know how, when something big happens, you have this great story that goes with it and you enjoy telling it. That is, until you end up telling it for the 5th time to someone. Now, when something happens, I post about it and when people ask me, I just say "Check out my Blog!" As a matter of fact, most people have stopped asking me and just start talking about what happened. It always makes me happy when someone contacts me and quotes something from the site.



Well it's getting late and I am just starting to ramble now. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Who knows what I may write about when I get tired and just start running on. Whoops, it's after midnight now, guess this just became the first post for Friday.


Happy Friday All!

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In the hopes of getting beyond all that is going on I present to you the "Where did Wizzer come from?" Post. I figure that once I post all of these questions and answer posts, I may actually compile them all into a FAQ and post it. Either that or I will write a book. You know that CafePress will actually publish books? You can send them a document and cover design and they will publish and sell as needed books. How cool is that? But anyways, I digress.

I have heard just about every joke known to man about the name Wizzer. From piss jokes, to wiener jokes I hear them all. The real story goes back to when I was about 15 years old and my brother introduced me to a game called Shadowrun. Shadowrun is a role playing game based in a futuristic world of post apocalyptic goodness. It's a very cool game and I really got into it at the time. Well, in Shadowrun there is a type of character called a "Decker." A Decker is a hacker of sorts, he plugs the computer into his head and maneuvers around the "Matrix" to manipulate data. (Shadowrun came out long before the movie "Matrix") Another aspect of the game is a surplus of cybernetics. So here I thought that it would be fun to take a Decker and pump him full of speed enhancing cybernetics. His mind would be tweaked out to run as fast as possible and so would his body. But what to call him? "Speedster?" "Fastman?" Well, being an avid comic reader I turn to my pulp hero's to see what names I can dredge from their colorful world. There is always The Flash, Superman, and Capt. Marvel. Those are all overdone and don't have near the right sound. Then I came across a golden age wonder called Whizzer. He could run really fast, and was not very well known. Not wanting to directly copy, I dropped the "H" and Wizzer was born. I played avidly for quite a few years, and I still have some of the books.

Around the age of 17 I received my first real computer. It was a true POS, with a 286 processor and an internal 1200 baud modem. This was just enough to get me online into some of the local BBS's. Most of you know that in order to establish an online presence you need a handle. Since I had been playing the character Wizzer for so long, I adopted that as my online Identity. I was a BBS addict logging into boards by the name of Phosphor and Inferno. I made many friends while on these systems. I attended live gatherings and a number of parties. I even survived some of the jokes that spawned from the "Dress as your Handle" Parties. (a 6 pack of Jolt cola as well as about 3 No-Doze at the same time solved that conundrum) Well, BBS's grew into my first internet account with a company called Netcom (I think they were eventually bought out by EarthLink). This was a UNIX shell account and was entirely text based. I had access to the web via a server side program called lynx. I started logging into IRC Channels on Undernet, and posting to Newsgroups. (I am sorry to admit that I was once a poster to Alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die, Sorry Wil!)

When I joined the Military I took sort of a Hiatus from computing until I arrived in Okinawa and bought me a Super fast Pentium (not Pentium II or III just the regular old P1) Of course I had to continue with the only online nomenclature I knew. And that would carry me into the here and now. It used to be when I would sign up for a new website or ISP that I could use Wizzer as a name and it would not be taken, but alas the times have caught up with me and there are a number of Impostors out there, and I am sure they came up with the name on their own, much like I did. I guess it's just hard when you have used a handle for so long not to be bitter when you find it's taken by someone else.

So now you know, and knowing is Half the battle.

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When I was very young, I used to visit my grandparents house in Oregon. They would take me fishing, I would play in the forest across the street, and we would go down to the beach. My Grandfather loved to fish. He had his own boat, (named after my sister) and would go out on the ocean and salmon fish. Sometimes he would take me out with him. He loved to spend time with me but I know he must have hated taking me out on that boat. You see, it was a very small boat, with no Restroom. If you had to "go" then he had a small milk jug that you went in and then committed your "donation" to the sea. Well see, at 12 years of age, I wasn't too fond of peeing in front of other people, much less into a jug. So I would hold it. The problem with holding it is that, at 12 years old, I didn't have a very large bladder, and the boat trips were often very very long. So I would end up in pain, and he would inevitably end up turning around and taking us in. When he did this I would often hit the bathroom and be fine.

Being a young boy I also loved to dig around and find rocks. Looking back, I am not even sure why, I just did. I would always bring tons of rocks back to my grandparents' house and leave them in various places. One time, My Grandfather told me that I had better not leave any of those rocks in his workshop area. Well, for those that know me you would know that I am a smart ass, and that telling me something like that is more then likely going to Elicit a response. The night before I was supposed to leave to go back to my parents house I specifically left a Rock sitting in the middle of his workbench. To me, this was very funny. To him, it became even funnier when he wrote "I'm Back" on it and wrapped it up as a Christmas present. In return, he got a rather heavy birthday present. So began the great Rock Tradition. For well over 15 years, this rock had traded hands between my grandfather and I on birthdays, Christmas, fathers day, etc. I even sought my chance to deliver it back to him this last Christmas and took it with me. I gave it to him on Christmas Eve as his present. In return, he snuck it into my luggage on the 29th of Dec.

Tonight at around 11ish PM my time, my grandfather passed away. He had suffered through many ailments and this was his time to go. I am happy that I had the chance to see him in a decent state before it happened. I am glad we were able to exchange the rock one last time. He will be missed, but I know that he is not suffering any more, and he is in a better place. Now, I just need to figure out how to send the rock there.

Rest in Peace Papa.

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I have to say, I am wiped out. This last week has been pretty rough for me. The emotional roller coaster that is my family's medical problems has strapped me in and won't stop at the gate. I am going to start trying to limit the amount I talk about it simply because it's depressing and I am sure that not everyone wants to hear details. Needless to say, My Dad is getting better. He should be there for about 1 more week and then head home. My Papa is getting worse. He may be there for about another week. My mom is a basket case bouncing between the two.



On the home front, Half Life Two rocks. (yes I know that I am playing games and talking about games when so much other stuff is going on, but if I don't then I will end up just as much a basket case as everyone else, besides, at my end there is not much for me to do.) Indeed, it roxors my soxors. The engine is phenomenal. I spent the first 20 minutes of the game just walking around and admiring the graphics. I could pick up damn near anything, and throw it at people. The overall game play is outstanding, I can't wait to get home and play some more!



This being Friday, that means the weekend is upon us. That means it's Time for weekend goals. Sat. night is a party for a few of the guys I work with. They apparently have this safe in their house that no one knows the combo for. The last few people that live there don't know it either. So we are going all Geraldo on it and try and crack it to see what's inside. Should be tons of fun!



After that, I think will continue the cleaning effort on Sunday and Monday (Monday is a holiday, Thanks MLK! Fight the Power!) This weekend's goals are the Living room and the Bathroom. If I have time I might attack the kitchen as well. That will bring us back to the den. The dreaded den. Many of you might remember my plights with the den way back when I first moved into the apartment. Well the den has been cleaned, then filled again, then cleaned again. Now it's filled. It's not near as bad as it has been, but it's time for a serious "I don't need this, I haven't looked at it in 4 years, why am I keeping it?" cleaning. I might even see if I can head down to IKEA to check out some new Furniture. Things on my wishlist are:

• New Queen Sized Bedframe with head and footboards
• Twin Sized Loft for Andrews Room
• Shelving System for Andrews room
• New Coffee Table
• New Entertainment Unit
• Living room Rug
• Drawer Unit for computer desk

That should bee a good Start. I know I am not going to be able to get all of this right away, but those are the main things I want for the apartment. Well with any luck I will be able to post again this afternoon. I really do feel a good rant coming on, just not sure about what yet.

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Ok, I made the mandatory nightly call to the mom to check on the dads status. She says he is doing ok, they have him up and moving and almost ready to be moved to his own room soon. He will still be in the hospital for a while but in a stable condition. That's good. She will have to leave and go back to work soon. Except she got a call yesterday my Mom got a call about HER dad, (my Papa) and turns out that, while in his old person care giving place (once again proving I am not a Dr.), he has contracted Pneumonia and is in the hospital with that. (He is like 86 years old, so I am thinking this could be bad.)


So she is in Medford because my Dad needs her there. Her dad is in Crescent city. (That's about 3 hours away.) So back to my Original question, WTF???



In Other, and completely un-related news (and in the hopes of getting my mind off all of this crapyness), I picked up Half Life 2 today at lunch and will be playing around with it tonight. We shall see if it's as good as everyone on the planet says it is. Ok, so I don't feel like writing too much more than this, maybe some later. (like we haven't all heard that before)

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So I am convinced that I will never make it to the Gym in the morning. Well ok, maybe not completely convinced. I tried to call Paul again this morning and he couldn't hear his phone so I thought about going by myself. Problem is, Amy is using my MP3 player for her commute, so I needed another one. I have my trusty Toshiba E755 PDA that happens to play MP3's but doesn't have any on it right now. So here I think "let's fire that bad boy up and start copying!" I them spent the next hour trying to figure out why it won't sync when it dons on me to trace the cable back to the PC. Turns out I had mixed up the cables and was plugging in the wrong USB plug. [DOH!]

Yeah, I felt like an idiot. BUT…. I learned something rather interesting. I can get the PDA to Sync up using the Wi-Fi card. (I know this is probably nothing new to some people.) I started thinking then, If I can sync using the wi-fi, then I can use a shared folder that syncs between the PC and Device, and if I can do that, then I can hook it up in my Truck and use the MP3 player there, and if I can do then, then I can continually update the MP3's dynamically.

So I am thinking that I need to pick up a few accessories for the PDA. I know I will need some sort of Cradle so it's not just lying around in there, I need a larger compact flash card, something a GIG or more. Also I want to get a Good GPS with software.

Further update on the dad: Another phone call last night from my mom, she said that he woke up and wise cracked a "Wow, I'm still here!" This would probably be the first thing that would lead me to believe that he is, indeed, my father. This would have probably been my first words coming out of such a surgery. He also claimed that he might have to start listening to people when they tell him he shouldn't be eating certain things. Congrats dad, that would fall into the "DUH" category.

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Just got off the Phone with my Mom and she says that the operation was a success, difficult due to the complications, but success none the less.

They are holding him in Critical care to keep an eye on him but he should pull through ok.

Thanks to everyone for their positive support. When I have more updates I will let you know.

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I got a Call a few nights ago that my Dad had had another heart attack. (This makes about 5) He was in the Dr.’s office when it happened (what are the odds) and they rushed him down to Crescent city to the hospital there. They then realized that the heart expert was in Medford so they airlifted him there. That was about a week ago. Well I guess after running a few tests they found that his heart was blocked at about 90%. So he went in for a Triple By-Pass this morning at 8am Pacific Time, Theoretically. See, he also has potential Kidney failure, and for the tests they injected him with all this ink type stuff (what do I look like, a Dr.?) So that has to leave his system before the operation, then there is the medication he was on that thinned his blood, that has to be almost out of his system. [Sigh]

So all this is going on over on the West Coast, and here I am on the east coast. My son is staying over at my grandmothers while my parents are gone. I got the call about the surgery last night, which of course elevated my stress level to the point that the Gamers Tourettes came out in full force. I can’t do anything now except sit and wait.

Now I know that there are about 1000 things that my dad and I disagree on, and maybe 5 that we agree on. But he is still my Dad and it bugs me when this happens to him. Half of me wants to say “you know, It’s his fault, I told him not to eat that stuff he wasn’t supposed to.” The other Half wants to say “What sort of cruel creator would cause this much pain on the planet” then there is the other half that says “you dolt, your only supposed to have two half’s” All I can do is think positive thoughts, Send positive energy westward and hope that it comes out ok.

[Sigh]

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A simple day, an ordinary night. The warm glow of the PC monitor permeates the dark room. Sounds of ancient Qeynos echo off the eggshell white walls as an average guy sits down to enjoy an escape into the world of Everquest 2. All was fine until the unspeakable happened. A group of Gnolls, while under attack, call for Re-enforcements. Before he knew it, our hapless hero was swamped. Over-run and over Stressed, that's when it happened…..

Roric: There's Too Many of them!
Shippero: This is it, Game over Game Over!
Opiee: We can take it, Hold the Line HOLD THE LINE!!!
***Gnoll Battler has killed Shippero***
Roric: they Got Ship, I canna hold it Together, Were breaking apart worse than Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt!
Opiee: Stay on target, Stay on Target!
***Gnoll Tormentor has killed Roric***
Opiee Sprints
***Gnoll Elder has pwned Opiee***

Meanwhile back in real life, the unspeakable happens:

Steve: GAWD D%@&^ YOU ^@(@! (&%(#, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, I SWEAR TO *#(& GAWD I WILL ^%#* KILL YOU!

Gamer's Tourettes takes over. It can strike when you least expect it. When this happens, the victim becomes lost in a myriad of obscenities that would make even a seasoned sailor blush.

Sadly there is no known cure for gamer's tourettes. Treatment has included; stepping away from the game, venturing out into the large blue celinged room with poor temperature control, socializing with people without having to use smilies to express oneself.

With Treatment, hopefully, one day, we might be able to control gamer's tourettes. If you or someone you know suffers from gamer's tourettes, please, do the right thing.

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So I have spent a great deal of time helping to build Kensai's own webspace. Kensai (or Lee) used to post on this blog for a while but I decided to go with a more personal focus, so I kicked him off (: But no worries, he now has his own site (hosted by me still) at http://kensai.wizzer.org . Took me a while, but once he nailed down what general theme and color scheme he was looking for, I think I built him a halfway decent site. Maybe I should do this for a side job?

Side note, the season premiere of 24 started last night. I am not sure how many of you out there watch this, but I have been hooked since season 1. Of course I think they are starting to stray from the reality line of thought. I mean, I had to suspend my disbelief last season when a chopper ride from Mexico to LA could be done (take off, flying, landing) within 15 min, but now to imagine the Secretary of Defense not running like a madman when shots are fired, not to mention secret service standing with no cover during a fire fight. I know for a fact that these guys would dive for cover and pick off shooters like geese. The show continues tonight, so we will see what happens.

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So, I have been playing EQ2 now for a little over a month. It's a very pretty game. But it wears thin very quickly. When you start a new character, you can do a lot by yourself, quests, fights, etc.. But once you hit around level 18-20 you're screwed. It's near impossible to advance yourself because, either the things you're fighting won't give you XP because you're too high of a level or the things are just too freaking hard and you need a group. Sony has come up with the Crappiest "Con" interface. Most games will color code the "Consider" feature. Very simple like green is easy, blue is tougher, white is equal, yellow is tough, orange is tougher, red is instant death. Pretty simple right? Sony's idea is to promote grouping is an up arrow down arrow system on top of the colors. If a creature has an up arrow above their name it's like there are 2 of them there. If there is a down arrow it's like there is ½ of him there. So lets say you see a Gnoll (it's a dog like creature) and he cons white. You think, "ok, he is white so that should be a good fight." Well that would be true if he didn't have 2 up arrows. Now he is like 3 white gnolls, so he is tougher and hits harder. Now, silly me, why wouldn't they just color him orange or red? Why is there the illusion of simple-ness when in reality this thing is going to whomp on me? So I decided to create an evil character and made him a Cleric.

Meanwhile, in other news, I accomplished what I set out to do this weekend. I cleaned out my bedroom closet and even managed to clean up the bedroom as well. I took about 1 full truckload of crap to the trash. I did the same to my Bookshelf and video shelf. Isn't it funny how I realize that I don't need a VHS copy of the The Matrix as well as my DVD one? Maybe I could start putting the VHS tapes on E-bay. Think anyone would by them? Next weekend will be the Bathroom and Living room, Then the Kitchen and Den, then probably the outside storage things. I have to say it's Refreshing to clean out this much stuff. I mean, I haven't touched or even looked at most of this stuff in a year. I know deep down that I probably will never use it again, so why keep it?

I think after the cleaning it will be time to re-decorate. I want to actually decorate my house like a normal Person. Ok, well make that a Normal person who happens to like Sci-Fi and makes it well known. I have some great ideas for the front room and it shouldn't be that pricey to do. Then of course it will be time to re-do the wardrobe. One of the things I noticed while cleaning out the closet was the extraordinary amount of T-shirts I own. While I have some button down shirts, I don't have enough to make a difference. I want to change that. Last year saw the Transformation from Married Steve to Single Steve. This year will be Single Steve to Stylin Steve. I feel good about myself now, But I think I can feel a little bit better. And if Paul would ever stop being sick, we could hit the Gym again and that will help.

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Ok, so the title was a little less harsh then it could have been. You may notice that I copied the paypal button from the front page of http://www.wizzer.org to the blog page. Why would I do this? Well frankly because there is nothing much on the main page and most people tend to come here to the blog and bypass the front page. Now keep in mind. I am not begging. I am not so broke that I am not eating. (well there was that one time a few months ago, but that was strictly on purpose and I looked good afterwards.) But running things like the Website and such does indeed cost me money. So, if you find it in your heart and pocketbook that you want to donate to the cause, feel free to click away. If not, then ah well, enjoy the show and try not to spill popcorn in the new truck.

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The weekend is finally here! Time to go out and….. Oh wait, still broke. Ok so maybe it's time to just stay in and enjoy some time in front of the boob toob. I know one thing that's planned for this weekend and that's cleaning out the bedroom closet. Most of the junk in there is going to get trashed. (Unless it's worth something, then it's off to e-bay I go!)


I just got word that there is some nasty stomach virus spreading its way around work. Supposedly you get nauseous and vomit a lot and it's very contagious and very icky, but hey, it only lasts 2-3 days. Thankfully I don't feel ill and I tend to stay away from most of the people here. (My Job would be great if it weren't for all the damn customers) Actually I love my job, even with the customers.


I Hope you Guys have a great weekend. I will be sitting at home watching re-runs of Sanford and Son Or poking my eyes out. Whichever is better.

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Well, you talk about nothing really. Or about the fact that you're pissed off with yourself because you spent too much money and are now worried about the rent check. [Sigh] I hate it when I feel this way. More over I hate it when I am broke. The only Solace I have is that I went through the ENTIRE Christmas time without putting anything on my Credit cards. For me, that's huge! Trying desperately to get rid of all the past debt so I am trying hard not to use them at all, and Christmas was the big test. I passed, but at the cost of high stress when it comes to rent time and I look at my bank account with sweat pouring down my brow. I also realize the downfall of keeping all my banking online. See, I have cash, so Money is not an issue if I need emergency bread or such. The problem lies in that, if I bank online, the only way to deposit money is Direct Deposit, or Mail Deposit. Now, I am not going to be mailing any cash through the postal service. So how do I get the money I have to where I need it? [Sigh]



In Other news, I am starting to get into a funk. I have a bunch of things that I want to get accomplished, and I am lacking the motivation to do them. I have a new Idea for a video project, the desire to exercise, massive amounts of cleaning, I would like to redecorate but that involves money, of which I have none. (Anyone want to call TLC and book me on one of their shows?)



Speaking of News, I have noticed something about myself and current world events. I really don't care much for them. I mean, I care when something bad happens, but I can't really bring myself to sit and watch the news to find out what's going on. If it's that important, I am sure I will find out about it one way or another. Besides, the media really pisses me off. Honestly, how much video footage needs to be shown about a tsunami causing damage? Yes, it's horrible, yes people lost their lives. But the actual tsunami lasted for how long? Maybe a few hours. Is there nothing else going on in the world? Oh, wait, I forgot.

There is always Scott Peterson, because that story hasn't been beaten to death.



And if I get tired of that, I can always find a Bush Bashing channel.





So why bother? I love my TIVO now because I don't have to watch any of it anymore. But the question is, which is better, Living in Denial or Living in Fear?

[Sigh]

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Anyone need any G-Mail accounts? I have 9 invites and no one to give them to. Leave a comment or e-mail me if you want one.

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Meet little Stevie, Hello Stevie! Stevie likes to read, yes he does. One of Stevie's Favorite things to read is the Internet. You see the Internet is filled with all sorts of fun and interesting things to read. There are news articles, stories, entertainment reviews, and Blogs. Can you say Blog? I knew that you could. A Blog is something like an online journal, and thousands of thousands of people have them all over the internet. That's a lot of reading, isn't it Stevie. There is only one problem with the internet, no it's not Porn Stevie, that's just silly talk. The problem with the internet is Glamour Advertising. Do you know what that is? That's when you go to a web site and over on the side, or top, or middle of the site there is a big advertisement that is just staring at you, screaming "LOOK AT ME AND BUY MY STUFF NOW YOU F%$# PIECE OF S&^%!!!!!" taking all the attention away from what your trying to look at. This makes little Stevie sad, poor Stevie.

But there is something that can solve this problem. Do you know what that is? No, not throwing your PC through an advertising executives head causing severe bleeding and concussion, even though that would be fun. The answer is RSS. RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites. If it can be broken down into an XML format, and what can't, then it can be put into RSS. Using a program such as Sharpreader, little Stevie can read all of his Favorite News Sites and Blogs without all the Advertising and Banners. This makes little Stevie happy. Not to mention that the program can be set to check these sites automatically, so when there is a new article, Stevie knows about it instantly. So how do you know if a site has an RSS feed? EASY! Look for the logo, or even an logo. Most sites will have a special link on the side to show that they are "Syndicated".

You may ask yourself, "Self, what sort of sites does little Stevie read?" Go ahead, ask yourself that. I'll wait. Hmmmm Hmmmm Hmmmm. That's a good Question! Here is a big List of all of the Sites that Stevie reads, and all of them have RSS feeds.

Alien Love Predator	Real Life Comics	PvPOnline
Dilbert	...And you thought you were pissed off	My Blog
Amy's Blog	Missy's Blog	Paul's Blog
Sarah Lane from tech TV	Kevin Rose from tech TV	Wil Wheatons Blog
Tony Pierce's Blog	The Un-Offical Joss Whedon Blog	Serenity Movie Blog
FARK	Transbudda	Slashdot
Gizmodo	Gamespot	StarWars.com
Everquest2@warcry	SWG@warcry	space.com
Sci-Fi Wire	The Force Dot net

That's a pretty big list isn't it? Let's let Stevie get back to his reading, Good bye Stevie!

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Ok, I just found a very cool gem on the net. Sad thing is, it’s not just the net, its MTV’s Video Mods. Some of you know I took a little dip into the Video Game Video genre with my stuff from Galaxies. I have even been thinking about making a new one in EQ2 (just because they are that fun). These guys have taken it to the next level though. MTV has contracted with some of the Major video game companies to script out videos using the famous game characters. Trippy to the Max.

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Here it comes, the ever popular New Years Post. I got into work this morning and sat down to my normal morning routine. (Felt weird to start the usual again after being off for so long) This routine starts with running Sharpreader, my RSS news feed program, and reading through the various Blogs and News sites. The Common theme for blogs today was “Happy New Year, this Year I promise to….” And the “Here’s what I did on my Vacation.” Mostly because there have been no updates since before Christmas. Well, I have updated since Christmas and before then so there will be none of that type here. Although I guess I should do the New Years thing, but we will get to that in a moment.

The weekend went rather well, like most Govt. workers I got Friday off and spent it loafing around the house. We slept in and then Picked up on watching some Buffy season 7 episodes. By around 3ish it was time to head down to CC’s place for his New Years Bash! A grand time was had by all, and it was great to Hang out with Doc and Diz, Shipley and Brook (hope your feeling better Brook), CC and Cathy, Not to mention meeting all sorts of new people. I had every intention of Drinking heavily, but apparently I had something to eat earlier that disagreed with me and my stomach felt that large doses of alcohol was not the cure (no matter how hard I tried). But, None the less, I still had a great time. After the party we drove back to Docs place and crashed there for the evening.

New Year’s Day felt remarkably like an old year’s day. We got to spend most of the day with Doc and Diz. We headed out to the Norfolk Mall and had lunch at Johnny Rockets. After that we perused the mall for a while waiting for the movie we wanted to see to start. I really hate going to Malls when I have no money. What did we see, you ask? Why, none other than……

Phantom of the Opera.

This was an awesome adaptation of the musical. I was flashing back to the two times that I had seen Phantom on stage and the movie represented it very well. I got goose bumps at all the right scenes. On a down note, they changed some of the lines a tad, some of the normally sung lines, were spoken. Some of the Tempo for the music was sped up. The worst of the worst was that I was not fond of the singing voice for the Phantom. There were some songs that he got spot on, but other times had me close to cringing. The Good, though, defiantly outweighs the bad. The Effects were awesome, the scenery and costumes were amazing, The Acting Superb. It was almost like watching it again on stage. I wanted to stand a clap after songs and duck when the chandelier comes crashing down. All in all, go see this movie!

After the movie we got stuck in the Infamous Norfolk mall garage for about 45 min waiting for cars to clear out. It was getting late so Amy and I decided to head home and made fairly good time, even with stopping at Sonic for a Coney Island. Once home, I played a little EQ2 and then Headed to bed.

Sunday was a totally lazy day. We finished Season 7 of Buffy and that’s it! It’s all over, I started in July of 04 and on 02 Jan 05 I finished the entire Series! The downside is that all of the laying around on Sunday made me very lethargic and listless. I ended up gong to bed early and it was all downhill from there. Sleeping in then laying around, then going to bed early meant WAY too much rest, so much so, that I didn’t sleep well last night. That and my Cat decided to scream and yell at another cat this morning outside the window. Nothing like a huge rush of adrenaline at 5am eh?

So here it is, The New Year, 2005. I suppose I should lay out my resolutions. See, that’s the problem, 1: Resolutions usually end up being broken and 2: The things I want to do are not so much resolutions, but planned events. So, without further ado, the list: (and these are in no particular order)

• Clean and Minimalize the house. (I have way too much crap that I am not using and never even look at, so it’s time to go room by room and get rid of stuff)
• Prepare the house for Andrews Arrival (that’s an obvious one)
• Education (time to start looking into a better edumacation)
• Buying a House (Roots?)
• Exercise (when I was working out for dragon-con I felt better everyday, then I stopped, must pick that up again)
• Along with the Exercise, I need to get out more. (all of DC at my disposal, and I end up running around Antonica)
• And my Silly one: I am going to start using Firefox more. Too many people have advised me to switch from IE so I am going to give it a try.

So there you have it, Comment if you wish, Leave your resolutions!

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