☆☆☆ nonsequiter groove ☆☆☆

shameless plug

2009-07-04T20:35:53Z

Cheap Original MacBook!

• Tiki Time •

2009-06-21T03:36:48Z

A quick writeup with some photos on my craft blog...

The full work-in-progress photoset!

random works

2009-06-20T17:42:10Z

1/12 scale Tiki Bar album updated... new photos of nearly finished bar and accessories!

---------

Slight update to books and movies in library database.

library

2009-06-15T02:07:37Z

After a long and productive* day, linda_a and I catalogued and reshelved our books and videos. And the catalog is now online!

Books were the big project, followed by the DVD collection. The library is nowhere near complete, as we both have more books/movies down in PA and only DVDs are represented.

Looking for a better way to easily add magazines to this library. Currently, it only adds them to the book section, with no comprehensive search or barcode-scanning support. Eventually, I may add custom shelves to sort by genre and drop them into one of these.

* aka "avoiding the important chores."

zjman @ 2009-06-13T14:26:00

2009-06-13T18:27:58Z

Rest well, my friend...

laughter; try it

2009-05-31T02:43:47Z

The thing about people with no sense of humor is that they actually make me laugh more at their absurdity (well, absurd to me, since I'm partly fueled on laughter and do believe in the old adage that it really is the best medicine).

Case in point: tonight's venture to the market...

Linda and I going to the grocery market is just about exactly what you'd expect... grabbing the necessities, mostly, well, sometimes avoiding impulse buys, and generally having a good time at it (snickering at the squares, joking about spotted dick in cans, etc). And such was the case tonight, as we hit the local Hannaford's for some provisions.

I found what looked like a 6-pack of Kraft Dinner for like three bucks... Now that much mac'n'cheese typically excites the child in me to begin with, but it was so much more than that! This was a 5-pack of Kraft Dinner with some free sample of a pouched juice drink (you know, orange flavor and corn syrup in a foil bag that you stab with a straw the size of a coffee stirrer and hope it penetrates).

I, as usual, invoked my inner 12-year-old and made a big deal out of it to Linda, who was seeking a quick dinner in the healthy frozen section. I decided on some 43-cent burritos! I noticed a woman nearby was giving me the hairy eyeball (dirty look, evil eye, what have you). After some (by "some" I mean "very little") cajoling, Linda agreed to the ~~marketing ploy~~ awesome deal I found and I went to put it in the cart.

Let me interject, as I'm apt to do, and frequently, that despite my sarcasm and silliness, I am generally a very polite and friendly person. Yes, even and especially in public.

As I start to drop it into the cart, she shook her head and said that wasn't ours. Ooops! Standing there was ole evil eye herself. Laughing, I apologized, started towards our cart, and held out the Kraft products and said jokingly, "unless you want it?"

Typically, that would garner a laugh and maybe a short exchange. I've actually had people in the grocery store thank me for making them laugh while doing such a mundane chore.

Nope.

Cranky McPants stared me down; I mean shot daggers (bowies, rapiers, and machetes even) at me for a good 180 degrees as I walked by smiling. Dead hate in her eyes followed me until I completely passed.

Damn.

"You know what I love? . . . People with a sense of humor," I told Linda as we got back to the cart.

We joked about it, wrapped up our shopping, and headed towards the checkout... where I saw Ms Sober and an employee talking and staring me down. As we approached our aisle, Mr. Employee was whispering to the checkout and bagging women, as they too, stared me down... though I noticed when he pointed out the woman, the bagger rolled her eyes (perhaps she has a history of making mountains of molehills).

We checked out all a-smile and thank-you and have-a-great-night as normal people would do. As we loaded the car (Ha! Right across from Lady Hate Eyes), Mr. Employee stood on the sidelines staring me down.

I resisted the urge to wish them a good evening (my sarcasm knows bounds sometimes) and drove off with Linda and our groceries, as we were carefully scrutinized.

I guess most people would be worried, offended, or angered by all of that. Not me. It made for good conversation on the way home with Linda wondering how they'd feel about making us out to be so EVOL! if they knew we had just dropped off a large clothing donation, spent the day cleaning, and that she was a PhD candidate and I work for an educational non-profit.

*shrugs*

May have ruined her evening, but she gave us plenty to laugh about on the way home.

How would you have reacted?

$200 later... (linkariffic 'blog post)

2009-05-20T22:49:19Z

Oil change, transmission flush 'n' fill, and a full tank of gas... Just about $200. You know your car's getting old when the oil changes almost always and inevitably lead to more maintenance costs than the OLF itself.

Prepping for tomorrow's drive to Philly, I decided to get a quick oil change. Went to one of those places where they check and top off all of your fluids. They noticed that the transmission fluid was a markedly different color than it should be. They recommended replacing it, which they do not do, but knew a few places in town that could on short notice. Still... $38, friendly service, a recommendation, and less than 15 minutes for the high-mileage treatment ain't bad.

So, I stopped by Papa Bear on my way home. A quote of $139 and 25 minutes turned out to be $139, 35 minutes, and a free engine degreasing since one of the techs decided to pop a hose before the engine was off and bathed her in tranny fluid (ooh! "bathed her in tranny fluid" ..sounds naughty!!). I also watched as they topped off a few other fluids (ps and brake, I believe) at no extra charge.

After that, a stop at the gas station for a full tank ran my grand total to about two hundred bucks. I think I'm in the wrong business.

Still, I left work at 4 and was home before 6 with a happy and healthy Dragon Wagon (aka Shaggin' Dragon Wagon (aka Draggin' Wagon (aka Chariot of Ire)), affectionately, "Bernice"). Can't complain too much.

-•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•-

I'm pulling the 7-3 shift tomorrow and hitting the road right from work, which is right around the corner of the first leg of the journey. I should be hitting the Kulpsville exit of the turnpike by midnight (traffic willing). linda_a is in Altoona and is taking the train Saturday morning to Philly where I'll pick her up for a quick visit with some family and then out for some merriment for the evening!

The rest of the weekend is pretty free with a visit or two to friends and family here and there. It'll be nice to be "back home" for more than a couple of days.

-•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•-

Other than that, life's been pretty even keel. Might be called "boring" by others, but after the last 10 years or so, it's good to slow down for a bit! Work's been crazy, we're in the midst of a huge contract that's starting to wind down, so I've been hoping for continued employment over the Summer again. I can't complain too much, I'm on my 14th month of a 3-month contract, making this my second longest job ever; at my age, 12 years is hard to beat, realistically.

-•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•-

Linda and I took a lovely drive this past Saturday with the intention of possibly seeing a movie. Instead, we ended up spending the night in North Conway after a delightful dinner and then taking a scenic rail ride on Sunday before heading home.

-•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•–•-

I'm contemplating a small laundry run tonight if I can't scrape enough together for a both work-safe and long-drive-confortable outfit for tomorrow (after all, laundry's free at Mom and Dad's). Besides, I am currently enjoying a post-work beer and avoiding the kitchen due to the large spider on the ceiling (which I am admittedly and unashamedly a huge sissy about and is probably rather small) so anything soon is out of the question.

Other than that, it's an early night for me and a long day tomorrow!

zjman @ 2009-05-19T20:47:00

2009-05-20T00:47:17Z

Come join linda_a and I for some drinks and merriment!

Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 6:00pm
Northside Tavern
1355 Gravel Pike
Zeiglersville, PA

zjman @ 2009-05-13T11:50:00

2009-05-13T15:50:52Z

View Poll: just curious

Posted using TxtLJ

2009-05-10T20:40:30Z

: Erasure playing in the store. :D

zjman @ 2009-05-05T18:44:00

2009-05-05T22:45:25Z

*taps screen*

Anyone still here or has faceborg assimilated us all?

Posted using TxtLJ

2009-04-22T21:20:09Z

: the giant animatronic bison head hath spoken. I fear it.

Spring Cleaning!

2009-04-12T20:55:29Z

80Gb iPod and Tons of Extras!

zjman @ 2009-04-07T08:21:00

2009-04-07T12:22:08Z

Happy Birthday, systris and steve_savicki!!!!

weekend with the alcolytes...

2009-04-06T13:46:23Z

...well, half of them, anyway. ;)

linda_a and I had a great weekend visit with my nephew and his friend, Mark. Josh (my nephew) had been up to visit before, but it was Mark's first venture into New England. They arrived in the wee hours of Friday morning, travel weary and quite ready to be out of the car. As requested, part of their luggage included a case of Yeungling Lager for dear old Uncle jay!, which we promptly cracked open and enjoyed a few.

Linda had to work Friday, so we had a low-key day getting caught up, running a few errands, and loading cool wares onto Josh's new MacBook. Was good to have some "guy time," and was looking forward to an evening of karaoke with everyone. Linda came home wiped-out from a long week, so she opted to stay home while we went to Yangtze for dinner, drinks, and singing (and an order of General Tso's to go for my lovely). Two of my coworkers joined us for a while, and the merriment was plentiful. So plentiful, in fact, that Josh took to calling his scorpion bowl an "octopus cup," which has, inevitably, led to the creation stages of an actual drink we'll dub the octopus cup. When Linda started texting me about the bottle of rum that showed up mysteriously in the freezer, we knew she was feeling better.

After karaoke, which ends at 11 (which is "late" for up here), we headed home and hung out in front of a fire with Linda while we all noshed on leftovers and planned out the rest of the weekend.

Saturday had us all up by noon somehow and off to Salem, MA (with the obligatory Newbury Comics visit on the way) for some lunch at the Beer Works and some shopping and sightseeing around town. Full of beer, food, and everything closing at 5PM, we headed home. Stopped off for some provisions on the way into town and spent the evening relaxing and watching movies with some homemade pizza.

On Sunday, I enlisted Mark's help to unload the new table and chairs from the Dragon Wagon and he, Linda, and I got it set up while Josh was in the shower. We christened the table with an awesome roasted chicken lunch, courtesy of Linda before heading out for a drive before the guys made the trek home. Josh and Mark picked up some growlers at Beer Works, so we grabbed a cooler at the local Target to get them home safely and retaining their fragile freshness. Afterward, we fed some hankerings for ice cream with a trip to the Kittery Dairy Queen.

We saw the boys off around dinner time and spent the evening relaxing after some quick housework. Josh texted me that he got home safely almost exactly 72 hours after arriving. It was a great, but too short, weekend!

Posted using TxtLJ

2009-04-04T02:20:01Z

Josh needs to learn that it's a Scorpion Bowl, not an "Octopus Cup."

Posted using TxtLJ

2009-04-01T01:10:11Z

Only drinks on a Tuesday night when his job's at stake.

Posted using TxtLJ

2009-04-01T01:00:00Z

: is at the Barley Pub!

TNG+FG

2009-03-30T14:39:20Z

geekgasm!

I've finally found the right analogy

2009-03-29T16:25:23Z

Twitter: the drunk-dialing equivalent of blogging.

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

2009-03-27T14:51:33Z

Not surprising at all...

You Are 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

zjman @ 2009-03-18T22:32:00

2009-03-19T02:32:01Z

THIS IS MADE OF AWESOME!!!!!!!!

zjman @ 2009-03-17T10:32:00

2009-03-17T14:36:41Z

Hello there. Still alive, I am.

To sum it all up: Been busy, did some traveling, volume's picking up at work, took care of a sick linda_a, grandmother had a heart attack but is doing better (want to go home for a visit badly now), been busy, ate corn dogs in Texas. There's probably more but it's not worth noting.

That is all.

why I love my coworkers

2009-03-11T17:38:40Z

[13:29] Jason: Hi Kel! Can you do an unlock for me?
[13:29] Kelli: sure
[13:29] Jason: *gives account details*
[13:29] Jason: Thank you! :)
[13:29] Kelli: k, hold on a sec
[13:29] Jason: Ok...
[13:30] Kelli: all set
[13:30] Jason: Thank you so much! :)
[13:30] Kelli: you are so welcome
[13:33] Jason: How does it feel to have that kind of power?
[13:33] Kelli: no biggy
[13:33] Jason: We peons grovel before you and you brush off such power as nothing significant. *sigh* :P
[13:34] Kelli: LOL, Your a shit and I can hear you guys talking!!!!

zjman @ 2009-03-10T11:02:00

2009-03-10T15:07:12Z

*wants*

*wants*