Mission Sucessful!

Well, after a multistate effort, the Fish and his wife Heather have now moved into new quarters. Again, the Amazon Moving Company(tm) did an outstanding job with nothing broken in the move that we know of. The quote for the move was /I keep waiting for the little car to show up full of people with red noses and big shoes!/ Yea, it was a circus, but we are professionals and got thru the whole thing with only a few pulled muscles and no blood. All in all, I give it a 9 out of 10 for our efforts. Ask me sometime about the giant gophers and the evil mole people, this one is a hoot to say the least, but needs to be told.



I made a great achievement this weekend. Now some of you will laugh when you read this, but wait till the end.



I made fire.



Yea, I know lots of people make fire, but I did it with flint and steel. I made the striker, chipped the flint, made some awesome char cloth and it all worked. There is something that is satisfied deep within a person when they can make fire with just a spark and tinder. You may not understand all this, but once you do it, you get to understand the magical fascination with fire. It is an almost religious experience. I read on a web page that someone felt it was truly a magical experience since you brought the fire into being with a few simple elements. I can see that.



I am mostly over that uncommon cold that has been plaguing me for the past week or so. Needless to say it has hampered my writing a bit.



Oh, new link to pass on from my favorite FrootLoop to her blog: http:\\slupine.diaryland.com

Recovery from the weekend

Oh man. I hate the uncommon cold. This past weekend was the (In)famous Paul Bunyan Festival in Nelsonville, Ohio. The amount of testosterone in one place can be staggering. What is Bunyan you ask? Well, simply put it is /the/ expo for loggers and logging equipment in the US. Now, I bet your wondering why I was there. Good question. I ask myself the same thing every year. It is held at the campus of Hocking College, where Robbins Crossing is located. If you do not know what RC is, it is an 1840 village I spend my weekends at running the blacksmith shop. Fire...metal...good.



Anyway, while I did make a little cash, I suffered for it. I had a cold all weekend. Still do today. Perhaps I pushed a little too hard this weekend, but all in all the food for the soul it creates makes all the hassle worth it. We made many peoples day with our showing off, stories, jokes and trinkets we gave to the kiddies. I know if I heard / My was a blacksmith.../ Okay, sure. Thanks for coming. Seriously, seems everyone who came by had a relation to a blacksmith and somehow that made him or her more knowledgeable than the average schmuck. There seems also to be some sort of inverse correlation between the closeness of the relative and the lack of donations they leave. Direct relative the leave zip, zero, and zilch. One generation away, well change maybe. 2 or more generations, folding money. Heck, we do not care, it all adds up.



So, here I am on Monday, still sick, but now my hands and wrists are swollen to go with it. Talk about feeling puffy. Its like typing with boxing gloves. Overall I am not too bad off, just stiffer than a corpse who ODed on Viagra. The body just does not want to move very well. This has nothing to due with age or lack of physical conditioning; just we spent close to 22 hours working in the shop over 2 days. Imagine going to the gym for 22 hours of working out in two days and how would you feel when the day after rolled around? Yea, you get the picture.



Now to add into all the normal weirdness of Robbins, add the Bunyan show to it. Okay, now here is where the exponent of weirdness was added: About 50 feet from the shop a group of Ecuadorians set up two stalls. Not too strange, I got some awesome llama wool serapes for Judi and I. Tent number 2 is where the weird began to flow. For two solid days we were forge working to the native sounds of Ecuador. Yep, flutes and everything. It was like National Geographic on acid. All these flannelled loggers running around an 1840s village to the tunes of a group of native people from South America. Check please, table 2!!!



I have started relaxing a little more now that Judi has become more mobile, but I most likely will not mellow all the way back out till she is sans-cane and back to fencing. I know, shes a big girl and can take care of herself, but hey, what can I say, I care a lot.

Why so long between updates?

Well, I sit writing this in a hospital waiting room as Judi is in surgery. She is getting arthroscopy on her knee. To say I have been a little uptight and reclusive of late is an understatement. I would say to an extent my sense of humor has gone to hell and my temper has become so short that I have avoided talking with people. I back off when I know I am having one of those times when little things like people saying /Where have you disappeared to?/ piss me off to no end. I go from Bryian to asshole in 2.2 seconds. This is a protective measure I think so I do not say things I would later regret. If you feel slighted by my not being around perhaps this will help put things in perspective. With the past two weeks being loaded with trips to the doctor, work, our normal schedule, MRIs, x-rays and a wedding all thrown in you can begin to see how things can get away from me. No fault here, just the way things are. I sometimes am a little too protective of Judi, especially when she is in pain. I know I have to reign that in now and then. I have had too many good things in my life go to hell in a hand basket in a very short time to ignore her, at least in my own mind. I will not let any inattentiveness cause us problems. As such, my hobbies such as writing, chatting online, games and such have kind of been thrown to the wayside. I understand why and agree the reason is well worth it, but this is my choice. I get what relaxation I can when I can. I try to fence with the team to help and online mindless games seem to help a little. Still there are a lot of things that while innocent in their intention push me over the edge. To know thy self is to know thy enemy. I know I can be a belligerent ass; therefore I try to control it. I also have almost no sympathy for anyone. I can look someone strait in the eye after a heart-rending story that would evoke compassionate responses from even Attila The Hun and calmly say /So?/



Hopefully this puts things in perspective a little for people. A few words of advice do not push me right now. I may react in a way I will regret later. Please, be kind and give me my own time about things and I promise I will return to being me.

And yesterday went to hell, minus the handbasket.

To say yesterday was bad would be an understatement. Sometimes I think the universe gets some preverse enjoyment out of torment. Lets start with the first thing in the day:

1)Get up, hit toes on bedpost.

2)hobble to bathroom, try not to dump books into toilet.

3)Wonder how normal toilet has now become a Blue Water B'day *BRRRRRR*

4)Get coffee into blood stream - Chew coffee as somehow the filter decided that it would work better by dumping grounds into coffee.

5)Go back upstairs - Catch shoe on stairs - rip shoe

6)Take Judi to work -Take car to garage for odd noise

7)Watch as they take apart front of motor discoverign things as they go- waterpump bad, 2 pulleys shot, new belts

8)Watch as of course parts are not avalibe except by special order till monday

9)Begin to reconsider plans for trip we were leaving to go on Friday noon



Then for no reason, things turned around. It's wierd. Parts were found, things got done, naps were had. It is almost unbelevable. Suddenly the universe was righted again.



Okay, todays rant: Excuses



I read another one this morning on cnn.com (All hail CNN, your rights are reserved and copyright). These two kids who killed a 45-year-old man and injured a 19 year old woman while shooting at cars from an overpass say they were inspired by the game Grand Theft Auto. They both plead guilty to reckless homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

Alright, wait a frigging minute! This is one of my pet pevees real bad. The video game did not cause you to do anything, nor did any movie, magazine, sugar additive, or anything else for that matter. You two did it. People today like to shuffle the blame for things they do. I think the blame lies with two groups: The kids and their parents. Want parents to get more involved with their kids? Fine, charge them as well. First few who do time or pay fines that are gonzo costly will shock the SUV crowd into action. Maybe.



And on the subject of SUV, what the hell is going on? Any bigger and they should be busses! And get this, the other day I saw a stroller with seats for 4 kids. Stroller SUVs???? This is getting out of hand. Perhaps we can stem the tide of the SUV invasion by requiring a special permit for them (With an added tax of course) Just prove you need one. Plain and simple. Example: Your a re-enactor and you use it for events to carry all your stuff and other people - APPROVED. You want one cause you see the hommies with one and think it is going to make you cooler and less subburban - DISAPPROVED (and turn around that hat) You need to carry 12 kids to a soccer games - APPROVED. You just got a promotion at work and want one - DISAPPROVED. I knew back in the 80s we shoud have allowed YUPPIE hunting. All of this would have been solved back then. Now their larve have matured and are driving, making their own larve.



See? Simple solution.

Or we could just make them spend a year driving a 1976 Ford Station Wagon Land Yacht first. (Hehehe) After that, economy car here they come!

And the wheel turns....

I woke up this am to the news that Johnny Cash had died. I remember hearing him on the jukebox when I was about 6yrs old and wondering about the man in the box. I think most little kids did, as for now, I can not say. I do not like country and western music. Never have. I always found it too banal and depressing. The man in black had fun with it. He told stories, not just whined. Even those that were, in truth, depressing always had some part of a redeaming quality. It speaks volumes about a persons talent when people who do not like him music can still say they respect him for his work.



I have considered death for a while now. Reading some of the buhddist texts makes you do that. As for answers I have none. Now, I have many more questions. I would love to ask the Dali Lama (someone I have a great deal of respect for) a lot of questions. I would think he would have the answers or at least could tell me where I had to look. Then again, part of me does not want to be responsable for driving such a wonderful and compassionate man insane with my rambelings. If you are one of my readers, you should question yourself and your grip on the real world.



It is Friday! Ah, my favorite day of the week. Here in lies the gateway to the weekend, that blissful place we all seem to strive for and lament its passing. Gamming and friends will abound tonight. There will be much rejoycing. There will be enjoyment and fun for all. If not, I am gonna bust some heads. I have my cane, and I am not afraid to use it. In a sense, Friday nights are group thearapy for me, a release. I can be myself with people who let me be just that. I can speak my mind on any subject that I want. I learn from them. To me, this is freedom.



9-11 came and went. I think it will fall into the same catagory as when Kennedy was shot. Do you remember exactly where you were when you got the news? Most people do and will never forget it. A moment in time locked in our collective psyche. Now, 2 years later, our world is very diffrent. War has come and gone. I think in general we as a people feel no better. Thing about americans is we share our pain. When we hurt we make sure someone else hurts too. This will mark an era I belive. To take a quote from B5 - We mark our history by our wars, not our peace.



Till next time, be mindful and awake.

Buddist truth, reality, and frozen hamburger

Well, time to update again. I seem to be letting more and more time slide between updates. A mental fad for me? Could be, more obviously it has been a very busy few days. When you begin to make a distinct choice between sleep and eating, you know you need to slow down a bit.



Anyway, my readings of late have focused on the words of Buddha. Concepts of self and reality. To be more precises, non concepts that do not include a reality, a non reality, a self and a nonself. This stuff can make your brain hurt real bad sometimes. Altho, I must say that I have gleaned a few tidbits here and there that will most likely stay with me for a while.

Example:

If you can not find truth where you are, where will you look for it?



Deep hu? Mystical, bordering on the edge of confusing. I find much of it that way. I have the worst time with some of the names. Varishnuwannpingfangalangabingdong - The Bhodisatva of Confusion and Enlightenment. Called Bob by his friends. Along this general line came something on Saturday that I feel the need to share. Consider for a moment a buddhist monk. Okay, you got your picture from a cheezy kung-fu movie, but that will work.



Now, make him Elivs. Shaved head with the sideburns and a sequin robe.

Hey baby..Ohm..I said Ohm...Wanna reach Nirvana? Bring me a peanutbutter an 'nanner sandwich...The Buddha has left the building....



Anyway, so last night I somehow injured myself making dinner. Yes, kitchen accident. Somehow I got solidly frozen hamburger jammed up under my thumbnail. To quote Dr. Evil "It's quite breathtaking, I assure you..." Not many people can understand how stupid you feel with friozen hamburger jammed under your nail as you look at it and your mind tries to reconsile this thing that has happened. Perhaps it was the cows last act of defiance. If it were, I can respect it and take the blow well thrown and honestly.



Well, off into life again..wish me luck.

MX2004,Marketing and How do idiots get in charge of everything?

Well, another multiday break from the blogger. Last night I had a stroke of good luck. I went with Judi to a Macromedia Usergroup Special meeting that was a worldwide net-confrence call that showed off their new suite of tools. Guess who won a copy? Yep, your truly. I go the new Studio MX2004. I am starting to think that the rest of the group mildly resent when we have some mondo prize as I always seem to win it. Colf Fusion Server 5...yep, 5k woth of software, mine. First release of Studio MX, retail about $900, again, mine. And now the new MX2004, again about $900, also mine. Needless to say, I feel enoug guilt about winning these I keep going to the meetings even tho a lot of it still flys right over my head, like a sonic boom. I watched the demos and Judi and I kept passing notes. It was real cool to me. Reminded me of being in High School again. Hard to explain to anyone, but maybe not if you think about it.



Todays rant:

Marketing people.

Okay, first, when the revolution comes the marketing people should be lined up and shot. No rubber bullets, just good old 100 percent lead. I can not stand most marketing peole. They have the same karma slime that used car salesmen do. How can someone be like that? LAst night was a good example. Ask a question, and if it didn't fit with the info they wanted to feed us, it did not exist. Would not that be wonderful in real life? Oh look a parking ticket. Nope no ticket there. *POOF* All better. Reminds me about something Bill Engval said about life would be much easier if we could have it like news casters. When things get too bad, just switch cameras and all is better. Camera 1:1000 people die in a horrid and very tragic manner while attending a kindergarden graduation being preformed by a group of blind nuns...Cut to Camera 2: Good news for egg farmers!

See? All better.

So, marketing is the art of the lie. Falsehood and diversionary tactics. Taking something bad and selling it to peole who follow along like sheep. These are the same people in IT who bypass the IT department and go directly to the CEO and sell him this wonderful whizbang program that does everying including make fries, coffee and gives you a blowjob. CEO buys it, proclaims it as wonderful and gospel for the company. IT department gets it and goes /Excuse me, this is a peice of junk you just paied 60 k for and we could have done it with freeware. It is buggy, crashes, dosen't do the job, and needs us to revamp all our hardware. The rebuild is going to run us 100k minimum and we have to sacrifice our lives for the next 2 months. So just why did you buy this?/

CEO:/IT will save us 20k a year for the next 5 years! Is that not great?/

IT: /Umm, Boss? Let me get this strait, your going to spend in excess of 160k plus overtime to save us a grand total of 100k?/

CEO:/Yes!/

It:/Were you dropped on your head much as a child?/



Can you tell I have been through this before.

If your a CEO and read this, take some advice: If your sick, you talk to your doctor before you go to the hospital and get surgery to replace your heart. Be smart, talk to your it people before you do anything rash. They will make your stuff work and run smoother. And btw, take that 100k and give em a bonus. They have earned it. Think how many times they have pulled your butt out of the fire at the last minute, or how they saved something you screwed up. They make you look good.

If your in IT and your CEO reads this and takes my advice:Email me for the address where you can ship the check or freebies ;)