Catching up with the world...
Note: This is talking about the vacation in June.
Well, I know that I'm overdue for an update, so here goes. I'll start off with my vacation. (In June)
Started off heading to England, stayed a few days there for a nice layover. In the future, when I'm taking a vacation I intend to stop there for two reasons. Less travel time, and I've found some good people to hang out with, namely Kandril , Aquilus, Delph and Leonerd.
Continuing on, I went back home. I then, within 24 hours of arriving, took my technician class ameteur radio license, passed it, then threw what I feel was an EPIC BBQ. The BBQ was on the seventh. It was a relatively small event, because I didn't want to overload myself, so I didn't spread the invite far and wide, just to the friends that I remembered, the locals, and the folks that are close to me who are within reasonable distance.... Of course, that all depends on me remembering, because I planned and executed it within two weeks.
Yeah, I know, I'm infamous for that. Now why was the BBQ epic? Because it started shortly before the storm that destroyed a lake in western WI. That same storm provided three tornado sirens for us, and god bless gas cooking, I kept that grill going through two and a half hours of torrential downpour, and found the blessing of beer. For when you have beer in your system, you stop shivering because every bit of clothing you're wearing is drenched to the core. Sooooo, after the second beer I stopped shivering, shucked off my shoes and socks and wore sandals for the rest of the night. And kept cooking. Cooking you say? Yes. Cooking. I worked my way through about 40 hamburgers, 6 chicken breasts and about 20 brats. Yes, some of them were sacraficed to the gods of BBQ, inattentiveness and fire, but when you are aspiring for greatness such sacrafices--nay, such GIFTS are needed to give to the gods. For indoor, less perishable goods, I had the standard fare potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans and root beer. No, I didn't provide alcohol, that was from a friend of mine, Street, and it's thanks to him that provided me with the anesthetic needed to keep cooking.
As for non-culinary additions to my BBQ, with the wonders of computing, I had hooked my laptop up to the television, well, monitor really, as it has a VGA input, and I had the audio going through the lappy speakers, and I was introducing the folks there to The IT Croud An OUTSTANDING british comedy that paradies some of the horrors that those of us in the IT world have to deal with. After that, I... Ummm... Don't remember what I put on. It was something else, but I just can't recall. Ahh well, if it's important, it'll come back to me.
And that is the wrap up for the best BBQ I have ever thrown.
Continuing on, I went on a diving trip to Honduras. It started out being "fun" when I had misplaced my passport. It continued on with storms in New York and other such delays that caused me to spend a stupid amount of money on replacement plane tickets and a stupid amount of time trying to get down there. But get down there I did. And thankfully within two hours of arriving I was in my gear and going on a night dive. Life was good. A few days later my mask and sinuses flooded with sea water and flora. Life was 'eh'. And a day later I got a raging sinus infection. Life was bad. But I still got to dive and see the sights around there. So it was a good vacation overall.
From there I came back, flashed in to my home and flew right out to Pittsburgh and stayed with a good friend, swift-fox. I got to enjoy some rest and relaxation time there, catching up on my sleep and recovering from the sinus infection from hell. From there I went to Anthrocon, staffed it within ConOps and got to assist the security team, namely the The Dorsai if and when they asked for it. Following the convention I flew back home, hung around for a day, then flew out to England for a second time, staying with friends there for a slightly extended layover. Then on back to Kuwait and back to Greater Furpistan (Iraq) And that was my vacation back in June.
Well, I know that I'm overdue for an update, so here goes. I'll start off with my vacation. (In June)
Started off heading to England, stayed a few days there for a nice layover. In the future, when I'm taking a vacation I intend to stop there for two reasons. Less travel time, and I've found some good people to hang out with, namely Kandril , Aquilus, Delph and Leonerd.
Continuing on, I went back home. I then, within 24 hours of arriving, took my technician class ameteur radio license, passed it, then threw what I feel was an EPIC BBQ. The BBQ was on the seventh. It was a relatively small event, because I didn't want to overload myself, so I didn't spread the invite far and wide, just to the friends that I remembered, the locals, and the folks that are close to me who are within reasonable distance.... Of course, that all depends on me remembering, because I planned and executed it within two weeks.
Yeah, I know, I'm infamous for that. Now why was the BBQ epic? Because it started shortly before the storm that destroyed a lake in western WI. That same storm provided three tornado sirens for us, and god bless gas cooking, I kept that grill going through two and a half hours of torrential downpour, and found the blessing of beer. For when you have beer in your system, you stop shivering because every bit of clothing you're wearing is drenched to the core. Sooooo, after the second beer I stopped shivering, shucked off my shoes and socks and wore sandals for the rest of the night. And kept cooking. Cooking you say? Yes. Cooking. I worked my way through about 40 hamburgers, 6 chicken breasts and about 20 brats. Yes, some of them were sacraficed to the gods of BBQ, inattentiveness and fire, but when you are aspiring for greatness such sacrafices--nay, such GIFTS are needed to give to the gods. For indoor, less perishable goods, I had the standard fare potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans and root beer. No, I didn't provide alcohol, that was from a friend of mine, Street, and it's thanks to him that provided me with the anesthetic needed to keep cooking.
As for non-culinary additions to my BBQ, with the wonders of computing, I had hooked my laptop up to the television, well, monitor really, as it has a VGA input, and I had the audio going through the lappy speakers, and I was introducing the folks there to The IT Croud An OUTSTANDING british comedy that paradies some of the horrors that those of us in the IT world have to deal with. After that, I... Ummm... Don't remember what I put on. It was something else, but I just can't recall. Ahh well, if it's important, it'll come back to me.
And that is the wrap up for the best BBQ I have ever thrown.
Continuing on, I went on a diving trip to Honduras. It started out being "fun" when I had misplaced my passport. It continued on with storms in New York and other such delays that caused me to spend a stupid amount of money on replacement plane tickets and a stupid amount of time trying to get down there. But get down there I did. And thankfully within two hours of arriving I was in my gear and going on a night dive. Life was good. A few days later my mask and sinuses flooded with sea water and flora. Life was 'eh'. And a day later I got a raging sinus infection. Life was bad. But I still got to dive and see the sights around there. So it was a good vacation overall.
From there I came back, flashed in to my home and flew right out to Pittsburgh and stayed with a good friend, swift-fox. I got to enjoy some rest and relaxation time there, catching up on my sleep and recovering from the sinus infection from hell. From there I went to Anthrocon, staffed it within ConOps and got to assist the security team, namely the The Dorsai if and when they asked for it. Following the convention I flew back home, hung around for a day, then flew out to England for a second time, staying with friends there for a slightly extended layover. Then on back to Kuwait and back to Greater Furpistan (Iraq) And that was my vacation back in June.