How I spent my summer vacation
I haven't updated in a while, so here goes..
Wow! What a busy Summer. I've hardly had any time to take a breather between work, vacations, and personal stuff. One of the things I'm finding is that as I get older, time seems to fly by at a frightening pace. Summer has literally come and gone and it feels like it was just a few short weeks. Anyhow, here's the highlights.
Work
Not much to say here. It's been busy, with a major release coming to completion last month. If I haven't posted much or done much online it's because after working all day, I really want to get away from my computer in the evening. The current work seems like it will be less "hectic", so I might come out of my nerd cave a bit more this fall.
Social
I've been pretty much holed up in the nerd cave since last Winter due to major projects at work, and a bunch of mundane but time consuming stuff that one has to deal with in the normal course of events. I did managed to pull off the first ever NM Furry Blaxploitation theme party at the end of July. It was a big success. We done had us sum fried chikkinz, waddymelly, foadies, collahd greenz, and we watched classic "blaxploitation" flicks. Sabot and Chuck got totally plastered playing Edward Forty Hands. LOL! I didn't get to to too much myself since I was busy (in blackface of course) fryin dat chikkin! Next time I'm going to Popeye's or KFC. Then there was Albufurque, Bubonicon, and other various furmeets. So I haven't been a complete hermit.
Vacations
I think I already posted about Disney World back in May, but I'll say it was awesome, and a great way to start off the summer. It's where Tugs, WhitePaws, and I came up with the term "The Void" to refer to the Real World. When we're at a Disney Park for a vacation, we leave the rest of the world behind. It becomes "The Void". We shut out all things from The Void while we're there and simply enjoy ourselves. The unspeakable "W" word is especially banned. It sucks to return to The Void.
The "Big Trip" for me during actual Summer would have to have been Yellowstone. I've been wanting to go there for years, but have never made the time to do it. When carol_kitty and sabotlours told me about their plans for a furry Yellowstone trip and invited me along, I gladly jumped at the opportunity. I was not disappointed, either. In mid-August we drove up thorough New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to eventually end up at our cabin in West Yellowstone, MT. I enjoyed the road trip every bit as much as the actual time we spent at Yellowstone itself. We drove through some absolutely spectacular country on the way up there and on the way back. During our week at the park we saw most or all of the "main" attractions, took many pictures, and even got in some fursuiting. The evenings were spent chillin' out at the cabin, enjoying really good food and company, and getting nicely buzzed. Sabot's trip report has more details if you want to check out his LJ. Up until this trip, the Big Horn Mountains were nothing but a name on a map. I'd never realized how pretty it is up there.
A short week after Yellowstone, I got back in my truck and headed out to Anaheim to meet up with tugsie and James for our September Disneyland trip. We really enjoyed escaping The Void for a few more days, though our feet definitely felt it after three days. It's official.. California Adventure is no longer Fail Park (tm). While it's not quite up to the "magic" level of Disnelyand, there are things that make it pretty cool. One of those is the World Of Color show in the evening. If you haven't seen this show, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's absolutely stunning! Then there's Tower Of Terror, and California Screamin'. We didn't ride Screamin' in 2009, and it turns out to be an awesome coaster! Then there was the Glow Fest in the evenings, which was nice, especially chillin out with a Glow-tini or a Glow-hito. I like being able to consume alcohol in a Disney park. As for Disneyland, we had to atone for our greatest sin last May at WDW: Riding Space Mountain without music:
"Oh Gods of Space Mountain, please forgive us for we have sinned. We have ridden Space Mountain without music. In thy mercy, spare us from the torments of Disney Hell, for an eternity riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride would suck ass. In Walt's name we pray. Amen."
Tugs mentioned that The Magic Kingdom is finally adding music to Space Mountain. There's just something missing without the music.
The trip was really relaxing because we weren't obsessed with getting on every single ride. We just hung out at one park or the other and took in the magic, far from The Void. It was nice to just go back to the hotel in the heat if the afternoon, Fast Passes in paw, to return later in the evening after it cooled down.
Boating
This is a bit of a sore spot with me. I have a pontoon boat and a Sea-Doo, and have only had two chances to bring them to the lake this summer. It's almost becoming more of a chore than it's worth with the Pontoon boat. I need to get down to the storage unit (150 miles away) and service the outdrive. I also need to replace the gas tanks, since I've narrowed the engine troubles I've been having to old rotted fuel connections. The old plastic tanks and the fuel connections on the starboard tank rotted away and won't allow the fuel line to keep a vacuum. I'll probably have to replace or rebuild the starter at some point as well. The starter gear is sticking and not engaging with the gear teeth on the flywheel, so I have to take the engine cover off and tap on it lightly with hammer to loosen it up. Ah the joys of a 30 year old boat. The positive side of having an ancient 60HP Mercury motor is that it's pretty simple to figure out repairs if you're lucky enough to be able to find the parts, and there still seems to be aftermarket parts available for it. Whatever. At some point I'm tempted to get things working well, then sell the darn thing. They say the happiest day in a fisherman's life is the day he buys his boat, and the second happiest day is the day he sells it.
Garden
In the Spring I decided to plant a some herbs and veggies in the back yard. The herbs for the most part came out great. I have a huge mint plant that has produced some nice juleps, and there is a huge basil bush waiting for me to make a big batch of Pesto. My tomatoes this year are a mixed bag. The beefsteak plant is barely producing, while the roma plant is doing a pretty good job. I've already frozen a nice batch of tomato sauce. I don't think I'm going to plant zucchini again. The plant I have is HUGE, and is also quite unmanageable. I haven't had good luck with it, either. Just when it starts producing some zukes, I go out of town or get caught up in something, and I end up with big seedy woody baseball bats because I get to them too late. Then there's the watermelon vine. I've already harvested two twenty pounders from it, and they taste great so far. There are 4 or 5 more on the way. Eat dat waddymelon! Eat dat waddymelon! Shole iz GUUUD!
Cons
I haven't been going to very many cons lately. We did throw a furry party at Bubonicon the other week, but my next actual furry con will be FC 2011. After that, I'm not sure. I'll probably go to AC, but not much more than that. I only have so much time off from work, and I've been using it a lot more for other things.
Well, that's it for now. I have to get back to work.
Wow! What a busy Summer. I've hardly had any time to take a breather between work, vacations, and personal stuff. One of the things I'm finding is that as I get older, time seems to fly by at a frightening pace. Summer has literally come and gone and it feels like it was just a few short weeks. Anyhow, here's the highlights.
Work
Not much to say here. It's been busy, with a major release coming to completion last month. If I haven't posted much or done much online it's because after working all day, I really want to get away from my computer in the evening. The current work seems like it will be less "hectic", so I might come out of my nerd cave a bit more this fall.
Social
I've been pretty much holed up in the nerd cave since last Winter due to major projects at work, and a bunch of mundane but time consuming stuff that one has to deal with in the normal course of events. I did managed to pull off the first ever NM Furry Blaxploitation theme party at the end of July. It was a big success. We done had us sum fried chikkinz, waddymelly, foadies, collahd greenz, and we watched classic "blaxploitation" flicks. Sabot and Chuck got totally plastered playing Edward Forty Hands. LOL! I didn't get to to too much myself since I was busy (in blackface of course) fryin dat chikkin! Next time I'm going to Popeye's or KFC. Then there was Albufurque, Bubonicon, and other various furmeets. So I haven't been a complete hermit.
Vacations
I think I already posted about Disney World back in May, but I'll say it was awesome, and a great way to start off the summer. It's where Tugs, WhitePaws, and I came up with the term "The Void" to refer to the Real World. When we're at a Disney Park for a vacation, we leave the rest of the world behind. It becomes "The Void". We shut out all things from The Void while we're there and simply enjoy ourselves. The unspeakable "W" word is especially banned. It sucks to return to The Void.
The "Big Trip" for me during actual Summer would have to have been Yellowstone. I've been wanting to go there for years, but have never made the time to do it. When carol_kitty and sabotlours told me about their plans for a furry Yellowstone trip and invited me along, I gladly jumped at the opportunity. I was not disappointed, either. In mid-August we drove up thorough New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to eventually end up at our cabin in West Yellowstone, MT. I enjoyed the road trip every bit as much as the actual time we spent at Yellowstone itself. We drove through some absolutely spectacular country on the way up there and on the way back. During our week at the park we saw most or all of the "main" attractions, took many pictures, and even got in some fursuiting. The evenings were spent chillin' out at the cabin, enjoying really good food and company, and getting nicely buzzed. Sabot's trip report has more details if you want to check out his LJ. Up until this trip, the Big Horn Mountains were nothing but a name on a map. I'd never realized how pretty it is up there.
A short week after Yellowstone, I got back in my truck and headed out to Anaheim to meet up with tugsie and James for our September Disneyland trip. We really enjoyed escaping The Void for a few more days, though our feet definitely felt it after three days. It's official.. California Adventure is no longer Fail Park (tm). While it's not quite up to the "magic" level of Disnelyand, there are things that make it pretty cool. One of those is the World Of Color show in the evening. If you haven't seen this show, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's absolutely stunning! Then there's Tower Of Terror, and California Screamin'. We didn't ride Screamin' in 2009, and it turns out to be an awesome coaster! Then there was the Glow Fest in the evenings, which was nice, especially chillin out with a Glow-tini or a Glow-hito. I like being able to consume alcohol in a Disney park. As for Disneyland, we had to atone for our greatest sin last May at WDW: Riding Space Mountain without music:
"Oh Gods of Space Mountain, please forgive us for we have sinned. We have ridden Space Mountain without music. In thy mercy, spare us from the torments of Disney Hell, for an eternity riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride would suck ass. In Walt's name we pray. Amen."
Tugs mentioned that The Magic Kingdom is finally adding music to Space Mountain. There's just something missing without the music.
The trip was really relaxing because we weren't obsessed with getting on every single ride. We just hung out at one park or the other and took in the magic, far from The Void. It was nice to just go back to the hotel in the heat if the afternoon, Fast Passes in paw, to return later in the evening after it cooled down.
Boating
This is a bit of a sore spot with me. I have a pontoon boat and a Sea-Doo, and have only had two chances to bring them to the lake this summer. It's almost becoming more of a chore than it's worth with the Pontoon boat. I need to get down to the storage unit (150 miles away) and service the outdrive. I also need to replace the gas tanks, since I've narrowed the engine troubles I've been having to old rotted fuel connections. The old plastic tanks and the fuel connections on the starboard tank rotted away and won't allow the fuel line to keep a vacuum. I'll probably have to replace or rebuild the starter at some point as well. The starter gear is sticking and not engaging with the gear teeth on the flywheel, so I have to take the engine cover off and tap on it lightly with hammer to loosen it up. Ah the joys of a 30 year old boat. The positive side of having an ancient 60HP Mercury motor is that it's pretty simple to figure out repairs if you're lucky enough to be able to find the parts, and there still seems to be aftermarket parts available for it. Whatever. At some point I'm tempted to get things working well, then sell the darn thing. They say the happiest day in a fisherman's life is the day he buys his boat, and the second happiest day is the day he sells it.
Garden
In the Spring I decided to plant a some herbs and veggies in the back yard. The herbs for the most part came out great. I have a huge mint plant that has produced some nice juleps, and there is a huge basil bush waiting for me to make a big batch of Pesto. My tomatoes this year are a mixed bag. The beefsteak plant is barely producing, while the roma plant is doing a pretty good job. I've already frozen a nice batch of tomato sauce. I don't think I'm going to plant zucchini again. The plant I have is HUGE, and is also quite unmanageable. I haven't had good luck with it, either. Just when it starts producing some zukes, I go out of town or get caught up in something, and I end up with big seedy woody baseball bats because I get to them too late. Then there's the watermelon vine. I've already harvested two twenty pounders from it, and they taste great so far. There are 4 or 5 more on the way. Eat dat waddymelon! Eat dat waddymelon! Shole iz GUUUD!
Cons
I haven't been going to very many cons lately. We did throw a furry party at Bubonicon the other week, but my next actual furry con will be FC 2011. After that, I'm not sure. I'll probably go to AC, but not much more than that. I only have so much time off from work, and I've been using it a lot more for other things.
Well, that's it for now. I have to get back to work.