(no subject)
Holy hell crazy dream. My beardy had BABIES. Out of nowhere. It was divine beardy impregnation. And not even 5 seconds after she laid her 3 eggs the things hatched and the most adorable little beardy babies came crawling out all cute like! :3
But then, for the really weird part, after getting things organized with my two tank for their living conditions, my drunken neighbors (I was living at my Dad's again for some reason) snuck in and put a pair of huge poisonous tarantulas in the tank with the babies. I didn't know it, but noticed the babies were discoloring and had strange bloated growths where they were bitten. I was so pissed off I took a knife from the kitchen and, using tongs to hold the buggers still, cut the tarantulas into tiny pieces, spitting on them while they screamed. Then I found a scorpion and cleaved it in half for threatening my beardy babies.
In a few days, the babies were okay, and I went to the pet store to get a bigger tank and worry about "How am I going to afford to feed so many beardies". Then I woke up. Needless to say, I gave my spikey girl a kiss this morning. Also told her "No eggs yet, okay?" as she cocked her head and stared at me like some crazy person. Which I am. I love that beardy girl.
I'm taking off from work this Thursday so I can enjoy a 4 day weekend (off this Friday already). I put in enough time last week that it bled into this week and it'll only be about 5 hours of PTO spent to enjoy 4 days off. It's worth it cause I'm tired of this place and these people are the way in which they are quartering me with different tasks all at the same high priority level. For some reason, being a male admin, I'm supposed to be able to do more than our female admin in the management's eyes, but this is not the case. She has more experience and is far more motivated than I. Giving me a million-and-one tasks will only ensure a million-and-one things fall behind. Such as expense reports, which I've been putting in extra time to do and have been the only item I have worked on this week because other tasks that took priority at the time caused me to fall tremendously behind. Luckily, aforementioned female admin did what I could not and convinced management to lighten up my load lest their schedules slip and accounts fall victim to fees. Good to have someone at my back, especially given my issue with confrontation/standing up for myself.
Todd and I have been gaming quite a lot this past couple of weeks. I picked up Borderlands and found it to be quite enjoyable, and decided to bite the financial bullet and buy Todd a copy as well in hopes that it would be something we could both enjoy. And for the first time I hit one out of the park. He enjoys playing it more than I do I think. Plays it in random groups, finished the game in a couple days whereas I'm still in the thick of it. Finally, for once in years, I found a game we both legitimately enjoy and don't simply put up with the sake of the other.
We've also been crunching out some Civ4, which is always fun, but games with Todd usually bore me because he takes so long. That hasn't changed much, but for whatever reason I'm enjoying it more than usual. Perhaps because of the challenges in the specific game we're still playing. The espionage factor of the Beyond the Sword expansion is fun, too, and something I take ultimate advantage of. I lost my momentum in the game so early that I've been left in the dust by other civilizations. I can't risk military conquest because of the alliances in place on my continent, so I'm left with no other choice than using subversion to re-seat myself as a superpower. Starting revolutions, poisoning water supplies, fomenting unhappiness... these are my weapons of war. :O
Now for the usual consumerist dilemmas. I would like to get that D90 to replace my aging D40x. But Canon's S90 just came out and is a tempting buy, but I've pretty much set that one completely aside because the reviews I hear on it are mixed and I realized last night that I don't need and would likely not use a dedicated "pocket" camera anyway, even as powerful as it is. As far as cameras are concerned, the D90 is a better place to be putting my photography budget as the benefits are blatantly obvious and SLR shooting has been more appealing as of late (probably because I've been shooting people more than usual). The S90 would be nice in the way my G10 is already nice, only one fits in a pocket and the other doesn't. I just need to remind myself not to buy into the digital hype. Things move so fast in the digital world they're impossible to keep up with. I can't keep selling things to "upgrade" if the "upgrade" isn't worth the loss I'd take. Besides, I'm certainly not selling my G10 given it's new status as a hard-to-get gem of the DP marketplace, much like the Lumix LX-1 I lusted after not too long ago. Iconic cameras that were short lived due to the speed of progress but demanded once out of production because they did something remarkably right.
Wow, sidetracked. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, that whole "I wanna buy X, Y and Z but can't afford any of them" thing. Sorry if these blurbs are annoying, but typing it all out helps me prioritize. If I don't I end up awake for hours at night mentally pitting each item against the other.
There's also an Upgrade-the-Desktop or Get-a-Gaming-Laptop dilemma. I can afford one or the other. The desktop upgrades cost far less. I've pretty much decided on the desktop already, but keep wondering if a laptop (full-sized, not a netbook) would be useful enough for me anymore. I remember having the laptop Mary helped me buy, and it got tons of use while I was a guard, but once I got this job I sold the thing because it just didn't feel like I used it enough anymore. That probably won't change either. If I got a laptop now, it would either have to replace my desktop or do something my desktop can't, like serve as a tethering companion for field shooting, but even then, what's the likelihood of me even using the thing for that? The desire to get a laptop is to have something for back-ups and post-processing when shooting out in Guam where my desktop cannot go, gaming at other folks houses, having on the road for whatever, the list goes on. But in reality, do I ever really go to people's houses to game? Not really. Do I do much shooting away from home? Not really. Most of my drive to get a laptop of any sort is pretty much killed off but the fact that I just won't use it despite how much I may see myself being able to use it. So it's an item I just need to give up on. No matter how good it works out in my mind, in practice I may as well save my money.
The last item of interest is a fursuit. I know I want one. I've wanted one for years, only I never seem to put down money for one. That needs to end because as more and more of my friend suit up the more and more I want to join them. It's too much damn fun to pass up constantly. To push myself I bugged Chinny about commissioning a suit, but haven't heard back quite yet, which is no big deal as I appreciate the time to get my thoughts and finances together. This, however, interferes with my desire for the D90 because they both cost about the same.
HOWEVER, just now I realized that, since I'm in the tax bracket I'm in and claim nothing, my tax return next year is going to be utterly stupid awesome. Oh logic, you solve all problems. Fursuit now, D90 with the tax return. Oh yay!
Oh, maybe that wasn't the last item though. I do still want to do random car stuff, but it's so cold out that I'm less interested in working on it. If I had a heated garage maybe that would change, but as it stands, my parking lot is my garage, and that's just no good. Items up and coming are a strut tower bar to stiffen the body roll up (only a minor $120), wheel well lighting (maybe $50 tops) and a couple of stock light replacement bulbs that shouldn't top maybe $10. Just small things. Still saving for that turbo build, which will cover everything from the intake to the cat to the chip to the pully and so on. It's tempting to do an intake right now, but then I would have to stomach wasting $60 on a high flow panel filter and that just isn't happening. Got to play it smart, not reactive.
Ahh, four day weekend here I come!
But then, for the really weird part, after getting things organized with my two tank for their living conditions, my drunken neighbors (I was living at my Dad's again for some reason) snuck in and put a pair of huge poisonous tarantulas in the tank with the babies. I didn't know it, but noticed the babies were discoloring and had strange bloated growths where they were bitten. I was so pissed off I took a knife from the kitchen and, using tongs to hold the buggers still, cut the tarantulas into tiny pieces, spitting on them while they screamed. Then I found a scorpion and cleaved it in half for threatening my beardy babies.
In a few days, the babies were okay, and I went to the pet store to get a bigger tank and worry about "How am I going to afford to feed so many beardies". Then I woke up. Needless to say, I gave my spikey girl a kiss this morning. Also told her "No eggs yet, okay?" as she cocked her head and stared at me like some crazy person. Which I am. I love that beardy girl.
I'm taking off from work this Thursday so I can enjoy a 4 day weekend (off this Friday already). I put in enough time last week that it bled into this week and it'll only be about 5 hours of PTO spent to enjoy 4 days off. It's worth it cause I'm tired of this place and these people are the way in which they are quartering me with different tasks all at the same high priority level. For some reason, being a male admin, I'm supposed to be able to do more than our female admin in the management's eyes, but this is not the case. She has more experience and is far more motivated than I. Giving me a million-and-one tasks will only ensure a million-and-one things fall behind. Such as expense reports, which I've been putting in extra time to do and have been the only item I have worked on this week because other tasks that took priority at the time caused me to fall tremendously behind. Luckily, aforementioned female admin did what I could not and convinced management to lighten up my load lest their schedules slip and accounts fall victim to fees. Good to have someone at my back, especially given my issue with confrontation/standing up for myself.
Todd and I have been gaming quite a lot this past couple of weeks. I picked up Borderlands and found it to be quite enjoyable, and decided to bite the financial bullet and buy Todd a copy as well in hopes that it would be something we could both enjoy. And for the first time I hit one out of the park. He enjoys playing it more than I do I think. Plays it in random groups, finished the game in a couple days whereas I'm still in the thick of it. Finally, for once in years, I found a game we both legitimately enjoy and don't simply put up with the sake of the other.
We've also been crunching out some Civ4, which is always fun, but games with Todd usually bore me because he takes so long. That hasn't changed much, but for whatever reason I'm enjoying it more than usual. Perhaps because of the challenges in the specific game we're still playing. The espionage factor of the Beyond the Sword expansion is fun, too, and something I take ultimate advantage of. I lost my momentum in the game so early that I've been left in the dust by other civilizations. I can't risk military conquest because of the alliances in place on my continent, so I'm left with no other choice than using subversion to re-seat myself as a superpower. Starting revolutions, poisoning water supplies, fomenting unhappiness... these are my weapons of war. :O
Now for the usual consumerist dilemmas. I would like to get that D90 to replace my aging D40x. But Canon's S90 just came out and is a tempting buy, but I've pretty much set that one completely aside because the reviews I hear on it are mixed and I realized last night that I don't need and would likely not use a dedicated "pocket" camera anyway, even as powerful as it is. As far as cameras are concerned, the D90 is a better place to be putting my photography budget as the benefits are blatantly obvious and SLR shooting has been more appealing as of late (probably because I've been shooting people more than usual). The S90 would be nice in the way my G10 is already nice, only one fits in a pocket and the other doesn't. I just need to remind myself not to buy into the digital hype. Things move so fast in the digital world they're impossible to keep up with. I can't keep selling things to "upgrade" if the "upgrade" isn't worth the loss I'd take. Besides, I'm certainly not selling my G10 given it's new status as a hard-to-get gem of the DP marketplace, much like the Lumix LX-1 I lusted after not too long ago. Iconic cameras that were short lived due to the speed of progress but demanded once out of production because they did something remarkably right.
Wow, sidetracked. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, that whole "I wanna buy X, Y and Z but can't afford any of them" thing. Sorry if these blurbs are annoying, but typing it all out helps me prioritize. If I don't I end up awake for hours at night mentally pitting each item against the other.
There's also an Upgrade-the-Desktop or Get-a-Gaming-Laptop dilemma. I can afford one or the other. The desktop upgrades cost far less. I've pretty much decided on the desktop already, but keep wondering if a laptop (full-sized, not a netbook) would be useful enough for me anymore. I remember having the laptop Mary helped me buy, and it got tons of use while I was a guard, but once I got this job I sold the thing because it just didn't feel like I used it enough anymore. That probably won't change either. If I got a laptop now, it would either have to replace my desktop or do something my desktop can't, like serve as a tethering companion for field shooting, but even then, what's the likelihood of me even using the thing for that? The desire to get a laptop is to have something for back-ups and post-processing when shooting out in Guam where my desktop cannot go, gaming at other folks houses, having on the road for whatever, the list goes on. But in reality, do I ever really go to people's houses to game? Not really. Do I do much shooting away from home? Not really. Most of my drive to get a laptop of any sort is pretty much killed off but the fact that I just won't use it despite how much I may see myself being able to use it. So it's an item I just need to give up on. No matter how good it works out in my mind, in practice I may as well save my money.
The last item of interest is a fursuit. I know I want one. I've wanted one for years, only I never seem to put down money for one. That needs to end because as more and more of my friend suit up the more and more I want to join them. It's too much damn fun to pass up constantly. To push myself I bugged Chinny about commissioning a suit, but haven't heard back quite yet, which is no big deal as I appreciate the time to get my thoughts and finances together. This, however, interferes with my desire for the D90 because they both cost about the same.
HOWEVER, just now I realized that, since I'm in the tax bracket I'm in and claim nothing, my tax return next year is going to be utterly stupid awesome. Oh logic, you solve all problems. Fursuit now, D90 with the tax return. Oh yay!
Oh, maybe that wasn't the last item though. I do still want to do random car stuff, but it's so cold out that I'm less interested in working on it. If I had a heated garage maybe that would change, but as it stands, my parking lot is my garage, and that's just no good. Items up and coming are a strut tower bar to stiffen the body roll up (only a minor $120), wheel well lighting (maybe $50 tops) and a couple of stock light replacement bulbs that shouldn't top maybe $10. Just small things. Still saving for that turbo build, which will cover everything from the intake to the cat to the chip to the pully and so on. It's tempting to do an intake right now, but then I would have to stomach wasting $60 on a high flow panel filter and that just isn't happening. Got to play it smart, not reactive.
Ahh, four day weekend here I come!