The Martians Have Landed!

Well not really. More like the Googlians have landed... on Mars!

Sorry if this is old news to you dear reader, but I just found it and thought it twas neat.

Google Mars:
http://www.google.com/mars/

(click visible, elevation or infrared for different views). Pretty cool.
Now where is that face at....

Peace On Earth & Goodwill Towards Men

Like the title says.

Peace brothers and may God bless your family this Christmas and in the years to come.

Danni doesn't do Mechwarrior

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Sudden Impact

Last weekend I took the family to Busch Gardens. We had a fun time with the rides and animals. Jack Hannah was there for the weekend only and he presented a lot of very rare and unusual animals. Great show. When we arrived they had some people from the audience up on the stage to keep the crowd entertained until the show started. The audience member nearest to us was an ex co-worker. A guy I really don't care for... a really smarmy type of weasel. I thought "Oh of all the people to see here today... this guy... man what a small world."

A few hours later as we were leaving the park and coming home somewhere nearby in Tampa was another ex co-worker. She died somewhere on the back roads probably less than 20 miles from where I was driving. The car she was riding in hit a tree head on and she was ejected into it. I don't know the precise details, but I get the impression that she died instantly. And no she was not wearing her seatbelt.

I went to her funeral today with several other co-workers who knew her. She worked with us about 4 or 5 years ago. She was a lot younger then, but it sounds like she was still a lot like we remembered her. She was an exceptionally tall girl and pretty in her own way. Many people would tell her she should be a model because of her height, thin build and striking features. She probably could have been too.

I liked her and disliked her if a thing such is possible. She had a way of making everyone laugh or gasp in shock with just about everything she did. She could be pretty hot headed and she would speak her mind about EVERYTHING and she often did it just to get a rise out of people. I think though that a lot of what she did was just her way of being funny. A sharp wit (maybe too sharp at times). She did have a ton of energy and she loved to talk. I remember she dubbed me Control-Alt-Delete boy because I was in IT (information & technology) and whenever a persons computer needed looking after we almost invariably would start by bringing up the task manager (by of course pressing those 3 buttons). I think it got under my skin back then, but I actually laugh at it now. I also once changed her tire for her while she stood huffing over me and never uttered a thanks, but her father who showed up thanked me profusly while she sped off to her next adventure, late for something I'm sure. I remember think of Bill Murray in Ground Hogs Day as he caught the little kid falling out of the tree only to have the young boy run off without saying thanks. Most her behavior actually tended to bemuse me more than iritate. She was the kind of girl that would moon a passing motorist or complain loudly at a resteraunt. She liked to be the center of attention, but I think once she got there she thrived in it. I'm sure her family will miss that most of all about her.

Apparently in the years since we worked with her she had done some remarkable things. She had gotten married (though I don't think I would ever say she "settled down" ;) She was working with the corrections system to help counsel at risk youth. A noble thing and one I found quite surprising for her.

I have a lot of confused feelings at the moment. Finding out someone I knew who was so young died so suddenly has made a bit of an impact on me. I keep thinking of the finality of things and how fragile life is. I worry about things undone. Not for myself, but for my family. I feel like 10,000 years wouldn't be enough to make up for all the lost time between us. I'm always so busy with work or with things I'm working on... there just feels like so many things are left undone and left unsaid. I struggle to make a better life for my wife and children, but in the process I let so much of myself dissappear. Hopefully I can take away from this terrible thing that happened to this young girl a renewed sense of how important love and laughter is over everything else.

POP Goes The... Cyst???

I have this thing on my wrist. The doctors call it a ganglion cyst. It's like a hard round bump. Kind of like a have a bone out of place, but it's not really a bone. Apparently I got from years of cramping my hand around a mouse. It's my "tennis elbow" if you will.

pic shamelessly lifted from Wikipedia

After reading about Simple American's misadventures with a baker's cyst I resolved to not mess with mine. The doc had told me quite seriously that if it bothered me to bang it with a book or against a wall and it would break (unfortunately that high tech solution won't last long as the cyst will reform)

For some reason the cyst has gone drastically down. I don't think I bumped it, but maybe I did accidently. Right now it's just a small hard hump barely visible under the skin. Maybe it is clearing up on it's own... or maybe it will come back as the docs said it would.


Well if it does leave I won't miss mr. protrusion very much ;)
People with random bumps... weird. :P

Happy Howloween!

Another year and more spooky fun this scarey night ;)

At the office we all dressed up as we always do and although I didn't post about it last year properly I thought I would share this year.

Last year I was the "redneck boyscout" complete with a six pack canteen, ill fitting uniform and a slew of merit badges you can only get here in the deep south like drinkin' , huntin' (Bambi with with cross hairs superimposed) and raisin' hell (anarchy symbol). I even had Nascar and Jack Daniels logos. My favorite was the breast exam merit badge, but sadly no one would take me up on it.

Don't feel too bad for the scouts however as my boss pulled the ultimate prank and got me back by coming as me (a caricature of my real life persona). She was eight months pregnant so she certainly had the belly for it. There were a lot of very inside jokes to her costume that most people didn't get (like my hiking shoes coming untied all the time and a brush in my back pocket). I had a good laugh. If you can't laugh at yourself then who can you laugh at?

This year I donned the guise of the International Man of Mystery. It got a lot of good laughs too. I love Mike Myers. Now if only I could someone to play Wayne I could make a pretty good go at Garth haha ;)

Happy Halloween Baby! Have a Shag-tastic Time!

And you thought roaches would inherit the Earth...

I don't actually know if this 100% true. It's making it's way around the fringe news sites and I haven't seen it being reported on any "big name" news websites (not that it would really matter as I know they don't validate anything either), but if it is true then it is FRIGGIN SCAREY

Apparently they have discoverd a strain of mice that can regenerate lost organs:

"Studies in the MRL mouse have demonstrated a unique capacity to heal wounds through a process of regeneration. This has been shown in multiple tissue types including muscle, cartilage, and connective tissue and in organs such as the ear, heart, and digits. The concept that life extension may be mediated by regeneration and its associated processes is a reasonable proposal. We will present molecular and cellular evidence from the MRL which examines this possibility. "

Here's one version of the report from wired.com (largest link I could find)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/medtech/0,68962-0.html

Worse this ability seems to be genetically passed on and worse than that in some reports they are saying can be transferrred in limited capacity to other mice via injections of spinal fluid from the MRL mice.

How long until we have breed of indestructable mice that traps and poison aren't going to stop?

Q: What do you call an indestructable man injected with super rat DNA?
A: Ever what any of George Romero's movies? (shudder)
hint: braaaiiinnnsss

If you build it they will buy it

All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted.
Not so coldly charted, it's really just a question
Of your honesty, yeah, your honesty.

Google buys YouTube (there's some weird twisted irony in there)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127436-page,1/article.html

They only paid 1.6 billion in stock shares (are you kidding me... dot com stocks... even Google ones... yesh)

Bottom line is corporate America is all to happy to buy out anything that seems cool or grass roots... provided thousands of people are using it.

Wow can't wait for CocaCola billboards in my next first person shooter that I play... oh wait they already do that too!? meh

Lost again...

I meant to post about Lost the other day, but really got caught up in a lot of other stuff. No spoilers, but I will say that it was an unbelievable first 3 minutes to start the season. Totally blew all of my theories out of the water to be sure (I actually thought it was a flashback at first). Great first episode and it really sucked me back in for another season.

Also watching Jericho which is very good and looking forward to BSG season 3 on the sci-fi channel. Everything else I am kind of trying here and there as I have time to watch it. Overall a so-so season of TV, but in the long run that will be a good thing for me as I turned into a real couch potatoe last year!?! ;)

POOF!

And now for some teleportation. Apparently scientists in England teleported... err... something about 18 inches long a distance of a half meter. O.k. so it's not like Wonkavision, but if you can teleport one atom of anything even the smallest distance that is pretty badass!

This may well turn out to be how my insurance company grabs me 500 years from now (if they don't spend my 38 billion on robot women first):

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/10/04/teleportation.reut/index.html

Securing my future

I think this is a pretty good deal. For just $10 they guarantee that 500 years from now they will come and get me and take me back to the future (sans DeLorean).

Of course they do not cover the unforseeable such as the Earth being destroyed or time travel being illegal, but every insurance policy has it's stipulations I suppose:

http://www.timetravelfund.com/

The List

O.k. so I catch a lot of flak about this at work, but oh well. With tounge firmly planted in cheek - This is my official TOP 10 GAYEST musicians EV-VER list. Sure it's not politically correct and allegedley I may have listened to some of them secretly (cough Asia cough), but no man worth his heavy metal, head banging, ripped jeans and Metallica concert tee would admit to having these guys qued up on the play list.

* note that a band member doesn't have to actually BE homosexual to appear on my list (I mean come on Freddy Mercury was one of the greastest singers of all time and well I'm just not sure about Rob Halford, but I'm never gonna give up on Judas Priest)

** note that having said that some members of the list are pretty blatently homosexual (you know who you are)

And without further ado:

10. Loverboy
9. Culture Club (o.k. mostly Boy George)
8. Clay Aiken (sorry not a gay-niac oops I mean clayniac)
7. Hall and Oates
6. Barry Manilow (I can't stand Copa, I just... can't)
5. 'N Sync (they made boy band popular... greatttt)
4. The Village People
3. George Michael (with or without WHAM!)
2. Chicago

and the number one GAYEST MUSICAL GROUP OF ALL TIME is...

1. The Bee Gees

Honrable mentions go out to David Hasselhoff, Asia, Night Ranger & Lionel Richie.

Comes in 5 new bloated colors

Meant to post this last month, but eh.

For those who care (and most of us don't really) Windows Vista starts shipping next month in November. It comes in 5 exciting new flavors... maybe I should say Xciting... nah lets not go down that path about what a WONDERFUL experience using Windows will be for you.

The 5 versions are: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate (ohhh ahhh)

SRP Pricing ranges from $100.00 for the barest minimum upgrade version to somewhere around $400 for a full blown "ultimate" version.

The system requirements are 1 Ghz processor, 1 gig RAM and 15 GB of harddrive space (good lord!). Not surprisingly it only comes on DVD. We'll see if they break down and offer it on multiple CD's... anybody rember installing Windows when it came on like 12 floppy disks?!?

Pretty much feature wise it's as a typical Microsoft OS - few worthy new features, lots of shiny graphics and some horrendously bloated sounding bits (instant search, superfetch, etc.) that will probably put a choke hold on your system (no wonder it needs a gig of RAM). The only really good stuff would of course been better as an upgrade to the current OS, but that's pretty much the way it's been since 95.

Some of the very things that I found at least interesting on the surface:

* Explorer has a "live" thumbnail showing the actual document as a tiny icon instead of a generic icon which is pretty cool if you were looking through lot sof text documents, .html pages, adobe .pdfs etc. Of course generating all those thumbnails comes at a price in speed.

* Same thing with the task switcher (alt+tab) you get little thumbnails (of course mine already does that thanks to the Microsoft power toys, but hey it's something they should have doen to begin with)

* A better system restore which actually saves copies of the original system files if they are changed. Again this comes at an obvious price - eats up harddrive space.

and my favorite

* You can plug in jump drives and use them to as extra RAM. This is a pretty keen idea and with USB 2.0 I imagine that it actually will work decently enough making it an easy and cheap way to boost your RAM. Everything is becoming more component-ized which makes it easier and cheaper to repair and upgrade PCs. Obviously it's better to add actual high speed RAM right into the motherboard, but I like the idea for it's simplicity.

Other features are hype and outright lies like better security, IE 7.0 (meh), pretty "Windows Aero" graphics fluff, desktop gadgets, easier networking, better security, blah blah blah.

One last thing that I think is... interesting in it's implication is SideShow (not slideshow). It's hard to describe, but basically you could check your email without opening up your laptop LOL. Not sure how useful it is, but it's a unique concept. Wonder if it will be the next MS white elephant. See the concept here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/foreveryone/sideshow.mspx

It goes without saying that anyone worth his salt would recommend never switching to a new version of Microsoft until after the first and optimally the second service pack has been released.

Incidently the REAL purpose of this post is to let you know that Microsoft is getting MUCH more agressive about checking to see if you have an authentic copy of Windows XP installed. Do if you don't, well shame on you and don't be expecting to update your OS again EVER, because if you do your copy will stop working thanks to the "genuine advantage" program which gets rather stealthly installed on your PC. Not that I don't think they are entitled to protect their products... I'm just not keen on the methodology.

Not quite nanotechnology

...but pretty damn close. Imagine thousands of micro-robots that could work together to form solid 3D models. It's like a live version of Autocad. A huge jump in technology when it gets sorted out. Definately the first steps in fictional "nanotechnology"

(PS - the emphasis of the article is on smart cloth, but it's obvious to see that there are many other applications)

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6121092.html?tag=nl.e589

Poke in the eye

Ouch! being all thumbs I managed to injure my eye last week.

The wifey has been on a home improvement kick and doing LOTS of work (while I do a lot of standing around grumbling she is kicking butt and making our home look really, really nice). The latest big project was taking up old carpeting in the kitchen and laying down new tiles. Yeah I know carpeting in a kitchen is pretty strange. Even stranger was underneath were a lot of old tiles, but just around the edges and corners of the room. We didn't want to try and lay the new tile over the old especially since it wasn't a full flat layer so the old had to come up first.

I guess I'm even less of the handyman then I thought I was because while taking up the old vinyl tile with a flat chisel and hammer I caught myself dead square in the eye with a bit of muck and sharp tile. Let me tell you folks, you really do not want 30 year old tile in your eye. As foriegn bodies go, it's up there with rusty nails and summy pond water. Uhhhh yuck!?!

I immediatly flushed the eye, but could tell I had scratched it pretty good. The worst part was the feeling of having something in your eye when there really isn't anything. It's worse than Chinese water torture. My eye kept watering and I wanted to rub it soooo bad. 24 hours later and 2 different doctors and I had the (good?) news that it was a bad scratch called a corneal abrasion, but it would heal fairly quickly. The bad news was I had to put this antibiotic ointement in my eye 4 times a day that had the look and feel of vaseline. Not fun. Lesson learned - WEAR GOGGLES YA DUMMY!

Fortunately the healing is almost 100% now and I'm back to being able to see again and can actually stay on my side of the road when I drive for a change ;)

Unfortunately for my wife I acted like a big baby and mopped around for the rest of the week all squinty eyed and irritable so she ended up doing like 99% of the work on the floor herself. I suck.

Oh well I will make up for it with public humiliation and lots of small gifts. That *usually* works. Either that or I could let her punch me, but I just got full use of my vision back so I better stick with the gifts.

I guess it goes without saying that I pretty much got zero artwork done all of last week and that really DID suck.

New Post, New Blog (sort of)

Wow! Took some time away from bloggo-land. Finally things are starting to settle down (or else I am just getting used to the insanity, not sure which). So to celebrate I decided to take the beta version of blogger out for a spin. Not too bad. Still wayyy underpowered when compared to wordpress, but when you use it as infrequently as I do you can afford to trade power for ease of use ;)

In other news I am happy to report that I am once again climbing into the art saddle and starting to do work towards more and interesting DUG products. Expect to find some new stuff in the coming months.

Credit where it's due

Still not a proper post, but at least I *AM* posting so that's an improvement :P

I have been pretty down on Val Kilmer lately. His roles in movies are strange to say the least. Heck the last good Val Kilmer movie I saw and liked him in was Top Secret so that should tell you something (and no I didn't like him in Batman).

Last night we watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and it was really funny and entertaining. I thought Mr. Kilmer did a great job as a gay P.I. The movie was a quirky comedy/murder mystery. I guess you would call it a "dark comedy" although I usually hate those. Not quite film noir, but definately inspired by that (lot of refrences in the movie to film noir as well). The movie also starred Robert Downey Jr. who did a remarkable job as well (though to be honest it wasn't a terribly difficult stretch for him). Fast paced plot, weird characters and even weirder events. Check it out if you get a chance.

Maybe Val should stick with comedy. :O

Too busy to post, too busy to think

I have been crazy busy lately and haven't had a whole lot of time to devote to my blog (or my company either). I hope to do something bigger with Dirty Unicorn Games, but I don't have it all worked out yet in my head so who knows... also trying to help the missus launch a new line of cool fantasy art-ish things. Stay tuned. Like MacArthur I shall return! (unlike him I won't leave anyone behind eh? :O )

Still LOST

Well surprise, surprise, surprise. I was as wrong about as many things as I was right. They certainly fooled me good.


.
.
.
.
Spoilers WARNING!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


Michael didn't die (at least not yet). Does look like he will be out of the picture with Walt for a while (I knew they had to take those 2 characters out of the story for a while)

The others camp was a big sham. That surprised me a lot and the fake hatch doors really blew me away. Did not expect that.

Eko and John went head to head. Lo and behold something bad really DOES happen when you don't push the button (like planes dropping out the sky)

The main thing that pisses me off is they gave us so little. They explained a few minor things, but introduced a host of new mysterys without explaining any of the current ones (the monster, the others, the whispers, the black rock, Rossueaus team, the "illness", the numbers etc etc)

Then to leave so many characters up in the air for the season was a little much.

This show needs to ramp up. Being spoon fed so little is really not fun anymore.

Ah well on to other things for the summer and beyond!

Company loves Misery

Man do I feel blah! I think I picked up a flu bug (so I have that icky-stuffy headed-so-you-can't-sleep feeling). It is draining my mojo. ugh.

To make matters worse (or maybe BECAUSE of) I am starting on some diet meds which make me nervous, irritable and give me mild insomonia at night (yea!)

So if I seem out sorts please forgive me. I'm just fighting my own body. Should get it all sorted out soon.

Guess I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing felt markers!

Back to Safari

The wifey (oh so beautiful) has convinced me to make a weekend out of it and we are returning to the dark continent (or at least Busch Gardens - yea season passes) for Mothers Day. So I'm pulling the plug in my head outr of computer land for the weekend. Have fun m8s and see you Monday!!

Lost Part Deux

So my DVR decided to screw up and I missed the bulk of the latest episode (nooooo!). I can say judging form the last 12 minutes that I caught I would have been wrong about a few things. Fortunately they also confirmed a few things in my mind.

In a stroke of luck and genius ABC.com has the last episode up available for free viewing this week so I was able to watch the entire episode. :D

So here we go
(spoilers abound.... turn back ye who would not want to know):

The Dharma Experiment: well I had hoped that Dharma wasn't just a mind game. I was actually surpised that the mind game involved more than just the button. I really wanted them to be a cool late 70's / early 80's science complex. Ah well. Regardless I feel strongly on 2 things about this.

1) Dharma is dead. The experiment is long since over and "abandoned" for whatever reasons. The others are NOT a part of Dharma. We should find this out by the finale.

2) The Experiment is not ongoing. Whatever is happening to the losties is not an experiment. Whatever Dharma was doing has nothing to do with we are seeing now.

Desmond: makes a return for the finale. Biggest surprise here is that Clancy Brown who is a really cool actor (loved him in Earth 2) is tied in. If you remember Clancy played a CIA specialist named Joe Inman who taught Sayid how to torture in the Gulf War. Well guess what? Our mysterious CIA spook ends up on the island only now his name is Kelvin Inman... the same Kelvin who came running out of the jungle to grab Desmond and bring him back to the hatch.
Now what is a CIA operative doing here hmmm....

Speaking of Desmond it was his boat that brought that snazzy new washer to the island along with himself of course (well that's my theory anyways ;))

Michael: still gonna die. Sorry folks, but I just don't see him living out the season. In fact I'm rasing my death toll up to four by the end of finale (4 graves next to Ekos church):
Ana-Lucia
Libby
Michael
Desmond

Walt: gone, gone, gone. The Others have taken off with Walt. We won't see Walt until next season. Sucks I know.

The thing to remember folks is that this story is actually about the island NOT the Losties. Don't grow fond of anyone in particular (and though Jack is the "hero" he was originally scripted to be bumped off in the pilot episode... would have been played by Michael Keaton too, now that would have been cool!)

The Others Camp: well I can admit when I'm wrong. Turns out the Otehrs don't exactly have a fort / town. At least not how I envisioned it. They have a coastal camp made up of rather elaborate tent like huts (better than canvas tents or Gilligan grass huts however).

They also do have a "hatch" of sorts. There's a really big set of doors set into a cliff wall where they are - bunker doors. If you listen carefully to the new orientation video this is the bunker mentioned in it. PS - the ferry mentioned in it is the small boat the others used to grab Walt in.

The Others have broke camp however and are gone. They are good at running away.

Sayid may find that sea cable here and follow it out into the ocean. I think it's for a hydro generator under the sea. This more than likely also powers the radio broadcasting tower as well.

Locke: will NOT want to push the button. In fact I think he wants to blast the computer into bits, but Eko won't stand for that at all. In the end Eko and Locke must battle over the button. The results of which we will see when the button doesn't get pushed. No matter what Dharma says NOT pushing that button IS going to create an effect in a big way.

Vincent: I wonder what Vincent (yes the dog) will see in the hold of the airplane right before the crash. Hmmm...

Plenty to keep us guessing! Only 2 airings and 3 hours of LOST left!!!

LOST Predictions

I love LOST. I mean I think it is just absolutely addicting and my hat is off to the writers and producers. I have never seen a story so unpredictable and tantalizing. Every episode leaves you thinking WTF!?

Tonight we will resume new episodes of LOST as we head to the finale of this season. Since I have managed to peg a few things in the past that have turned out to be true I thought I would write this down for posterity before the new shows air.

O.k. let's see how wrong I cna be. Here are MY predictions for LOST:

Sawyer: Sleeps with Ana-Lucia (o.k. that's not really a prediction, it's insider information).
Gives up the guns to Jack and the other losties which leads to:

Michael: Is going to lead the Losties into a trap. This is a way to remove the guns from the story line. The Others will take the guns. And this leads to:

Deaths: 2 people will die. My thinking is it will be Ana and Michael.
Ana is too strong of a character. She's a cop. She can use a gun. She has killed 2 people already. The story needs to remove Ana to prevent the losties from becoming too organized and actually forming "an army"
Poor Michael may be removed just to wrap up the Mike wants to get Walt back story arc. I don't think the show is ready to give up the secrets of Walt and even if they do, they won't put Walt back into the hands of the heroes. PS - Mike may be the one that shoots Ana Lucia (or Ana may be the one who shoots Mike for that matter, him being a "traitor" hmmm)

Other random thoughts:

Locke: hmmm... I think John's condition is psychosomatic and that he can walk. Not saying the island isn't special, just that Locke's condition might not be physical.

Libby: She's a compulsive liar. She never skied in Aspen. She's not a clinical psychologist. Though I do think she honestly has a thing for Hurley. Speaking of Hurley...

Hurley: I don't think the numbers are cursed. I think Hurley's good luck/bad luck is his special gift (more about this later). Like an entropic field that protects Hurley, but causes bad luck to the folks around him (like I dunno... a plane crash)

The Others: They may not be the bad guys they appear to be. I know they are a little off and they have seemingly done some "evil" things, but they might have a reason they feel is necessary for the greater good (sic).
I also think they are trapped on the island as well. I think thye have a small town or fort on the island. I don't think it will necessarily be another hatch.

The food drop: I don't think this actually came from the air. I know, I know it had a parachute and flashing light, but I think there is more to the island then what we see above ground.

The "Monster": Like a lot of people I'm going to jump on the nanite band wagon and say there isn't much else technologically speaking it could be. Of course it could be a supernatural phenomena... maybe even a living creature.
I think that if it is indeed a security system (implying technology) then it's composed of more than one "part" and the smoke we see is a recon/sensor mechanism and the larger bulk is subterranean like a subway train.

The Sickness: The mysterious illness is a mental disease not a physical one.

As for the big picture I am still as LOST as everyone else. Maybe the finale will close a lot of doors and give us a glimpse at the bigger picture of the what and why of this show.

This one's for Flametoad!

A friend I know is always spotting really great ads on his blog. I couldn't contain myself when I saw this one. I simply had to share. This could very well be the best commercial I ever saw (I wonder if it has actually aired?):

Australian Toyota Rav4 Commercial (work safe-ish, but requires sound)

Damn! Missed my deadline!

So close I can taste it! I am almost finsihed with secret project code named "Infinite Art" (ohhh ahhh). Unfortunately I missed my self-imposed Wed. deadline then I missed my self-imposed Thursday deadline. Friday is looking dicey. Everytime I think I can just be done with it I find 2 more things I should have made!? Now I am staring at a blank page that needs cover art and I need some kind of splashy sales page for my demo... oh and somewhere in here I really need to send this to the guy that is letting me create this for HIS game so I can get his support and input on it... aye yi yi.

This weekend is really booked too... Easter, Busch Garden tickets and my 12th year wedding aniversary (has it really been that long!?!)

Wow I need to get hoppin! :)

So that's what happened to Michael Jackson's chimp!

This is hilarious! I wasted a lot of corporate time with this today thanks to career builder. If U R lame like me then you like those commercials with the guy who works with an office full of primates. Now you can send your own monk-e-mail(dot com). Here I prepared one just for YOU!

To arms Tars Tharkas! We must defend Barsoom!

Now here's something I can sink my teeth into. ERB doomed me to a life of gamer geekhood with his wonderful tales. After Narnia & LOTR these stories are among my fondest memories. No cast yet, but it's sure to be a good movie as Burroughs estate has been historically very reserved about licensing his stories.

JOHN CARTER OF MARS FACTS
John Carter, an American Civil War vet, stumbles into a time portal while hiding from Apache Indians and winds up on a planet called Barsoom. Carter thinks the planet is Mars, and he's taken prisoner by the proverbial little green men. Only the green men aren't that little — they're 12 feet tall.
Director(s): Jon Favreau
Writer(s): Mark Protosevich, Ehren Kruger
Status: Upcoming (wide)
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Adventure, Action
Release Date: TBA 2006/2007

Dungeon Siege! ...the movie???

Oh man this sounds bad (and not in the good way)
Check out the cast... wtf???

DUNGEON SIEGE FACTS
A small town is attacked by evil creatures known as "krugs," and a young man has to help get rid of the beasties. Lots of monsters die. Lots.
Cast: Burt Reynolds, Ron Perlman, John Rhys-Davies, Matthew Lillard, Kristanna Loken Director(s): Uwe Boll
Status: Upcoming (wide)
Genre(s): Fantasy
Release Date: Summer 2006

Best Worst Birthday Ever!

Day started out bad. Me already in a foul mood about turning 37.
Each year drags me kicking, screaming and clawing my way towards the venerable badge of "old fart". Had a misunderstanding (o.k., o.k. a fight) with the missus and got very little sleep (which REALLY makes me unbareable to be around). Work decided to start the day with poking fun at my age with lots of signs pasted about saying "37 yeah right!" and my desk and computers were COVERED in black balloons and confetti... I thought "oh boy this is going to be the worst birthday ever"

I couldn't have been more wrong. Everbody lifted my spirits with lots of laughs, some great gifts, a paid lunch and the boss even sent my to the movies with pay (wahoo!). Saw V for Vendetta and had a blast. Sometimes my job's not so bad heh.

When I got home the kids and missus had lots of cards and happy birthdays for me as well. Even my family, who is all up north, dropped me some e-cards.

So it all turned out real sweet. Now I jsut wonder if I can finagle a "happy unbirthday" as well haha ;)

Party in the Swamp

We had a busy weekend. Our local area throws a festival apptly named Swamp Fest (as it's out in... well you can guess it - a swamp!). Fortunately it's held in a nice dry park and the nearby swamp is more Florida wetlands than say Cajun Bayou. ;)

Dawna, my beautiful, talented and incredibly smart wife (who reads this blog! :P) setup a nice display of her hand painted Whimstones. She got a lot of compliments and even sold a few "rocks". I'm proud of her work and time again people proved me wrong about my preconceived notions about what kinds and styles of animals they like.

I also tried gator tail for the first time and found it too be... well.. kind of greasy, a little rubbery, and surprisingly bland... of course what was I expecting from the arse end of an alligator? For the record it does not taste like chicken!

Overall it was "fun"... or at least as much fun as one can have spending the entire weekend under a plastic awning selling to the public. I realize now that I am woefully unfit from spending to0 time behind a desk under florescent lighting. I feel exhausted from 2 days of sitting and standing!?! Talk about a low impact workout. We really didn't get a whole lot of sun either as there was ample shade. I need to commune with nature a little more before I turn into a pasty doughboy!

Well time to kick back and relax after a hard day of holding my chair to the ground!

Better late than never!

Work, Taxes and "Real life" have kept me on my feet this last week so the DUG website is just now being made officially live. I will continue to work on it and tweak it so I can make an official announcement on the RPG boards by this weekend (fingers crossed). Just need to finish up a few bits and pieces, but for now it's up and running. :)

... Almost ready for Prime Time

Work on the official Dirty Unicorn Games website has begun! We have needed a web presence for a long time and 12toMidnight.com has been more than accomodating by letting Dirty Unicorn sort of piggyback off them with forums and lots of great product showcasing. They are a great group of guys and Dirty Unicorn wouldn't be anything right now without all of their help!

Needless to say we really have to create our own internet identity that showcases what Dirty Unicorn is all about and what they have to offer. I hope this look will fit the bill for us.

The design looks great and it's tight, but I fear that we may quickly outgrow it the coming year. We shall have to see. Maybe I should HOPE we outgrow it eh? Small RPG companies live by the rule of sink or swim so if we are going to swim we better get in the water!

Be on the lookout for the site to go live next week at www.DirtyUnicorn.com

The Tritanium AH-VEN-GERRRR

I have had a wild hair lately for things superhero-ish. I dug out all my old notes for a really cool game idea I had and to do "research" I recently tried out City of Hereos. Fun game, but it really lacks any roleplaying element. You can pretty much create any kind of classic superhero that you like however (which is prolly why Marvel is suing them right now). Tons and tons of costume options and good selection of powers as well.

My favorite childhood hero is Iron Man so I created a hulking suit of power armor called the Tritanium Avenger. Actually he wasn't originally called Tritanium Avenger, but much like AOL screen names and Yahoo e-mail addresses nearly EVERY name ever thought of has been taken. You have to get clever with 2 and 3 word names to create a character... or really dumb like ray-mond, buttrcheeks, or DuCkWaD (actual names I have seen - ugh)

I'm not sure if I will actually play it after my free month is up, but for now it's an interesting diversion. Not that I NEED diversions right now (nor wild hairs).

I was never into online games, but now with newer computers and high speed access they seem to have all the lag issues worked out that used to plague games 5 and 6 years ago. Too bad they can't work out the social problems which still do plague them.

In one funny / embarassing experience I teamed up with another player and we fought for a while side by side until he announced "I have to go to bed now" followed by "I'm only 9"
You can imagine how lame that makes a 30-something year old guy like me feel. :O

I also had a teen tell me "cool you're as old as my pops"
I took that as a compliment. My poor ego just couldn't have handled two old-fart incidents ;)

If you happen to play this game and you see a big guy named Tritanium Avenger flying by be sure to give him a shout. :)

Super Bowl Sunday

It's Super Bowl Sunday and I could care less. Not that I was ever a huge football fan, but Pittsburgh vs. Seattle??? Meh.
I won't even be watching for the commercials or the half time show this year *shrug*

Darn you... Darn you all to heck!

Well it was only a matter of time before I was TAGGED (thanks Ed, no really).

Ugh. I hate talking about myself, but hey here is everything you never wanted to know about the Jeffro:

4 Jobs I have Had in My Life:

* Lifeguard (never saved anyone, had 3 close calls though)
* U.S.D.A. Food Commodities Outreach Coordinator for Marion County (i.e. I was the free government cheese man)
* Assitant Manager for a Sam's Club (I have since had my Walmart Implanttm removed from my skull)
* Production Supervisor for a classified ad agency (what I do now :)

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:

* Highlander, the original (before it got weird/stupid)
* Star Wars (the first i.e. "episode IV" - Empire is my fav though)
* Sixth Sense
* Matrix

4 TV Shows I Love (d) To Watch:

* Lost
* Earth 2
* Battlestar Galactica (old AND new)
* Myth Busters

4 Places I’ve Lived (I have to list 4???):

* Floral City, Florida
* Dayton, Ohio
* Chester, Massachusetts
* Spring Hill, Florida (in roughly that order - I don't get out much)

4 Places I’ve Been On Vacation To:

* Dallas, Texas (too bad I was too young to remember most of it :-/)
* Washington D.C. (Honeymoon!)
* Disney World in Orlando, Florida
* Down the Weeki Wachi river in a canoe (last week and it was a blast ;)

4 Places I Would Rather Be In:

* In bed dreaming.
* In a deck chair on a tropical beach with my feet up and a cold drink in a coconut shell resting in the palm of my hand.
* In a hammock in the back yard sipping a cold drink and listening to the sounds of summer.
* In a fast sports car crusing at 80+ mph with good music and the road grinding under my wheels.

4 Of My Favorite Foods:

* Italian pasta (espicially Lasagna!)
* Pizza
* Burgers
* Dark Chocolate (mmm... choc-o-lateeee)

4 Websites I Visit Daily:

www.12tomidnight.com
12tomidnighted.blogspot.com
www.flametoad.com
simpleamerican.blogspot.com

4 Unfortunate Souls Tagged:
Well all of my blogland friends have been tagged so I'm coming up a bit short here... I guess I'll tag 4 folks who I would love to read thier answers, but undoubtably will never respond (well in theory anyway)

* God
* Leonardo da Vinci
* MC Escher
* Albert Einstein

Gee that wasn't so painful after all.. ack! L8R M8S :)

.. as a dog.

Well not really, but sick enough to mope around and not get any work (or posting done) Why do they say that anyways? Dogs don't get sick very often... do they???

Well I do. That is for sure. I always come down with the latest and greatest bug. Bonus of having children and working with lots of folks who have children. We all get to exchange germs and try out the seasonal flus and colds early.

Between holidays and colds I just haven't felt like posting so time to do a quick catch up with my online friends and such.

Also we have been house hunting... of a sort. We learned lots of great stuff while looking for our first home. Like for example we don't qualify for a whole lot and what we do qualify for we have to finance at a stiff rate (10.52%). I decided to give LendingTree.com a whirl and for better or worse see if the banks actually do compete for my business ;)

We have been staying near my in-laws for far too long. We need to get out and I just can't swallow paying someone else rent when I could be putting money into my own pocket. We're not in a super rush, so we can take our time and do whatever needs to be done to geta home, but I would like to be a new place and out of here by summer time (another year in this window air-conditioned tin can and I will loose it! :O)

Florida's real estate market has simply BOOMED over the last two years and prices are pretty hefty now, but that also means property is holding a good value. Fortunately for us the market seems to be stabilizing so we might do better at the bartering table when we put in offers on our home-to-be.

In RPG news DirtyUnicorn is gearing up for a good start in the new year. Should have 2 products out for Februaury and a website sooner then that. Of course the best laid plans of mice and men and all that, but I've got my fingers crossed and my mind set so we shall see what the new year brings! (or at least what I bring to the new year!)