The Heavyside Lair II
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Stephen E's LiveJournal:
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| Saturday, October 17th, 2009 | | 9:39 pm |
Making Uly-ade out of Lemons
So, sad day. Buell is done. Harley-Davidson has been hemorrhaging money and got rid of everything that isn't core business. Buell is not core business and closed down Thursday. Sad Day. However, there is an upside. Crazy deals and rebates on Buells in stock. Harley wants to get them off the floor ASAP. When the Ulysses first came out, that was the bike I wanted. I was in love. Then I tried to sit on one and could just tippy-toe it. Then they made one that was shorter. Then they made one where the electrics were more reliable, then they made a touring model. Each year I'm waiting for the price on a used one to get into a range I could deal with, and each year _this_ years model is the one I want, so I have to wait until _it_ is used. That's fine, I am patient. Then this happens, and suddenly _this_ years model drops into a price rrange I can afford. Oh happy day. So today, My darling wife and I headed to the Buell store, and bought MY NEW BIKE: http://www.buell.com/en_us/bikes/2009/XB12XT/colors.asp(the blue one). Wheeeeee! Current Mood:  giddy | | Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 | | 9:50 am |
| | Saturday, September 5th, 2009 | | 7:38 pm |
Funny costumes
There have been a number that made me chuckle. My favorite thus far is spidermans spawn wearing big white gloves and Mickey mouse pants | | Friday, September 4th, 2009 | | 5:32 pm |
B5
Claudia chistian is a cut up on a panel. Bruce boxlightener is very vocal and outspoken. Not terrible concerened with being politically correct. He said the sort of things I did not expect to hear on a panel. The surprise for me was Tracy scoggins she was smart, very diplomatic and a fan. She talked about how surreal it was to film her first scene with Walter koneig and the self control it took her to not pester himwith geeky Trekkie questions. She gained herself a fan today. :) | | 1:12 pm |
Stil moar
Steampunk r2d2 Gareth Lloyd and James Marsters give good panel. Gareth flirted, James sang and we got totally spoiled for the latest torchwood. Oh well, t'was worth it. :) every time I've costumed well enough for people to stop us for pictures I feel like we have succeeded. Ego surfing dragoncon pictures will be a lot tougher than norwescon however. Off for a bite, then try to see abbney park in concert. | | 12:03 am |
Moar
Well just hangng out in the lobby there have already been at least a half dozen slave Lea s, a full size wookie, three stormtroopers, alien and predator several droids . . . Really just more than I can take in let alone photograph. I really appreciated the vault dweller with his fully functional pipboy.NMh darling wife is up in the room, overwhelmed. I figured I would at least try to get some pictures of the lobby. | | Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 | | 5:38 pm |
Dragoncon
we are hanging out in our crazy hotel at dragoncon, going through the schedule. I am officially overwhelmed. I need about three of me to do everthing I want to do. Today is just checking in, finding our way around and getting registered. Good thing too. I am starting to feel like just going through the schedule is going to take all day. Back to my trusty highlighter. Grandma sweet would be proud. | | Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | | 4:40 pm |
Welcome to Serenshire
What have I been up to? Well, several things, like last weekend including two different groups of very cool people visiting from out of state. However, I’ve also been running a blood bowl league. For the uninitiated it’s like playing football, as a wargame, using fantasy races, who are allowed to kill each other. The easiest bit of it that I usually use to explain the flavour of the game is to say that there is a mechanic to determine if the Troll throwing the goblin with the ball into the end zone decides to eat him instead of throwing him. I thought y’all might get a kick out of reading the game summaries I’ve been writing up. They’re posted to http://www.geekslayer.com/bloodbowl. My team is the Serenshire Stuffers, an Ent/Hobbit team. | | Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 | | 8:40 am |
| | Monday, June 29th, 2009 | | 8:49 am |
David Hough is awesome
David Hough will be inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame this December at the Hard Rock in Vegas. I can't think of someone more deserving. | | Monday, June 15th, 2009 | | 2:13 pm |
quick updates
We sold the Sentra, and fast. After posting it on craigslist, there were 12 replies within a few hours, with varying degrees of seriousness. We responded to the only one that replied using complete sentences and punctuation. She picked up the car the next day, paid cash and the Sentra drove out of our lives. My bike continues to be absent from my life. It's in the shop with a broken bolt, excess engine vibration continues to be an issue. These days, every time I'm driving and I see a motorcyclist riding in this beautiful weather I get a stab of resentment. I hope to get it back soon, by optimistic estimates it'll be back by this weekend. At least I have a spiffy new car to get used to in the mean time. I shot a bunch of pictures two weekends ago, then spent this weekend sorting through them for the ones I liked. This one is by far my favorite. It's actually a crop from a much bigger picture. I took it from the 16 percent view I had been using up to a 100 percent view, which is basically what you see here. I then cropped everything else out. I had the easiest Team Oregon class ever this last weekend. Due to a bunch of drop outs, we ended up with a grand total of seven students. The weather was nice, overcast, but not wet. The students were all great. One needed attention due to being brand new, one just plain needed attention. Everybody comfortably passed the test. It was as easy as these weekends get. | | Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 | | 1:09 pm |
1995 Nissan Sentra, well loved, $500
Crossposted this to Craigslist :) http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/1213969061.html---- Where by "well loved" we mean "beat up but still runs". We are the original owners. It has gotten all the recommended dealer services done at Beaverton Nissan. It passed the DEQ last month and the plates are good for two more years. The odometer says 120080 miles. For a 15 year old car that’d be great, if it were true. However, the odometer stopped working 5 years ago. We figure the car knew its days were numbered when we got the motorcycles. The engine runs fine; it has a minor coolant leak that we’ve not been able to track down. We just carry coolant with us, now you can too! We’ll throw in a gallon. We’ll also throw in a set of tire chains. They got some good use last winter. They’re the heavy-duty, easy-install-and-remove style. If we have another snowpocalypse you’ll be prepared. The radio works, the tape deck does not. If you need the tape deck to work, I suspect you’ve got bigger problems than I am qualified to help with. It is missing the passenger side mirror. My wife saw fit to remove it by means of our garage door to make room for mounting a targeting laser. Sadly we never got around to mounting the laser, but the car is extra fuel-efficient as it is missing that superfluous mirror. It has never been in a collision while we were in it. However, there’s an old dent in the rear quarter panel courtesy of some jerk in a parking lot. Hence the inspiration for the targeting laser. It comes with some bitchin’ purple fairy car seat covers. Nothing says badass like fairies. The windshield is cracked. I can’t think of something funny to say about that, cracked windshields just suck. There is a decorative “airbag” light. It blinks constantly. You can use it as a metronome if you like or just put some electric tape over it. I suppose if you are feeling saucy you could just get the airbag serviced instead. It has a keyless entry system. That is to say, back when the car was worth something, someone tried to break in to the car, and now the passenger side door lock is loose. We’ll teach you the special trick you can use to open the door without a key. You’ll never lock your keys in the car again! All that said it’s a running car for 500 bucks. What more do you want for 500 bucks? | | Thursday, May 14th, 2009 | | 1:39 pm |
| | 10:39 am |
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada has brought some really great stuff to the world, and I'm really excited to see they've emerged int othe digital age. Do not click the link unless you have an hour or so to spend :) | | Sunday, May 10th, 2009 | | 5:52 pm |
biker weekend
It is a bike-themed weekend. Spent the weekend teaching, one of the better classes I've had. Everyone understood counter-steering (by the end of the swerve maneuver) and the slow speed corner went really well. They were really a good group. I suspect a few people didn't pass*, but that was mostly nerves. The skills that were required were learned, they just weren't solid enough to survive the stress of a test. Which is fine, if a test stresses a student out enough to forget fundamentals, they're not street-ready. We also gifted some cycle gear to a new rider, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sauciwench, earning ourselves some good biker karma. We're glad it could find a good home, and get her on her way easier. Tomorrow cee_gee and I will be taking the ART class. Although it looks like we're going to be a little damp, I'm still excited. I've taken an abbreviated version of the course (a Team Oregon instructor perk) and am very excited to see what it is like in it's entirety. It's a morning of classroom instruction and an afternoon on this track. Finally there was a biker on the wet-leather mailing list also taking the class, and we'll be hosting him for the evening. He's got a bit of a ride in and didn't want to do several hours of riding on either end of this class. * I was the secondary instructor, and never got to look at the tallied scoresheet. Didn't care to either, that's not the point (for me). | | Friday, May 1st, 2009 | | 9:54 am |
TYSADTWD
We recently had "Take your sons and Daughters to work Day" here at work. I was engaged to take both candid shots throughout the day and to do portraits of any of the kids who their parents brought to our little "studio". Most of the kids were pretty good in front of the camera, although a good portion of that was posing with the dogs. The kids would give this big genuine smiles because they got to pose with their choice of the dogs that happened to be at work that day. ( Cut for adorable veterinary cuteness )Hrm, I might need a photography icon. | | Thursday, April 30th, 2009 | | 10:22 am |
Back in Black
It is really nice to be back on the bike. It is a little disconcerting too. As the bike had more and more obviously needed a trip to the shop, I had been babying it. I just got it back and it certainly doesn't need that anymore. I am reacquainting myself with 80 or so ft.lbs of torque. I am also really glad our ART class is coming up to help me better understand how to effectively use that power. Watching the head of Team Oregon ride as part of the research I’m doing on the weekends has reinforced my need to learn more about riding. He makes it look so easy, so smooth. When we were watching a rather exceptional subject practice the RSP course last weekend we were talking about people starting riding and learning to ride. He commented that riding was addictive. I made a minor correction and commented that riding well is addictive. He accepted that correction. | | Monday, April 27th, 2009 | | 9:29 am |
google ad weirdness
We're having a gmail discussion about gaming, trying to get as far into the session as we can, before we actually sit at the table. I just took a look at the context-sensitive ads on the side of my gmail page: Spirit Entity Removal 100% Effective and Remote.Discreet. Internationally renowned expert. www.spiritentityremoval.com Voodoo by Papa Jorge Specializing in love problems. Reuniting lovers. 1-800-958-6636 www.papajorgevoodoo.com Free Magic Spells Whatever you need, my powerful spells can help. All free. www.sara-freder.com/ Venus Love Spells Ancient rituals. Magic spells with Rapid results. Love, money, power! www.venuslovespells.com Extra Power Magic Spells Guaranteed Faster Working Spells plus Free Psychic Reading today. www.Wizards-Magic-Spells.com Current Mood:  amused | | Monday, April 20th, 2009 | | 2:29 pm |
Victoriana Theatre
cee_gee and julrosec and I are planning on visiting the theat-ah on May 2nd. We're going to see a local collective do their interpretation of "Alice in Wonderland". I am expecting a very loose interpretation, but some fun. We're also planning on wearing our victorian finest. Anyone else game? Information and tickets are here: http://www.bossanovaballroom.com/( Event Details ) | | Monday, April 13th, 2009 | | 5:17 pm |
Norwescon 32
Oh, Norwescon, how I love thee. Lemme count the ways: The dances. My favorite part of Norwescon. This year, for the first time, I actually took some time and tried to get good pictures of the dancers. It was then I noticed why I like Norwescon dances so much. Everyone is having a really good time. I often have to hunt around to find pictures of people who are really smiling. Not posed, but actually smiling because they are genuinely happy. At the dance everyone seemed genuinely happy. With the lighting it was still hard to get good pictures, but I did manage this one: http://www.geekslair.com/nor09/Pages/40.htmlPlaying dress up is fun. We had a few fun costumes. When people took the time to notice what I was carrying, they appreciated the wonderflonium security guard. Most people didn’t understand our group “Marsh refining company” costume: http://www.geekslair.com/nor09/Pages/8.html . And finally, we had a steampunkish costume based on a gaslamp-era Torchwood: http://www.geekslair.com/nor09/Pages/29.html . I think year was our year of the subtle costume, we didn’t get a lot of immediate recognition. Still, it was fun. I find it kinda ironic that the costume that took the least amount of effort or planning, the rock Band band, got the most recognition. There was a small but rabid crowd to be played for at the dance, and a special performance at one of the parties. Additionally it was fun to go play rock band, although I was extremely disappointed that I forgot to bring the connector cable for the light and smoke kit. Bad Roadie! Generally we’re having fun looking into steampunk costuming. There’s just a lot of options and given the relative lack of source material, there’s few constraints on what you can do. Here’s a crowd of them: http://www.geekslair.com/nor09/Pages/1.htmlThere were a number of great costumes, the best of which was a couple doing “Legend”: http://www.geekslair.com/nor09/Pages/10.html. However, I’d want to give some sort of medal to the guy who did Wash: http://www.geekslair.com/nor09/Pages/5.htmlThe Parties were a lot of fun. I enjoyed introducing my sister to vodka-infused cinnamon-cherries. More pictures available at: http://www.geekslair.com/nor09/I enjoyed the new panelists this year. As much as we enjoyed previous gaming tracks, this year had very new people going in very new directions. It was fun exploring these new places. I also got a fair amount out of the first half of the comics panel. |
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