We don’t need to know the wayyyy home! Ahem, sorry. In WOW news I finally became exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive, one of the factions fighting off the evil Kael'thas in his mad bid to destroy Azeroth. NERD! But now whenever I run around the Isle of Quel'Danas the NPC’s all say stuff like this. And it give me access to some sweet new gear, which I was in dire need of...can I get a woot-woot?

In news not unrelated to my vanishing personal life, I attended a Shindig last night for the PDX Browncoats, a non profit based on the love of Joss Whedon’s Firefly universe. It was great to meet everyone, and we had a fun time watching Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The PDX Browncoats are the founding members of an annual event called “Can’t stop the Serenity”, a benefit screenings of the Serenity movie with all proceeds going to the Equality Now foundation, which works to end violence and discrimination against women around the world. Talk about a great cause! It’s also a reminder of just how awesome Portland is to get something started like this, and I’m proud to add myself to the group. We will have a booth at the upcoming Ore Con sci-fi convention in two weeks and I’ll be there spreading the love so stop by if you can!

Also, ignore the post about letting myself go grey. I tried it, I gave it a shot, and it’s not for me. If the color was somewhat consistent I could live with it, but when one side is grayer than the other, it’s just not cool...I looked like an Appaloosa or a Calico. Not hot! So now the universe has been restored and everything matches and the portal to hell has been sealed...at least for the next three-four weeks.

Also, I have no regrets if I got that Tina Turner song stuck in your head...all we want is life beyond the Thunderdome!

I took this while wandering aimlessly around the SE industrial area next to the train tracks. That’s just how I roll. Not the kind of place I like to think about any kind of love happening, but if it moves you to tag something close to your heart, then go for it.

Sunday night Chloe threw up some vom, which is unusual because ever since I got her earlier food problems sorted out, she has only launched the occasional hair ball. When I went to clean it up, making the usual sounds of revulsion, I noticed a ribbon of blood in her vom. Shit. She looked perfectly ok and I debated what to do for almost an entire minute, but I took the better safe than sorry approach and took her to Dove Lewis where she spent the night for blood work and observation. It’s the drama queen way. I took the day off work so I could fret by the phone, but I picked her up about noon with the following diagnosis: she had swallowed a 1/4” long piece of twist-tie that she is apt to play with, and that it probably nicked something on the way down but passed it out. Egads. But they checked her poo and pee and said everything looked ok, so now princess gets soft food (tuna) for three days while I get to go through her pewps and look for any signs of blood. I will admit to freaking out a lot, and not having her here for the night and thinking she might die I was a wreck and didn’t sleep well. I love her to pieces, and after the vet continuously referred to her as an “older cat” (she’s only 12, I kept saying) I sit here petting her and pondering what I will do when she does depart this world. My conclusion, based on my reaction to this little event, is that it won’t be pretty. But here’s to that not happening for a long, long time.

Tomorrow is Erection day (typo and it stays) so I hope everyone got or gets out to vote asap. It’s time for some hope and some change and it will only happen if you make your voice heard.

In a Wii Fit update, I have been using it 24 days total, and as of tonight I am down 11 pounds! I’ve really been watching what I eat too, and just trying to move more in general, so that is helping a lot. My goal period is the 10th of November and I have 6 pounds to go. I don’t think I will make it but in my defense my goal was a little unrealistic (and the game even told me so). But if I don’t make it, I’m not dissapointed at all in my progress and it will just give me something else to work towards. :)

This is how obsessed I am with Japan: I just spent an embarrassingly large (for what it does) amount of money on a hot water dispenser. It’s made by Zojirushi just like my rice maker, and of course I bought the model that matches it. Its pretty nifty: there are three temperature setting, and the water starts heating the second you plug it in. It boils freakishly fast, then maintains the water at that temp for as long as you want and you can re-boil it anytime. There is a timer that you can set to have water hot and ready when you get home too. To dispense you just push a button on the top and out it comes via the built in pump, with no drips when you let go. This will be great for tea this winter, and pumps out water hot enough for cup-o-ramen and of course french press coffee. It was silly but on a crazy sale (Uwajimaya just turned 80) and it came with a free gift of a Zojirushi brand steel thermos, so I feel like I scored.

As crazy as this is, in Japan it gets even better. They sell a model there with a built in wireless transmitter that you give to you’re elderly parents or grandparents. When your loved one does (or doesn’t) make tea during the day, it will text and e-mail you to let you know they are ok, or might need to be looked in on. Tea is such a way of life over there that this totally makes sense, and I thought the idea of using it to check in on the older folks was plain brilliant. The Japanese language site for the “iPot” is here in case you are curious.

This is how fat WiiFit made me. Eh...it’s pretty accurate, actually.

Today was my third night working out with Wii Fit. It was a ton of fun, and this time I mixed it up on the stair stepping routine by doing curls with my ten pound weights. Ouch. My weight was down 1.27 pounds from yesterday...I’m trying to see if there is a way I can post my charts and graphs here other than lame screenshots with my camera. I’m also going to start writing down what exercises I do so I can keep track and try to get a regular routine. But all in all it’s a lot of fun, and I unlocked a new Yoga pose and a new stepping exercise. That one was hard, as it incorporated kicks and side steps (not stepping to the side, I mean rotating 90 degrees onto the narrow side, which is hard for us big footed americans) and doubles the pace. For the last third it says “Let’s go faster!” and then it goes nuts. By the time that one was done I was panting and sweating, but I had a new high score and unlocked another strength training exercise. I also unlocked a cool step program where it allows you to change channels to watch TV but still do the exercise as the Wiimote ticks off your pace through it’s tiny speaker. You can even have it vibrate the pace if you want to listen to your iPod. I am focusing more on yoga and cardio for now, but will get more into the strength training as I get used to you know...moving.

Something I feel I should put out there is that my expectations here are realistic. Some of these exercises are downright silly, and I know I am not going to hoola-hoop or run in place my way to losing sixty pounds. But the point is to get someone who does not exercise at all (me) in the habit of doing something regular. I’m at day three and loving it, so I will keep it up. As I feel more confident in myself and begin to lose noticeable weight, I’m sure I will graduate to something more demanding but in the meantime this is working and it’s really, really fun. :)

I’ve been on a “healthy kick” the last few weeks...I just hit the wall one day and said you know what dork? You need to make some changes. My inner voice can be such a bitch. But in the last month I’ve changed my diet to include more fresh fruits and veggies, less meat if any, and whole foods that are unprocessed. But I’ve also been wanting to exercise more. My two mile a day walking is maintaining me, but it’s not helping me lose any weight. Then while looking at exercise bikes at the mall I saw it...Wii Fit. It came out a few months ago and has been kind of hard to find it’s been in such high demand. I didn’t buy it right then, I did what any good computer nerd does before making a purchase: I went home and researched it. There are tons of websites out there dedicated to Wii Fit and Wii Sports as methods of weight loss, and I got sucked into the whole idea that this might actually work. But could a video game actually help me lose weight and tone up? Well, it would be a lot more discreet than an exercise bike sitting in my living room, and you can’t hang clothes from a Wii Fit...

So last night was my first night with it and in a word, it’s awesome. You go through the setup process, which involves inputting your information so it can calculate your “body age” (what it thinks your body condition is like, the ideal being 22. I scored 43, which made my Mii cry). Then it weighs you (another lesson in humiliation) then calculates your BMI (you don’t want to know). It charts and graphs everything, and then you set goals: how much you would like to lose and what time frame you would like to do it in, etc. But it corrects you when you input unreasonable goals: when I told it I wanted to lose 60 pounds in two months, it gently pointed out that there was no way in hell that was ever going to happen so pick a lower number, crackhead. It also redraws your body on the screen accordingly, so my Mii was transformed into quite the roundish little blob. That stings, Nintendo.

Then the workouts begin: you can choose from yoga, strength training, cardio, and balance exercises. You mix and match and do whatever you enjoy the most. For my first night I focused on cardio, doing the hula-hoop, a stepping game, and running in place around an imaginary on-screen trail that moves with me. I also did some yoga, something I have never done before, but I can now strike “the tree” and “the warrior” like nobody’s business. It was really, really fun and before I knew it I was soaked with sweat. I tried a few of each to get an idea what ones I liked most, and as you progress you unlock more and more exercises. You also get to work out alongside the other Mii’s on your system, so I had a great time stair stepping with my friend Kelly, jogging with Ron Jeremy and catching hoola-hoops thrown by Seven of Nine. If you have a Wii, send me your code so we can exchange Mii’s...I’d like more real life friends in there mixing it up. Today I woke up sore but energetic, and when I signed on for my workout and it gleefully told me I was down two pounds from yesterday. That could be anything of course but it still felt good, so I plan to keep the blog updated every few days with my progress as I will be playing Wii Fit every day. Every day, people...wish me luck!

I’ve been going gray since I was in my late twenties, so I started coloring my hair and beard a few years back. But as my 39th birthday approached I wanted to go natural, so I decided to take a temporary break from the Fruictise beast. This week I got my hair cut really short to get the last of the color out and wow, I was pretty shocked. It doesn’t show up well in this photo so you have to trust me. My stylist Kiersten was very supportive...she told me it looked more natural, that I looked fabulous, etc. The rest of the exchange went something like this:

Her: “You look great, very distinguished, like Ironsides.”
Me: “The Navy Ship or the TV show? Are you saying I look like Raymond Burr?”
Her: (eyes rolling) “The TV show, and I was referring to his hair.”
Me: “That’s a complete lie. And how the hell do you know who Ironsides was, you are way too young.”
Her: “What do you mean, I’m 43.”
Me: “Well you don’t look a day over 30.”
Her: “That’s because I color my hair.”
Me: “I hate you, you goddam harpy.”

When I got home my first thought was to go out and get another box of pretend youth again but then I thought no...let’s give it a little time first. And I have to say, despite it still taking some getting used to, I like it. Will I color it again? I’m sure I will at some point, but not for a while. A customer came into work yesterday, about my age, with hair dyed so obviously fake black that I had to suppress a snicker. I completely empathized with his mindset of course, but my first thought was wow...that is so fake looking, I don’t want to go back to that just yet. So in the meantime I’m going to pull on the cardigan, curl up in my chair with a blankie and some Werthers, and catch up on my stories. :)

File this under “Life just has more meaning when it’s measured in experience points” but I finally hit level 70 on my main character in WOW. Hard to believe I only started playing back in March! I initially created my first character, then after about 15 levels of getting my feel for the game I deleted him and started my main character, a Hunter that I named Arachis. I started playing my first alternate character at one point and got him to level 20, but ended up deleting him because I didn’t like the class/race combination I chose. If I hadn’t done that Arachis might have hit 70 sooner, but what can you do? I recently started a female alternate character (a Paladin) named Arachnia and she’s currently at level 12, but I’ve been ignoring her as Arachis got closer to 70. One of the many bonuses of this level (which is as high as the current version of the game supports, hence the nerdy big deal, but it will go up to 80 with the next expansion) is that I was able to buy a flying mount. So now I can FLY most places instead of running along the ground, which is awesome. Do you know what makes a nerd feel better about himself? Flying above the other nerds on his flying mount, that’s what. Oh yeahhhhh!

And yes, my pet is a purple tiger named Muffin. If you have an issue with that I have no problem swishing right over there and giving you such a pinch!

Well my prediction came true: Gillian departed this world for the great beyond on Sunday. My first betta’s name was Gill, and the next one was Gilligan (Gill AGAIN, get it?) and then when Gilligan died I was fishless for a while. When I started looking around there was a betta shortage in Portland for some reason and I had no luck finding a male. Females were scarce too, and I only ended up with Gillian because my manager at work had bought her to try to breed them but she didn’t get along with the male. I’ve had her about 9 months or so, but my other betta’s lived much longer...Gill lived to be almost four! So I’m going to replay the ritual...clean out the tank, buy a new filter cartridge, and start over with a new male. I’ll post photos as soon as I get him, probably this weekend. Any votes on colors? I’ve never had an all blue or all green betta before...or a white one, that would be cool too. Throw any votes in the comments. :)

Another year goes by, and the national reserve of boxed wine drops another notch. I had a great time with all my peeps that came out to share, I don’t know what I would do without my circle. You guys rock! Now, who ended up with my underwear from Saturday? Seriously, I need those back because they aren’t mine. Don’t ask!

I ate so much garbage this weekend in the name of said birthday I’m now paying the price. Pics will be posted soon. Well not of THAT. I’m working on some changes to the site at the moment, have you noticed?

Also, I think Gillian is dying. She wasn’t looking good last week and after I got back today she is looking really slow and lethargic and her color is way off. I did a water change and she is eating, but really slowly. Bettas only live a few years but still...I’ll be really bummed if she dies. :(

This is a screenshot of my WOW character, sporting a new piece of chest armor. I got it on a guild run and it was a big boost to what I had been wearing as far as stats go, but it leaves nothing to the imagination and I feel like he’s running around half naked. I want to get a better piece just to cover him up better, but it makes me giggle so I had to share. I’m also at level 58 now so I should be able to go to areas I have never been able to get into before, which is cool.

In related WOW news I joined a guild a while back and I’m really liking it. We’re on the Khadgar server and the guild is called Horde Reapers. Charming name, I know. We use voice chat and all kinds of geeky fun, and the players are all mature and helpful, not at all like my other guild experiences. I was about to move my character to a West coast server to lower my latency (I am usually at 100-200 milliseconds on Khadgar, it’s an East coast server) but now with my guild I will stick it out a bit more. Plus I’ve been promoted twice...I’m a commander now! One of my other toons I play (that I have since deleted) was on a west coast server, and my latancy never went above 5 or 6 milliseconds and I could really tell the difference in gameplay.

I need a real life but in the meantime, this is working out just fine. :)

Well I did it: I am now an Apple Certified Support Professional in OS X 10.5. Yay! I should get my certificate this week so I’m pretty stoked. I completely suck at any form of studying and testing, so I’m pretty excited about it. This was for the Desktop Support Essentials course, and now I move on to Server Support Essentials. If I pass that test (which would amaze me shitless) it would combine with the first one to make me an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator for OS 10.5 Leopard. When the OS gets updated again, I’m screwed. Well not really, but I will have to take the clases and tests over again, which kinda sucks balls. I will still retain the certification so it’s still a good thing to have, but it would be nice if I could take a delta class that would just cover the differences. But I passed the test (finally) so that’s all that matters for now. :)

...but you can’t afford the freeway.

I’ve been singing that line a lot this last week, as it’s the opening line to Aimee Mann’s new single “Freeway”. It’s from her brand new album, “@#%&*! Smilers” which just came out. Naturally, being the rabid mann-fan that I am, I bought it instantly. A few days after it’s realease, there was more good news: Aimee is coming to Portland in July! It will be the 11th time I have seen her in concert. Stalker alert! A day or two later, more good news: Aimee launched a contest on YouTube to have fans submit videos of themselves singing “freeway”! The winner gets to sing the song with her live in concert (twitch) and ten runner-ups get autographed CD’s. When I came-to after reading that little bit of news, I knew I was genetically mandated to enter that contest, even tho I can’t carry a tune worth a shit and I will BUTCHER it, but I’m doing it anyway. The first few days of the contest there weren’t any submissions and I was feeling like wow, this might actually be something I have a shot at! Going to the YouTube page now however shows it’s sporting over 50 entries so far, and a lot of them are simply amazing. Many of them are playing the song on their guitar while singing, which is something I simply can’t do. There are still a few weeks to go of the contest, but it seems like the winners are probably already chosen. I mean, some of them are just incredible. But I’m still going to enter it, regardless of the outcome...it’s all about the fun, after all. When will I ever get a chance to show Aimee Mann what an ass I’m willing to make of myself just for her music? I’ve loved her sound since the Til’ Tuesday days, and stood in line to get her first solo CD way back in 1995 the day it came out. OK there was no line, it was just me, but I was the first one in Portland to get it! I’ll update with a YouTube link when the video is up and post it in the video section here...it should be worth a laugh and a cringe or two.

*Update* OMFG, how will I ever compete with this guy? This is gold! I love robots!