Sparktoblog!

Squall invades my soul

Last night was fun - Randy and his partner Chuck came out to Seattle to finally see my new condo and meet Skype. Randy did not seem to know what to make of a dog (long time cat owner) but chuck certainly had fun playing with him. We walked up to Hana on Broadway and sat down for a nice sushi dinner. It was funny watching Chuck eat sushi - he obviously was not entirely comfortable with the idea of eating raw food, much less blobs of gelatinous fish. Randy was a bit more used to it but still trended in the direction of the cooked fish.

After an hour of fish and rice wine we headed back to my place for a bit more puppy play. Skype was certainly low energy last night (probobly for the best given Randy's reaction to him in a calm state) and after they left he curled up in my lap while I delved deeper into Final Fantasy VIII. Since I got it yesterday I have played quite a bit - almost 4 hours so far. It's amazing the quality of the game given when it came out, time and time again I'm impressed by the quality of the game play, graphics, and FMV. Some of the FMV even stands up to today's high standards!

Tonight I'm helping Brien move into his new condo and doing very little else. Skype is going to need some serious quality time given how little I'm going to see him tomorrow. Tomorrow two friends of mine have birthdays, one of which is a 21st birthday. We are renting a stretch limo and partying it up hard on the capitol hill. I got a puppy sitter and am looking forward to my first time partying out of the house since I brought him home!

Pondering the drive

I drove to work this morning, tired and wishing that I could just go back home and curl up with Skype for another few hours. I spent a good portion of last night playing Fable, the new Xbox game from Microsoft Studios. It's not quite everything they drummed it up to be, but has some cool ideas, and is very open ended. Unfortunately it took a while to teach Skype that the Xbox controller and cable was not a play toy and that chewing on them was not acceptable.

Last night as I lay in bed before going to sleep I started to think about the coin toss yesterday. Should I have taken it? Was I right to pass? As I get older I find myself getting more reflective, more responsible, seeking more stability. Getting the condo and adopting Skype was just the beginning - now I find myself thinking more and more about the future. How will I provide for myself (and my fledgling family)? Where will I go from here? What goals do I have? It makes me wonder if I have truly lost the bright eyed innocence of youth to the clutches of American capitalism.

I drove to work this morning in a daze, watching the lights in the top of the I-90 tunnel streak down in the reflections of the Toureg in front of me. What's next I wonder - am I slated to get a big house with a white picket fence? What about a gas guzzling SUV? Next thing you know I'll be voting Republican, voting to go to war, chopping down trees.

*sigh* Has age really robbed me of my drive to make the world a better place? Have I sunk into a self centered pit? Do I care any more? Is there really more to life than getting the next paycheck and paying the bills?

An interesting proposition

So my boss just approached me with an interesting gamble - a toss of the coin to decide my fate. He offered me a 50% raise on my base salary if I win, or being fired on the spot if I lose. What a way to decide how my life will unfold - should I go for the gold and hope to get a decent chunk of change (all said and done once I calculate commission into it would be roughly a $20k raise) and take the chance of being out on the streets looking to code for food again? Talk about a run of the mill day in the good old office.

I'm thinking no - I have a condo now, and a puppy to take care of. God the weight of responsibility can be heavy on your shoulders when you get old! Thoughts? Comments? Should I go for it?

Off to a bad start this week

It's only Monday and the week is already off to a bad start. I had a great weekend (for the most part) and was pumped up and ready to tackle my week. I got to work and was bashing through the calls when somthing set off a spark with a co-worker. My co-worker never seems to respect people, and looks at the IT professionals that he places as ways to make money. It bothers me that he fails to respect others on even the most basic of levels (being a card carrying, gun toting republican does not help either). We got into a spat about answering phone calls and it ended up escalating from a comment, to an email, to a thread of emails with the VP's, on to a full blown meeting in the office. We both ended up compromising, but it still left a really sour taste in my mouth and I can't quite seem to focus on work now.

Aside from that the last couple of days have been really fun. On Friday night I did not do to much. I had a couple of friends over and we ended up spending most of the evening watching movies and playing with Skype. Saturday was a big day for everyone - Skype had his second veterinary visit and got a clean bill of health. The scale at the vet's confirmed my suspicions that he has more than doubled in size in the last month (I can't believe it's already been a month!). After the vet we walked over to Tres place so that Skype could play with Sophie and romp around in the back yard. On the way back to my car (parked at the vet's) we stopped by Michael's so that Skype could meet Pixel and Abbey, the two dogs living there.

In the evening Scot came over so I could take him out for his birthday dinner. He's grown into an elderly and sedate 27 year old and boy are we proud of him. Next thing you know he will achieve the title of "head slumlord" and start engaging in gang warfare with other slumlords in the Seattle area. After a nice dinner at Charlie's we chilled out at my place and watched Boiler Room for a good laugh.

Sunday was a completely lazy day for me. Skype was a little out of it - the vaccination he got on Saturday made him feel a little under the weather. We spent most of the day on the couch watching movies. It was nice to relax and just spend a day bonding with the pup. This week I have a couple of video games on the way and I'm looking forward to more relaxation with Skype and conquering the world!

PocketPC bliss

So after nearly a year without a pocketPC I broke down and got myself one. I decided against getting a pocketPC phone and instead decided to go for a more fully featured pocketPC with other wireless communications protocols. I settled on the iPaQ 4355 for its thumb board and large memory store. It has both WiFi and bluetooth to connect and an SDIO slot for future upgrades.

I am actually quite impressed with the thumb board. Its obviously not as nice as a full keyboard but now that I am used to it I am typing at about 25 words per minute. I am plodding out this entire blog entry on it for practice.

The WiFi is a nice touch. Browsing the web or managing my work and personal email. Now I am starting to get an idea of why blackberry's are so addictive!

The light at the end of the tunnel

Today was that first dark depressing day of winter. I woke up with my alarm and no light seeped through the slats in my window blinds. I was in darkness, the only hint of life or vibrancy was Skype stirring at my side. Winter always makes me feel dead - I wake up in the dark, I drive to work in the dark, I drive home and spend my evenings in the dark. Sometimes it feels like the only glimmer of light that escapes from our distant sun into my life must be filtered by the tinted windows and drawn blinds of my office.

There has been one bright beacon of light in the past few days however - my mom came into town yesterday and I got to have a great dinner with her. She got to meet Skype (what a proud grandma) and absolutely loved him. I think a lot of her reservations about me having a pit bull melted away once he gave her a kiss and she got to play with him.

Last night both my parents were in Seattle and we got to go out to Il Forno for a nice dinner. We had a couple of pizza's and some beers. It's still slightly strange drinking in public with my parents - it's not somthing I am used to doing yet, and still has a slightly uncomfortable aspect to its many pleasures. It's strange how our relationship has evolved over the years - we used to be two groups - the kids and the parents. Now we are like equals, spending the night talking about foreign policy, politics, taxes, and my grandparents. We are now all adults together, enjoying being a family.

Speaking of family I miss my sister. I almost never get to see her anymore with her off at college. This Christmas I'm going to have to find a way to go down to Walla Walla so I'll get a chance to see her. I'm not sure exactly how this will all work, especially given that I've taken off for Skype and bringing him home.

Too hot

This sucks... The A/C went out in my office today. I spent the entire day in a hot muggy office wearing a suit, begging to be cool. I hate sweating - that is about the length of it.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Today was that first dark depressing day of winter. I woke up with my alarm and no light seeped through the slats in my window blinds. I was in darkness, the only hint of life or vibrancy was Skype stirring at my side. Winter always makes me feel dead - I wake up in the dark, I drive to work in the dark, I drive home and spend my evenings in the dark. Sometimes it feels like the only glimmer of light that escapes from our distant sun into my life must be filtered by the tinted windows and drawn blinds of my office.

There has been one bright beacon of light in the past few days however - my mom came into town yesterday and I got to have a great dinner with her. She got to meet Skype (what a proud grandma) and absolutely loved him. I think a lot of her reservations about me having a pit bull melted away once he gave her a kiss and she got to play with him.

Last night both my parents were in Seattle and we got to go out to Il Forno for a nice dinner. We had a couple of pizza's and some beers. It's still slightly strange drinking in public with my parents - it's not somthing I am used to doing yet, and still has a slightly uncomfortable aspect to its many pleasures. It's strange how our relationship has evolved over the years - we used to be two groups - the kids and the parents. Now we are like equals, spending the night talking about foreign policy, politics, taxes, and my grandparents. We are now all adults together, enjoying being a family.

Speaking of family I miss my sister. I almost never get to see her anymore with her off at college. This Christmas I'm going to have to find a way to go down to Walla Walla so I'll get a chance to see her. I'm not sure exactly how this will all work, especially given that I've taken off for Skype and bringing him home.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Today was that first dark depressing day of winter. I woke up with my alarm and no light seeped through the slats in my window blinds. I was in darkness, the only hint of life or vibrancy was Skype stirring at my side. Winter always makes me feel dead - I wake up in the dark, I drive to work in the dark, I drive home and spend my evenings in the dark. Sometimes it feels like the only glimmer of light that escapes from our distant sun into my life must be filtered by the tinted windows, cloudy skies, and drawn blinds of my office.

There has been one bright beacon of light in the past few days however - my mom came into town yesterday and I got to have a great dinner with her. She got to meet Skype (what a proud grandma) and absolutely loved him. I think a lot of her reservations about me having a pit bull melted away once he gave her a kiss and she got to play with him.

Last night both my parents were in Seattle and we got to go out to Il Forno for a nice dinner. We had a couple of pizza's and some beers. It's still slightly strange drinking in public with my parents - it's not somthing I am used to doing yet, and still has a slightly uncomfortable aspect to its many pleasures. It's strange how our relationship has evolved over the years - we used to be two groups - the kids and the parents. Now we are like equals, spending the night talking about foreign policy, politics, taxes, and my grandparents. We are now all adults together, enjoying being a family.

Speaking of family I miss my sister. I almost never get to see her anymore with her off at college. This Christmas I'm going to have to find a way to go down to Walla Walla so I'll get a chance to see her. I'm not sure exactly how this will all work, especially given that I've taken off for Skype and bringing him home.

I’m so worn out I’m invisible.

This morning was hell – Skype was being a brat last night and kept waking up and wanting to play. The whole week has been tiring and that just wiped me out. While driving to work this morning I felt as if I was invisible. Other people apparently thought that too because I had no less than three people try to merge into the lane I was driving in and nearly sideswipe my car. *sigh* At least the week is almost over.

This has been a long week in general. I’m still getting used to work life with Skype, and still coping with our loss of Bear. I’ve been on a huge Anime kick and have spent most of my evenings hanging out with friends watching movies and cuddling with the boy. I have not been sleeping well and so my general tiredness has been dragging the rest of my life down a notch as well.

I guess the high point of my whole week was on Sunday. My dad has a couple of weeks off and is spending them up in Canada with his parents. He passed through Seattle on Sunday and stopped off to visit with me for the afternoon and then stayed the night before heading up to Vancouver on Monday morning. He got to my place just before noon and we got to have lunch and dinner together.

It was really nice to see him and catch up. The older I get the closer I get to my parents and the more I appreciate my time with them. It’s always nice to just spend a few hours talking and watching movies with dad just like old times. Now that I only see them every couple of months I look forward to seeing them and am always sad to see them go.

My mom will be flying into Seattle next Tuesday and I’ll get to hang out with her. She will stay the night then my dad will come down and meet her so they can go spend next week together on the coast. I’m pretty sure that as much as they miss their kids they are probobly pretty happy to have us both “out of the nest” so they can take vacations together like this without a bunch of screaming kids to deal with.

I’ve been meaning to update this blog for a couple of days now but I just can’t seem to find the time. I’ve been keeping myself busy (read distracted) and that’s been helping me cope with everything. Hopefully this weekend I’ll get a chance to really relax, bond with Skype, and get caught up on some things around the house before Mom comes into town on Tuesday.

A moment of silence.

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the September 11th tragedy. More than 3000 people lost their lives in the largest terrorist attack in history on American soil. May their souls rest in peace.

Never forget 9/11

Update: changed wording to reflect that not all the brave souls who lost their lives because of the September 11th attacks were US citizens. Terrorism affects people worldwide.

Ninja Scroll

So last night I plunked down on the couch and started watching Ninja Scroll. It’s a great anime made for adults with lots of violence, sex, stealthy powerfull ninjas, and superhuman villains. Watching it made me think back to the time when I lived with Bear. Bear was one of the biggest anime fans I’ve met, and had hundreds of them on DVD. He was really the person who introduced me to anime and I can remember spending evening after evening sitting with him on the couch watching Japanese super-villains plot and fight over the fate of the world while discussing art, tattoos, and technology. Now I'm on a huge anime kick, but every time I start to watch one it makes me think of Bear and almost start to cry. *sigh*

GOP smear tactics

A timeline:

1973 - a young Karl Rove organizes conferences teaching young conservatives how to use dirty tricks to win campaigns.

1982 - Bill Clements vs Mark White: Rove distributes mock newspaper suggesting White was drinking when he had a car accident while a student.

1986 - Bill Clements vs incumbenant Mark White: Rove manufactures a story that the opponent of his client:placed a bug in Rove's office.
Story comes out the nighto of the first debate, one month before the election. Story is proven false but the damage is done. Rove's client wins against White

1990 - Rick Perry vs Jim Hightower: Rove casually spreads false information that Hightower was involved with illegal kickbacks.

1994 - Bush vs Anne Richards: Rove creates whisper campaign to smear Richardson by saying she appoints activist gays to top positions. Bush stays clear of the issue but his immediate surrogates spread the smear.

2000 - Bush vs McCain: Rove orchestrates a whisper campaign impugning McCain's Vietnam war record. Bush pretends to stay above the fray.

2000 - Rove masterminds the "brooks brothers riots" where about 250 outsiders were flown in and paid to riot against the ballot recount.
IRS documents show Bush team spent over a million dollars to fly outsiders in for this, and many were flown in on Ken Lay's fleet of corporate jets (Enron).

2004 - Swift Boat controversy. Personal friend of Roves and Bush's, and national campaign advisor, quits among charges he's connected to the alleged independant "Swift Boat Veterens for Truth"

The longest short week in history.

The last week has certainly been the longest short week in history with today being a sparkling crown of longness. I think it was a mix of a number of things, not the least of which being that I had to get back in the work swing of things after a long week off.

Today brought an interesting and abrasive experience. Tonight Tres is over here watching movies so Sophie can play with Skype. I went down to walk Skype and decided to go to the corner store to grab some things. While I was there I had Skype in my arms and he was behaving very well so I told him he was a “good boy”. A big cracked out black guy took offense to this and starting yelling at me in the store about how I was the “white man trying to keep the brother down, calling my dog ‘boy’”. Now the owner of the corner market is a great old Iranian guy and he was going to have none of this. He asked the man to leave and he turned on him, trying to convince him that because he had dark skin I was his enemy. All in all a most confusing and sudden experience.

Aside from my exchange in the store the week was fairly uneventful. I spent my days at work catching up, and my evenings and lunches at home with Skype. Wednesday evening Ken and I went out to Chutney’s for some Indian food and brought the boy with us. It was a good experience for him, and he had a great time bouncing around at my feet.

Last night I did not get terribly much sleep as Skype was bouncing off the walls and kept waking up. Luckily he’s getting pretty worn out tonight and I don’t have to wake up at 6:30 so I should get caught up on my sleep.

My dad is coming in to town on Sunday and I’m really excited about it. I have not seen him in a while and it should be good to catch up. His birthday is Monday and I have all sorts of interesting plans for him. I would tell everyone what they are but he reads my blog from time to time and I don’t want him finding out yet!

George W. Bush's Vietnam-era Service Record

Simon Woodside has created a great graphic depicting GWB’s service in the Texas National Guard. His site is being flooded so I’m posting the PDF here. Download it, share it with your friends!

PDF link here.

Update: Given that I’ve been acting as a mirror for a couple of sites on this my traffic has gone through the roof! I have a lot of people emailing me to tell me how biased I am – I just want to state for the record that I did not create or author this PDF, I’m merely hosting it. I do agree with the message however, and think that it’s about time the democrats start catching up with the GOP in terms of mud slinging.

I guess it’s a sad time that our nation has come to – in this, quite possibly the most important election we have had yet the issues have been pushed down under the carpet, the people of the United States have been distracted by foolish things. I just want to go on the record as stating that I don’t care that much about what GWB did in the Texas National Guard, or for that matter what Kerry did in Vietnam – what I care about is the calibre of leadership, diplomacy, and tact that will be leading our country, protecting our soil, and dealing with our foreign policy. GWB has proven himself unable to do with without getting us into a war, creating international strife, and removing healthcare from thousands worldwide (mostly in America).

Come on guys – let’s focus on the issues and leading America into the future, not focus on something that happened before I was born!

Picture of the moment: Into the treetops

This is another shot that I took yesterday while out shooting with Randy. It’s an interesting blend of our styles – the composition and framing is very much in my style, and something I’m very comfortable with, but the post processing was all very similar to Randy’s work.

I like the way the out of focus leaves in the background create a mottled, almost water like texture. The depth of field really draws my eyes into the main focus, and then up the picture. I wish it brought you back in a little bit more, but not bad for a shot of a tree trunk ;)

Back to work…

Well, it’s been a fun 11 days, and I’ve really enjoyed my time with Skype. With the exception of our loss of Bear I would have rated it perfect. Here I sit getting ready to go to work – I woke up very early this morning jittery as all hell. As much as I don’t want to go to work, and don’t like my job, I’ve almost been itching for a bit of routine during the last couple of days and can halfway say I’m excited to go back to work. At least this week is a short week to get me back in the swing of things!

Picture of the moment: Up the garden path

Today was a good day for all concerned. I had Skype on a mostly work schedule, and got some time for my self for the first time since I got him. I got caught up on some Photoshop work that has been pulling down on my neck.

In the afternoon while Mili was walking Skype I went out shooting with my friend Randy. He just got a new D70 and wanted to get some more shots with it. I’ve been an admirer to Randy’s style for a while now, so after we exchanged a few Photoshop techniques I tried them out and came up with this shot. The old school look is definitely borrowed from Randy’s book of tricks.

I like this shot because the depth of field is so selective. The blur at the bottom helps draw my eye up into the center, and the blurred stairs at the top hint of a special place, hidden away.

Picture of the moment: Invaders

One of the vendors at Hempfest this year was selling a variety of figurines made entirely out of old engine parts. I was quite fascinated with this and made arrangements to meet with him in Olympia someday to do a shoot with his creations. Most of them were from movies (Predator, Alien, Star Wars, etc) but he also had a couple of really neat free form creations.

I intentionally let the white background get burnt out on this photo because I really like the “floating in a white void” look for shots like this. It really helps take away a frame of reference and hide the size of the creations.

Picture of the moment: Flags

A shot from behind the Seeley stage at Hempfest this year. I like how the flag is backwards because I’m shooting from behind it, and how the strip of tye-dye at the top contrasts a familiar image. For this shot the overhead even lighting really brought out the colors, and helped to smooth out the wrinkles in the flag.

RPS Championships

Rock Paper Scissors? The new championships are being covered by the New York Times on this link (bloodsucking registration required).

Via waxy.org

Picture of the moment: Twelve dollar pipes

At Hempfest hundreds of vendors wander the park hawking their various wares. This vendor struck a chord with me, and I loved his pipes. This shot speaks to me through the pattern created by the foam he lined his tray with interacting with the pipes laid out rigidly in its form. It’s very organic, but at the same time has a lot of hard lines to bring the eye in. This image is surprisingly unedited given how overcast it was. It removed some of the sparkle from the glass, but really added depth to the colors.

I was fascinated by all the glass work at Hempfest and struck up a number of conversations with blowers. I’m planning on working with them to do photo shoots of them blowing glass, and hopefully get a chance to make some interesting photo essays about how a pipe goes from sand to smoke.

Picture of the moment: Sugar in jail.

Another shot from Sunday at Hempfest. This is one of the water/soda stations that the event has set up to help make money to run everything. The station was closed and all fenced up. It made me think of the Atkins diet to see all those lovely carbs chained up behind bars. The overcast weather really helped bring out the saturation in this shot, and pretty much the only thing I had to do was pump up the contrast slightly to compensate for the even lighting.

Picture of the moment: Reflected Patriots

I’ve been really busy and have not had the time to be posting any of the pictures I’ve taken. I’m going to be fixing that and expect to be seeing a lot more photos in the next couple of days from Hempfest and such. This shot was taken at Hempfest early Sunday morning. The rain had finally stopped, but everything was soaked. I love the distortions the puddle creates on the reflections from the Hempfest Main Stage.

After the wake.

Bear’s wake yesterday was good for everyone. It was out at Quentin and Ruth’s place in Maple Valley. There were probably 200 people there, eating and drinking, talking about Bear, and how he had touched each of our lives. It was obvious that Bear had touched a lot of people from a lot of different social circles – there were people he grew up with, friends from our family, SCA people, friends he had made through his tattooing, each with a story to tell and feelings to share.

It was also good for Skype – he got to go romp with his brothers and sisters for a good six hours and really get some good exercise/socialization. He was so tuckered out that when the time came to go I had to carry him back to the car and he pretty much slept till this morning.

As sad as I am that my vacation is almost over I’m a little bit glad to be getting back to work. Between the stresses of Bear and Skype I am almost feeling like I need a little structure to distract me from the world.

Processing...

The last couple of days have passed in a blur. Since finding out about Bear I’ve spent a lot of time watching movies numb on my couch trying to wrap my head around the fact that he’s not going to be around any more. I’ve been finding out a lot about Bears internal struggle and it bothers me that he did not let people know about what was happening to him. I wish that there was a way I could have helped.

Today the funeral is out in Maple Valley at noon. I’m starting to get ready to go, not really sure what to expect. I’m thinking if nothing else it will be good to talk to some of his old friends. I think it will also be good for Skype to go home for an afternoon so he can romp around with his brothers and sisters for a couple of hours.

It’s been good being home with Skype. We are bonding beautifully and I’m amazed as I watch him grow and learn before my eyes. He has been helpful to me in this difficult time – it’s nice to have something warm, fuzzy, and affectionate to love on when you are not doing well.