I just heard a Stormtrooper yell, "anyone know where the duct tape is?"

We were discussing a puzzle on Scotty's Professor Layton game at the rest stop. Isaac busted out his cell phone to SSH to on of our servers at work to write a perl script. He's hardcore like that.

(He got the right answer)

We're at the costume show at the comic con and these two guys come in wearing nothing but suspenders and underwear. At one point a lighter was brought out and chest hair was set on fire.

The room still smells like burning human hair.

Tomorrow at 8am we're heading up to Seattle for the Emerald City Comic Con. Wheaton is going to be there, so I think we're going to try and catch his reading/speaking. They have a major DC panel, DC Nation that I'd like to check out, as well as checking out artist alley to see some new art. There is also a cool MtG Shadowmoor tournament I'd love to check out on Sunday but I don't know if I'll have enough time.

I'd like to see if I can't pick up the last two Sandman trades (#10, and #11), my missing Sin City trade (#3) and possibly Cerebus #1. We'll see if I can't find some good prices.

I think I need a nice used copy of Cash by Johnny Cash. So good...

Spent the better part of the weekend in the hospital. That's always fun!

Friday I came home from work at 2pm and slept four straight hours, and spent most of the rest of the evening on the couch being achy and having an upset stomach. I was up ALL night with an upset stomach and generally feeling terrible. The next morning I told Angie we should go the emergency room and get looked at by a gastro doc. They gave me some pain meds and admitted me. I spent most of the day and evening just resting in bed taking pain meds to calm down my stomach. I had both stomach cramps and generally upset stomach.

After a day of meds and rest I felt much better and they let me come home. Official cause of sudden illness "I don't know," but he suspected it was some sort of virus. Quick to make you sick, quick to leave. When I got home yesterday I still had an upset stomach, and actually threw up (first time in over two years!). It was either because I wasn't on as many meds, or because I was up and moving around more than I should have.

I took today off work I'm just going to be rest as much as possible and see if my stomach calms down.

J.K. Rowling is claiming someone infringed her intellectual property when they decided to write a Harry Potter Lexicon. The whole thing is just silly considering the amount of money JKR already made from her stories. Let someone write a little encyclopedia, it's only going to help the novels in the long term.

Orson Scott Card spoke out against the whole thing, saying that "borrowing" ideas is how fiction gets written. In fact he feels like maybe he's been ripped off:

A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader. He trains other kids in unauthorized extra sessions, which enrages his enemies, who attack him with the intention of killing him; but he is protected by his loyal, brilliant friends and gains strength from the love of some of his family members. He is given special guidance by an older man of legendary accomplishments who previously kept the enemy at bay. He goes on to become the crucial figure in a struggle against an unseen enemy who threatens the whole world.

(08:05:00 AM) scott: GOOD NEWS
(08:05:20 AM) scott: I got to work and there is a pamphlet about accidental death and dismemberment
(08:05:29 AM) scott: That's another way you could kill me and cash in
(08:05:38 AM) Angela: NICE

This pamphlet is messed up. It goes through all your various body parts, and how much you get if you lose one. If you lose one foot and one hand you get full benefits. If you only lose sight in one eye, you get half. That sort of thing... wow.

Does any have any good Isaac Asimov recommendations? He's a fantastic author, but I think I've only read one of his books. I remember reading I, Robot in High School, but I think that's where our relationship ended. I'd like to read some more but his list of writings is a little daunting. I'm open to any good suggestions if you have them.

scooty and I went down to the MtG Shadowmoor Pre-release. We got there in the middle of the first sealed deck session and had to kill about an hour and a half before the second started. Scotty and played some and just watched some other people play which was fun. It was all downhill from there.

Neither of us had ever done sealed deck before, so it was all new to us. They gave us a tournament starter, two boosters and thirty minutes to come up with a deck. It was a new format, and all new cards as well neither of which contributed to my success. What I came up with didn't work at all, even after swapping colors midway through the day, my record for the day was 1 and 11. That counts the two side games I played Scotty where he whooped me.

Overall it was a pretty sad day. I'll have to check tomorrow and see what place I finished. There were at least 80 people playing in the tourney were in. I'm hoping to not be in the bottom five, that's how bad it was. Seeing as several flat dropped out, I may be ok!

It was an interesting event. A mere step above ordered chaos. It's hard to enjoy yourself when you spend four hours just losing. At least the people there were nice, helpful, and showered (I was surprised). So I guess it wasn't all bad.

This American Life this week has a segment on Jerry Springer. I did some quick Wikipedia'ing (see how I made that a verb) and found that The Jerry Springer Show has been on the air for 17 seasons now. With a whopping 3406 episodes aired thus far, that works out to 200.35 shows per year, every year, for 17 solid years. That's insane!

I got my annual retirement/pension statement today. I'm a mere 9423 days away from retirement! It's so close I can smell it!

I just got back from my GI doctor and he told me that he wants to test me for a couple things. First he wants a blood test for a gluten allergy. A gluten allergy would explain some of my symptoms. Being allergic to gluten would really suck as gluten is in almost everything.

Secondly he wants to give me a flex sigmoidoscopy to check out my pouch. Now I have a camera up the butt to look forward to. He explained a lot of things, but didn't have a lot of answers just wanted some more tests.

Now I'm kinda bummed because I'm really not looking forward to either of those.

I took a candid snapshot of our family today while we were playing. We're a handsome group of folks if I do say so myself.

If you were an outsider looking at my desk you'd think I'd be a fat computer nerd, and you'd be half right. My desk is covered in all kinds of computer gear, and food. As of five minutes ago I had a bag of pretzels (left over from lunch), two Twix bars, a bag of M&Ms, a box of Runts, and a box of donuts. The candy was on sale (10 for $3), and the donuts the new manager bought for me... but still!

Oink oink I must say.

Funny thing is, I can't gain weight to save my life. I weigh about 150 pounds, but I'd much rather weigh 175. Ever since I had my colectomy I can't gain weight.

I put the extra candy in my desk and moved the donuts to the shared cubicle so I can give the impression that I'm not a fat hog. I'm really not a pig I swear!

Angie picked up some Charmin Ultra and I'm loving life again. As a guy that poops a lot (sans colon) Charmin Ultra has really revolutionized my bathroom trips.

This has to be the best Rick Roll evar!

I just filed my state and federal taxes using a Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine stamp. I thought that was more appropriate than Luke and Obi Wan.

As I was driving home from work I saw a guy on a bicycle. Normally this would be no big deal, but it had been raining a little bit today, and this guy had something big on his shoulder. At first it looked like he was holding an old school 80s boombox on his shoulder. As I got closer I realized he was carrying a 24 pack of beer on his shoulder! One hand holding the beer, one hand holding the handle bars. This was on a semi-busy, semi-wet street.

It's hard riding a bike with one hand, especially when you're off balance because you're trying to carry something. I did the math:

1 can of beer = 12 oz
24 cans of beer = 228 oz
228 oz = 2.25 gallons
2.25 gallons = 18 lbs

This was taking his life in his hands biking down a busy street just so he could get his drink on. That's dedication!