It's a thing with me... when I get 'behind' on something, the further behind I get the harder it is to pick it back up again. So it is with the LiveJournal; it has been so long since I posted that I'm intimidated, I think by the prospect of creating a post that will somehow justify the very extended layoff (the 'triumphant return'). I need to just get over it, I know. That will come soon, I think, but this isn't that post. Today I'm just stressed, tired, vaguely sick and a little buzzed at the moment, so while I'd like to do the Bring This Thing Back Up To Speed thing today, I'm just not feeling it.

So, that's what we have for today. I hope this is enough to get the_darkjester off of my back. :-)

I'm not going to hide the text of this link, as it gives you a good idea what to expect.

http://www.aprilwinchell.com/wp-content/cache/supercache/www.aprilwinchell.com/2009/02/05/barack-obama-is-tired-of-your-motherfucking-shit/index.html

The items referred to are rather NSFW, for profanity. And they may cause you to fall out laughing, just FYI.

Thanks to Michele (and her work, I believe) for being my source for this piece of funny.

Sir Keanu as Spike in Bebop?

Troubling.

So yeah, snow. Lots of snow. But on the bright side from a messing with our lives perspective, it's more of a dry powdery snow than our usual very wet stuff, so it's actually not that horrible to drive in if you have to. Of course, that has not stopped 18songs and I from staying home since our shopping trip Friday evening. I guess it says something that we've been together pretty much non-stop since Thursday and we haven't driven each other crazy yet.

The main thing I'm pleased with is that the windstorm that was being predicted didn't happen, at least not around here. It was projected to be mainly in the foothills and I haven't checked yet whether it still happened there, but around here we didn't get any of it which means we still have power and cable. Whoo!

I'm on forced vacation until 1/5, which would be really lame except that I pretty desperately needed some time off (and have enough vacation time to take it). So, I will have two weeks away from work, which I hope at some point to have an idea what to do with.

Happy Solstice, all.

At least it will be for me. Awww yeah, new El Gaucho in Bellevue!

I am off work until Thursday. I will be roaming the earth this afternoon and evening, stopping by places where like-minded folks gather to celebrate (or commiserate, if things go straight to hell on us) this day of democracy. Feel free to let me know if there is Stuff afoot.

I'm not gonna talk about that other thing, because there's something ACTUALLY IMPORTANT happening today.

Happy birthday, g00n.

EDIT: And by today, I mean tomorrow. Me = FAIL.

Over the course of this Halloween weekend, I worked 40 hours.

I think things will be more or less normal now. I expect to start participating in real life again, which I am looking forward to more than I can say.

So, I wound up having 5 days off in October, and working way more hours than normal on a lot of the days I did work. And I got no real opportunity to enjoy Halloween. No parties, no dressing up, I was barely able to notice it. Hell, we only got 2 groups of trick-or-treaters, and one of them was teenagers.

So yeah, tired.

However, the wonderful thing that I did notice about October was that, because of the un-Seattle fall weather (very little rain/wind, crisp sunny fall days) the fall color here has been AMAZING. Far and away the best I can ever remember seeing here. Normally by this point the leaves are a brown paste on the ground, but this year they are vivid and beautiful. I have at least been able to take some of that in when I've been driving around.

Rather than say any more, I will leave on that upbeat note and say farewell for now.

Number of days so far in October: 26
Number of days I've worked in October: 22 (normally would be 18 assuming weekends off)
Number of hours I worked this weekend: 18

Lame.

I have to work the next two weekends. That means I'm missing out on just about every Halloween party possible - both the HoP and RuleZero parties are on the 1st, and I will be working.

The world is a bit out of whack right now - currently I've got two coworkers out on bereavement for deceased parents, and my manager had to put his dog down this weekend.

18songs and I went to Leavenworth for the last Saturday of their Oktoberfest yesterday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous (outdoor biergarten gorgeous) and we had a great time. Warsteiner bottles a pre-mixed radler (German shandy) which is really lovely. We came back to some boardgames at the HoP (Tombs and Last Night on Earth/Growing Hunger).

Today = totally lazy (the fact that I called a day lazy when I worked four-ish hours indicates that I've been working too much lately)

I finished Toll the Hounds. I will only say that it is really good and leave it at that, because I don't want to risk the dreaded spoilitos.

The odds that I will see Max Payne have been taken off the board in Vegas. That movie is right in my wheelhouse, I can absolutely guarantee that I will pay to see it in a theater.

I hate political advertising. It sucks relentlessly. We as a nation waste how many billions of dollars every election cycle on that crap?

Being a sports fan in Seattle is pretty brutal right now. I think I'm currently holding out hope for the Thunderbirds - and nothing against them, but when your best hope as a sports fan is your minor league hockey team, you've got issues.

Is that random enough?

Somebody's thinking of us.

SO MUCH P4!

I have, without exaggeration, worked over half of the last 72 hours of my life, while sleeping only about 1/5 of them. That is not the right ratio.

So yeah, I almost never post anymore. Terrible of me. Ah well. I should note that I'm a bit buzzed right now - man, I don't drink anywhere near as much as I used to.

Work is great, but super busy right now. The Boeing strike isn't affecting MY workload at all. I've got some nights and weekends in my future this month. This leadership stuff isn't terrible, but it is kind of a pain at times.

18songs and I have finished doing our landscaping work for this year (I think). The total list of things we've accomplished (by and large with the help of her parents):

-Built a fence - a 100+ foot fence in two sections
-Created a storage area, complete with firewood storage and a crushed stone 'floor'
-Planted 4 trees, 15 shrubs/vines, and one herb (mint, which is thriving)

We accomplished a couple of other things, like getting married and having a honeymoon in Alaska, but those have been discussed before. Michele has also put up a bunch of pictures in our entry hall, with more to come. We (by which I mainly mean Michele) still fully intend to get our honeymoon pictures posted at some point.

So, what do we have coming up?

-Going to Leavenworth for their Oktoberfest - we haven't decided which of the next three weekends we're going to do it, but we're going to do it. If you're interested in joining, please comment and let me know.
-Cocktail party at our place, sometime in late Oct/early Nov
-Pumpkin carving party with drwaterhouse and nocangel
-Michele says there's going to be a post-weddings girl's night for the many people we know who got married this summer to compare experiences
-A variety of dinner engagements with various people that we've been meaning to get together with
-We're probably hosting Thanksgiving dinner again

And in the distant future, we're going to Hawaii for our anniversary and my brother-in-law's wedding next summer.

Oh, yeah, and I rule at Picks.

I like kitties.

I like bunnies.

Why don't kitties and bunnies like each other?

The Omnivore's 100 (Stolen from obake)
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

( The Omnivore’s Hundred )

So, apparently some (most? all?) of the professional wedding pictures are now online (we haven't gotten the notification from the studio about it, and it is still a work in progress at this point).

I've been through about 2/3 of them at this point (as a funny note, there are 571 of them - I'm tempted to tell them to delete one so we have numeric symmetry). Go forth and enjoy!

Thanks to druzbasky for the heads-up.

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!

One more time, FOR THE CHILDRENS!

Our processional was "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral" from Lohengrin (the same opera that the vastly inferior "Wedding Procession" comes from - y'know, "Here comes the bride...")

Our recessional was "I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do" by ABBA.

Our first dance was "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure.

We've set up a Flickr site for any wedding pix - http://flickr.com/groups/micheleandwolf if you're interested in either viewing or uploading anything. We will have our professional wedding pictures online in a few weeks, but we're very much hoping to see some pictures before then that folks may have taken.

And last but not least, ( boy do we know some drinkers )