| (no subject) |
[May. 11th, 2012|10:22 am] |
(Entire content of this post stolen from a friend, LJ User fallen_scholar, having corrected one spelling error)
As colleges are wont to do, Earlham College, a small liberal arts institution in Richmond, Indiana, is working on building a new arts facility and a new science facility, and providing "naming opportunites" for major contriubtors.
One of the more illustrious recent alumni to come from Earlham is Michael C. Hall, award-winning actor and star of both "Dexter" and "Six Feet Under."
Against all reason, one of the "naming opportunites" is for the Science facility's Cadaver Storage Room.
The Venn diagram for "graduate from a small, midwestern liberal arts college" and "enjoys cleverly named rooms" is pretty well just a circle. (Probably second only to "enjoys rooms with pun-based names," but the adjacent Earlham Cemetary was already founded by the Pine-Coffins, so it's hard to beat that ((though, of course, if Mr. Michael C. Hall himself wanted to get himself and his warchest behind the effort, you could end up with the science building named "Hall Hall").
In very short order, other alumni started an attempt to crowdsource the necessary funds.
http://www.crowdrise.com/dexterscadaverstorageroom#topp |
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| Memory Lane |
[Mar. 28th, 2012|12:29 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  grateful | ] |
As I've been going through the house and sifting my belongings out of the collective Stuff, I've had a lot of Memory Lane moments. Many of them tied to gaming, and my friends over the last decade. Some of the physical things I'm keeping, because they either still mean too much to me or because they're useful in other ways. Others I've taken a moment to cherish, then placed in the trash.
Highlights of memory lane:
--Anime Crystal Willowbrook's helmet and sword. I worked HARD on that costume, and I looked damn good. Someone had to represent the nearly naked power armor anime girl! The helmet was in good shape, but too small to be a realistic bike helmet or serve another purpose. The sword still lights up, but didn't make the *ting* noise when I pressed the button. I kept the sword, figuring a kid would like it because it flashes, and trashed the helmet. I remember getting Kevin Melloy to help me figure out the ideograms to write out Crystal's name on the helmet, carefully painting them on in gold acrylic and cursing when I made a mistake. And working on putting together the anime Laughing Tom outfit, including F.O.E.S.W.A.T.H. 2.0. Mike still has the shoulder pads in the garage.
--several pairs of sunglasses that I used to wear when playing Charisma Giovanni.
--a decorated wooden box, once given to me by Ashley from Columbus. It was an IC gift from her Brujah to Cynthia Muldoon, my Toreador fop
--an old pair of my prescription glasses with clip-on sunglasses. Looking at photos of me from college, I had them at least my Freshman year of college, which means they were likely my glasses my senior year of high school. I put them on, and didn’t trust myself to try to walk. DAMN my left eye had bad vision! Makes me so glad my parents got me LASIK as a college graduation gift.
--Dale Deering’s Boots—I kept them. The vinyl is cracked and pathetic, they are completely scuffed up…but I couldn’t throw them away. Not yet.
--my Snow Weasel puppet, from KANAR—I had modified a stuffed dog toy to look like a snow weasel, which I then used as a marionette style puppet for an entire KANAR session as we did a dungeon delve. Strong memories from that one, made me want to play KANAR again.
--the cloth tabard I made as a copy of my leather one from Journeyman Leather, complete with trim and the tree logo painted on the back. I spent HOURS making that damn thing, as I wanted a cloth copy to wear in bad weather so my costume would be consistent but I wouldn’t have to get my expensive leather piece befouled. Later, Shannon borrowed it for her costume so we could match.
--the plastic baseball bat I carried as Crystal Willowbrook, to represent my chimerical sword. In character it was a wood/real bat, but there were concerns about me carrying a real bat around the IMU so I used the plastic one for “safety.” Oh, Changeling.
--the pink feather boa I’ve had since my senior year of high school, one of the lucky tokens we carried to our various Fine Arts Academic Team competitions. With it came memories of candy corn, hand gestures for Bierstadt, the sensation of a 4 week old Sharpei puppy climbing in my lap, the music of Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo,” Monticello, raku pottery, more candy, laughing, matching dresses, and the pride of being Captain of my State Championship team my senior year.
--My flute, and an old electronic metronome and tuning instrument I got in middle school. The flute needs new pads, it last got new ones my Junior year of high school (which was 14 or so years ago). I can still play out a B-flat chromatic scale, but not as fast as I once could. Muscle memory is awesome! Simple songs and notes are still within my grasp, but the high and low octave notes have faded from memory.
--the Tuck and Roll dolls from “A Bug’s Life” that I bought in high school. An impulse buy back then, but still fun toys now. They send IR beams back and forth and “talk” to each other, have phrases they’ll say when you press buttons, and if you stack them together they sing a song and giggle and shake. I’ll put batteries in them soon, they should still work. I used them as chimerical companions at the Valpo game’s historical session they ran in Lafayette, the one set the day of the Resurgence. Me, k8, Higgins, and Oz played childlings together. And we were THE BEST CHILDLINGS EVER! To this day I have NO clue what the plot and story for the “grown-ups” was, because we spent the day playing hide-and-go-seek, tag, and just laughing and goofing off. Like kids do, because worrying is for grown-ups.
--the little wooden sword my brother Neal once had made for him, so he could stick it in a foam stone and have The Sword In The Stone
--the babydoll I used for my Richmond Changeling game--and later the Changeling game headed by Margaret—to represent my character’s baby. The eshu character (Sharra bot Ersavat) had a baby who had one blue and one brown eye, so I had painted the eye on the doll an appropriate color. I even still have the little cloth doll that Sara’s character had made for me IC, which also has one painted eye.
--the floral metal tin with scraps of nice paper that I used to use when Cynthia Muldoon was Harpy. I tracked status on individual sheets of paper, loose inside the tin. I had four or five metallic gel pens to write with, and made a big deal of selecting the “right” piece of paper to match a character before recording their status.
--the turtle shell I found while playing KANAR, and that I carried IC every game after that. Too awesome a prop to have, what with playing a dirt-elf druid. *grin* Also found the white sea-shells that I found out in Morgan-Monroe, and once used to bullshit my way into convincing some PCs to stay on the trail and keep going even when they thought we might die.
--the Free Companions Banner I sewed. A bittersweet memory, that. Mike is keeping it.
--the Free Companions plaque I made, using a woodburning pen and a LOT of patience. I kept it, and have it hanging on a wall in the garage. I put too much work into it to throw it away.
--my little leather bag with my Teifi makeup. |
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| okay, what about diesels |
[Mar. 15th, 2012|02:10 pm] |
so I'm getting mixed comments/input on whether I should go with a hybrid. Most of my daily commute will be highway and interstate driving, and apparently hybrids aren't as strong when the bulk of driving is highway. The drive is approximately 65 miles one way, FWIW.
What do folks know or think of diesels? What models should I look at?
A lot of folks are doing the "you won't save money compared to what you pay for a hybrid" type comments. But if the average mpg for a tank is better than a diesel or other conventional engine, the more expensive car might be paid off when I look at my fuel economy.
Here's my math, worst case scenario of $5 a gallon for regular gas this summer:
130 miles a day round trip, so 650 miles a week.
If the car gets 35mpg, that's 18.6 gallons a week, $93 a week
40mpg, 16.25 gallons a week, $81.25 a week
45mpg, 14.4 gallons a week, $72 a week
50mpg, 13 gallons a week, $65 a week
If a hybrid can really get me an average of 50mpg on a tank compared to 35mpg with a conventional engine, I'd save $28 a week, i.e. save $112 a month. Whether or not that saves me money long run would depend on what I was paying for a conventional engine that gets 35mpg versus buying a hybrid. And I don't know what those costs would be, without looking at specific models.
This post is likely just a pin on a board so I remember the math and things to look at, rather than having to recalculate later. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 14th, 2012|09:11 am] |
So I'm moving to Lafayette sometime soonish, which means I have to commute to Indy. My minivan gets 22mpg, 24 if I'm lucky, on a tank of gas. I can't do that commute with that kind of mileage, so I'm looking to trade it in. High on my list is the Toyota Prius, or possibly the new Prius wagon version. Consumer Reports gives it excellent ratings, but I seem to recall that some folks I know have the car. For those that do, or have experience with the Prius: Thoughts?
Big concern is obviously getting good fuel economy. However, I also want decent sound system (would love a dashboard connection for iPod or mp3), good to decent acceleration and handling, air conditioning, and maybe heated seats. Four doors for hauling people and stuff is desirable, so it can be my car for years. And it needs to be roomy up front because Gregg is 6'5" |
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| I'm engaged! |
[Mar. 8th, 2012|04:49 pm] |
Well for those who haven't heard elsewhere...I'M ENGAGED!
Gregg asked me to marry him last week, while we were on vacation in Vegas! Then a couple days later, still in Vegas, I was able to surprise him and propose to him in return!
We went to Vegas on February 26, and stayed through March 2. Before the trip we had talked about where we would want to go, and one of the places on our "must see" list was the Venetian hotel and casino. It sounded beautiful, and I was excited to see it. We walked around, admiring the architecture and design, the fountains and canals and gondolas. We stopped in a bar, Gregg had his first mojito. Just a lovely stroll. As we walked through the hotel part and were admiring the architecture I grabbed him by surprise and gave him a kiss, we laughed, kept walking. We went outside, enjoyed the sun and were looking at the front/grand entrance together. He asked me to get the camera out, take a couple pictures. I did, and then I turned and told him to stand exactly where he was. I skipped (literally) away and down the bridge, then turned and snapped a picture of him standing in the center of the big bridge in front of the Venetian. Smiling, I skipped/ran (literally) back towards him, and as I got within a few feet he dropped to one knee and pulled the ring out and asked me to marry him. **heart flutter** I managed to say yes before hugging him fiercely and just holding onto him for what felt like forever, crying and laughing happily. I just pressed my face to his chest and savored the moment. Finally I broke away and looked at the ring (which is incredibly lovely and sparkly, btw), and he put it on my finger. He had been keeping it in his pocket all day, and while he didn't have an exact plan in mind for when or where to ask, he had toyed with several. That moment on the bridge was the right one, so he distracted me by telling me to take pictures as he got the ring out of his wallet. Happy coincidence that I jaunted off and took that picture of him, as now we have the moment about 15 seconds before he asked me to marry him captured on disc.
We’re stupidly happy, very excited, and very much a good couple. He’s my greatest and best friend, and I love him completely. Our life together is going to be amazing. |
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| Impact, Inc soundtrack |
[Mar. 8th, 2012|09:00 am] |
The playlist for my "Impact, Inc" soundtrack. We've been playing a super heroes tabletop (using Palladium Heroes Unlimited) since September 2007, and are working on wrapping it up. Lots of story, amazing story, acting, drama, adventure, combat and awesome in this tabletop campaign. I put a lot of work into the playlist on my iPod, which I'm backing up here in case my iPod dies.
Ballad Of The Green Berets Johnny Horton Green Berets 2:26 17 1/31/2012 2:28 PM
you're in the army now bolland Mossad Absolute 80's 4:13 Pop 16 1/31/2012 2:32 PM
Renegade Styx On the run Pieces of Eight 4:17 Hard Rock 32 1/31/2012 3:15 PM
Hero Hans Zimmer Karma Kung Fu Panda 4:42 Soundtrack 15 1/31/2012 2:41 PM
Popular Kristin Chenoweth Scandal Wicked: Original Broadway Cast 3:46 Soundtrack 39 1/31/2012 2:45 PM
Charlie's Angels 2000 Apollo 440 The Bombshells Charlie's Angels 3:57 Soundtrack 41 11/30/2011 12:48 PM
Little Light of Love R.X.R.A. Flare
Wild Ride Danny Elfman Gauntlet
The Unwanted Simon Boswell The Perambulator
Exquisite Dead Guy They Might Be Giants Black Rune
Fallen Angel Boondock Saints Kick to the head Movie Quote 1:05 50 1/31/2012 3:32 PM
2000 Light Years From Home The Rolling Stones Gideon E Their Satanic Majesties Request 4:45 Rock 47 1/31/2012 3:37 PM
Stairway To Heaven Led Zeppelin Cardania Symphonic Led Zepplin 10:40 General Classical 34 1/31/2012 3:48 PM
The Stripper David Rose Hollywood Dreams Ljuva 60-Tal 1:54 Rock & Roll 27 1/31/2012 3:49 PM
Headphone Sunset The Giraffes Wormwood The Days Are Filled With Years 7:21 General Rock 28 11/30/2011 1:39 PM
Central City Simon Boswell Phase World Tin Man (Original Television Soundtrack) 2:48 19 12/31/2011 12:32 PM
The Stone Table Harry Gregson-Williams Vol Mara's realm The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe 8:07 Soundtrack 20 11/30/2011 1:50 PM
Holding Out For A Hero Frou Frou Our individual challenges Shrek 2 3:23 Soundtrack 35 11/30/2011 1:54 PM
Career Of Evil Blue Oyster Cult The Mocker Workshop Of Telescopes Disc 1 4:08 Heavy Metal 24 11/30/2011 1:58 PM
I'll Stand By You (Glee Cast Version) Glee Cast Silver Bullet Glee: The Music, Volume 2 3:52 Pop 19 11/30/2011 1:12 PM
Forever Queen Scandal and Karma's romance, oh what complications and angst A Kind Of Magic 3:22 Soundtrack 53 1/30/2012 10:48 AM
Trampoline Cirque du Soleil The Birthday Party Corteo 6:37 Broadway 4 1/30/2012 3:36 PM
I Can Hear The Bells Hairspray Cast Love Unknown Hairspray: 2002 Broadway Cast 4:05 Soundtrack 18 6/10/2011 2:38 PM
Ripper Sole Stomp Beetle Tank Girl 1:42 Alternative & Punk 17 1/30/2012 10:53 AM
Avenging Angel Robert Rodriguez Bombadier Hot Fuzz 0:35 Soundtrack 20 1/30/2012 12:30 PM
Genius James Kochalka Superstar Reverb Kochalka Value Pack 0:49 Alternative 11 6/10/2011 2:39 PM
All That I Am Rob Thomas The Birth of Bright Rune Something To Be 4:29 Alternative & Punk 32 1/29/2012 10:40 PM
Holy Rusted Metal Elliot Goldenthal & Jonathan Sheffer The Tilted Planet Batman Forever 1:51 Score 9 1/30/2012 3:19 PM
A Call to Arms Warcraft III The Fight with Loki Eleanor-Others & Highground 2:19 12 1/30/2012 3:21 PM
Boss Of Me (Extended) They Might Be Giants Scandal's Return 2:49 6 1/30/2012 3:24 PM
The Unwanted Simon Boswell The Perambulator Tin Man (Original Television Soundtrack) 2:28 34 1/30/2012 11:02 AM
This Is Your Life Switchfoot Carpe Diem The Music Of Charmed (Season 7) 4:18 Soundtrack 7 1/30/2012 2:54 PM
Now Comes The Night Rob Thomas Love Realized Something To Be 4:56 Alternative & Punk 25 6/10/2011 2:34 PM
Better Days (And The Bottom Drops Out) Citizen King Super Hero RPG The Music Of Charmed (Season 1) 3:27 Soundtrack 4 9/28/2011 8:56 AM |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 4th, 2011|08:28 am] |
I know I don't post much, but I'm not in a "talk about my life" mood. Never was much for doing that, except when something awesome/fun/exciting was going on, and lately its mostly been "status quo."
Maybe a post later, maybe not. For now I'll sum up with: our dog is adorable, loves to eat carrots, and will lay down and play dead when we say "Bang!" to her. |
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| A three part story |
[Nov. 7th, 2010|10:06 am] |
So the Penny Arcade webcomic posted these a while back:
So having read those I was reduced to tears and I woke LE up the other night because I laughed so hard when I saw this.
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 29th, 2010|10:25 pm] |
Of all the things in the world, today I found another Teifi song.
Styx's "Fooling Yourself (the Angry Young Man)"
You see the world through your cynical eyes
You're a troubled young man I can tell
You've got it all in the palm of your hand
But your hand's wet with sweat and your head needs a rest
And you're fooling yourself if you don't believe it
You're kidding yourself if you don't believe it
How can you be such an angry young man
When your future looks quite bright to me
How can there be such a sinister plan
That could hide such a lamb, such a caring young man
You're fooling yourself if you don't believe it
You're kidding yourself if you don't believe it
Get up, get back on your feet
You're the one they can't beat and you know it
Come on, let's see what you've got
Just take your best shot and don't blow it
You're fooling yourself if you don't believe it
You're killing yourself if you don't believe it
Get up, get back on your feet
You're the one they can't beat and you know it
Come on, let's see what you've got
Just take your best shot and don't blow it. |
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