Now, I don’t really mind the fact that Lucas is spiffying up the original trilogy a bit for its DVD release, but DANG…

This has been a nice and relaxing weekend, so far. I’ve started playing Final Fantasy XI; it’s pretty much like the predacessors, except that it’s online. More than anything, this makes it a little more like EverQuest–especially in that you frickin have to pay for it every month. Still, it seems like a very nice game, so far. I have a month of free play so, if it really turns out to be a drag, it’ll be no real biggie. Right now, I’m a Level 5 Red Mage Hume (a hume is a race pretty much identical to the human race). Anyhoo, there are a few people I know on there, so that makes it a bit more worth it. Like EverCrack, though, I really don’t think I’ll become so addicted that you’ll need to put an IV in me to make sure i eat 🙂

I’m caught up on sleep, I think. I just woke up minutes ago, so I guess it’s really hard to tell. I did have a very well-rested sleep, though, the best I think I’ve had in a while.

They already have a guest list for DragonCon 2005 =-o I’m sure it will change drastically before then, though; people will be added and removed. So far, though, it looks like a good list of people.

I’m starting to save hardcore for a house. I’m figuring a nice little three bedroom job that I can really stretch into. I don’t know if it’ll be in Madison or not, yet. I’m just in the preliminary stages, saving for a good lil down payment. Still, it’d be nice to have a little pad to call my very own and not have to chunk my moola into that bottomless pit sinkhole known as rent.

I feel like I’m jet lagged, but I know it’s just that I didn’t sleep all that much at DragonCon 🙂 I’m still making up for it a bit, but I think I’m almost there. Perhaps I’ll go to bed early tonight.

I bowled with mwshook last night. For once, I won 3/3. Usually, we tend beat each other 2/3–we never really shut each other out. I averaged about 142, which was actually kind of high considering that I haven’t been bowling in a while.

I, for some insane reason, decided to watch Episode I this evening. I’m getting kinda antsy about Episode III, for some reason. I’ve had dreams about it; Anakin’s final transformation to Vader is quite uber sweet in my dreams. I only hope George Lucas’ imagination is as great as mine. haha.

Well, off to catch up on more of that sleep.

Alas, another year of DragonCon has come to an abrupt end *sigh* It was quite the blast this year; I think it was way more fun than last year, which is saying a whole bunch because I thought it was just stellar last year–but, then again, last year was my n00b year.

I’m already suffering from D*C deprivation. I went to sleep a little early on the last evening there but after everyone came back from their last round in the Hyatt we all stayed up until about 4:30 or so. It was definitely quite awesome. I’ll have to buy my membership for next year the second they become available online.

The panels were awesome this year, although I only really went to two last year. This year I hit a Farscape panel, the “Space” panel (which included scientists/engineers from NASA and the like), and I also went to the Klingon Beauty Pageant. There was this one Klingon whose name was Phoenix (perhaps spelled differently) who should have been the winner–she sang a song called “Bat’leth”, a really kewl variation on “Time Warp” (Rocky Horror Picture Show).

I hung out in the gaming room a little while on the last night–perhaps it’s something I might be interested in for next year *shrugs* Perhaps Pete could teach me the jist of Heroclix or other such kewl games.

Anyhoo, I’m so very very sad that D*C is done for the year. It was very uber kewl seeing everyone again. Some of them, I’m sure I’ll see in Colorado when I go out there for New Years. Still, there’s something just awesome about hanging out with all of them in the costumes 🙂

Pics on the site:

DragonCon 2004 – Day 1 (9/3/2004)
DragonCon 2004 – Day 2 (9/4/2004)
DragonCon 2004 – Day 3 (9/5/2004)

Yesterday was a fairly light day. I only really saw one panel which was about Farscape. I think, after coming to D*C last year and this year, that I really don’t find the panels with the stars all that interesting; you just have all of the same nerd-types asking the same old questions–most of which I’m sure are quite old to the stars being asked.

Before that panel, Joe and I wandered around downtown a bit. We went to scary Underground Atlanta. It really has gotten quite rundown since the first time I went there almost a decade ago. I think the problem was that they really dressed the place up for the Olympics in 1996 and the place has just been left to go to pot since.

The evening was fairly rocking. Joe is part of the 501st, a Stormtrooper costume group. They had a mixer at a local bar that was really kewl. Mostly we just sat around talking, playing pool–they gave out awards later in the evening, but we left halfway through as they became more and more dull.

After that, it was to the floors; we took uber numbers of pix of all of the very saweet costumes. I have Day 1 and Day 2 up there now. Supposedly, the most interesting costumes come out on the night of the Masquerade Ball–which just happens to be tonite. If there are any more interesting costumes, I’ll definitely put them up.

Well, night one of DragonCon was quite sniffty. I’ll have some pics up sometime, but not sure when. I forgot the cable for my camera *sigh* I knew I had to forget something kewl and useful like that 🙂 It looks like Joe has quite a similar camera to mine–Kodak EasyShare series–so, perhaps all is not so dire.

The most interesting costume I saw last night was a girl dressed up in halter-top stormtrooper armor. I also so many of the usual suspects that I saw last year: The Buddy Christ, Gandalf, Beetelgeuse. There was a really kewl R/C R2D2 cruisin around the floor in the Hyatt, though. Lots of X-Wing pilots are around these parts, as well. There was also a girl dressed up in a funky lil lingerie stormtrooper outfit.

Friday nights are usually the slowest nights of the convention; things are just starting to wind up, and people are just on their way in. Still, there were some pretty nice costumes. Got into atlanta around 9:45 or so (10:45 their time), so I didn’t really get to see any panels. Seeing the costumes, though, was quite the kick for the evening.

Everyone else woke up before Joe and I, so I guess we might go cruise the panels a little bit later this morning. Let the nerdfest begin 🙂

about 24 hours and i’ll be at DragonCon 🙂 this is going to be so uber kewl. I will certainly have many pictures to post when I get back.

Last year, we just happened to have a room right across the street that just happened to have an unencrypted wireless network going. If I happen to be so lucky this year, I’ll post some pix while I’m here.

It’s getting darker earlier; one of the sure signs that fall is around the bend (WOO HOO). The skies are darker, Penny is getting fatter. Could it get any better? 🙂 I think another reason I like fall is that means not only do I get more quality time with the telescope when I go to the folks, but that my favorite winter skies are coming up quick. Damn, I’m too nerdish 😉

Anyhoo, off to cook some chicken (of course).

Nothing much to report from the front. It’s Wednesday already; this week is just zooming by. I still have to pick up more pieces of my DragonCon costume. I just need to stop by an Army surplus store and find some boots, perhaps a floppy hat, and a vest.. Oh, and maybe a belt. I think in many ways, this’ll be better than the Jedi outfit I wore last year. Of course, it won’t be as intricate and awesome as the stormtrooper gear that cochranejv has. Still, this is going to be quite kewl. I know this con will be more of a blast than even last year. What could be better than converging with many nerds and geeks alike in celebration of our dedicated weirdness? 🙂

My den is now officially my Cubs room; I got a Waveland Ave street sign (the left field street that’s adjacent to the outfield wall), and a pretty huge Cubs flag while I was in Chicago. Cubbies are still doing ok; they’re tied in the Wild Card race with SF. This might turn into another race like 1998 where SF and the Cubbies had a tie in the WC at the end of the season. Finally, the Cubbies are really getting consistently good. Perhaps this means I should send some Parkas down to Hell 😉

So, I must have been out of the news loop or something but on August 8, 2004, Dave Matthews Band just happened to be in Chicago. This is two weeks or so before the nice trip up there I just had. I’m not sure if they were playing there or not–I’m sure just about all of the city right now wishes they hadn’t even heard of DMB. Anyhoo, as they were passing through downtown on one of the bridges over the Chicago River, they chose that very moment to dump all of their tour bus sewage. The slimy, grimy and stinky **** wound up splattering all over a tour boat going down the river. Many passengers were on the top deck of the boat, and were therefore caught in the crap. Chicago definitely now has a rather miffed outlook on that band–and they’ve certainly gone down on my list of reputable bands. Pictures were not only taken of their bus as it passed over the bridge, but there were many witnesses on hand. The band and the driver of the bus continued to insist that the incident never happened and that they were nowhere near the area.

So, that was quite the note to begin my trip on 🙂 Everyone in that town was still ranting about it by the time we got there on the afternoon of the 22nd.

The rest of the trip was quite groovy. I have pictures up on the site. It was quite the relaxing trip.

There wasn’t too much new at the museums. There was a kewl exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry about film-making. It was a really kewl interactive exhibit that let you star in a movie trailer. I had a minor role, sitting in a cafe as an extra. hehe.

An interesting exhibit at the Field Museum was about the reign of Qianlong in China. I’m certainly no aficionado on Chinese history, but this exhibit was quite interesting–if not a tad bit nationalistic regarding China. Still, the artifacts were quite awesome, along with the history of the emperor.

I hadn’t been to the Adler Planetarium in a while, and it was quite kewl going back. There weren’t really many new exhibits there, but we did get to see a digital omnimax movie about Egyptian constellations. It seems as though just about every polytheistic society in history has their own set. Some of the shapes correspond to each other, too. The Orion constellation, star-for-star was an Egyptian constellation that personified a god known as Sah (known as the glorious soul of Osiris). The Egyptians were not only a society of mathematica exactitude, but also had as interesting a mythology as the Greeks or Romans.

Cubbies lost to the ‘stros on Friday afternoon 🙁 It was quite the schlacking of 15-7. Kerry Wood gave up 8 of those runs and Kyle Farnsworth proved that he is having real issues by giving up 6 runs in the 9th (5.12 ERA now). Still, it was fun being in Wrigley. The Cubs had a few exciting moments and, if the pitchers had been worth anything that day, 7 runs would’ve won it. They’re still in 1st place in the Wild Card Race, in a pretty serious playoff run. They’re 1 game ahead of the SF Giants.

So, that’s pretty much the trip in a nutshell. I’m glad I had a full week off to not worry about anything. Now I can’t frickin wait for D*C later this week 🙂

Nothing much to report from the front. I’m quite excited about going to Chicago, though. It should be quite the hoot. Plenty of pictures will be taken, for sure. I need to wear my new camera out–i mean in, a bit 😀 Anyhoo, they’ll prolly be on my website sometime after I make my triumphant return.

It’s my first vacation and all, as far as work goes. I’ve reached a milestone.. Next thing to come will be family and kids. lol. Well, maybe not for a while yet. It’s just kinda strange, actually going away on a nice lil fun trip and getting paid for all that time off. It really is quite kewl. If you haven’t tried the average Joe (sorry, Joe) life on, then I would definitely recommend it. hehe.

Anyhoo, nothing much going down tonight. Laundry, perhaps a DVD or two, and getting set up for the LAN tomorrow (WOO HOO). Gaming galore. I always like this time of month 🙂