A great adventure is waiting for you ahead.
Hurry onward, Lemmiwinks, or you will soon be dead.
The journey before you may be long and filled with woe
But you must escape the gay man's ass so your tale can be told.
Lemmiwinks. Lehehemiwinks Lemmiwinks Lemmiwinks-

Lemmiwinks' journey, a distance far and fast.
To find his way out of a gay man's ass.
The road ahead is filled with danger and fright
But push onward, Lemmiwinks, with all of your might.

The Sparrow Prince lies somewhere way up ahead.
Don't look back, Lemmiwinks, or you'll soon be dead.
Lemmiwinks, Lemmiwinks, the time is growing late
Slow down now and seal your fate.

Take the magic helmet torch to help you light the way.
There's still a lot of ground to cross inside the man so gay.
Ahead you lies adventure, and your strength still lies within.
Freedom from the Ass of Doom is the treasure you will win.

Lemmiwinks has made it out and his tale is nearly through

Now that you're the Gerbil King there's more ventures to go on
Fly away to faraway lands and to the setting sun
There's still so many enemies and battles yet to fight
For Lemmiwinks the Gerbil King we told a thousand nights

Lemmi- Lemmi- Lemmiwinks, etc.

11/24/02
Ich kann Maisgetreide essen, das tut mir nicht weh.

I feel so comforted when everything is done. A full cupboard and fridge, clean clothes, sheets and body.

No sure what's up for today. I'm going to hold off on the Kimono and personal prezzies until after the Holidays.. better to budget for more increased spending the next month or two for others. I'm not sure which kid's toy charity I'm going with this year yet.

Seven Seas is dang addictive.. I played it almost the whole time at the 'mat!

Some element of my friends page is killing my image loading. it propagates to other spawned explorer pages, until I close explorer and reopen it. I think someone on found objects is using printroom, and my security settings forbid it's style of unverified cookie... causing that stoppage to result. Weird... it's making the viewing of my page quite a pain in the patoot... I'm debating loosening security, or making a "non-photo community filter" to make things go more gently.

HONEY VANILLA CHAMOMILE tofutti is a delight. I'm glad I ventured to get it. Hooray for Locust bean! Guar Gum!

11/25/02

Lovely morning, not as brisk as yesterday, but still clear and comfortable. A pleasant breeze surrounded me with a honeysuckle-like scent (I think from the sweet alyssum) when I poked out of my mole-hole for a gauge of the day. I think tomorrow morning I'll take pictures at Holiday Park. So far, I only have two pictures from there.... a squirrel (from late July) and the mage knight game last weekend. I'd also like to see if I could get a couple of shots of manatees.

I'm back to drinking coffee... I have an on-again, off-again relationship with it. I go through phases of really enjoying it, to just being indifferent to it, to actively not wanting any. With an Einstein’s bagels right up the street, I can get a cup pretty much at will.

Random history factoid - When two acquaintances in ancient Rome met on the street, the typical greeting was "Ave!" and "Salve!" ("Hail," and "Hope you're well," respectively). Friends often followed this by a kiss on the cheek. People who presumed to be a prominent citizen's friends also kissed or tried to kiss them in public, much to the target's dismay. After an exchange of pleasantries, the Romans departed with "Vale" ("Good luck") as goodbye.

11/26/02

Newton comes a-runnin' for the fresh, delicious taste of pre-processed chicken-parts.

Coded like a man possessed today. The day went by like the dickens as a result.

My headlight went very dim on the bike home tonight... I wonder if there's an energy-efficient way to charge my light batteries via the pedal power used while cycling? Would an alternator work effectively? I've got the batteries recharging in the bay as I type this.

Oh, that my brother had an Amazon wish list. It'd make shopping for him so much simpler.


I profited from Kel's loss... I didn't know that they'd decide to send me a replacement bag.

Dear Mr. Von Berg:

Thank you for contacting General Mills about the problem you had with Chex Peanut Lover's snack mix. As a responsible manufacturer, we strive to produce high quality products. We are sorry your experience did not meet the standards we expect from our products.

Our packaging equipment is designed to ensure that all ingredients are combined in correct proportions. It's possible that a mechanical failure was responsible for the condition you've described. We appreciate that you have taken the time to notify us and will review the information you provided with the product team. Please be assured that an adjustment will be sent to the address you have shared.

We regret any inconvenience this has caused and hope you will continue to use and enjoy our products.

Sincerely,
Jennie Taylor
General Mills
Consumer Services

Original Message

Dear Sir or Madam:
Yesterday, my sister got a bag of your peanut lover's chex mix, (which I could not find on your product page). To her colossal dismay, there was but a lone peanut, lost amid the assorted other crunchy flotsam and jetsam in the bag. For a product named "peanut lover's", it is sorely lacking in the starring ingredient. I felt strongly enough about this issue to write your company.
Sincerely,
Scott von Berg

Microwave popcorn is a wonderful treat this time of night... I rarely pick it up, but the grocery ghosts led me to it last weekend. Kudos on a fine choice, phantom impulse!

D'oh... I missed seeing my sweetie online! ding-dong-dangit!

Good Morning, Dear Journal!

Random doodle picture from Yesterday's trip home. I was tired. I don't know what it means.

Dreamt last night that I was fighting some guy in a mock up of an arena, surrounded by onlookers. He was vaguely defined.. I knew that he was a bad guy, though... and needed a good trouncing. I was wearing my Superman boxer shorts, white T-shirt and brown socks...My Sweetie was in the audience holding the Kitties, and somehow I knew that Superman himself was out there, too. I don't remember who won or lost, but I didn't get any superpowers or anything and the fight was bare knuckles... the framing element is all that I recall. I *really* have no idea why I was wearing brown socks.

Interesting coincidence? Not really irony. Dork Tower on Web Logging

Illuminated manuscripts (miniatures) from the 12th to 16th centuries

Reflecting on my sweetheart and henna tattoos. I'm smiling... got good reviews on Treasure Planet.. Kev went to see it last weekend, and was quite impressed. I'll probably go catch it over holiday weekend sometime. I also want to hit IMAX to see the Ancient Egypt Documentary...(Speaking of Which...Ark of the Covenant: in Ethiopia? )

The Martian and the Moron.... from here. People I deal with frequently fall into one of the three categories of Martian, Moron, and Devil Puppeteer.

It looks like my brother and I will be going to mom's for thanksgiving, but I'm not planning to stay for very long. Just long enough to be sociable, and then head on homeski.

Newt was a sweetie-boy this morning... he woke me up at sunrise as normal, but instead of wanting to run around and play, we had more muted "attack the hand hiding under the blanket, and run when it fights back" sort of morning. He woke me with a nose in my right tear duct this morning rather than his patty-pats. Just in a cuddly mood. Nothing wrong with that.

11/27/02

Yesterday would've been my father's 57th birthday, were he still alive. He passed away a little over 14 years ago. I still think about him frequently.

Things about my Dad at 33, to the best of my memory. The year was 1978. He had two boys, aged nine and five, recently celebrated his 11th wedding anniversary, his wife was a hairdresser, and was rapidly approaching getting her RN. He still had the green Chevy duster, but the corvette stingray was swapped out for a cream-colored Mercedes four door. He still rode his motorcycle a lot with both of his boys. They swapped off every time he went out to pick up a gallon of milk or pipe tobacco at the store. He'd actually shuttle the kids home one at a time from school that way, too. He started really enjoying hunting and fishing, I think because it got him closer to nature, and it fed his family for a lot less than going the grocery store. (He fished or hunted at least every other weekend) I think that year we ate more meat and fish through his gun and hooks than the grocery store. We had a roomy three bedroom, two bath home. I'm pretty proud of him for that. The kids joined him on his trips about half the time... always fishing, but only sometimes hunting. I remember him liking the Deer Hunter that year, (I much preferred the Superman movie that year... still do, honestly.) He was really interested in reruns of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and Wild Kingdom. He'd finally weaned himself from cigs, but was smoking cherry tobacco in a pipe. We still lived next door to Sally and Bill. The family had a small, but very close-knit group of friends. It was his last year in Virginia; we all wintered in his father in law's trailer on Marathon Key, Florida. Those were good times. He was in excellent shape from a lot of physical activity, and had Medium-short hair, no moustache or beard. He was an engineer, and did some construction on the side. He had 9 years left to live. He was very blessed.

Thinking about me at 33, as far as I know. The Year is 2002. I've got Newt at three years old. I've been in a relationship for over two years now, and love her with the full depths of my heart. I'm living in a large efficiency apartment, a smaller place than before, but I have the benefit of living right next door to my little brother, which is a huge bonus. I commute by train, bus, cab and bicycle... there's no place I need to go to outside of those routes, and am a hop skip and a jump from the beach or city proper. Best Movie that I've seen this year is probably Lord of the Rings (oddly enough The Lord of the Rings Cartoon was released in '78) I don't watch much TV lately... but the same sort of Documentaries / Nature shows appeal to me. The only extended vacation that I've taken lately is a week or two off this year for my back... but now that I've had an epidural I'm feeling really good, and getting in better shape daily. I have a small group of friends, a couple at work, and Dan, Dave and my brother outside of the company. My Current goof around stuff is reading, biking around town, taking pictures, writing prose, painting minis, playing mage knight, and goofing on the computer. I have hair that goes down to past the bottom of my shoulder blades, and a goatee. I don't smoke, and rarely drink. I get all of my food from the grocer, though I'm considering growing something edible in a window box. When I go on rides around town, I'm frequently alone in body, though I'm paired nicely in spirit. I live in this apartment year-round. These times are good for me, especially with loved ones in my life. I'm a programmer / MIS guy, and do some web stuff on the side. I have no idea how much time I have left. I'm very blessed.

. .

Newton looks so awesomely huge after playing with little kittens.

Newt's 20x the mass of them. They weigh less than a can of soda-pop each... or 12 ounces. Newt's like 17 pounds. I love my big solid boy!!

Interesting email... Actually decent pay for links, and they knew that my name is Scotto.

Hi Scotto,

I run an online casino web site (online pharmacy), and I was wondering if you are interested in linking to my site for some cash. I can pay you $12.00 per month for 1 keyword text link at the bottom of your first page, or $20.00 per month for two links.

Let me know if you are interested so that I can send you the payment and info right away.

I replied that I might be interested, depending on the content of the link text, and if I could see the site before deciding to link to it. I certainly wouldn't mind an extra $20 a month, if it doesn't do popups.

The reply to that was -

We would like to put a 2-3 keyword text links for each site. This is how I would like the links to appear on your site. The titles on the top would link to the URLs listed below.

Order Viagra Online
(hyperlinks to: http://www.cybermedicalgroup.com)

Online Black Jack
(hyperlinks to: http://www.1-black-jack.com)

Please check the sites out and see if this opportunity is of any interest to you.

We can send your payment via Paypal or check, whichever you prefer. If you are still interested please place the links at the bottom of your first page & send us your information according to your choice of payment. Our purpose in doing this is just to do some small advertisements.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

I looked at the sites, and they're reasonable... the links aren't porno, won't cause popups on my page, and I can put a disclaimer that they're advertisements above the links.

I'm guessing that the sudden surge of hits on my site (due to heroclix and Chevy Tahoe commercial info, mostly) caused someone's flag to go up. I wonder how long the "free money" will come in?

Sweet!

[ Update - ]


You've Got Cash!

Cyber Spectrum Marketing just sent you money with PayPal.

Payment Details

Amount: $20.00

Subject: links

To view the details of this transaction, go to your History. Then, click the link in the Status column for this transaction.

Thank you for using PayPal!

Hi Scotto,

Perfect..everything looks great. It has been a pleasure doing business with
you. The $20.00 payment has been sent to your paypal account


The links should be active from 12/27/2002-12/28/2002. We will be keeping
in touch to see how next month looks for both of us.

memories flow in
sailing on the river Thund
more follows tonight

11/28/02

Santa Claus powers (it's long been known that we're related)

Stuff I'm pretty good at -

• Naughty / Nice detector


• Entertaining Children


• Having a Beard


• Enjoying Cookies


• Winking / nodding


• chatting with elves


• making lists (and double-checking them)


• taking care of animals


• eye-twinkling


• shouting, and calling the reindeer by name


• ho-ho-ho-ing in a deep voice


• good grasp of toys - high technology and old school

Stuff that Needs work-

• breaking and entering. (I can jimmy a car door with a clothes hanger, though)


• traveling at high speeds in a sleigh


• spreading cheer (only good in short bursts at the moment)


• Shaking like a bowl full of jelly


• Wearing Boots


• Levitating reindeer, or any animals, really.


• preferring to convert evil over the simpler "destroy it" method.


• whistling


• smoking a pipe


• spectacles


• working inside high pressure deadlines


• good penmanship

I need to work on a Christmas Icon, too. I wonder where the santa-scotto went?

Font choice is important

cool word of the day, inspired in part by the sixth picture in sirenity's entry here.

Nephelococcygia (Noun) - [ne-fê-lê-kê-'si-jee-yê]

Definition 1: (Literally, "Cloud-cuckoosville") Interpreting the shapes of clouds.

Definition 2: La-la land, a dreamland cut off from reality.

Usage 2: Nephelococcygia was dreamed up by Aristophanes for his comedy, "The Birds" (414 BC). In this play, two characters turn into birds and immediately begin planning a city (never realized), which they decide to call "Nephelococcygia." Capitalize the word if it refers to the imaginary city. The adjective would be "nephelococcygic," as in "Fred is suffering nephelococcygic delusions."

Seven syllables. Perfect for center placement in a haiku.

I find some fascinating shapes in clouds, fire, wood grain, paint whorls, puddle reflections and Newton stripes....

On a more pleasant note, thanksgiving is here; I've got a 4-day weekend ahead of me. Hopefully, there'll be plenty of time for hanging out with my sweetie, outdoor recreation (Scouting for pictures), playing with the Gnoot, maybe a game of mage knight or two with Dave and / or Dan. I know my sweetheart has a *full house* today on her end, and I hope that it goes without a hitch.

I would *love* to have a house like this one. Perfect for the cold war, or when zombies roam the earth. (or, if you don't want to be bothered by noisy neighbors!)

11/29/02
Getting together at about 6:30/7 with Dave for dinner tonight and maybe a game or three of mage knight. We won't go too late, though... he wants to go surfing up coast tomorrow morning.

I'm going to try to trade him something for his ironclad tonight... maybe a couple of my spare non-convertible dwarves...I've got a bunch of those... it's a shame I don't have more of the newer sculpts. I can't believe that I'd ever see the day I’d want to trade good ol' dwarves for nasty orcs.


I thought I'd get Cyclops because I have a Redheaded Clairvoyant as my significant other. *Rowr*


What's your superhero personality?
brought to you by Quizilla
You are Superman. Congrats! You think like the Man of Steel himself. You are a boy scout; you stand for truth, justice, and other stuff. Just don't get a messianic complex.


I got an ironclad and a krugg headhunter for a dwarven pikeman and a rotary fuser.

I feel like such a goofy kid talking about trading toys, but it's a lot of fun.


Two Years ago today, my sweetheart and I confirmed to each other that we were in love. I still find myself catching my breath, thinking of her.

e e knows what it's all about.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate, my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Happy...

Uh, which way is the most accepted?

Channuka, Channukah, Chanuka, Chanukah, Chanuko, Hannuka, Hannukah, Hanuka, Hanukah, Hanukkah, Kanukkah, Khannuka, Khannukah, Khanuka, Khanukah, Khanukkah, and Xanuka.

Two spellings for each day. Yeesh. Why can’t we spell Non-English, Non-Roman character-based words more phonetically? Heck, In Hebrew it's only five letters.

Have a good one, regardless. :)

Song stuck in my head all morning - I've been singing it to Newt incessantly.

Oh everything comes in its own special size
I guess it can be measured by where you put your eyes
It looks big when you're close
And it looks smaller back a bit
That's about the size of it.

Oh the big becomes the little
When you see it back a bit
The huge becomes the dinky
Which is just the opposite
Of the larger that gets smaller
It never seems to fit
That's about the size of it.

That's about the size
It's where you put your eyes
That's about the size of it.

About 110k total, I don't think a cut is needed. Feel free to let me know if someone wants one.


I was collecting accumulated deodorant cans (I seem to just toss them under the sink when empty, a slovenly habit I'm trying to kick. Newt was sitting on the commode so patiently watching, I had to take a picture. on the top of the tank there is potty-reading... currently You Only Live Twice, and a couple of sampler comic books picked up free at the ACC Expo.

Once I'd gotten the camera, I realized that it was probably a good morning to look for manatees. I knew the best place to go... I'd seen them there a few times before. The New River in Fort Lauderdale, right over the Haunted Tunnel.


I got there, and it was very quiet, a good sign. The less traffic, the easier it'd be to spot them on the water.


A tree that I'm fond of... I didn't capture the feel from this angle, but it's alternately spooky and friendly. There's a definite vibe about it. They put planks up to protect it from the high winds, recently...those weren't there last time.


Brisk morning.... the river patch I went to must've been too chilly for the manatees. I'll return later to try again. I did find some little skinny fish swimming around. I was partial to the tag-along blue guy tooling about. No crabs out wandering, either.



I hope you had a good morning too, Dear Journal!

11/30/02

There was a beautiful morning today... cool and clear. I spent it reading and just soaking up comfortable Newt-snugs, after about two hours of playing with him... the cool weather made a crazy-play-monkey out of him. He officially wore me out first, but he contented himself to playing paper wad soccer while I rested from the chase. He was kind enough to be the ball-return when I throw the paper-balls over different areas of the abode... he fave seemed to be the hall leading to the bathroom, which allows him to skid on a towel most indelicately. Newt is many things, but grace of movement isn't a trait he exhibits often. When running at top speed, his rear legs go faster than his front, causing him to turn a little on his trajectory, and make him prone to skidding on the tile, too. Little soft sock-paws will slip at the best of times.

I gave my brother a mage knight army of his own to play with, made form spares I had. It's a very well balanced 200 (and a few beefy extras to up to make it just shy of 300). He seemed quite happy about it... that's something that I've been meaning to do for quite some time. He's enthused enough that we might play a game tonight. (His interest was mild before, but I think he's more into now that he has his own toys to play with).

relentless zombie horde (For the Bro (16 figures at 299 points)

Weak Lurker
Standard Lurker
Weak Darkwing Zombie
Weak Mending Priestess
Weak Zombie
2 x Standard Zombie
2x Tough Grave Robber
Standard Bone Golem
Standard Shade
2 x Standard Detonating Zombie
Weak Marsh Zombie
Tough Bone Golem
Standard Zombie Hound

Wakeful day, not too sleepy, but dreamy. I wonder what the rest of the day will bring? I've been fooling around most of the day, but may go for a bike ride later, too... the Christmas lights are up all over Las Olas now... funny to see palm trees done up in candy-cane red and white-striped lights. I thought I'd see more vagrants by now, but the population seems to be about the same. It's got to be getting cold enough up North to drive them down here soon...unless the "Broward border" enforcement is happening more than is noticed. That's what they do in Davie... They give people a ride to the county line, if they don't want to go to a shelter.

Pondering what I want to do as treats with the angel tree this year. The gig is two items of clothing, two toys and a book for each child. I think tomorrow, I'm going to devote some extra time to picking those up at toys r us.... the goodies are preferred to be turned back in as soon as possible. I'm going to try to have them in by next weekend, just to have it taken care of. I'm really pleasantly surprised at TRU's clothes department...That makes it much simpler.

12/1/02

Chat from the Menstrualhut spammer... and after I had such a nice time with my sweetie, too. I hope I don't have to ban her from the community. I wish I wasn't so fast on the "delete it" trigger finger. Her two posts had foul language.

Session Start (AIM - biglug23:vegansdnteatknee): Sun Dec 01 19:20:31 2002
[19:20] vegansdnteatknee: compassion, feminism, feminisms, girlhood, girls, safety, sisters, sociology, taboo, women, women's health, women's issues, womyn
[19:21] BigLug23: call the police or an abuse center if you feel that action needs to be taken. a request to spam another person is a violation of the TOS
[19:21] vegansdnteatknee: what the hell is tos?
[19:21] BigLug23: terms of service. in the livejournal faq.
[19:21] vegansdnteatknee: yo im not a livejournal junky, i told you or whoever
[19:22] vegansdnteatknee: would it have killed on eof you to make a reasonable reply?
[19:22] vegansdnteatknee: "why dont you do this?
[19:22] vegansdnteatknee: "heres an idea"
[19:22] vegansdnteatknee: etc
[19:22] BigLug23: the message was deleted, because it was generally abusive.
[19:22] vegansdnteatknee: why would you think a girl would get on there and lie?
[19:23] BigLug23: I'm not judging you, or them. I'm just staying within the written rules. You requested that people send hatemail to someone they don't even know, and that's not within the community nor livejournal's rules.
[19:24] vegansdnteatknee: i dont know what generally abusive means, but i do know you gotta be a fucktard to not give a shit about the situation.. have fun hiding your head in the sand you fucking ass hole.
and here's a suggestion I have, break the rules... all the musicians you listen to do, all the politicians you respect probably went against some "tos" don't be a tool, you start a group about fucking blood and you cant step outside your cage for one fucking entry abotu a REAL issue "girl issues" my ass.
[19:25] BigLug23: Again, if you know about someone being abused, call the police or human services. Spam isn't a reasonable solution. If you like, I can give you the numbers to them in your area, or you can seek them out on google.com
[19:25] *** Error while sending IM: This user is currently not logged on

Random Scotto factoid - When My brother and I got toys from a similar set (Star wars, Battlestar Galactica, army men, etc) I *always* picked the bad guys / freaky looking ones. I think the only good-guy star wars figures I had were Chewbacca, Yoda and some droids. R2-D2, R5-D4, a Protocol droid (or C-3PO sprayed chrome rather than gold.)

Bad guys simply have cooler sculpts/shapes/uniforms/evil robo voices or growls.

A year ago, I started the coloring book community - lj comm="coloringbook" It has gotten pretty dusty around there lately...the last post as of this writing was a Halloween one.

Hmm. My picture hosting area at Bellsouth is down. That's a kick in the head... I hope it wakes up soon.

Went to Blimpie's for lunch... The Veggie Max sub is tasty! Of course, getting a side of chips negated most of the healthy side of that meal. The Jalapeno chips didn't have much of a bite to 'em... like someone ran the bags near a Jalapeno patch, just to capture a hint of the scent to toss on there... I think I should've gone with half sammich and half broccoli-cheese soup, no chips. (I am comfortably full of sammich, though.)

A gray day...a little warmer than yesterday.

Action figure cam - I just saw Greedo holding up another patron! (With Mr. T in the background.)

It was a tough night sleeping. I got about 5 hours in three or four fractured periods of rest over from about 2 am to 10:30 am.

Heaven knows what's going on next door, but the bro and his roommate have a guest over they're talking pretty loudly, but it doesn't seem to be argumentative. I went out to say hey, and asked about the interview. He says that his interview went well yesterday and that she'll call back. I hope that it's so... The only thing that strikes me as odd is that he hadn't shaved since I saw him last night (He had about three-days growth on his chin... not the best way to interview). I asked him last night if he needed a razor, and he said it was covered.

Today's Sunday, and December already... It would seem Papa Time has wings on his feet.

I hope that this month is much more pleasant than the last two for those I care for (that includes myself).

There's a section of ebay devoted to selling only plastic army men. the Heading goes - All Categories > Toys & Hobbies > Toy Soldiers > Modern (1970-Now) > Plastic

One of the more beautiful applications to draw on Project Gutenberg for source material, TextArc gives the reader a visual representation of the interrelationships of texts as it reads through, for example, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. - via memepool






Annie is a very cool cat. -Brought to you by some guy that makes animal noises.

Newt and I have dealt with similar elements (especially those marked fetch, thief, proper training, and Halloween) He was very playful this morning... I had to wear him out before taking my shower. We must've run around for about a half hour or so.

I'm happy that my picture-server woke back up like a good boy.
Clash of the Titans on Sci-fi this morning as I get ready for work... Perseus (Hee hee...I still crack up when I see him on LA Law), the ancient Greek while sneaking away from Calibos invisibly, leaves footprints shaped like wing tips in the sand. I guess winged sandals have a pointed toe and a squared heel.

Good line from Burgess Meredith - "A divine gift should never be questioned, but merely accepted."

I still think Bubo is a pus-filled sore as a result of plague, not a wacky r2-d2 sounding robot owl, though.

I got a goodly dose of sleep last night... hit the sack early, and got my morning swabbing at 8. I slept like a corpse... just a total system shutdown. I don't recall any dreems, but my sleep was quite deep.

12/3/02

Tonight's film is Godzilla vs. Megalon. It has Jet Jaguar, but Monsters don't show up until 40 minutes into the film. The MST version surely saves it.

Interesting enough day at work... Some nice challenges on the new program I'm developing... I have to do a lot of new code building... not much in my library to develop what they want.

Cool Christmas Tree Monster... good ol' Megalon!


Zilla and Jet Save the day.


Cool, clean feeling this morning... but I sense that it'll go up about 5-10 degrees by midday. I don't know if that's why I have more energy, or if it's just a contributor.

Two pieces of good news...the bro got a second job, working graveyard shift (11p-5:30am) and brought me a doughnut for breakfast. Hooray for the Bro! Hooray for Doughnuts! (I still hope he gets a Louie’s gig… he could make a really healthy chunk of change over the season.)

Helpful hint to keep those holiday goiters at a minimum… ordinary table salt.

Be careful which bar you go to...

Cool Geek places to shop.... including a Cat-a-pult with Newton the foam cat. There are some keeno fossil and space stuff, too. -Via Scientific American

Heat Miser Squeaked ahead, and Beat Snow Miser.






What's your Battle-Cry?

this quiz was made by Aroihkin of PlanetKulitron

12/4/02

The Island boy worked with me late tonight, and we regaled one another with stories of school days and fights seen. Being a school kid in Jamaica is much more in the English style than the USA. Cane across the hands and forearms for punishment. Even in my school, you only got the paddle across the hinder, or suspension. The Islander is a really funny guy when you get him to open up... we had quite a chucklefest.

I'm hoping that I can get holiday shopping ironed out by the end of next weekend if all goes well... I'm going easy this year, so I think it's possible.

Travel *does* affect my drawing / writing style.


A friendly fly/ant/bug-head


Karen is a little scaredy of alligators... when she goes fossiling... Is braving the water worth a prehistoric tooth?


A smiley... There was no open flame when I drew this.


That's enough of that... off to work with me, dear journal.

Rainy morning.... very peaceful and calm. I imagine that in a more northern climate that it'd be a light dusting of snow on everything.

My sweetheart looks delightful all dolled up for work... I'd prefer to stay home with her and smooch, with little house on the prairie on TV in the background. I've got a big case of the cuddles this morning. Just a nice feeling.

12/5/02

late night supper fantastico.

two sun-dried tomato bagels with roasted bell pepper and soy-provolone toasted over the top, with a long, tall glass of sleepytime tea (iced/ with lemon)

Newt, on the other hand.... Mr. Predator... stalked and ate a beetle with great aplomb and gusto. My silly boy.

As a user of a dual monitor system for a few years now... this looks both nifty and silly at the same time. Interesting way to save space and still have a good laptop screen size.

The genome for the mouse is being published on several websites on Thursday. Here's your chance to get in on the ground floor of creating Red, White & Green Xmas mice, plump savory eatin'-mice, and freakish radiotelepathic hive-mice with gestalt minds and a overpowering urge to dominate mankind.

*Must obey Mr. Squeaky- #34 of 67*


Mouse Genome to Be Made Public, an Aid to Human Studies
By NICHOLAS WADE


The genetic sequence of the mouse will be made public on Thursday, a landmark in biology that researchers say will greatly accelerate efforts to understand and treat human disease, as well as yield insights into basic biology and evolution.

Details of the findings, developed by a consortium of scientists from academic centers in the United States and Europe, will be published in the journal Nature. The full array of data will be freely available on the Internet, on Web sites that include www.ensembl.org, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/guide/mouse and genome.ucsc.edu.

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The consortium is not the first team to complete a draft of the mouse genome. Dr. J. Craig Venter and his company Celera Genomics, which rivaled the public consortium in the race to complete the human genome, finished a draft of the mouse genome more than a year ago. But Celera, which Dr. Venter has since left, makes the draft available only to paying subscribers.

Humans and mice are mammalian cousins who split into two species 75 million years ago, toward the end of the dinosaur era. With the genomes of both mammals now in hand, analysis shows that their biological programming turns out to be amazingly similar.

Only 1 percent of the mouse's 30,000 or so genes have no obvious counterpart in the human genome, and vice versa, according to a consortium analysis of the two genomes.

This similarity makes the mouse genome an almost perfect tool for studying the human genome, since gene experiments that cannot be done in people can be done using equivalent mouse genes.

To study the role of any human gene, researchers can identify the counterpart gene in mice, create strains of mice that lack the gene, and figure out the gene's role from the mouse's defects.

An analysis of the mouse genome based largely on comparing its DNA unit by unit with the human genome has turned up many new insights into how evolution shapes a species.

Most of the human and mouse genes have one-to-one counterparts, though some mouse genes have expanded into a cluster of related genes. The mouse, for instance, has developed many extra copies of genes that do duties important to being a mouse, like genes underlying the sense of smell, pheromones (hormones that guide mating), immune defense and toxin degradation.

The two forces that change a genome are mutation - random, accidental changes in DNA caused by radiation, chemical instability, copying errors - and natural selection. Computer programs that compare mouse and human genomes can identify which regions are under selective pressure.

Studies indicate that 5 percent of the human and mouse genomes are under selective pressure. Since the protein-coding genes constitute only 3 percent of the genome, another 2 percent of the genome must be doing something very important, though largely unknown at this stage.

The mouse genome is 14 percent shorter than the human's, since it has less ``junk DNA,'' or DNA that does not appear to program for genes. The mouse's contains 2,400 billion bases of DNA, the human's, 2,900 billion.


In a completely other note, I'm reminded of the saying "I'd rather be a smart feller, than a fart smeller." (Or I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a pre-frontal lobotomy, for that matter). Four of hearts or whore of farts?

Spoonerisms. Got to dig 'em.

Congratulations morganofthefay on the upcoming dynamic duo!

Last night, I spent about an hour painting a couple of small stone walls as part of terrain / diorama. It dried pretty nicely... I'm experimenting; working with a couple of color schemes... a sort of red/rust clay, and a more traditional greenish-gray stone color... Still torn as to which looks better. I may do one of the wall pieces as a mix and match... stone body, but with red brick trim. The set came with a few resin-cast "piles 'o skulls" So I guess the ruined church / fortress has a graveyard or somesuch out back. The painting comes a lot more swiftly on walls and terrain instead of characters.

Thinking of my sweetheart in one of these... Belly-dancer meets flappers. More Cabaret than traditional... but there are some nifty ones.

It's neat that I see the word yurt used regularly in common usage. I know of two or three people that have the word come up in conversation at least every few weeks or so.

Two Years ago today... the hungrybaby / mcnoggin saga began, listing some of the reasons why I love my sweetheart and a Christmas confession. (And some other stuff...)



A year ago today - Turbid, McNoggin Memories, levitated .net , and the pond poem.

Congrats to all the folks out there that are snowed in, but comfortable. Nothing like that here, until a Hurricane comes near.

What Scott and Dan do when they're bored? They email companies and Ann Landers in broken English, hoping for advice and free samples. It seems funny now. Will it be so when I wake?

To Wilson Tennis Racquets-

Hola Wilson Employee:

I am see no badminton part of your land here. I am look Badminton or shuttlecock but find none. How to find green one for girlfriend? Much the help like.

Cheers,
Your friend always,
Sven

To Ann Landers-

Hello to you Ann. Help me with this one, I know you can. Pleasing to be knowing you. Am asking this through the email for you to be helping me please. Sven met girl at badminton camp and Sven go with her three times now. Georgina wants sex, but I wait for spring season. Coach says no sex during season Sven. I listen to coach but Georgina says she'll get sex somewhere else if I don't give her. What is best? Mother says Sven thirty Sven have head in wagon.

All help good, sorry you died.
Your friend always,
Sven Sven Sven.

Sven's profile for future emails-

• misses his father's horses and mother's boxcake.


• born of good means, sheltered and naive of the harsher realities of the world, but he's no simpleton, he has a strong ethic and classic old world wisdom and charm, truthful ness code of honor,


• committed of badminton, amateur status but quite good


• residing in fort Lauderdale Florida and working on a degree at the university.


• single


• good teeth


• healthy


• collects timepieces, especially analog, antiques.


• sails small boats and prefers to travel by canal rather than road.


• writes mother once a week, but mother can't read. (father reads to mother)


• recently independent financially, having a tough time.


• unsure of status with Georgina


• volunteers in a soup kitchen every other Sunday


• taking an EASL course, and is progressing nicely, if slowly.

Nighty night, dear journal.

Strange, scene-shifting dreams last night… Pretty, pleasant, and comforting.

Music makes my heart happy... Hearing one of our songs makes me think about my sweetheart and brings a smile to my face.

Santa's Soldiers is a fun idea... I'd like to see it as a mod for a video game, but to keep the enemies on a par with Santa's elves level...leave the humans out.

A classic from last year... the coolest Christmas present.

A(n?) LJer with 3 different accounts and over 700 friends has linked to me. Where does a person find the time to read *700* journals? I don't think they do... it looks like yet another "trolling for reciprocal links" effort.

The Bro brought me a bottle of eggnog this morning...it's weird seeing him awake at 8 am I took a sip, but it's too rich, first thing in the day.

I noticed this morning that Newt's too big to get under my dresser. Now... he bats bottle-rings (in this case, nog) and they seem to gravitate there. I'm going to have to go down there and see what else has gone AWOL into the Newt-free zone. I wonder how Blackie's doing in the snow, and if he's gotten any fatter for the winter months?

The object of Micheal Jackson Baby Drop (their spelling) is simple, but very weird. You are Adolph Hitler, and your mission is to catch babies dropped from windows by the Jackson family. Yeah. -Via Dave

Today's Kitten Friday at work, to make up for no creature days the rest of the week...It'll be neat to see how they've grown in a week, and to See Newt as gargantuan again when I get home. Sappho has a Maine Coon cat at home twice Newt's size... he's a beast, but a sweetheart. (She's got three cats total at home, and they're all adorable.)

Make a snowflake!

During my journey between home and work, I'm tooling down Andrews Ave, going at a good clip. The weather's nice and I have a healthy tailwind.

I scoot past a bench Just south of Oakland Park, and there is a clench of four fifteen- or sixteen-year-olds horsing around.

"Dude, I'm gonna jack your bike!" was bellowed out to me by a particularly rambunctious one...and then I ground to a halt, because I had arrived at the bus stop. Even before I dismounted, his friends could be quoted as saying "Oh, Shit... He's going to Jack you, now!" and he was pleading in a sad little whine..."I'm sorry... sorry.. please..." I don't think I have a mean face on... I smile, and say "No sweat... I'm just waiting for the bus, too. I'd be careful what I yell though.. there are a lot of psychos out there, y'know." Looked genuinely frightened, and apologized about three more times, to which I replied each time "No problem, it's cool". His friends, to their credit, didn't razz him too much, just sort of sat quietly during the ride.

I'm not *that* scary looking...he must've frightened himself more than I could. I hope my smile was taken as genuinely friendly, and not predatory. I think he was put at ease, some, but it was a quiet ride, considering there were so many teens aboard.

I wonder if he learned anything, or if he'll do that sort of stunt again in the future. I feel that he won't misbehave in that way again.

Fortunately, some of the "Little kids think I'm keeno" vibe at Mayah's birthday party a while back stuck... I don't like feeling like I'm just all about the intimidation.

A year ago... I got spooked, prep for bear vs man-armor, mexican vanilla, KPMG sucks, and police mugshots of a prostitute/junkie over a decade.

Two years ago... Globetrotters (Afro of holing), Myths of pearl harbor, , sigmund and the sea monster, chaos postcards, two anonymous quotes that are outstandingly accurate in my belief.

Sakes, is it Pearl Harbor Day, already? Hey, no hard feelings.

Kev loaned me Alien vs. Predator 2... pretty neat, but tough. It's fun and challenging to play the face hugger.

I was cruising www.promedmail.org (I think it's almost as good a reference as the CDC, though in a different capacity) and found an article that grabbed my attention. Bushmeat is the euphemism used in English-speaking Africa for meat derived from wildlife. (Some sites prefer to use it for meat derived from primates.) The people on Promedmail are interested in bushmeat because it has been recognized as a definite means of human infection with zoonoses. Bushmeat is one of the conjectured routes for human infection with Simian Immuno-deficiency Virus (SIV), leading to the development of HIV. Recent reports also suggest that Ebola virus may make the jump to humans through bushmeat.

The maps of west nile virus outbreaks are interesting reading, too. (More maps of assorted plagues here, but you have to cut and pate the links...the HTML is broken.. they have anthrax, influenza, and assorted animal diseases)

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica online. interesting, but not fascinating.

Time for chores, I suppose... Hmmm… Maybe a nap. (Only a little sleep last night.)

removed comments feature... php didn't want to propagate through archive via php.