| Flu is bortz.

So, the interview went well. Lots of standard questions, gave them as much lubbin' as I could. Next step is a panel interview if I "passed" this step. Should know more by the end of next week.

Honestly though, I'm almost more excited about the insurance gig. I figure if I own my own shop, then I don't have to put up with working with people that suck.

So anyway, after the interview and the ridiculous drive home in rush hour traffic, I get home and promptly get very sick. Haylee's been sick since Monday night and is just now getting better. I think she brought the plague home from preschool. Bennett started spiking 104 degree fevers on Thursday, and I started my journey into the Abyss on Friday night. Fevers, chills, the shakes.. awesome. Woke up around 2am and felt semi normal and hungry, so had a bowl of cereal before starting to feel crappy again and passed out with the kids on the couch. Today, lots of coughing, aching and general blah but at least the shakes are gone.

Yay!

Wow, awesome news Enron. The show stars April 17th, so this is probably a big factor in this damn book finally coming out. Can't wait.

Loved the Windows video. I remember most of those iterations. I remember thinking DOS Shell was the shit and it being totally superior to the first version of Windows, ha.

Goodluck with all your job stuff Art!

| GRRM

Holy shit, GRRM has promised a publishing date for the fifth book:

"A Dance with Dragons will be published on July 12, 2011. Let the celebrations begin! And everyone was worried that he was going to pull a Jordan." -Poster on Slashdot

With regards to pulling a Jordan, well, we all know that is still quite a possibility if he is still on track for two more books. Let's see, two more books at an average of 5 years apart. Uggg...

fArt, I saw that video yesterday. Probably on the same site... What a trip back. Good old DOS. My memories of DOS are usually pretty fond, until I think about IRQ and memory management and multiple Autoexec.bat/config.sys files. Those sucked. I don't miss Win 2 or 3 though. What dogs.

D>M>

| Dude upgrades Windows from 1.01 to 7

LOL, figured you nerds would find this funny too. Even tests out Monkey Island on every version.. haha..

| And on the eve of my big interview...

Bennett is running a 104 degree temp, Haylee is throwing up, Michelle is not feeling well and I'm up at 1am feeling like I'm having an asthma attack. LOL.. what the hell!?

I'll have to get a coffee or something on the way to my interview tomorrow.

| And this just in...

So, Oblivion.

I'm tooling around the first main road that circles the city. Having a blast going through those ruins! I am ridiculously out-classed by most of the dungeons, only surviving by employing some serious tactical strategy, lol. First things first, had to break into the bow shop and get myself a nice bow (that I can't nearly afford yet!)

I also downloaded an Archery realism mod which makes things... tense. You can't really fire unless you are fully drawn, and that takes longer the more powerful the bow is. Also, getting hit while you are drawing breaks the action and you have to start over again.. so getting bum rushed is a problem. Also, having a distance fight with bad guys takes on a whole new level of challenge as you both jockey back and forth trying to disrupt the other guy. So fun! Also, adds critical hits for heads, center of mass and legs (fall over / trip). Penalties for moving at all, walking backwards makes you trip if you go over stairs, logs, bodies, etc.

I've run into a few areas / rooms where I have no business being that I've prevailed over (just barely, and only after a few attempts). And there are some that are just too crazy and will have to wait (notes made in journal).

Overall, absolutely loving it. Forgot how tense it is to sneak around and hide. Better Sneaking mod makes it even harder! But also adds the possibility of them losing you if you break line of sight and then re-hide.

At one point I was being chased by a necromancer who was trying to nail me with ranged attacks (that I was side-stepping some of the time). Dude chased me all the way back to the local inn, where I dove through the front door and hid behind the innkeeper's desk, lol. The necromancer charged in after me and found himself in a room full of adventurers who promptly whooped his ass. YAY! That was good fun.

| JJERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRBBBSSS

So I looked up the national and local average salary figures for the position I'm interviewing for tomorrow. About double what I was expecting to find, wow. LOL.. going to take this one a lot more seriously than just a 'tune up interview'.

| Jerbs

I got a call from Great American Casino company here in Western Washington. They want me to come in and interview for the General Manager position. Assuming the pay is pretty swell, but not sure I want to move North of Seattle. At any rate, I got my suits pressed and got a get-a-job haircut, so I think I'm prepared. If anything, at least I'll get some of the ring rust off of me by doing an actual live in-person interview.

In other news, I keep talking to the recruiter at Nationwide who says someone else is going to call me back to complete a phone interview, and then the other person never calls me. That's happened like three times now in the last couple weeks. Bizarre.

| Eric's Sad Panda

I laughed out loud at the combination of your post and profile / avatar picture. (LOL)

Rood:

Will have to check that out.

Have to be honest though, I thought the Hurt Locker was pretty mediocre. Absolute ridiculousness that it got Best Picture. Bu then, the runner up was Avatar, so I guess that says something about the state of movie making. LOL

A movie I heartily recommend: Ip Man.

True story of one of Bruce Lee's mentors. KICK ASS martial arts flick but an awesome story to boot. I caught it on Netflix streaming not too long ago, still should be there.

| Restrepo

I watched this really intense documentary on Netflix streaming the other night called "Restrepo". It was one of the docs nominated for an Oscar this year. A journalist and a photographer were embedded with this small unit in the most dangerous region of Afghanistan for about a year, and it's just about this tiny little outpost in the middle of the mountains there. They took fire every single day and it's just really intense. Similar to "The Hurt Locker" in that it shows you how people can get addicted to adrenaline and it just makes me wonder how anyone can come home to civilian life after being shot at constantly! It's really good.

I thought of that because I'm hooked on Battlefield Bad Company 2 like you guys are hooked on WoW. I put in maybe 60 hours into the 360 version of the game. Sold it. Then rebought it for $6 bucks on Steam and have put in close to 30 hours! So good.

| 7:30

For a couple of minutes at 7:30pm you were online. It's no surprise that AT Members of our caliber were not online at that time, yo, movers and shakers NEVER log on to WoW until at least 9pm, son. :)

Aaah the precon trash talk.

8 inch inseam? only if your 5'3

I got an anaconda that would crawl, turkey boy! And bring the Pillsbury sausage boy along for the ride.

btw, you are totally hooked on Wow crack and just don't know it. I wouldn't worry about only leveling to 30 as you'll probably get to 85 soon. Mr. sad panda, i went online for a bit last night and didn't see anyone online! wtf pwned.

Sorry mang, sick kiddo. Haylee was spiking fevers as high as 103.2 today.. Meh. The medicine is keeping it knocked down, but still, that sucks.

I have exactly two more weeks on my WoW account. Do I have room to level the guys up, or are we still at that 30-ish range for levels?

| Sad Panda

No one came to Azeroth to play with me tonight.

/cry

The Embassy Suites are nice; however, too far removed from the action. We do have a sweet little mini-con at the Embassy Suites that we have periodically self-host, called Mancon. That may pop up at some point this year. Or early next depending on the flow of [AT]. The free booze and atrium are sweet amenities. Then again, Boobla Khan has an even better atrium, near free booze (read TJ's shopping) and the bonus of 40 neckbeards.

D>M>

Edit: Forgot to make it clear the Mancon occurs at the Embassy Suites. Ooops.

| Door Ding Vigilante

If they were indeed that douchy, I'd have a hard time NOT putting their damage waiver to the test. What's a tail light or two (or god forbid a window). LOL.

But then, I have, admittedly, too strong a "JUSTICE MUST PREVAIL" streak. Also, too, many, commas.

Memorial Day, eh? I dunno. Still put me down in the 10% range of "may attend". Would love to. But, you know.

Also, what say you fools about Embassy Suites? Is that too far away? I love me some free breakfast and FREE BOOZE every night!

Hells yeah.

You should service her with your gat.

I was all about public education, but now that I work for a private school, this is the life.

I think many, many public school teachers are nobs that have no business being there, and hide behind tenure.

Ahhh yes, the infamous 8" in-seam. That was epic great ja-El. Arguably your greatest moment in [AT] history. The best part, and I am paraphrasing here since it has been 7 or 8 years, "What do I do? I can't live up to those sorts of expectations!"

Brilliant.

Don't make me show you my eight-inch inseam.

"Why does every thing has to denegrate [SIC] itself to some sort of sexual assault on the weaker female gender?" Because generally I prefer the ladies, sir. So I live vicariously through mixed messages. Unlike some straight shootin' people: "ENRON, VETO MY ROOM, I'LL VETO YOUR ASS AND EAR WITH MY HARD COCK!"

But hey, if you want a level playing field, we're all game. That's why jr0n offered up the free chili-dogs. Jon is the chef, I'm the sous chef and well, you're the turkey. Need stuffin'?

D>M>

Dude, jon's a rapists faces.

Why does every thing has to denegrate itself to some sort of sexual assault on the weaker female gender? They should be given be equal treatment and given a punch in the face!

Nah, just ignore others ignorance. That's always the way to go. Otherwise you end up getting a heart attack over others aggressions.

example: ENRON, VETO MY ROOM, I'LL VETO YOUR ASS AND EAR WITH MY HARD COCK!

Definitely interface her O drive with your I drive. That usually makes things better. You'll need to perform lots of input/output to stress test the O drive. Need to be sure it works, right?

Make sure to thoroughly probe every partition, especially the O drive.

| Obligatory...

eLzar: She will most likely need some port serviced. This may include, but may not be limited to, mounting hard drives at said port(s). Service with a smile eLzar. Maybe a little infection is in order. "Ooops, this is a rental hard drive..." *evil grin*

Also, I'll never forget the fucker who decided to use the hood of my car to stretch his leg while I was at my car. Or on another occasion, what looked as thought someone dragged a brick across my hood (I wish I had been there for this one). WTF? I hate how people think, just because something is in public space, it is itself also public domain.

jA-El, at only a few dollars/night/head savings over the base Kubla rate and two miles away, I am giving the SF Marriott a fat veto.

D>M>

| Oh you'll service her

Youll service her REAL hard.

| POP QUIZ!

Question: "What do you do if you open your door into another car, get out of the car, and then open the back door into the same other car?"

My Answer: You apologize profusely, look embarrassed, feel like shit, and apologize again.

The answer from the freaking pathetic excuse for a human being that did it to my van today WHILE I WAS INSIDE STUDYING: "This is a rental car and the door was really heavy, it just swung open."

ME: "The back door just swung open like the front door did? Really?"

PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING: "Yeah. I'm late. *walks off*"

The best part? This PEFAH is coming to my building for some damn education seminar or meeting, so I might get to 'service' her if she has some tech issue. I love you Ryan, but holymutherfuckingchristalmighty I really, really have a hard time with A LOT of educators.

| Roadtrip

Travel Option 2 -
Anyone else for a southbay RT to kubla? It'll be a lot cheaper than flying individually and we'll have the space to bring foodstuff and other camping/gaming gear. The only drawback to a drive is the drive back but it's only around 5 hours so it's really not that bad. Adding a rental car @ 35 bucks a day, 4 days, plus gas, plus insurance (140 + 100 + 50), divided by 4, is about 72.50 per person. It's less if someone volunteers their car and we don't have to pay insurance.

Hotel Option 3 -
I have a discount certificate for
SAN FRANCISCO MARRIOTT AIRPORT WATERFRONT HOTEL.

it's about a 2 mile distance, think we stayed there one year, or maybe i did. can't remember, but anyhow, it's only $79 dollars per night. I'm actually thinking about getting a S&S as well. Unless someone wants to split the room and it'll be two persons. Eric? Bring your laptop, we can play Warcraft!

I wonder if they'll get hip to key sharing because it was pretty obvious when big groups of beastoids would infiltrate the Regency Club.

| Phil McKraken

fArt: Boobla Khan is an annual tradition in sunny Burlingame (just south of SFO). Awesome games and much beer drinking is usually in order. Memorial day weekend. We get together usually a day early, so the Actionteam convention is Thursday May 26th - Monday May 30th. This is often the only time all us Actionteamers (sans Ry) get together. I think this may the 8th or 9th annual for us. Get a j0rb. Do it! Oh and no insurance gigs, I think a little something in you may just die.

jr0n: I'll sous-chilidog-DM-WFRP so hard, it'll make your teeth rattle. I'm in. I also agree Dark Hosery was a bit of a mess last time. Although, PetAr did his damnedest to make it great by pushing his character beyond the extreme psionically.

also jr0n: we could get one room, one with. That would cut the up-cost down, but I am not sure even at $50/head it is worth it, plus the room key shuffle will get to be onerous. Maybe. Again, up to the AT group to vote.

Finally, "what a fucking cluster fuck it became when there were 40 neckbeards in one tiny room". Truer speak may never have been spoken by AT before. *tip the hat at Rude*

also fArt, I hope your were eating port soup with sushi bits in it. That would be epic. Worth trying one day.

D>M>

Edit: jA-El, no pussing out this time. I don't want to hear in the middle of the convention, "Dude, I got sand in my 'gina and quit creaming on my ass, also I think I am in Vegas right now".

This year: free chili dogs.

I think I'll run the new edition of Warhammer Fantasy this year if people are up for it. Rogue Trader was kind of a glorious failure - fun, but man, so much work. WFRP on tbe other hand should be easier to get up and running with a bunch of peeps especially considering that Enron has quite a bit of experience with it already. He can be my sous-DM!

It WAS pretty sweet. There was random cold cuts and sushi - but yeah, what a fucking cluster fuck it became when there were 40 neckbeards in one tiny room.

How did Regency access work again? Would we be able to get one room with access, one without, then swap keycards or whatever?

Not surprised they beefed up prices after the destruction the nerds wrought last year. Free coffee and breakfast was nice however, especially compared with the atrium prices.

I wish the drive to SF was an hour cuz then it'd be a no-brainer. Flying is basically cheaper and faster (even with getting to the airport earlier and hanging around) but having a car up there is nice and being able to bring whatever is great. So I don't know if I wanna fly or drive yet!

| Oblivion

Also, Oblivion gents. Whole heartedly recommend a mod called Natural Environments. Completely forgot about that one. Really does some nice work with seasonal effects and other vegetation, etc.

Natural Environments

| When What Where Why

When / Where is the con?

I'm a seeeeerious maybe, bordering on outright no way. LOL



In other news:

Sushi was awesome. We all ate like 3 rolls each, plus a few glasses of wine, finished off at the end with some chocolate port and, well, chocolate. A+, would eat again.


In other other news:

Broke down and rebought Oblivion. I got the regular Oblivion plus the two expansions (Nights of the Nine, Shivering Isles) for less than $20. Yay!

Nice one on the bike pump fart trick. I would have never thought to look it up, am entertained and repulsed. kudos. I wish that guy had his intestines explode.

Aye aye. I am IN.

The regency club bonus was pretty sweet, but if it's really $100 bucks extra PER PERSON, that's kinda insane for coffee and bagels. I'd be down for passing on it, but whatevs! I'll go with the flow.

| Little Boys and Boobla Khan

<theorem> j0rn, I think the lady friend just stared at you when you explained little boys because she was thinking, "wait... and how is that any different than my husband?" Also, don't forget the fart jokes. They rank up there with dick jokes and mayhem.</theorem>

<proof> (NSFW)

</proof>

Booblakhan is On! (Still pending word from jA-El) I have confirmation from the following jArks: eLzar, jr0n, Rude Dog, DaveDefeat, Pump, Peter-Realhard, Motobyke. According to eNron style accounting, that's 7 attendees. If you're like j0rn, you will again point out this year that creative eNron accounting was killed by sarbanes-oxley and eNron counts towards the total too. Damn. So that makes 8 confirmed hosers. That all being said, without too much digging here are the rates: $112/night @ normal room rates or $191/night for the Regency Club (what we had last year) room rates. Eeek. A big step up this time.

Anyway, two rooms @ four nights (Thurs Night - Monday Morn), plus 12% room tax, plus 3 (?) cars ($5/day) for four nights = $896 + $108 + $60 or about $1,064. Assuming eLzar takes a room, that's currently an estimated $133/head. The regency room on the other hand = $1,528 + $183 + $60 or about $1,771. Again, that's assuming eLzar takes a room, that's currently an estimated $221/head.

If eLzar goes for the same, Shit and Shower tax this year, ($20 for parking and $50 for S&S I believe), than the results are this: $1064 - $70 (eLzar S&S) / 7 = $142/head. The premier, supar Regency club version is $1,771 - $70 (eLzar S&S) / 7 = $243/head

So the questions that need ironed out before booking:

1. eLzar, room or S&S tax?
2. jA-El, you attending this year?
3. Regency Club or Not?

Unless the hotel offers me a better deal when I call to make the rez, I say we nix the Regency Club room since it bumps our costs up by $100/head, give or take.

Also, given the sky rocketing costs of fuel these days, you may want to start looking into airfare/carpool plans for yooz outta towners.

eNron Butterflyington III

PS: fArt, if you are interested in attending, pipe up dude. I am sure all of that would be dependent on gainful employment, but last minute reservations are accepted by us.

PSS: Cocks Cocks Cocks.

| SUSHI NIGHT

Everyone's invited!

I'm making spicy shrimp and crab rolls! Got a couple bottles of wine, all the ingredients.. going to be an awesome eat-a-thon.