The Good, the Bad and the Mugly. February 27, 2009
Posted by Mitchell in Art.comments closed
Behold!
My latest mugware from my cermics class. More about this later.
Knives Purchased February 26, 2009
Posted by Mitchell in Home.comments closed
In my family the men pretty much have a knife with them all the time. Usually it’s just a little pocket knife of some sort with two or three blades. My Dad has a little black Buck knife he’s had ever since I can remember and I carried an Old Timer two blade pocket knife for years until my Mom got me a real nice three blade (but still small) Case knife a while ago. My brother has sometihng similar. One of my fondest childhood memories was when I got my very first pocket knife on my seventh birthday. It was a beautiful white pearl handled thing and it was my most prized possesion. Dad taught me how to sharpen and take care of it and made me know in no uncertain terms that if he ever saw me use it irresponsibly that it would be taken away and I’d never see it again. I was always careful (well almost always, I hardly ever cut myself with it) and I’ve loved knives and sharp stuff in general ever since. Over the years I’ve picked up many knives large and small and I enjoy them all, but for general every day use it’s still the standard pocket knife that I have closest at hand. Or, at least until recently.
Some while back I came across a link to a blog called “To Which I Replied…” and read the guy’s post on Choosing and EDC Knife. It’s an excellent post and it got me to thinking about my knives. My thinking was running along the lines of “I don’t have enough knives” and “I should get another knife.” I didn’t do anything about it for a while but the guy (ExistingThing) put up couple posts about a certain knife and I started to kind of obsess about it a bit. Earlier this month I went down to a knife store to check them out and wound up getting one. Here it is – the Benchmade 943:
It’s a beautiful knife and extremely well made. It has the sharpest factory edge I’ve ever seen on a knife. After a week or so couldn’t help myself and I bought another one. This is the 940 with black coated blade and partial serration:
Yes, they are expensive but they are worth it. The first one I paid full retail ($195) but I bought the other one online at a significant discount at $140. I’m thinking about getting my brother one for his birthday next month.
This & That February 21, 2009
Posted by Mitchell in Home.Tags: Health, Money
comments closed
I’m feeling much better these last couple days so I’ve been back at work, once again a productive member of society. I just got my sense of smell / taste back yesterday afternoon and it was most welcome. I celebrated last night with a medium rare rib eye steak and garlic cheese toast. Wonderful! There are some lingering effects of the cold still hanging on but I’m confidant that I can declare complete victory over the Mucous Monster tomorrow.
So what else is up? I filed my tax return a couple weeks ago (yay TurboTax!) and I got about $2400+ back this year. Uncle Sam just posted the funds to my checking account a few days ago. I was sorely tempted to go and pick up a new gun, but I decided that there is something else I need to take care of first – reduce my debt. So today I wrote a $5,011 check to pay off my car loan a year and change early. I always pay off my credit cards so the only other debt I carry is my house. That one is a whopper though. I bought in 2004, which while not at the top of the bubble it was nonetheless pretty far up. Properties in my HOA are listing about $100,000 less now than when I bought mine. Sigh. I’m now going to start putting my former car payment money into paying down the principle and generally seeing what else I can do to pay this thing off as fast as I can.
What else? Ah yes – Warcraft! I’m going to put up a new tab that will deal just that. Generally though I must say it really is a lot of fun. There is so much to do! And the whole place really is gobsmackingly huge. I tried recruiting Lemur King into the ranks of WoWers, but he has decided to decline. I’m pretty sure I can get my sister into it though. It’s a fair turn since she got me into one of Blizzard’s other multiplayer games a few years ago – Diablo II. We’re both eagerly awaiting the release of the awesome looking sequel Diablo III sometime (probably) next year, so we need something to bridge that gap.
So there ya go for now. I’ll have some new posts up soon about knives and mugging so stay tuned!
Calling in Sick Today February 17, 2009
Posted by Mitchell in Home.comments closed
Meh. Not only was there no improvement from yesterday, the muck has invaded my lungs too. No fever though, thank goodness. I suppose I could have gone in, but I’m a firm believer of staying home when you’re sick and contagious. Particularly if you have paid sick leave. There’s no reason people should be spreading their nasty germs around the workplace when they don’t hav to. I just know I got this from a cowirker who should have stayed home (like my boss). Bah.
Happy Birthday George and Abe! February 16, 2009
Posted by Mitchell in Home.comments closed
And all the rest of you presidential guys I guess. Or does it? I’ve never really been sure if President’s Day is reserved exclusively for Washington and Lincoln or if the whole club gets in on it. Well, whatever. Since I have managed to aquire one of those good gubbermint jobs I have today off to celebrate this important holiday. Unfortunately my body seems to think that this is an excellent time to get sick and so obtained the services of a cold virus to fill my sinuses with a thick, gooey yellowish substance. Oh, and can I get that with a side order of headache and scratchy throat? Thanks!
Oh, whatever will I do will I do with myself today? If only there was some sort of immersive entertainment that I could use to distract myself from my ailments.
WARCRAFT – YESSSSSSSS!!! February 15, 2009
Posted by Mitchell in Home.comments closed
Glory be. I had almost come to believe that I would never see this day, but here it is! I have the new modem up and running. There were technical issues of course but a call to Cox cleared them up and that’s all done. The ethernet connection did it – I passed the login screen! WHOOT!!
Now I have so many decisions to make! Alliance or Horde? What race? What class? What gender? What to have for lunch?? It’s all so wonderfully bewildering!
Okay, right now I’m on the Staghelm realm. My first character is an Alliance female Nightelf hunter named Yorlas.
World of Warcraft Update February 15, 2009
Posted by Mitchell in World of Warcraft.comments closed
I am still not able to connect. I have done virtually everything that I can try to do. There is one thing left and I have vowed to get it finally resolve one way or another. This afternoon I called the store where I bought the computer and spoke with one of the tech guys there who himself has actually been playing WoW for many years. He didn’t have anything else to offer over the phone but asked me to bring the computer in to check it out there. So I unplug everthing and haul it down to the store. I get the computer checked in and they hook it up at one of the workbenches with the input devices and internet connection. He clicks on the WoW icon, gets to the login screen and types in his account nane and password. BAM! It instantly connects to the Blizzard servers and he’s ready to go. So now at least we know it isn’t a problem with the computer or the WoW software installed on the computer. All of my problems are completely external.
So now all fingers are pointing to the cable modem as the culprit. This seems strange to me since I have always had very reliable and very fast internet access with this modem. But I am hooked into it using the USB port. I can’t seem to connect using the ethernet port and this might be making all the difference. Since I’m using a USB port, I am not making use of the Network Interface Card (NIC) on the computer and this might well mean that I am not trying to access the Blizzard servers throught the correct, authorized ports. Hmmmm. Now that I’m writing and thinking about this another way I’m now almost certain that’s the real problem. I’m not making a properly secure connection and that’s why Blizzard’s servers are ignoring me.
Anyway, I picked up another cable modem on the way back to the house because that’s what the tech guy at the computer store said I probably needed to do. I can’t get it up and running until I call the cable company to inform them about the new modem and MAC address and it’s too late tonight. I don’t know if they have any customer support people working on Sunday or not. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Trance Thursday February 5, 2009
Posted by Mitchell in Art, Trance.comments closed
I just heard this one yesterday for the first time and thought it was pretty cool: Reflect by Maor Levi
Another one? Why not? This one is Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap. I’ve heard it before, but now I know who actually did it and what the title is.
Oh, and youtubers who post awesome trance tracks fronted by pictures of pretty women? Excellent work! Thanks!
Random Observation February 5, 2009
Posted by Mitchell in Home.comments closed
Sometimes Dilbert can be kind of a dick.
Just sayin’.
The Center of the Anomaly 