The Raptor's Den

Questions From Tumblr

2012-01-25T19:44:00.001-05:00

Have you ever not went to sleep and stayed up all the next day?

Yes, and I don’t recommend it. On my Senior Trip we went to D.C, and due to loud roommates who were also smokers (although to give them credit, they tried to smoke outside the room until the weather got bad) I didn’t actually sleep for three straight days. I decided not to sleep on the bus ride back, reasoning that once I fell asleep I wouldn’t be able to be awakened for some time, and towards the end of the journey I started hallucinating. Luckily I was picked up from school and brought home, rather than having to drive myself, and I slept for seventeen straight hours.

Do you remember your hallucinations? I always wondered what sleep deprivation would make a person actually see.

Actually yes, and pretty vividly! ^_^ Street signs turned into abstract walking people when I wasn’t looking directly at them, and in an empty lot I saw a giant, floating head of Kevin Bacon. I remember turning around to ask a friend sitting behind me if there had been a giant floating head in the parking lot, and he answered in the negative, so I said, “Oh, good, ” and turned back around and sat down again. He was kind enough not to ask for an explanation until sometime the next week :)

Two-Sentence Movie Reviews

2012-01-23T21:53:00.003-05:00

The Spirit (2008)

Okay, we went in hoping to like it, but this was just a trainwreck- insanely repetitive and dull dialogue (listen for each new idea to be explained to you three times over) endless padding instead of plot, childish insults instead of actual speech, the loosest plot imaginable, irritating soliloquies (Hamlet has less soliloquies than this film) and asides to the audience that are jarring and fall flat, cardboard cutouts instead of characters, scenes that are flat-out ridiculous and not in an endearing way, and lots and lots of instances where the actors were obviously given no real idea of what would be happening behind them on the green screen. Visually, it makes one wish it were Sin City instead; the effects are far less well-handled and obviously done on the cheap, and intellectually- well, there isn't anything to crow about there, either.

2012-01-22T18:45:00.002-05:00

So far today has been fun but busy; after the chat with the siblings-in-law, we volunteered to babysit our niece so her Mama and Papa could get some time to go see the new Sherlock Holmes film and have a nice afternoon in peace. We took her with us to the barn, where she got to say hi to several horses and many nice people, watch Fiona eat her lunch and then be groomed and tacked up, and she sat with the Doc and watched me ride for a while. It was less exciting then she hoped, since I was only doing a walk-trot ride (Fi had just had her lunch, after all) but she got to help brush her afterwards and feed her treats, so that seems to have made up for it. Fi, for her part, was wondrously kind to the small human- I’m not entirely sure she’s ever seen one before, to be honest- and nuzzled her and sniffed her at every opportunity, and even tolerated her belly being brushed without batting an eye (the moment before she had been brushing her leg- that’s what I get for turning away for a second, I guess :) Fi was also great about being ridden, despite it having been a while since her last ride; she did a little bit of unsolicited trotting away from the block, then she kept staring at the arena doors, which were banging in the wind (!) but she relaxed and began to work in less than ten minutes, and we got some nice forward work done. All this on a very cold and windy day. I am so very lucky to have Fi in my life; I find her more an more amazing each time I work with her.

In The Name Of Love

2012-01-16T12:57:00.003-05:00

"When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness....

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone....

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together....
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

- Dr. M.L.King, "I Have A Dream" (excerpted)

How To Prep, Cook, and Eat Field-Dressed Trout - A Tutorial

2012-01-10T22:17:00.002-05:00

Done for my Tumblr famblr, as a couple of them expressed interest in learning how this works. Photobucket in its infinite wisdom has posted all of these in reverse order; just start at the bottom and work your way back up for best results. Enjoy!

2012-01-10T11:52:00.003-05:00

Dag has made us an amazing new prop for the HL shoots; I'm not going to give it away here, but it will be featuring soon (soon being a relative term) and there will be much rejoicing.

(It's not the suit. The suit is going to take me a couple of months of hard work, and that's just an estimate.)

2012-01-10T11:52:00.001-05:00

So Fi’s lost a shoe again, which means no riding until the farrier can fix it. It’s not really her fault; she came due over Christmas and in all the confusion of the holiday I didn’t get around to making her an appointment, and she’s just gone eight weeks so it’s not surprising that she’s lost one. She isn’t gimpy on it, which is is nice, and I rode her a little Friday to show her off to my work supervisor, but only walk and a little trot. I don’t want to repeat the performance, though, since I don’t want to court an abscess. Abscesses aren’t fatal or even damaging long-term, but they do hurt and cause temporary lameness so I’d like to spare her that if I can.

2012-01-03T21:08:00.005-05:00

So as much as I enjoy Rage Comics, I am sick to death of this "Friend Zone" crap. Guess what? No one is entitled to anyone else's interest- romantic, sexual, or otherwise. If you hang around someone going through the motions of friendship (and it is going through the motions, or else you wouldn't be complaining about being in this mythical zone) for someone who has clearly shown they're not interested in you, that other person is not the one at fault. You and your childish sense of entitlement are. All of us in life will want someone who doesn't want us back. This is part of the human condition. No one is to blame, and by claiming this "friend zone" excuse you are clearly trying to lay the nonexistent blame on someone else. If you are hanging around perpetuating a false friendship and acquiring a false sense of what is "due" to you for your actions you are 1) acting like a child and 2) wasting your time and that of the other person. Sometimes people are not into you- it is as simple as that. No one is forcing you to stay. Act like an adult; move on with your life and find someone who is interested.

2012-01-03T21:08:00.001-05:00

That last post was my 1000th post. Amazing.

Any excuse to spam with pics of my pony :)

2011-12-26T23:17:00.001-05:00

2011-12-19T10:36:00.004-05:00

As an addendum, don't try to give me any crap about the films being "not like the books." As I stated when the first one came out, people who say that have never read the books, they've just seen those terrible tedious 70's and 80's films where Holmes stalks about pontificating and doing nothing like Hercule Poirot in a deerstalker.

Don't make me drag out my annotated editions and start quoting- there will be a landslide of nerdy information, and you will be sorry.

Two-Sentence Movie Reviews

2011-12-19T10:33:00.002-05:00

Sherlock Holmes - A Game Of Shadows

Like Holmes himself, it's brilliant, convoluted, desperately entertaining, thought-provoking, and a lot of fun to look at. It's also suspenseful and hysterical by turns, and we're trying to decide whether this or the first one is the better film- a terrific problem to have.

2011-12-16T22:24:00.002-05:00

Work is still insane. I've been called in at all hours on all days and I barely know which way is up now. I'm looking forward to Sunday; we're declaring it do-nothing day and will be completely incommunicado.

2011-12-14T22:39:00.001-05:00

Someday, when we have a rumpus room, I want a sign that has "Edie's Bra" scrawled on it over the bar.

2011-12-11T16:30:00.000-05:00

So I had a terrific ride today, which surprised the crap out of me. I hadn’t ridden since Tuesday, and thinking about it I may actually have longed her instead, so it was probably a week since I’d had her under saddle, being as I was too damned tired from my ridiculous job to ride at any time prior.

At any rate, it’s cold here and snowy, and that usually makes horses a little more energetic than usual, and she’s a thoroughbred, a breed normally known for being varying degrees of high strung. But I am certain that Fi is in fact not nervous or high strung at all, only lazy and accustomed to getting out of work by pretending to be spooky, and that supposition was once again proved today. I took her in the indoor, got on, and she offered to be spooky about the door. I thumped her (i.e. gave her a stern leg aid) and said, “Cut that out! You know you’re not afraid of anything in here!” in the sort of cross voice you use with a six year old who is about to flush your keys down the toilet. This would not work with a horse who was actually scared, but Fi just sighed and ignored the door and went right to work. We did it again when a boarder brought her horse in for a lesson (I’m convinced she only offered to be disobedient because the horse in question is her pasture partner and her boyfriend and she wanted to stop working and go see him) and another thump and a stern word and she was right back to work again.

After the ride, she even stood still when I show sheen’d her tail, although I had been informed by the barn staff that she “flips out” for spray bottles. The first time I used it on her she offered to be spooky, I snapped at her, and she contented herself with walking in slow circles in her stall while I calmly held her tail and followed her and kept spraying until she quit walking and stood still. Three days of that and I guess today she decided the walking was a waste of energy and she may as well stand still because all she was doing was tiring herself out. I have high hopes that within five years, she’s going to be the steadiest horse in the barn.

(How do I know the difference between a horse who is actually scared and one who is merely shamming? Fourteen years doing this professionally, a very sensitive feel for body language, and a gelding who was actually genuinely terrified of a great number of things and couldn’t help his reactions. Fiona doesn’t in any way exhibit any signs of real fear, just a sort of “Maybe she’ll fall for this and I’ll get out of work” attitude :)

2011-12-06T17:25:00.002-05:00

I've been meaning to blog for a while now, but we've been run off our feet for a month solid- plane trips, appointments, insane work schedules, lots of driving, deer season, errands, barn trips, and getting to see friends have just taken completely over. And it doesn't leave us with much to report; the friends are fine, the errands are accomplished, my work is still wall-to-wall insanity, the car is working nominally, the appointments went fine, and Fiona is doing well. In fact she just had her teeth done and she's doing a lot better than before.

2011-11-19T23:06:00.000-05:00

Home safely from LA. Uneventful flights, but it's a long day no matter how you look at it. Sleepytime now.

2011-11-18T15:12:00.003-05:00

I keep meaning to blog about the trip, but aside from going to the thrift store yesterday I haven't really done a damn thing. The thrift store is the only non-restaurant attraction within walking distance, so he's been at the office all week and I've been sitting around watching Spongebob and eating ramen. :/

2011-11-14T16:39:00.002-05:00

Why is yogurt so expensive out here? They have cows in California, I've seen the commercials.

2011-11-14T12:07:00.001-05:00

Although the kayak came with its original bags, we elected to store it under a bed instead.

2011-11-13T21:19:00.003-05:00

Also, we're jet-lagged and on the West Coast. I forgot to mention that. We had to get up at three am EST to get to the plane on time, and now it is 9:30 EST, and we're having a very difficult time staying awake long enough to get used to the time change.
A handy Burn Notice marathon is helping :)

2011-11-13T20:59:00.002-05:00

Thank the gods for the internet. For some unknown reason, even time I woke up last night I had just been dreaming that I couldn't remember how the Beatles' "Northern Song" went. I only know it exists because of the Yellow Submarine, which I haven't seen in probably twenty years, but for some reason it was of the utmost importance to my dreaming mind, and thanks to the power of YouTube, I now am fully refreshed on the song. It's a weird one, by the way.

(The strangest thing is that aside from the Yellow Submarine film and the album Help, I have no interest in the band whatsoever. Go figure.)

2011-11-12T20:15:00.000-05:00

Back to California for the week. I'll have my lappy this time, which is cool.

2011-11-11T14:21:00.000-05:00

It looks like we picked the right day to pull the kayak.

How To Put A 17.5 Foot Kayak In A Subaru Forrester

2011-11-10T16:02:00.003-05:00

More Half-Life Stuff

2011-11-10T15:19:00.000-05:00

Two-Sentence Movie Reviews

2011-11-08T22:16:00.002-05:00

Young Triffie

We don't know why this has a low score on the IMDB; it's darkly hilarious and ramps up the disturbing and the funny as it goes along. Fred Ewanuick is apparently the Canadian version of Rowan Atkinson, and he spends the film floundering his way through a village that would make the League of Gentlemen proud.

2011-11-05T10:12:00.002-04:00

Duamuteffe: I had a cool zombie invasion dream!
Owlvark: I dreamed I found a secret room in a house. Inside it was a machine that made Dracula playing cards out of string. I turned it on, looked at it, and said, "Well, this is going to take a while."

2011-11-04T15:07:00.002-04:00

Had another great lesson today- well, half a lesson, as there was some confusion about scheduling , but we'll get another half-lesson in next week, so that's fine. Still waiting on the half-pad, which should be arriving any day now (I assume) but I'm able to borrow one, so that's handy.
I still have plenty of things to work on; my arms move too much and I tend to lean forward at awkward moments, but all in all we're going well. I've got her enormously relaxed under saddle, which I'm pleased about. She doesn't seem nervous at all, so I find it amusing that her last rider stopped riding her because of fear of a spaz attack. Having ridden through many such incidents, they don't worry me, so my lack of worry is transmitted to her and she responds really well to it. Unfortunately, she does tend to get a bit lazy because of it, but she works out of it nicely.

2011-11-03T14:36:00.001-04:00

Tumblr is ridiculously addictive. I can count on some amazing art in various fandoms I follow popping up on a daily basis- or an hourly basis, if people are on some kind of spree.

2011-10-30T15:38:00.002-04:00

Fiona continues to surprise me; I brought her in from her turnout, she hasn't been ridden in about 11 days, and it was 38 degrees at the barn, so I was prepared for a potential rodeo when I got on her. However, she just walked away from the mounting block as nicely as you please, and was perfectly obedient (if a little quick) for the rest of the ride. Every time I get on her I have a great time; she's just hugely fun to ride, and I wonder why I ever hesitated on buying her.

The new saddle is awesome, by the way; it turned out to be about ten years newer than it looked in the pictures, and according to the fitter (who is an amazingly nice person) all it needs is a half-pad and it fits her just fine. It fits me pretty well too, at least so far; the knee blocks are deceptively small, but it's very secure, even granting that my knees stick out over the flaps (which they've done with every saddle I've ever ridden in...) The best part is that Fi doesn't fuss at all when I put it on her, and that County I was borrowing used to make her grumpy during saddling and at the mounting block. I'm very pleased to have lucked into something that fits us both.

Reason 1,977,043 that I love my life

2011-10-29T23:03:00.003-04:00

#while setting up to watch Dracula Has Risen From The Grave"#

Duamuteffe: So it says here that it's about Dracula being annoyed that his castle has been exorcised by a priest so that he can't get back in and he goes after the guy's niece as revenge.
Owlvark: So it really should be called "Dracula Has Been Turfed Out Of His Castle."
Duamuteffe: "The Horror of Dracula's Landlord"
Owlvark: "Dracula And The Bailiffs"
Duamuteffe: "Dracula Has Lost His Security Deposit"
Owlvark: "Pay The Rent Of Dracula"
Duamuteffe: You win.

2011-10-29T22:50:00.001-04:00

This is alarmingly accurate. Except I tuck my hair behind my ears.

2011-10-28T16:08:00.004-04:00

Sitting here, listening to Bauhaus on my headphones while the Owlvark listens to Zero 7 on the good speakers (and it's kind of a head trip, let me tell you) and looking at all the amazing artists I follow on Tumblr. it's making me want to start drawing again; I was never very good (my talents seem to lean more towards 3D objects) but I enjoyed it, and I feel that with enough practice I might actually get to where I might want to share stuff with the world.

Of course, I could just bug the Owlvark to draw me stuff, too. Y'know, while I'm still practicing. :)

(Edited for capsfail- I'll get used to this flat keyboard someday...)

2011-10-28T12:36:00.003-04:00

So I've been reading through the whole arc of Magnus: Robot Fighter, after being reminded of it through a completely random tumblr post. My Dad has a handful of the comics (as well as Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom and Turok, Son of Stone) and they're fun, but a lot goofier than I remember. I remember really liking them as a kid, because at the time I never considered the sheer ludicrousness of a man who defended humanity from evil robots with only the power of his fists. I mean, okay, humanity's fear of a machine uprising, humanity's fear of becoming too dependent on technology, I get that, and combating it with his own weapons rather than that of the machines, that makes sense. But shouldn't he be using his brains to outsmart them, rather then just approaching every situation with punching? Maybe even a bit of rudimentary tool use? As it stands, it basically goes with the thought that humanity isn't as smart as the machines, but we can sure as hell beat them up. It's sort of an odd moral.

2011-10-28T10:26:00.002-04:00

Amazingly, I wasn't called in to work today! This will continue probably until the end of December, when the rest of the employees will start dropping like flies and I'll get called in to cover them and suddenly I'll be working six or seven days a week until Spring hits. If it wasn't such a crappy place to be in the winter I wouldn't mind, but the lack of any heating whatsoever can get a little grating at times. And the lack of a real bathroom. There's nothing like a portapotty in the middle of January with snow blowing in through the vents to bring home how interesting winter can be sometimes. And I'm generally a fan of winter.

2011-10-27T21:18:00.001-04:00

Say what you like, but for my money, the Spirit of Jazz isn't half as disturbing as Mr. B Natural.

2011-10-27T19:39:00.003-04:00

Science the candy-corn rat from Adventure Time is the cutest thing that has ever existed. I tried to upload a picture but the uploader crashed, I can only assume from cuteness overload.

2011-10-27T16:56:00.004-04:00

I wish I'd taken "chance of showers" to mean "it's going to rain all bloody day while being 42 degrees out." I'd have worn a jacket to work that had a working zipper. Getting accidentally hosed with the sprayer by one of my coworkers definitely didn't help :/

2011-10-26T22:16:00.003-04:00

Day two of insanity ended with an Otters game, which was great, although they lost 6-4, which was not great. Still, there were some very good plays, especially by Greg McKegg, who was always right where he was needed to assist or pass- a hell of a skill in a hockey game where players are being smacked into the boards all over the place.

2011-10-25T19:13:00.003-04:00

After a completely insane day, I now find myself curled up on the couch with dinner, attempting to explain "John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith" to my British husband. I'd ask if the day could get more odd but I'm afraid it might actually do that.

2011-10-24T11:56:00.000-04:00

Woken up before seven to a call to come in two days early, then told to wait until noon. Is anyone surprised?

2011-10-23T22:33:00.003-04:00

So I started a Tumblr for the Half-Life stuff; a DA friend mentioned it and said it might be nice for people who don't have DA accounts but are still Half-Life fans. It'll also be a good place to post outtakes, commentary on the shoots, and whatnot. It's here at City 17 Blues and all further HL posts will be directed there.

2011-10-14T18:40:00.001-04:00

see more It Made My Day

Outtake

2011-10-09T23:07:00.002-04:00

I believe the headcrab zombie had just stepped in a batch of reeds and said "Screw your nature preserve!"

...
...

It's not actually a nature preserve, don't worry :)

2011-10-09T19:09:00.004-04:00

So we had a very busy weekend, with work, barn, visiting home, Half-Life photoshoots, visiting a wildlife sanctuary, and just generally being busy. It was all pretty awesome, as evinced below:

More pics on my Deviant page, as usual!

2011-10-07T15:01:00.003-04:00

Yest another productive day so far; I had a lesson in the morning, which went splendidly, and now I'm building another Half-Life prop- or rather, I'm modifying a nearly done one into a more useful design. I'm waiting for a layer of paper mache to dry so I can start in on another, and another, but we're holding off priming it until tomorrow, as there are dozens of people in the backyard prepping for Kegs-N-Eggs, and I don't really want to explain what it is and why I'm painting it a half-dozen times. Plus, Downstairs has enough problems without having to explain to their various relatives that their renters are weirdos :)

The repair job I did on the cooler was well-received, and I found out it was in its destroyed state due to someone turning the horse wearing it out for some unknown reason. The rule of thumb is, if it doesn't have hind leg straps, it doesn't go outside, and for this exact reason. Still, it's now a workable item rather than destined for the scrap heap, so I'm pleased.

2011-10-06T17:28:00.002-04:00

It's been a productive day so far; we got a new prop in the mail for the next Half-Life shoot (which is coming soon, I promise!) and I spent the afternoon sewing a cooler blanket back together for a friend of mine. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my sewing machine? Most modern machines would never be able to handle the load of several layers of heavy-duty nylon and fleece and webbing, because all they gear them with now is plastic and plastic is worthless for taking load. This is why I own a Husquvarna sewing machine from the 70s, which is geared in metal and nylon, in order to last next-door to forever. It has a low gear that gives you five times the power for a fifth of the speed, and will happily trundle through as many layers of anything that you can fit under the presser foot. Which is good, because the repairs to the cooler were extensive; we had caught most of Curse of Frankenstein last night and it was that kind of a job. I'm not sure what, precisely, the horse in question did to it, but it was ripped to shreds. Catastrophic spontaneous disrobing, I assume :) At any rate, it took me four hours to piece it back together, cut patches, pin the patches in place, sew the patches on, adjust the patches while sewing (fleece stretches, which means your measurements have to constantly be adjusted) sew the edges of the torn pieces down for cosmetic effect (although it's never going to look new again, let me tell you) reattach the surcingle (yes, it was *that* destroyed) and replace the catch on said surcingle, which involved picking the stitching out, removing the borked end, and putting a new one on. So yes, complicated job. The other blanket I have to fix will be a cake walk; it just needs a catch replaced, which ought to take about fifteen minutes. I'm saving it for tomorrow, though; it's a beautiful evening for a quick run out in the kayak.

2011-10-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

2011-09-30T17:03:00.008-04:00

I had a really good lesson today. I feel like I'm really making quick progress after the five year hiatus, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to come out of it better than I had been. I haven't put this much thought into riding in a long time- when one gets reasonably accomplished at something, one tends to slack on expanding one's skill level. Now I'm having to think everything through again and concentrate twice as hard, and it's awesome. Fi is so much fun to ride, too; she's very honest, works hard, and is very quick to capitalize when I slip up. ("Oh, you want me to go straight? Well, you're not, so why should I?") She's a lovely mover, which helps, and looks nice under saddle- showing in the Spring should be a lot of fun. She's apparently reasonably well-behaved away from home, although while you're not actually working her she apparently stares a lot looking for a likely item to spook at. Honestly, I'm not bothered- after Cam, that should be a breeze. We'll have all winter to work on jumping basics, too, and perhaps by the end of the summer we'll be ready to do a little event. I don't think she's been evented before, so that will make a fun goal.

Interestingly, while I'm used to my back giving out after a while, today it did fine (well, fine being a relative term; it hurt, but at least I didn't feel like I'd lost an inch in height) while my left ankle mysteriously decided to give instead. I'm not sure why; they're tricksy sometimes, but I don't have any prior injuries there the way I do with my back. Weird. I'm thinking of taking up a little yoga, to try and get some flexibility back; I'm not massively stiff, but it takes more effort than I would like to be able to keep my feet in place and lay back until my head is on her rump. (And don't even ask about touching opposite toes without stirrups...)

I guess the important part is that I'm having a great time with her.

(Heh- there's my hand slipping forward again. I give forward a little more than necessary and then end up losing the contact. Something to work on...)

2011-09-28T22:08:00.005-04:00

I am currently leaning towards "Fiona" for the mare. She seems like a Fi. Not sure if I'm going to make it an official change or not; it's hard to change it when she's already established in the barn under her current name. We'll see.

Also, I finally got some new breeches, and a decent jacket. It's nice to ride in stuff without holes in it.

Two-Sentence Movie Reviews

2011-09-25T20:45:00.002-04:00

Scorpio

This is a very underrated and fairly unknown little film, and I'm not sure why- it has a terrific cast, a coherent and fast-paced plot, some lovely setpieces, and all the paranoia, intrigue, and violence one would expect from a 70's espionage film (as well as the obligatory 70's ending, just be forewarned). It may be because of the director; he did go on to produce crap (and a lot of it) but there's no reason to discount this film because of others that followed it.

Horse Loot!

2011-09-22T13:02:00.003-04:00

So today in the mail I got a turnout blanket for the mare, a really spiffy fleece cooler, some peppermint bit wipes, two pairs of new breeches for me, a pair of splint boots for her, and a bag of treats. I love getting horse stuff in the mail; it's almost more fun than buying it at a store. Which is a good thing, because there aren't any tack stores left in the area anymore.

Getting packages in the mail also makes up for the half-hour I spent yesterday removing bot eggs from her legs and side. If there's something more disturbing than parasites I'm sure I don't want to know what it is. Despite being intensely careful about disposing of them (dipping the bot knife in scalding soapy water at intervals and being very careful not to touch my face while working, and washing my hands and the removal equipment several times in scalding water [with the additional killing power of sulfur in the spring that supplies the barn]) I still get crawly just thinking about it.

2011-09-19T11:43:00.001-04:00

see more It Made My Day

2011-09-14T14:47:00.002-04:00

So through a series of odd events we ended up judging wine at a county fair, which is why I'm sort of drunk and it's only 2:30 pm. You do have to spit out the wine you're tasting, or you would be legless by about a quarter of the way through, but still- 51 wines later, and anyone is going to be a little tipsy just from what you absorb during the tasting process. We started out the quietest judging table and ended up the loudest, which is pretty amusing. We also took the longest, but hey- 51 wines, for crying out loud.
Some of them were nice. Some of them were workmanlike. Some of them were harsh. Some of them were nondescript. And a couple tasted as though they had been distilled in an armpit. I now understand why wine professionals use overblown, flowery language to describe wine- it's really hard to quantify a complex taste without using words that are also related to taste. And some of them really do taste like those odd series of wine expert adjectives. Some of them we had to make up new descriptions for, which I'm pretty sure have never been used before in the history of wine. One memorable one tasted like licking a basement wall. Another smelled like rotting newspaper. One of them smelled like a gas-powered weedeater that had just been used on a big bank of weeds. These were dark times.
It wasn't all terrible, though; far from it. There were many perfectly drinkable ones, and the three wines that came down in contention for Best In Show were absolutely transcendent. The first was a lovely delicate Catawba that was refreshing and balanced and wonderful, the second was something called "Three Berry Chocolate" that was sweet without being cloying in any way and was better than any dessert I can ever remember eating, but the winner was an ice wine that was just so close to prefect in every way I would have paid whatever they wanted for a bottle and counted it cheap at twice the price. We (and the photographer and the paperwork steward, who joined in on tasting the last three) were just speechless at how good it was. Any one of those three were worth having to judge all the wines that tasted like they had been strained through an engine block.
We didn't spit the final contenders out, which may have something to do with my general lack of sobriety at the moment (although really, I'm not as bad as I thought I would be considering we worked clear through lunch, so the last half was done more or less on an empty stomach) They were just too good- it would have been a crime. And, speaking of, we were driven home by our friend the photographer, who had come along more or less for this purpose. Now we're drinking water and trying to salvage something of the rest of the day. It was definitely an experience, though.

Worth a repost

2011-09-13T12:52:00.002-04:00

And this is why no one should ever read the comments on anything ever.

2011-09-09T21:39:00.002-04:00

So, this is my new pony. She's the same mare I've been leasing, but I've decided that I want to keep her. I'm considering a new name ("Pippa" just doesn't seem to suit her) but there's time for that.

2011-09-09T20:15:00.001-04:00

More Cracked Goodness: 5 Bits of Advice That Don't Make Sense Until It's Too Late

2011-09-08T15:34:00.002-04:00

Fascinating Cracked article: The Seven Creepiest Old-School Robots

2011-09-05T00:13:00.003-04:00

My Japanese pen pal is okay!

I've been worried about her since the earthquake, and they were on the edge of the danger zone, but she and her family are fine, it's just taken this long to get everything back to normal enough to contact me. I'm so relieved!

2011-09-02T10:31:00.001-04:00

Surgery is back up and running, with an all-new half terabyte drive. Let the games installation commence! ^_^

2011-09-02T10:21:00.001-04:00

Another thing I have a hard time getting tired of is Devo's "Come Back Jonee" in all its infinite variations. Listen to the drums on this 1978 live version; as someone in the comments said, how does Alan keep that up for three and a half minutes? And it only gets faster as it goes along.

2011-09-01T21:42:00.003-04:00

Although this episode of Burn Notice has a flip of the usual plot, in that the caper Jesse and Sam are on is much more exciting than the one Michael and Fi are on, there was just a long scene of Michael fighting a Russian mob goon while oiled and clad only in a towel. So that was unexpectedly amazing.

2011-08-30T14:42:00.002-04:00

I don't think I could ever get tired of watching Mark Lamarr singing "House of the Rising Sun"

2011-08-30T10:42:00.004-04:00

If we had the money, we'd really like to take over the empty movie theater behind our apartment. Now that it's no longer being used as a small concert venue for teenagers, there doesn't seem to be any current plans to use it for anything, and it's in really good shape. We could show old Shaw Bros. films, 70's grindhouse classics, silent movies, cult films, et cetera. It's a college town, surely we could keep it going on late-night monster movie showings alone.

2011-08-27T23:32:00.002-04:00

We got called in today to put up hay at my work, the first time I've seen the place since May, when summer break hit. Some things are different- for one thing, the giant manure swamp is gone- and some are the same. The hay got done eventually, and we got paid, and headed home for a shower and back out again to Buffalo Wild Wings, which carries the UFC pay-per-views.* It's a pretty neat system; you can sit there and eat dinner and watch for as long as you want, but they make up the lost revenue by charging for refills on drinks, which they normally (like almost everywhere) wouldn't do. It's not that much more on your regular bill, the food is good, and they have lots of big screens.
It's always impressive to watch Nogueira, but for our money the best fight was Pearson/Barboza; we thought it was going to be really one-sided, but Pearson is quite a bit more nimble than he looks and it came down to a split decision.

* We're not much into boxing, as far as combat sports go, but we like the MMA stuff. There's a lot more strategy involved, and, with judo, greco-roman wrestling, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu all being popular fields of expertise, there's a lot less punching someone repeatedly in the head for an hour. Sure, there are injuries- it's a fight, after all- but there are a lot of other ways to win besides massive brain damage.

2011-08-26T16:12:00.003-04:00

“He is your friend, your partner,
your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader. He will
be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat
of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of
such devotion.”

- unknown

2011-08-26T10:27:00.002-04:00

Argh, stupid Ebay sellers not understanding how used tack works. If I wanted to spend two hundred dollars on a Courbette bridle, I'd buy a new one.

2011-08-25T20:38:00.004-04:00

This is Pippa*, being remarkably quiet for pictures. Getting her to stand still before work takes a fair amount of doing; she is more than happy to move, and less happy to stand still. This is after work- guess how many walk-halt transitions we did by the time we got to this picture!** :)

Also, this is not where I work, but where I board and take lessons.

* I didn't name her.

** Yeah, I know, she's not square. That was as square as we got for today :)

2011-08-23T21:14:00.002-04:00

So, I liked Pippa- the mare I tried out. I liked her a lot. She's a TB, just shy of sixteen hands, a chestnut without much in the way of markings, and a rather delicate frame. She's also a nice mover, with three good gaits. She's also a really fun ride. If I'm on my game, she does exactly what she's supposed to. If I'm slacking, she takes advantage, but she comes right back and doesn't fight about it. She spooked in a corner because one of the swallows that live in the roof flew in her face, but I told her the big bad birdie wouldn't eat her, took her back to the corner, and even though the swallow was still there, hovering a foot away from her face, she didn't even flick an ear. That was impressive. She's good in the stall, seems to like being groomed and fussed with, and is very easy to handle. I'm taking a half-lease on her to start, with the idea that I can move up to full lease if I want to later.

2011-08-23T14:58:00.002-04:00

8 Tiny Things That Stopped Suicides

All of them are touching, but these guys, Mr. Ritchie and Mr. Shige, who live near cliffs popular for suicides and go out every single time to talk potential jumpers out of it, touched me deeply. I quote from the article:

"On days when you just want to watch the world burn, remember that for every dickhead in the world bullying gay teenagers there is a guy like this."

2011-08-23T13:54:00.001-04:00

Earthquake today. Neat.

2011-08-23T13:25:00.003-04:00

A watercolor painting by the aforementioned Andrey Avinoff. I wish I could find a better copy of this for you guys; the original was on display at the Carnegie, and it was astonishing.

Edited to add another image - Found another one! We stared at this one for fifteen minutes in person and I don't think we managed to pick out all the details. These are *watercolors*. Unbelievable.

2011-08-23T10:49:00.003-04:00

Working hard on an art project, which I am very excited about- although I was unable to pull my normal get-home-from-Michaels-with-supplies-put-on-a-rifftrax-and-work-until-it's-done process due to the limitations of the medium, today I should be able to finish, which is cool. It's a gift, which makes it even more fun.

Also, I am going to try another horse today for a possible lease; the one I had been going to half-lease pulled his shoulder in a stumble and has been off for some time, and he is a little stumbly by nature so maybe I dodged a bullet there by sort of backing away from the lease. At any rate, this one is a mare, green but willing, and sounds like fun.

2011-08-18T09:57:00.004-04:00

So I ended up in Gettysburg yesterday, which was interesting. Nojim and his lovely wife were moving, and he was unable to attend, so I picked up for him in an 11th hour substitution. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day weather-wise; it was bright and clear the whole way down, which was good because those roads through the Alleghenies are challenging enough without the addition of rain or fog or what-have-you. We were part of a convoy who moved pretty much all of their stuff in one trip, which was nice, and the actual moving-in part was pretty painless and only took a couple of hours. The only thing that was difficult was coping with the temperature; it was 97 degrees and we were all wearing jeans, which was, in hindsight, not the brightest course of action. (It was only in the 70's at home, and no one really expected there to be that much of a difference down there. Live and learn.) I hitched a ride with Dagdamor on the way back up, and we had a good time, with a lot of interesting conversations, and we were home at 12:30, which isn't bad for a 600+ mile round trip with moving furniture in the middle and a stop for dinner in Grove City on the way home. But I am still a little tired.

2011-08-13T22:26:00.001-04:00

Also, the Freeman pics have made The Daily What Geek on the Cheezburger Network. So that's pretty awesome, too :)

2011-08-13T20:15:00.002-04:00

It's been a pretty awesome weekend so far; Friday night we went to the Creekside for dinner before heading to the Sunset drive-in for a two-fer of "Cowboys And Aliens" and "Captain America." They were both very entertaining and we had a great time, and made it back home just before two. We then managed to crawl out of bed some hours later, eat the rest of our burgers for breakfast, and hopped in the car to head for the Carnegie Art Museum. We got caught in some ridiculously backed-up traffic, the cause of which we never quite ascertained, but it put us an hour behind. We still got there with four hours to spare, and spent them trying to cover the whole collection. We were especially enthused with the watercolors of Andrey Avinoff, but there are a lot of amazing paintings to look at. We even managed to find some time at the end to quickly run through the dinosaur exhibits, and they have done some amazing things with the Hall of Dinosaurs since the last time we were there. It was nice before, but it's really very striking now, and there are two Tyrannosaurs, which is awesome. We successfully navigated back out of Pittsburgh without any issues, and stopped for a very tasty dinner at the Elephant and Castle in Grove City. Now we're home, and tired, and we still don't have the computer that has the camera software on it up and running yet so pictures will have to wait.

Anniversary...

2011-08-10T10:13:00.002-04:00

Duamuteffe: I found you a photo of Tina Fey dressed like Dixie Cousins. You're welcome.
Owlvark: Oooooooo....
Duamuteffe: Who loves you, baby? Besides Kojak, I mean.

2011-08-08T22:41:00.001-04:00

see more Funny Graphs

2011-08-05T18:39:00.002-04:00

#The Owlvark is singing along to the rather suggestive music on Pandora radio and the noise of next door having their roof repaired#

Owlvark: Eighties softcore music...Punctuated by nailguns...

2011-08-01T22:35:00.002-04:00

The Owlvark ended up pulling a really long shift today, so to cheer him up I read him five Seanbaby articles in a row. Now we have headaches from laughing so hard. It's awesome :)

2011-07-31T20:29:00.000-04:00

see more It Made My Day

2011-07-31T20:23:00.000-04:00

see more Failbook

2011-07-28T15:10:00.004-04:00

So we have a working kayak (and a rented canoe rack right by the boat launch- this is a pretty neat town) and tonight I'm going to go look at a horse for a half-lease. This is way more activity than I thought would happen considering my job ended for the summer. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased as punch, but I'm still somewhat surprised at how busy we are even when one of us isn't working.

2011-07-28T14:30:00.002-04:00

I've been introducing the Owlvark to the joy that is Brisco County Jr, and I find myself wishing I'd seen more than a handful of episodes when they first came out. I remembered them fondly, if fuzzily, but if I'd been able to catch more I would have noticed Bruce Campbell a bit earlier and had some more eye-candy for my walls. I'm sure I could have found room for another pin-up between the Forever Knight one and the They Might Be Giants one :)

2011-07-28T13:38:00.002-04:00

I'm considering reading "Ghost Story" again. I think I did the same thing with "Changes" - read it again a couple of days later, and enjoyed spotting all the clues left for the reveal that I didn't put together the first time. If this series is going to twenty, and they're already this deep in intrigue, how will we be able to navigate the presumably labyrinthine plot it will have by the end?

2011-07-28T13:34:00.000-04:00

2011-07-26T16:41:00.002-04:00

Duamuteffe: I was thinking of getting the print of Baba Yaga to match the print of Vassilisa you got me for my birthday. There's a sale on.
Owlvark: Cool.
Duamuteffe: I wish they did prints of all the rest of the illustrations from the story- I love the pictures of her riders. I'd like to have them all up on the walls.
Owlvark: That would be awesome.
Duamuteffe: You know, if you'd married a normal woman, she'd probably want Thomas Kincaide prints instead.
Owlvark: Noooooooooo! Instant divorce!

2011-07-26T16:24:00.003-04:00

So, finished the book. Holy crap. Just...holy crap, Harry.

I'm sorely tempted to share the quotes that made me burst out in either uncontrollable laughter or amazed swearing, but I wouldn't want to spoil it for someone. I'll just say it was well worth the wait. And with an ending like that, I really hope there isn't a yearlong wait until the next one.

2011-07-26T10:57:00.003-04:00

I am in the laundromat, doing eight loads of laundry, yet I am extremely happy. Why? Because the new Harry Dresden book is out and it autodownloaded to my Kindle this morning. Don't expect much out of me for the next three hours or so.

(Yes, our laundromat has wireless. It's very cool.)

2011-07-24T12:40:00.002-04:00

My subconscious was apparently so offended by the lazy writing of the newest LKH book that it wrote a short film in the form of a dream to prove that even a sleeping mind can come up with a better plot. It ignored the main cast entirely to focus on Edward (not Podward) and his posse, and crossed over with Burn Notice. It was, I shouldn't need to say, absolutely awesome.

In a related note, libraries are awesome. Although touted as a "return to form, " which was what made me pick it up in the first place, in retrospect I would hate to think she got any money from me reading that lazy piece of "writing."

2011-07-24T00:49:00.000-04:00

see more It Made My Day

2011-07-22T01:21:00.002-04:00

Also, Matt Berry is guest-voicing on Aqua Teen. In related news, my brain exploded.

We bought a kayak!

2011-07-21T23:59:00.001-04:00

2011-07-13T21:34:00.002-04:00

So we're back. :) We're still a bit tired, and we're running around trying to get everything caught up that piled up during our unexpected absence. Compounding that the computer I've been using lately, our games machine, went down with a busted power supply. So I went out and bought a little Acer netbook. I was due a new lappy, as the last one was a overheating mess, and being tethered to a desktop wasn't the best solution for writing. (Also, if I want to write and the Owlvark wants to play Deus Ex, we're kind of stuck.) All I really need the thing to do is be a glorified typewriter and play Diablo II, and so far, it's looking as though it will fulfill both tasks admirably.

Incidentally, the compy that's down is the one that we use to store the pictures on, and has the camera software on it, so pics from the West Coast trip will be slightly delayed.

2011-06-30T11:03:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I think I emailed everyone, but in case someone got left out of the loop, we're on the West Coast for a further week, as the project launch has been given more time. (It's been making steady, but slow, progress.) We're looking to come home on the 7th now.

2011-06-21T13:55:00.002-04:00

Roman Graffiti

It's nice to be reminded that our ancestors were pretty much exactly like us. The graffiti runs the gamut from scatological to philosophical (and is sometimes both) Every modern message board poster type is there, including trolls. I find it all very comforting. And hilarious.

DIY Coasters

2011-06-16T12:24:00.003-04:00

I really like the agate coasters you can get from catalogs, but I am not at all fond of the prices. Twelve bucks and up for one coaster? Seriously? So as usual, American Science and Surplus came to the rescue. They sell the agate slices for four bucks a piece, and whatever self-adhesive feet your little heart desires for a couple of bucks, and voila! Agate coasters for a third of retail. You're welcome!

Note: I can't believe I need to write this, but according to reviews on other sites, this is apparently a thing some people don't know. Agate does not absorb water. This is because it's made of stone. I'm not sure why this was such a surprise to people, but there you go.

2011-06-15T13:53:00.002-04:00

I must admit, I'm perplexed about all the hate for DNF. Duke was never about innovative gameplay, he was about one-liners and shooting aliens and looking at mostly nude ladies. If the game gives you all of those things, it is a successful Duke Nukem game. That is all one can reasonably expect.

I notice that IGN gave it less of a score than Call of Duty Part Seventy Three, or whatever number they're up to these days. This is unsurprising, as I feel that IGN's reviews are created by monkeys randomly punching the keyboard, but still, if you claim to be into video games, why hate on Duke for doing what he does best? You want him to grow up, IGN? Why? Did middle age hit you so badly you forgot how to laugh at Army of Darkness quotes and giggle about boobs? That says a lot more about you than about DNF.

2011-06-14T13:48:00.002-04:00

This was taken by my favorite co-worker and gives you an idea of how big Val really is. He looks like a compact 15.3 in his stall, but once you get him outside, he's obviously a teensy bit bigger than that. I blame the low ceiling in the barn for making them all seem shorter.