Stick a Fork In The Year... It's Done!

Look at me! I'm dancin! I'm dancin'!

Greetings everyone! All right, fine, you caught me. I'm not dancing. Maybe next time...

Quite a day today. First, I went shooting with Mr. Derr as promised! Got up at 7:30 am... earlier than normal... I did go to bed at midnight to try and compensate, but I ended up rolling around restlessly until after 1am anyway. So we drove to the shooting range near Lake Wolford, and Mr. Derr broke out his .45 handgun. It was beautiful.

Here's Derrick taping the target sheet up, in preparation for our merciless assault. We set the target out to the 15 yard mark on the range, which is not a bad distance. I would have liked it out a bit farther; maybe next time...

Here's Derrick loading up the clips. He brought 100 rounds of .45 ammo, which he said is very scarce at the moment. I guess there's an ammo shortage across the country. Some serious Obama-angst-fueled hoarding going on, apparently.

There's Mr. 45 himself. I liked the feel of it. It had weight to it, and nice kick. Though the kick might be normal, I don't know... I think this is the third time I've ever been shooting... the other two times were a .22 rifle, and a 9mm handgun. Never fired a .45 before. Except virtually, in Battlefield 2. Actually, I think the handguns in BF2 were all 9mm...

Look at me! I'm shootin'! I'm shootin'! I had ear plugs in, as well as those mouse ears. It was still loud. I still can't get over how flippin' loud it is to fire a gun. CRACK! It goes right through you. Makes me think of the action movies where guys are firing guns all over the place, like it's no big deal. That scene from Pulp Fiction comes to mind, where Travolta and Jackson are in that apartment, and everyone is firing their weapons at each other, then just kinda shrug and walk out. I'd be flinching and wincing all over the place - those suckers are loud! No wonder people can't think straight when those crazy gunmen show up at schools and start pluggin' away... I used to think "man, why didn't someone just rush the guy and tackle him or something?" I don't think that anymore. As loud as they are while standing behind or beside someone, I can't imagine the volume when the muzzle is pointed at you...

OK, enough, sorry...

That shows an idea of the distance. About 45 feet.

There's the damage. Most of the rounds were fired by yours truly, but a few of the scattered shots were Derrick's. I put three 10-round clips at the big bottom target, and one clip at the one just above it, and the final clip at the one above and left of it. Not bad for a newbie, I think. After 5 clips, my arms were starting to shake, so I thought firing any more would just be a waste of ammo. Arms waving around, I won't hit anything that way.

Anyway, we were there for maybe an hour. It was terrific fun, I loved every minute of it. If you'll pardon the pun, I had a blast. Derrick had a rifle, but didn't bust it out. Maybe next time.

Went into the rug shop afterwards, worked on some graphics odds and ends. It got rainy in the afternoon.

Came home and got upset when I saw that the Left 4 Dead four-pack just went on sale today... we finally got the 4 pack purchased (after a hassle) two days ago, at what I thought was a very reasonable $67, which broke down to about $15 per person. Imagine my chagrin when the four-pack went on sale today for only $22. Dude, that's a $45 discount! If I had just waited another day or so, I would have saved a bundle! What a cheek-slapping bummer! So I was miffed. I still needed to buy one last copy for Laythe, which I was going to buy yesterday when the price was $22.50... but today the price is $7.50... also a crazy discount. So at least I saved some dough on that. I even bought a copy for my good pal Joe, since a deal like that needs to be taken thorough advantage of. I hope they do the same for the sequel soon...

I hope the LAN party turns out better than this one...

Then I went to the weekly prayer meeting at Pastor Stan's house, which was awesome, in ways which would take too long to elaborate on. Let's just say personal discoveries were made, prayers and repentance were applied with force, tears fell, strength obtained, some hope restored... hey, great way to end a day. Now if I can just hold onto it instead of slipping back into "business as usual"...

File this next pic under "What the?"

I'm done. And so is the year. I hope you all enjoy your New Years Eve. As I said earlier, I won't be stopping the blog completely, but I will likely taper back on how often I update. Probably a few times a week, when I feel I have something to share. Otherwise, I'm going to spend the time/energy on my writing and my website.

It's been a great year. Learned a lot about myself. Gathered new eFriends. Provided a little entertainment and a little controversy. Tried some stuff - some of it worked, some of it didn't. I'm glad I was able to do it. Thank you all for your encouragement and support.

See ya in the new year.,

Dave

Seriously, Dude, Brush Your Teeth Already...

End of the year blahs in full force. Only one cure: LAN party... well, actually there are other cures, but I can't go there...

Rug Shop Day today. A weird one... was kinda listless today. I got some stuff done, though. My blood/caffiene ratio must be too low or something. I may need a frap the size of a human head to restore my equilibrium...

The good news is that Wednesday morning I'm going to go shooting weaponry with Mr. Derr. I went shooting with him a few years back - we shot his 9mm handgun. That was great fun, actually. He apparently has a .45, and a rifle and a shotgun to play with this time. He'll make a man out of me yet!

That didn't sound right...

He's gonna be here far earlier than I usually wake up... I need to get to bed, like, soon. Need to be well rested so I can show those targets who's the boss. Hey, maybe I'll bring my camera along and get some trophy pics... dang, I hope I remember... sounds like great blog fodder to me...

Eldest Daughter went to see the Sherlock Holmes film tonight, and came back with a good report. May have to actually check it out in a few months on DVD...

I gotta get one of these...

Why? Umm.... because?

I'm making my master list of things I'm going to try to change and/or do differently in the new year. It will mostly cover diet, exercise and writing, but it might expand a bit more than that. I might have things I want to do daily, weekly and monthly. Hey, why not? I'm kind of a stats hound, so maybe I can set things up so I can track the numbers and produce a series of stunning graphs and pie charts that you can print out and laminate, as gifts to give your loved ones next Christmas! See? See how smart I am!

Besides, if I get in better shape, then maybe Wifey will love me again... if that doesn't work, my next strategy will involve tattoos and body piercings... and if that fails, then I'll try to impress her by learning several languages... that way when we argue, she'll have no clue what I'm saying! MUAHAHAHA!!!! Victory will be mine! The power! The POWEERRR!!!!1! If all that fails, I'll revert to farting her into submission...

I think I've decided that Help! is my favorite Beatles album. Except for the song Act Naturally... Ringo should not sing. Ever. In related Boring Beatles News, NetFlix has decided to send me Disc 4 of the Beatles Anthology, skipping right over Disc 3. Maybe they know something I don't... it seems a bit odd to send them out of order...

Wow, a bunch of hot air today. Sorry. No funny videos to post. I'm running the risk of ending the year with a whimper. Maybe tomorrow's post (#365!) will be more interesting. Until then, have phun.

Fools Aren't Born, Pongo. Pretty Girls Make Them In Their Spare Time.

Greetings! Drip drip drip.... 2009 dribbles to a close...

I almost bought a new iMac tonight after work... *this* close. If it wasn't for a comedy of errors, I'd have one now...

Oh, man, I'm going to do it... I'm going to explain what happened. Here, lemme drop a warning first...

WARNING: The following tale is ridiculously boring. Be sure you are well-caffeinated before attempting to read the next three paragraphs. If you feel light-headed or nauseous at all while reading, stop immediately and take several deep breaths. Then fix yourself some hot cocoa.

iCame, iSaw, iLeft Empty-handed: A Technological Near-Miss by Dave Wagner III
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I went to the Apple Store at the mall; it was packed. I wanted to see if I qualified for their 12 month 0% financing for an iMac, which I determined to be the smartest way to go. If I'm going to make a tech purchase, it needs to be before the end of the year, for tax purposes. They told me to use one of the floor model computers to access the online store, and apply online. I was reluctant to do it, entering all my personal info right there, with a mob of people wandering by around me. I did it anyway.

Of course, when I hit "apply" the computer thought for a while, then gave me an error. The sales person said I'd have to do it again. I didn't want to. They said I could apply at home, and if accepted, print out the acceptance text and bring it in the store, and any clerk could help me. I went home to apply.

Applied and was approved. Printed it out, went to the store. The sales person was wrong. I couldn't apply at home and bring in the printed record - I had to do it in store. Now to use my newly-approved financing, I have to wait until the card arrives in the mail, which will be after Jan 1. Oh well. When the card arrives, I will close and terminate the account. After the first does me no good. No new Mac. They tried to call the credit card company to see if I could get approval to use it tonight, but they said no. No card, no sale. If I'd done the applying in store, it would have been easy.

Wow... that story is definitely in the running for the most boring thing I've written in the blog this year. But it was frustrating and a bummer and on my mind, so I wrote it anyway!

I got my work rig back from Vye, and it is working again, and clean, and my files are all safe. But I have to reinstall all my programs, and the DVD drive won't open anymore! It's not Vye's fault, of course... it has been giving me grief the last couple months, and now it has stopped working altogether. How can I install stuff if I can't put the discs in there? That's part of the reason I thought I'd pull the trigger on a new iMac... I want to consolodate desk space, and replacing my old iMac and dual-monitor work rig with one new iMac would be smart, especially since the one iMac will run both Windows and the mac OS.

O_o

I just topped the previous boring story with something even more boring, didn't I... there's only one solution... a Starbucks/Star Wars mash-up picture...

If you aren't familiar with the original trilogy, that one just sailed over your head, sorry. I still love you. In fact, I love you deeply! All of you! I'm just a well of love - the real mushy, saccharine kind! Aren't you lucky!

Wifey has agreed to going out on a date on New Years Eve. Nothing like putting off the annual date to the very last possible night, eh? lol We may go see Avatar... but I'm not sure I'm up for 3 hours of 3D... my head hurts just thinking about it. I should save the time and money, and just hit myself in the head with a ball-peen hammer...

I've always wanted to do this...




Hmm... he was kinda motionless after the impact... I assume he was ok, but he didn't seem to be moving... his friends thought it was funny enough...

Got a book for Christmas from Stepdad called Lone Survivor, by Marcus Luttrell. "The eyewitness account of Operation Redwing and the lost heroes of Seal Team 10." Apparently, it's an amazing tale of survival by a Navy Seal who lost his team during a mission in Afghanistan in 2005. Looks like quite a tale, I'm looking forward to reading it.



Dang.

Not much to say after that. Gonna go think now... thanks for your patience.

It's Beginning to Smell a lot Like Christmas....

Good grief, someone please take away this can of mixed nuts... please, or I'll regret it big time... moderation? Me? Bah! Shovel it in! That's my motto!

Church double-header today. Double portion. Hey, shovel it in, eh? Skeleton crew tonight... maybe 20 people, tops. I brought my iMac in with me so I could work on the camp slideshow while I was duping DVD's of the morning service and last week's Christmas play. I'm happy to say that all the camp pictures and video clips are on the timelime and adjusted for timing and zoom... now all that remains is to move a couple pics around, and find music. Home stretch. After, what, 6 months? Sheesh! They'll never ask me to help at camp again!

I told Abbie I'd teach her how to do the video/photo editing, so next year, it's all her! Go Abbie go!

[Dave munches more mixed nuts]

Dangit, I thought I asked someone to take these away from me!

That pic is for Joseph. He'll get it! John too, perhaps... but that's probably it... sorry...

OK, well, yeah, about the Christmas lights...

Here's the caption I found with the pic on Fail Blog...

Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after two days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn’t realize that it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of the many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn’t take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.

Funny stuff, methinks. Of course, this lighting arrangement is much more my speed....

Easy to install, easy to take down.

OK, one more Funny Picture, and then I'm out...

LOL, I'm sorry. I can't help but laugh, forgive me...

OK, I'm going to go slay some zombies, and make a gameplan for tomorrow. Until then, remember to kill the lights and set the alarm on your way out...

Which Wiser, Older Man is to Take My Place?

OK, time to put on a Happy Face and pull myself out of the downward spiral! Honestly, when I give it a good think, I know I have far more to be thankful for than to complain about, so I think I'll just punch the Christmas blues in the teeth and move forward. Most of the things I feel compelled to complain about fit squarely under the "you made your bed, now sleep in it" category, so I have no room to complain.

That having been said, let me proceed...

Went to the mall today, just to get out of the house. I have NO IDEA what I was thinking. It was literally a mad house. I despise crowds to begin with - I have no clue why I thought today would just be a nice, mellow day at the mall, where I could grab a quick bite at the food court, perhaps a frap or macchiato at Starbucks, and browse around GameSpot and the Apple store for a while. My family was already there, so I went over, as if I had good sense. Mistake. A zoo! I lasted about 5 minutes before I ran screaming for the door... all I kept think while riding the crammed escalator was "I wonder how much of the air I'm breathing right now is other people's gas?"

I know, no one thinks stuff like that but me, I'm sorry. Hey, if I had one of those "pooter" things, I could have had some fun. Maybe next time...

My neck is out of whack. I figured I'd wait til after Christmas to go see my chiropractor. Wifey made the call for me, as I prepared to head for the car. I stopped when she said the recording claimed they'd be closed until January 4! Dang! I'll be living on ibuprofen until then, I suppose... it usually has to get pretty bad before I'll go to see him... because once the family hears I'm going, they all want to go too... then the visit goes from a reasonable $40 to a much less reasonable $160... it's not that I don't want them all to be all aligned and such - and it's not like the good doctor overcharges, he doesn't... he's worth every penny. But when pennies are tight, some things have to wait. Ah, well... sore necks suck, but there's worse problems.

Here's a cool gallery of Star Wars Lego pics...

The guy recreated several scenes from Empire using legos... from the last pic in the gallery, it looks like at least some of them were shot with the legos in a tank of water. Cool. The article is on Gizmodo, so it's good.

Here's another link to an article about a painter named Marc Simonetti, who has painted some awesome pictures based on GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire series. Here's one called Tyrion in King's Landing.

I know some of y'all are out to the movies this holiday season, seeing Avatar and/or Sherlock Holmes, and others I know nothing about. Good on ya, I wish I was going with you. Best I can do is post trailers, so here's one I'm sure you've all seen by now - Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe. Looks good.



Did I post this clip already? If so, I apologize for redundancy. And while I'm at it, I should also apologize for redundancy...

Best Book I Read in 2009: The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss
Best Movie I Saw in 2009: The Fall
Best Song I Heard in 2009: Revelation by Third Day
Favorite Blog: Rememorandum
Favorite Procrastinated Project of 2009: The camp slideshow
Favorite Christmas Present: Beatles Remastered Collection (thanks mom!)
Favorite Game of 2009: Torchlight

Speaking of Torchlight, you all now have no excuse not to buy it from Steam... they lowered the price to $4.99 until January 3! You MUST buy this game!

I kinda miss going snowboarding in Tahoe. Maybe some year we'll resurrect the trip again, when enough years pass to help us forget the hassles that go along with it, and all we remember are the good things...

But I have the upcoming LAN party to look forward to! It's going to be epic, especially if I can see to it that everyone is hooked up with Left 4 Dead... great game. That, and Warcraft 3 and UT3 should set us up right. I *think* we're also going to get some console gaming going, which means other people can pop in and join the partay for a while, if they wanted... normally, in order to attend, you need to bring a PC... but if there's a console there, then that opens things up a bit more. We'll see. It would be awesome to get some Rockband going...

I think that's it for me for the day.

Hey, what was your favorite Web Feature of my blog this year? Let me know, and I'll try to do it again before the end of the year. Do any of you remember the video blogs I used to make, about favorite movie scenes of mine? That was fun. Maybe the web comic. Or the Todayve In History. Or the Movie Quote contest? Or something else...? The fiction bits, perhaps? The poetry (lol)?

I'm done. Thanks for your friendship(s) and your encouraging words. Until tomorrow, remember, sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.

Hope Your Christmas Was a Great One

Spent the night at Mom's house, as is our tradition. Got to see Sister and Stepdad, along with Brother Johnnay. Watched half the Charger game, then left and went to the Porcelli's house, where we had pie, helped finish assembling the yearly Christmas Jigsaw puzzle and played Beatles Rockband. Rebecca was there, and the Rosa's stopped by. Came home, opened gifts with the kids, and now they are watching Sabrina (Bogart/Hepburn) while I'm in here, fighting off depression.

I just need to count my blessings and listen to that Amy Grant video clip a few more times, I'll be fine.

Hope you're all well.

Merry Christmas

A Brief Post... While Wearing Briefs...

Pizza on earth, good swill toward men. And women.

I hope you are all having a great Christmas. Go ahead and give yourself a hug from me. It's all I can afford at the moment... I kept the receipts, in case any of you need to return the hug for a different size...

Dave

My Cat's Favorite Band is 'Mews'...

Greetings! I trust you are all away, busy with Christmassy stuff and not sitting around on your keesters, reading my blog. I suppose I'd be off doing stuff too (escaping, likely), but I'm holding out hope that right now, it's perhaps the day or two after Christmas, and you're reading the blog posts you missed, to see if Dave the Goof had anything interesting to say before the year ends.

The short answer: no.

But that's OK.

I decided I'd share a bit of the email I've gotten in the last week or so, related to some of my Christmas scripts which are floating around out there. At the end of each of my scripts, I have a little message saying "Hey, if you like the script and use it, drop Dave a quick email letting him know!" and I include my email addy. Not sure what percentage of people actually take the time to do it, but when they do, it always is cool.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty low at the moment, so yes, posting these notes is self-serving - but not because of narcissism (my usual MO), but because I'm hoping it will cheer me up. I made the names initials, out of respect.

Here's a couple from my play A Child Shall Lead Them
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We used 'A child shall lead them' for our church Christmas children's service. Our young people's group did it, and we enjoyed dressing in school uniforms and misbehaving as we came in! The sketch was well received, many commenting that it was very thought provoking. The humour went down well too! Thanks for sharing! 

T.W. Kenton Baptist Church, Kenton (near London) 
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Dear David Wagner, 
Thank you so much for sharing the script to "A Child Shall Lead Them" with the greater community! 


Our church, First Congregational Church of Reno, Reno, Nevada, performed this play last Sunday, December 20, 2009, and it was a huge hit! The students loved performing it and our congregation truly enjoyed seeing the middle schoolers get into a script and Christmas story like this one. We projected the Rembrandt images up on a screen at the back of the sanctuary, so the audience could see them, although the actors faced the congregation and looked through an empty picture frame on an easel to replicate the museum idea. 


Thank you so much! Our congregation and Sunday School is indebted to you! With many thanks and Christmas blessings, 


L.A. 
First Congregational Church of Reno 
Reno, Nevada 
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Hey David,


I had sent a previous email letting you know we were planning on using your play. We finally presented it last night and it was amazing!!!!


Our kids really got into it the past couple of weeks and started adding thier own ideas as far as staging goes. We had the parents and small child come across the stage like they were looking at artwork and just talking among themselves. Then as the guide brought the other kids in from the back of the sanctuary he was talking to a couple of kids in the front of the group asking if they were excited to be at the museum and such as that. The talking and laughter of the larger group of kids got the attention of the small child and the audience could see him wander away from his parents and go to the other kids.


Then during the entire program, the mom and dad were walking around "looking" for their child! Then they spotted him from a distance at the end and yelled in excitement at having found him.


It was so much fun, and the kids enjoyed the fact that the audience laughed at the appropriate times and "Amened" when the small child spoke..


We even made museum brochures for the audience complete with a museum map and information about the exhibit on the outside. The inside was a welcome, list of cast members, and Christmas greetings. The children then had a brochure on stage with them with the same outside, but thier inside held just their lines in case they needed a little help remembering them. We also had a camera with each group and while they weren't speaking, they were taking pictures of pretend artwork as well as pictures of themselves! I am going to make a copy of the pictures to give to each of the kids as a keepsake of the program!


Thank you so much for writing this program and especially for sharing it along with your tips for others to use.  


May God bless you and yours this holiday season and always,


LP
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I thought that was cool. Here's a couple short ones about The Beginning.

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Hi David,
The drama you wrote entitled "The Beginning" was presented by our youth group at yesterday's service of worship. The group had a great time working with the script. You were credited in the bulletin.
Blessings,
P,
Minister, St. Paul's Thornbury, ON Canada
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Hello,

I just wanted to let you know we will be using this script for our upcoming Christmas Program for our Sunday School Department.  The kids seem to be having fun with it so I'm looking forward to see how it turns out with the audience.

Julie
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I have a ton of these emails archived on my sick work rig... a couple years' worth. I really hope Vye is able to salvage my email archive. I think I should just make a page on Wagnervana for these email testimonials. When I'm feeling especially invisible and/or worthless, I read them. It's good for the soul. Makes me feel like I'm actually making a mark - albeit small - on the world.

Well, at least I wasn't foolish enough to go to an Eagles game in Philadelphia dressed in the opposing team's gear...




I think I'm going to pull the plug. Sorry for the mellow, relatively self-serving post tonight. I hope you are have a great 24th, and that your Christmas is a great one.  Seeya when I see ya.

Dave

Everybody's Got Something to Hide, Except for Me and My Monkey...

How am I today, you ask? How was work today? How's the book I'm reading? The one I'm writing? How's my Facebook Scrabble games going? Am I ready for Christmas, you wonder? How am I doing at the bank? Do I have any pistachios left? What did I eat today? Was today a Starbucks day or an energy drink day, you ask? What games did I play today, if any, you wonder? What do I *really* want for Christmas, that there's no way on earth I'll get? Am I looking forward to Christmas? To New Year's? To the LAN party? Is the camp slideshow done yet? Did I order a "pooter", you wonder? Am I sick of life? Do I feel an urge to toss some things in the car, start driving, and not look back? Am I excited about the new year? How's business? How's the weather? How's my health? How's my mood?

No comment.

Instead I give you, Sparrow in the Snow!

Sparrow in the Snow: A Poem

by Dave Wagner, Esq.

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O Sparrow in the snow, 

Can I swat you

With a tennis racket?

I know I shouldn't just spring top-quality poetry on you all like that unannounced. If you weren't sitting down and well-rested before reading it, the stark imagery and deep themes and sub-themes could overpower you, and make you feel light-headed. The risk of injury is there, though admittedly minimal. Next time, I shall provide at least 24 hours advanced warning. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Dave

At My Signal, Unleash Heck...

Got another disc of the Beatles Anthology. It's endlessly fascinating to me, their early years. Man, the world went nuts for these guys. The world was their oyster. Must have been like a Perfect Storm, socially... right place, right time, right guys, right songs... incredible watching the footage of the crowds of screaming people everywhere they went. Their first trip to the US back in 1964... their ages were 20 (George), 21 (Paul), and 23 (John, Ringo). I can't imagine rocketing to such a level of stardom so young... I remember what I was like back at that age... imbecilic is a good word to start with...

Their old live footage is really good, and fun to watch. Makes me want to break out my guitar and play some music... but my dad took it back a couple weeks ago to restring it for me.

Strange ebb and flow today, as far as my mood... odd combination of highs and lows today, far too mundane to elucidate here... unless, of course, you came here to read this blog due to insomnia, and are searching for something to help you fall asleep... then I could make plain, in great detail, my day for you. Hey, anything to help...

Oh, you know I can't just pick one Favorite Cat Clip of the Year, so I'll probably post several over the next couple days... Here's one - the "cat in the suitcase" one...



Yeah, I know, you love that clip too... you're welcome... but just wait until I revisit Maru... what can I say? I'm a cat person...

I got a book in the mail the other day - a book I won from a give-away at Fiction Addict. It's called Gold of Kings, by Davis Bunn. I picked it up last night to give it a look-see, and was immediately both hooked and impressed by the writing. I was once again intrigued by this idea of the subconscious process of immediately sensing affinity or antipathy for a writer - this of course plays back into last week's kerfuffle with the (unnamed) fantasy author. I don't need to rehash it, except to say that initially, I was confident in my assessment of that author's writing, and while I felt bad and embarrassed for the way I handled myself, upon further review, my opinion of the writing itself remains unchanged.

All that to say, I think I'll postpone Warbreaker for a bit longer while I dig into Gold of Kings and see where the story goes. My gut tells me I won't be disappointed. It isn't fantasy, but I think that's just fine for now.

Abbie sent back favorable first impressions from the novel sample I sent to her the other day, which was encouraging. I think I'll forego my usual zombie-slaying for the night and write for a few hours.

Another Rug Shop Day set for Tuesday. More work on the website, and on the inventory.

No word yet from Vye on the state of my sick work rig, but that's expected. I told him I wasn't in a rush.

I think that's all the odds and ends I have for now. Hey, see that light? Yeah, just over the horizon... that's the end of the year! It fast approaches.

Until tomorrow, remember, I don't pretend to be a man of the people. But I do try to be a man for the people.

Your Prospects for a Long Sleep Have Just Improved...

It is done! The play was, by all that I could see, a success. Everyone nailed their parts, especially the star, Rebekah, in her first attempt at the leading role. She did the McCalment name proud. Joseph was there in person to watch his little sis in the play. It was great to see Joe again. Joe, you are The Man.

All in all, twas a great day. The house is a wreck at the moment... usually, it isn't this cluttered until Christmas Day, when the gifts the Wagner Women have received from all corners of life are gathered together in one moment of mass confusion... it seems that moment has arrived a few days early. Apparently, the gift of choice this year was baked sweets... there are cookies and bars and cakes and pumpkin loaves and every type of sweets in boxes and covered trays all over the place.

And yet, with all of these snacks available, what did I gravitate toward? The leftover veggie party tray from the party at church tonight. You ever eat something that just so hits the spot that you feel, as of now, you could just eat it forever, and nothing else? I felt that way a little while ago, as I dunked celery sticks into the veggie dip, and crunched away... broccoli and carrots too, but for some reason, the celery was divine. I think I found my new snack - veggie trays. I hope they're not expensive.

Been pondering new resolutions for 2010... I think getting rid of soda and energy drinks for the year is a front runner, along with writing every day on my novel. Even an hour a day adds up. I seemed to be able to write about 1,000 words an hour when I was writing for the NaNoWriMo month. Writing and rewriting, an hour a day... seems very doable.

Here's another of my Favorite Videos of the Year... the Wooden Spoon Prank...



Ah, makes me smile every time I watch it...

Well, Christmas Week is upon us. I'll be in the Rug Shop all week, and also trying to catch up on some lingering Piranha commitments. Creating a section of the Rug Care Central site that will have several dozen of the "rugs for sale" that we have collected at the shop over the years. Setting up the online inventory system has been taxing. Once it's done right, it should be easy to maintain. I gotta get some new content up on the front page and the rug blog, keep things fresh.

Got my work rig to Vye tonight - hopefully he'll be able to access and salvage the files I need before he nukes the HD and reinstalls windows. He had a good idea tonight - use this "old" system as my rig to back up my files, and make Crown Stealer my primary rig for both work and play. That's another option. Once my head stops spinning, I'll give the topic a good chew and decide the best route to take.

The video of the play turned out pretty good. I'll rip it this week and maybe post it in sections... it's about a half hour long total - I'll see if Viddler can handle a video that long in one piece, or if I have to break it into pieces. Of course, I'll have to make sure it's ok with Rebekah that I post the scenes up here! I think she's the only semi-regular blog reader that had a substantial part (other than me, obviously)... everyone else will never know! MUAHAHAHAH!!!! Jayson and Abbie were both in it, but not in speaking roles...

OK, that's it for this week. Gonna start in on Warbreaker tonight. I kept fighting temptation over on Logan's blog... he made a post about the book, and warned of spoilers... it has taken great resolve to keep from reading that post. I'll just bookmark it and check back in a couple weeks - or however long it takes for me to finish the book. If it hooks me hard, it might be much sooner...

Until tomorrow, remember, come on out, you dirty slobs! Flanagan's back!

And It's Good!

Saturdave! Yep, that's me... well, for another 90 minutes or so. Then I'll be Sundave...


Dress Rehearsal went well today, methinks. We'll just give it a go Sunday morning and see how it rolls. Then I can let out a sigh of relief and move on. Or maybe I'll let something else out instead.... MUAHAHAHAH!!!!  (__|__) - ROOOARRR!!!!


I decided on Friday that my new "thing" will be, when I pass some particularly loud wind, I'll immediately throw my hands straight up in the air, like a football referee signaling a touchdown, and yell "And it's good!" Then I'll award myself 3 points, while my wife yells at me for being the most disgusting man that has ever walked the earth. That's the ultimate upgrade, by the way. I used to just be gross, then disgusting... then the most disgusting man she knows... then the most disgusting that she'd ever known. I thought that would be it, but then I was promoted to most disgusting man on earth. After that was most disgusting that has ever walked the earth. Not sure where it can go after that.


Of course, when she passes wind, she thinks it's funny. But when I do it, it's gross... I'll never understand women...


Yeah, I know... not exactly appropriate blogging material so close to Christmas. Well, I can spiritualize it by quoting supporting verses of scripture, like "make a joyful noise" and "blow a trumpet in Zion," that sort of thing...


OK, fine, I'll change the subject...

Interesting. Those crazy Canadians... I get the shivers just watching that...

Went to the Christmas party tonight at the D's house. Great food, great folks. But Abbie and Rebekah didn't show up! What's up with that! Oh, I guess we just weren't "cool" enough for you, eh? I see how it is. Well, maybe you were hanging out with the people in that ice fishing video clip... were they "cool" enough for you? Huh? Yeah, I thought so...

I'm waaay over on my oil change for my car. Dangit, why didn't someone in here remind me of that? It's y'all's responsibility to keep me in line, and handling important stuff like that! Somebody's going to get fired from my blog for this... that does it! I'm firing myself! I'm giving myself my two week notice...

LAN party is in the works. We're going to have it at Jayson's house this time, w00t! His folks are heading off on a trip. I hope we can arrange it so that Yanni and Dimitri can come. Should be fun. I'm going to see if I can find some more copies of Left 4 Dead, so we can get some games going. Otherwise I'm sure we'll just roll out Warcraft 3 and UT3, as before... it would be cool to mix in another game or two.

By the way, Torchlight is on sale at Steam for $10. If you like games at all, you need to get this one. Get it from Steam, download it, play it, love it. There's a new Aliens Vs Predator game coming out in February. I hope they release a demo; I'd like to give it a whirl before thinking about buying it.

Anyone going to see Avatar? If so, write a review and post it in your blog so I can read it! If you don't have a blog, make one, post your review in it, and I will read it! Or write it and post it in the comments and... yep... I'll read it...

Happy birthday to mew.....

Of course, I should probably do my "favorite _______ of this last year" type of retrospective thing... here's one of my favorite Funny Pictures of the year...

Nom nom nom nom....

Might as well add one of my Favorite Video Clips of the year as well...



I guess I'll call it a night. I'll let you know how the play goes, and perhaps post a video of it. Perhaps. The problem with the video clips from plays we do is the audio quality. We can't afford to mike all the actors, so we have to use the overhead ceiling mikes, and sometimes that hit and miss, depending on how well a particular actor is projecting. If the audio is poor, I won't post a clip...

OK, enough hot air. Until tomorrow, remember, beware of mistletoe....

Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock...

As the week ends, I sit on my weak end, and prepare for the weekend...

"Wrung out" is a good way to describe it. I'm frayed, I'm afraid... seems I'm not quite finished enjoying the taste of my foot quite yet... a reader (Sharyn) left a comment on Wednesday's post which, in retrospect, wasn't really the mini-lecture I had first thought it was, but that didn't stop me from getting snippy again. So I followed her comment up with a "yeah, I get it already!" comment, and made a fool of myself yet again! I'm on a roll! Man, it's a good thing the end of the year fast approaches... I think I need to take a blogging break and get my head together... the swirling combination of stresses and mistakes is eroding my ability to think and judge clearly...

Play practice was productive tonight (Rebekah is owning her role, it's awesome to see), but I felt quite the hypocrite... here I am, the only male willing to play the role of Jesus (not baby Jesus, the grown version!), and I had such a lousy day, blowing it and snapping at my family and being grumpy and scatterbrained... I was certainly not feeling anything like the King at all tonight, which is sad in and of itself... Then I had to put on my happy, holy face and pretend to be The King. If it came out half as fake as it felt, I apologize profusely... what else could I do? Cancel practice until I "felt" more in the role? The show must go on, and all that nonsense.

Maybe if I shift gears and try to find something funny to post, it will kill the awkwardness of this post so far...

I know... "Aw, does Davey need a hug?"

Sure, I'll take all the hugs I can get! Just attach it to an email and send it to me...

Here, lemme find another funny pic...

Alien parking... not bad...

I saw a video tonight of Jack Bauer interrogating Santa Claus which was quite amusing, but alas, it had a bit of swearing in it (he says SOB), so I'm not going to embed it, to protect the ears of the innocent among us. But I will link to it! MUAHAHAH!!!! Your blood be on your own heads!

Did you guys watch that vid I posted last night, of the dude making funny faces at Target, etc.? O man, I haven't laughed that hard in soooo long. My stomach hurt. I pretended that was my cardio workout for the day. He has a YouTube channel that has some very funny (to me) clips on it. How the guy keeps a straight face doing all that stuff is beyond me...

My work rig is still sick; Carey couldn't come by Thursday to look at it. So I'm going to take it to Vye this weekend, and hope for the best. I was going to have Vye just build me a new work PC, but then I saw his latest rig...

Sorry, Vye, I like my PCs to at least have a case....

So Saturday should be wild... have Dress Rehearsal from 10 am to noon... Cathy O wants to only run through it once... I thought running through it twice was a given, but she kind of announced it in front of everyone. I figure it's kind of a waste to gather everyone to run it only once... but we'll see. Perhaps we'll nail the first run through and not need a second. Still, I hope nobody's too miffed at me if I keep everyone for a second go through... well, if they are miffed, they can punch me after the rehearsal, I suppose...

There's a Christmas Party to attend in the evening... I'm looking forward to that. Then again, I'm afraid... what if I drink too much spiced eggnog, and end up running around the place wearing just a Santa hat? What will all those church people think!? And then trying to deal with a hangover and portray Jesus the next morning in the play? Man, it could be a mess... maybe I should stay home and kill zombies instead...

Christmas is officially less than a week away. I wonder if I'll ever have another Christmas that I can leisurely enjoy the build-up to? I think those days are gone forever. Go go go go, from Halloween to New Year's. A few weeks to regroup, then it's Easter Play time! O_o

Bah, Hamburg.

Mike D. dropped MESOZOAN on me today in Facebook Scrabble, for 122 points. Ouch! That's the word of the year, as far as I'm concerned. I complimented him thoroughly. I'm a good sport like that. Yeah, that's the ticket. I'm, like, a super cool, nice guy... this week notwithstanding...

OK, I'm done. Here I thought I wouldn't have anything to write about again.

Until tomorrow, remember, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting phat.

And in This Corner, Wearing the Soiled Shorts and Smelling Vaguely of Eggnog... Dave!

Thursday. Semi-productive Thursday. My To-Do List only partially converted into a To-Done List, so I shrug my shoulders, purse my lips a bit, sigh and move forward. Tis the season, eh?

Floating, floating, apathy sinking in, trying to get into a Christmassy mood, and falling short. I'll keep trying, though. My normal escapes aren't working at the moment. Books, games, movies, blogging, web surfing, writing... everything is stripped of color and left wanting. Meh, this too shall pass.

Abbie wanted me to send her a sample from my current novel, so I was prepping a file for her tonight, pulling some material. You know what? I really like it. I like the story, I like how it's written, I like the characters, I just like it. Take that however you want - I suppose that makes me a literary narcissist. I'll be curious to see what she thinks. I'm so tempted to dive in for re-writes right now... but I really want to get the first draft done first, before I launch into the re-writes.

I consider myself a conservative... yet the conservative public figures, including politicians and pundits, talk show hosts and spotlight hogs, all seem to me to be rather insane. I don't want to be one of them, or associated with them. Yet I'm certainly not a liberal. Why are people so insane? Part of me thinks that the lunatics are running the asylum, at least as far as the government... actually, all the way down to the local government... there just doesn't seem to be any difference between the two sides anymore. I think they're all nuts. Why anyone would want to go into politics is beyond me. It either only draws the crazies, or it draws good people and then crazifies them. Either way, it's adding to my sense of morose.

On a related note, I very much call myself Christian, but there's an incredible number of crazy Christians out there as well... or rather, crazy people that call themselves Christians... on the one hand, I suppose I fit in, then... I mean, I'm a Christian, yet I blasted that author in a rather unChristian-like manner. Not exactly a good example of godly behavior. I guess the question is, would I have realized how I'd acted if it had never been noticed by the author? Or would I have plodded along to eventually do it again, next time I read a book that made me roll my eyes too many times? I think I know the answer to that... I certainly didn't feel bad running down Bakker a few months back.

So change is good, I guess. A step further away from being a putz and a step closer toward being more like the King, eh? That seems to me to be the point of it all. Transformation. Saved from being a putz, and saved to being someone... what word? Normal? Righteous? A good egg? Someone people like to be around? Someone to embrace rather than ignore? Someone you can look at and say 'I wanna be more like that guy.'

Rambling, rambling, tip-of-the-brain blogging, without a net...

I dig that tiger.

I watched Public Enemy last night - the 1931 Jimmy Cagney movie, I mean. It was so funny watching him playing a teen-ager, when he was quite obviously past 40. Reminds me of Michael J Fox playing a high schooler in Back to the Future... anyway, the movie is fun, and has a wonderfully heavy-handed moral. Crime doesn't pay. Always nice to watch one of the ol' black-n-white classics.

Back-to-back play rehearsals scheduled for Friday night and Saturday morning. I think we can do it, no prob. Then we perform the play Sunday. If the video turns out ok, I'll post it up here, so you can all watch about 60 seconds of it before browsing away to something else... I guess I'm a holiday pessimist, eh? I guess that would make me a chrissimist...

Dang, I hope someone has a New Year's party this year...

OK, I'm done being a scrooge for now. Perhaps tomorrow shall be a better day... though technically, I don't really have anything to complain about. I'm just feeling blah, you know? Maybe killing some zombies will help. If not, I'll watch the Farting Santa clip again a few times...

Talk to you tomorrow.

OMG, you have to watch this...

You've Been Given a Great Gift, George... a Chance to See What the World Would Be Like Without You...

Empty crackers today. Not much to write. You'd think someone like me, with that occasionally-fatal combination of being long-winded and a renewable hot air resource, would be able to come up with something interesting to write about in the past 24 hours, but what can I say that hasn't already been said? The Beatles thing, the anniversary thing, the novel thing, the fallon thing... I'm sure you're all as sick of those things as I am... and I doubt seriously that you want to hear about my day at the rug shop today... man, it almost makes me wish I'd had a car accident or something today on the way home! That would be something to talk about!

I can't troll my usual "random weirdness" websites, to dig up odd cool things to look at - since all my bookmarks related to such things are on my "sick" computer! I can't drone on and on about the games I'm playing, because that, too, is both boring and ground already covered. I'm reading Lion of Senet again, setting out to prove to myself that I'm either correct or crazy... it's not like I didn't want to like it. The reason I bought it was because it was recommended and held up as a great example of the genre. I want to like books - duh! When I find ones I like, I trumpet their praises here. When I don't, I should be able to trumpet that as well...

I think I'll read it with a highlighter in hand, so I can pull a multitude of examples of what I'm talking about when I say things like "mediocre" and "tired" and "rote"... heck, maybe I am insane, but really, there are so many things that I feel an editor should have marked with a little red pen or something when the re-writes were going on...

Bah, why do I even bother? It's not my cup of tea, why should I give a crap? Probably because I feel the need to justify myself for the statements that I made regarding the book... but it's not like I hunted down the author's site and posted insulting things about her on her own turf. I didn't go to forums where her fans hang out, to insult her and ridicule them. I made a comment in my own little blog, in passing, and then forgot about it. Now I suddenly feel like I have to prove what I was saying to be true. Dangit, I just want to enjoy a good book. I don't have patience for mediocrity, which was my position from the outset! This is elective reading, not assigned reading, it should be enjoyable! It feels like work now, like I'm doing volunteer editing work.

Forget it. Life's too short, and I'm getting grumpy.

And I said I wouldn't talk about it, and here I go again.

But, alas, my tank is empty. So I guess I'll default to posting some nice landscapey pictures, and call it a day.

Until tomorrow, then....

PS Passed the 350 post mark yesterday, forgot to mention it...

Tell Me What You Want as Fast as it Comes to You....

Greetings! :D

Yeah, I put on a little happy face at the end of my greeting... it's a little tactic I like to call "fake it 'till you make it"...

It's interesting to see the fallout from yesterday's kerfuffle over my off-hand comments about Ms. Fallon's book... I guess the silver lining in it all is that she got three more new readers out of it! Abbie, Crystal and Logan all want to read her book now -- I presume to see if I'm off my rocker or not... I know what my vote is!

Thanks to Paula for defending me over on the author's blog, but really, I think I deserve all the heat. Crystal's right - I should be a little more tactful next time I feel the urge to express disapproval of/dissatisfaction over a particular author's work, since apparently it's pretty easy for it to get back to him or her, using something called "Google Alerts" or some such. But I've lambasted other authors much harder this year, and apparently, if they read it, they couldn't care less. I mean, as luke-warm as I feel about this author's style, I'd much rather read her than anything else by Scott Bakker or Daniel Abraham.

I guess that could segue into this question... can a person accurately judge an author's writing style based on a hundred pages? 50? After the first page? I have a book on writing called The First Five Pages (Lukeman) that stresses the elements that a manuscript needs in order to have the best chance of succeeding (and getting published), and that these elements, by necessity, need to be apparent in the first five pages, since "agents and editors receive and reject hundreds of manuscripts each month." Your literary acumen needs to be evident straight away, in other words, or your risk of being immediately rejected is high. I suppose that must just apply to new authors rather than published authors.

Honestly, though I will now keep reading the first book and issue a review, I don't know that my assessment of her style, at least as far as how it agrees/disagrees with me, will change. I doubt she'll flower into Pat Rothfuss before the book ends, in other words. Still, that's just me and my tastes... apparently there are plenty of people that find her work not only acceptable, but very satisfying. Hey, go for it. I'll be keen to see what others here think of it.

The funny thing is, I was just going to toss it on the shelf and never give it a thought again... now we're all talking about it. Perhaps that was her strategy from the outset! If so, you gotta admit, it's a successful one...

Shifting gears...

Today's post on the blog 1,000 Awesome Things was amusing... perhaps you should go check it out, eh!

My computer guru pal Carey was supposed to come over today to attempt to cure my sick computer, but he no-showed. He wanted to come Thursday instead, but I think I'll just take my computer in to Vye Wednesday, as I originally planned, and let him nuke it. I'm still weighing the pro's and cons of retiring the rig and having Vye build a new one. I'll need to decide soon, for it to be a tax write-off for 09. I was at the mall today, eying the iMac... beautiful creatures... the 22" one is $1200, which is a bit more than I'd want to spend... but it could boot in Mac or Windows, which means I could sell my old iMac and my old system and recoup a bit of the dough... bah, who knows. I'm always looking for reasons to buy new gear. The smart thing would be to wait and see how the current situation with my work rig resolves itself before making any decisions.

Then again, I'm not exactly known for doing the smart thing...

Went to the mall for our anniversary tonight and split a chili-burger at Red Robin. Yay. What fun. Well, I suppose the 19th anniversary ain't supposed to be all that. Next year should be interesting... I'll turn 40 and we'll have our 20th anniversary. Sounds like two good reasons to have Scrabble parties...

Well, it could be worse... I could be this guy...

I guess I'll pack it in for the night. Rug Shop Day tomorrow, with all the joy that entails! Actually, it's a good gig. Until tomorrow, remember, 'big' doesn't even sum it up, right? That word 'big' is so small...