My friend Neil (@ntraft) currently has his instant messenger status as:

“Dude, this van is like rolling probable cause.”

I sent that along to the other bearded computer/bicycle/D&D nerd Will™* who actually has what would easily pass for a child molester van, and his response was equally good:

“ha maybe one day i’ll paint it a less rapey color”

I just wondering what colors are “asking for it” more, and what are less?

This is also coming from the guy who has a pedobear sticker hidden somewhere in the aforementioned van (it used to be in the window).

*Yes, there are two of us. We even used to work together at the same dot com.

Dog vomit. I’m not kidding. Almost every time I’ve cleaned up dog puke, the dog has done it twice, and usually inside a span of a minute or two.

Indy just threw up, and it was entirely bile. Every last ounce was bile, except for an almost-new Heartgard tablet:

 
Now, to some of you, this post is gross*. For those of you who have pets/kids or have ever gone on a whiskey bender, this is not such a gross post. It’s not like I’m actually posting dog puke photos.

Anyway, here’s the thing about this most recent puking incident: I fed him that tablet with breakfast.

WHERE IS THE REST OF THE FOOD? WHY IS THAT THE ONLY THING LEFT?

And, yes, in case you were wondering, I rinsed it off, broke it in half, and fed him a piece, which he gladly inhaled. He’ll get the second half with dinner tonight.

*UPDATE* – He threw that half up, all broken up and in tiny pieces, on the rug at the front door. <sarcasm>I guess it’s a good thing I stepped on it, barefoot, before Bea came home. </sarcasm>

*I know it’s weird to dust off Ye Olde Blog with a story about dog vomit, but really. What were you expecting? It’s me.

For this past Christmas, my mother-in-law got me this completely awesome set of Ninja Star Wars prints:

I talked to a friend who works at Lemieux Galleries about getting them framed for trade in computer work. After meeting up (and agreeing how incredibly cool these prints are), I picked out a matte and frame. Each print is 11.25″ x 27″, and 18″ x 34″ after the framing – they’re not exactly small.

Well, I finally got around to hanging them. The unexpected hard parts of hanging them though, was deciding the order. I settled on chronological order of appearance, according to the original trilogy. I did it from memory, and used an ever-excellent and accurate xkcd comic as a reference. The only thing I’m not exactly sure about is whether we see Admiral Ackbar or the Emperor (and no, his hologram doesn’t count) first – and that can be quickly (and funly!) solved by popping in the DVD.

The only thing I debated to myself about was the Luke poster. I wasn’t sure if the white robes depicted his time on the ice planet Hoth, or a more metaphorical representation of him as a sort of “white knight”. I went for the more literal Hoth interpretation because a) I think it’s the correct one, and b) that would give me a solid reference on the timeline.

Well, and I think we can all agree the set looks awesome:

I think each one ran me about $250 each, but that works out to 30 hours at $50 an hour. I get sweet custom frames, they get working computers. Everyone wins.

“I don’t go to Metairie unless I really have to.”
Ballzack, Rainbow in Marrero

This Saturday, while doing my once-every-couple-of-months run to Metairie, I passed by the newly-opened +1 Gaming and decided to pop my head in.

They’ve recently opened, so stock is a little on the low side I think. It seems to cater mostly to Warhammer and similar games, but still, a gaming store is a gaming store. They also have a whole bunch of tables for games – it appears that you can just show up with your stuff and play with friends. Pretty neat.

I decided to pick up my own “copy” of the card game Bang!, a really fun, easy, spaghetti-western style card game. Dave and Belen bring it with them on their travels, and we have fun playing it – probably mostly due to everyone always saying “It’s my turn? Ok, I want to drink a beer and then bang Belen.”

When checking out, I was asked if I was a “hero”. There were too many awesome responses that my neurons misfired, and I lamely replied “Huh?” They’ve developed a customer loyalty type program – being a hero gets you a discount, and when you make a purchase, you roll 2d10 (i.e. random number from 1-100) and based on the outcome, you get something for free.

I rolled a 1. As a joke, I think they should have an anti-prize for rolling a 1 – like getting slapped in the face with a fish or reduced discount for the purchase or something.

But, a 1 still won me something: either a bag of chips or a pencil. I went with the infinitely more useful pencil, and will use it at our D&D game tomorrow.

As he was describing to me the program though, it sounded kinda familiar, but couldn’t quite place from where. I knew it was a webcomic, but as hard as I tried, I just couldn’t make the connection. Luckily, I voiced this recollection to him. He told me I was right, and it was a Ctrl+Alt+Del comic (this one, specifically). They’d been inspired by it, sat down and did the math, and realized that it was actually pretty viable.

I think that involving a game into the buying process is fun. A group of us will head over there for a field trip soon, and perhaps sit down and run through a quick game of Castle Ravenloft or two.

Hooray, nerds.

So, back in November of 2007, I busted my tailbone while refereeing a rollerderby bout. Ouch.

Lately though, in increasing frequency, I’ve been feeling this twinge of pain in my right hip. The trigger is inconsistent, and sometimes it seems to also shoot down my leg, but it’s there. It’s also put a serious damper on my new running initiative.

Well, since reading about it is one thing and actually talking to a professional is entirely another, I saw a doctor yesterday. It would appear that I have sciatica. It’s not severe or a result of a slipped disc, but it’s there. It tends to kick in when I’ve been sitting down for a while (especially if I’ve been slouching), and on the couch we watch tv on, but it could always be worse.

I’ve already started trying to stretch out my hamstrings (they’ve always been super-tight), and I’m also making better notes of my posture. While it wasn’t bad to begin with, it could be better. I’ve started to do that stretch where you lay on your back, and twist your lower body while keeping your back on the ground.

Soon: crunches and lower-back strengthening will be added to the daily routine. The shitty part is that if I stretch or bend a certain way, I’m aware of my tailbone. It’s not that it hurts, but it almost just feels sore.

Stupid compressed nerves. But, if it’s a reason to improve, then I’ll choose to see the bright side of it.

I think this sums up my take on it (and Global Warming / Environmentalism overall) quite nicely:

And yes, I get the irony that this blog is named Prosthetically Hip, and I now have an “hip issue”.

Bea and I are in the process of moving our office from a room upstairs to the front room of our house. And we are pleased with the progess.

On the other side, it means that I’m finally getting around to getting rid of the last bit excess hardware that’s been collecting dust over the last x years.

Still works fine, just needs a good home. I’d love some cash for these items (I’d settle for some Guinness or Abita), but at the end of the day, they still work and throwing them away would just be a shame.

APC Smart UPS 1400. Great battery backup, just needs fresh batteries which aren’t all that hard to come by.

HP ProCurve 400m. Such a good switch. Lots of unused drive bays, and can have a secondary power supply installed.

Cisco Catalyst WS-C1912C-EN. A neat little switch for someone wanting to play with/learn about fiber.

Cisco 3101 and 3102 Routers. I dunno, bookends?

Know anyone who’s interested? Send them my way!

I’ll admit it, for over a decade, I’ve been a fugitive.

This week, I “manned up” and made things square. I was tired of not knowing when I’d finally get tracked down and the book thrown at me, so I decided to square things up.

I paid my $1 fine from 1999 to the New Orleans Public Library.

Man, that feels good to get off my chest. And it was for Stephen King’s The Waste Lands, of all books.

Now, I have Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire on loan from the NOPL. I hope I’ve earned their trust back.

Well, my new shoes feel awesome. It’s been quite cold here lately, so I’ve had to institute my weather rule more often than I’d like.

The rule goes like this: If it’s colder than 40°, I’m not running. It’s pretty simple. When I was a kid, I had a pretty rough case of bronchitis, and it seems to flare up when I exercise in the cold – hence my rule.

I did finally bring Bosceaux today with me, and he was great. Managed to find my fastest, most comfortable pace: 9:00/mile. I know I can go a bit faster – the first mile of me at my own pace the other week was 8:30 – but 9:00 is really my comfort zone, which is good to know. And today, I managed not to drop pace until about 2.25mi into the run.

Runkeeper has been helpful – every 5 minutes or so, it’ll pause my music ( currently Ricky B’s Shake it fo yo Hood and The Sword’s Age of Winters ) and a voice will tell me my average pace, total distance, total time, and then resume the music. It’s not a race, it’s just relevant, helpful data.

And this may just be to normal fluctuations, but I weighed in at 163.5 when I got home this morning – 4 pounds less than the last post. So, progress, it would seem.

Tomorrow brings a video-game/nerd themed hash and Friday is another run. Three days in a row, then a weekend of comic-con.

My good friend (and one of Bea’s bridesmaids) Savannah just moved her salon, Rocket Science, to an amazing newly-renovated double on Royal and Elysian Fields. This place is awesome.

If you know her, go see her. A few years ago, she was sharing a few hundred square feet on Bourbon St., then went to a shop above 13 on Frenchmen, and now the front room, the waiting area, is bigger than either of those entire spaces. What can I say? I’m proud.

Not only is she a good friend, but she does great work:

The thorough de-bearding is totally my work ( I’m not used to the length attachments on my new beard trimmer ), but the rest is Savvy.

Disclaimer: the number in this post isn’t what bothers me. I don’t want to hear bitching about numbers (mine especially or yours), unless you’re unhappy about yours and want to do something about it.

I hopped on the scale recently (something I’ve never owned before, and still rarely step on), the other day, and saw a number that was new to me: 167.5.

This is the most I’ve ever weighed, topping my post-Katrina expansion. And I don’t really care about that, because it’s all relative. I don’t care that I weigh that, I care that my BMI is high. I also care that I wasn’t able to button a pair of pants.

The problem is I have become sedentary. I’m traditionally used to a much more active lifestyle, and that just isn’t happening these days. Between the day job, the design/development LLC that Bea and I formed, the housework, and the less-than-happy knees, I just haven’t been exercising. And I /need/ to. I want to.

I just have to make the time. And I am. My friends Chum Dumpster and Everything Butt Sex have been meeting up at NOMA M-W-F at 6am-ish to run 5k. Chum and EBS are hashers who have been concentrating on the drinking part of hashing over the running part. While they run a slower pace than I do, they’re doing the hard part: getting up and doing it. This is what I need. So, Mondays I plan on bringing one dog, and Friday the other, leaving Wednesdays to myself. The pups need exercise too, especially chubby little Indy.

And as for the knees/etc, I’ve already taken the first step, so to speak: I went to the Louisiana Running Co to get fitted for a new pair of shoes: K-Swiss K-Ona C. They’re meshy on top and drain out of the bottom! THE BOTTOM! I really liked that place, too. Just a two-person startup, and I didn’t feel like I was being “sold to” – he just wanted to help me run how I wanted to (no races / half-marathons / full marathons). I definitely recommend them.

Now, obviously running won’t fix the problem alone. I have plans to mountain bike (at least a few laps at the spillway) every few weeks, and do Wii Fit on an almost daily basis.

There are of course dietary concerns, and all I’m going to say is that I’m already making a concerted effort to eat better, and especially cut out as much high fructose corn syrup / crap foods overall. I also understand that it’s just not practical to go whole-hog on that effort, so it’ll be within reason. The last thing I want to is stress out about what I’m eating. If you are (or if you aren’t) familiar with the next handful of months in NOLA, then you should read Pistolette’s excellent rationalization on eating and goals in NOLA.

And as usual, she has inspired Bea and I with our life this year. We have a list of goals, broken down into months, for the year. We’re gonna get a lot of shit done that we’ve been putting off. We’re tired of a project being 85% done.