The Living Rube Goldberg Machine

I feel really busy these days.

Other than common distractions (Halo, work, etc.), I really have a lot of projects I'm trying to get done: write a multicast network protocol, set up a webcam for the Nebraska house, write up a paper on internet safety, and write up an automatic batch processing script for con photos. Amongst other things.

Also, I was informed that housewarming parties need to be within a year of moving in, so that pretty much puts me sometime in March at the latest, which I think is completely doable.

Also, Adventure Time season opener was pretty awesome. Kinda messed up, too, but awesome nevertheless.

I'd put political stuff in a cut, but lol nobody reads LJ anymore. (That is, I forgot the syntax and can't be bothered to look it up.)

If you go to whitepeoplemourningromney.tumblr.com you'll see some pretty funny/sad stuff. The only point I have to make is that for all the things they could legitimately criticize Obama for, they go for the things that aren't true. Their bubble of fake news has finally turned on the neocons, placing them so out of touch with reality that they can't deal with it.

I'm quiet here not because I have nothing to say, just making sure I'm heard correctly.

As much as I'd like to tackle a few things I should do, I'm done being an adult until next Monday.

Back from Dragon*Con! I will have more thoughts on it later, and since it's the kind of thing that goes in a journal, it'll probably end up here.

I know how lucky I am to have a job that I really love. Despite the inevitable few problems, I get to do something I enjoy every day AND get paid for it. Occasionally, I think I break a world record. Maybe.

Otakon was amazing. Everything seemed pretty much to go just right.

I've found that those who cry loudest about freedom and equality are the ones who are the first to deny others the things they demand for themselves.

I have a project, not work related, that I'd like to work on. I have maybe 50% of the skill needed for it. I think I may have to do a study on my own to get together some details to get others interested. (I need programmers.)

A kindle has perhaps been the best purchase I've made in a long time. I love it.

The house is finally starting to come together. I still have a few major things to take care of, and the cleaning, upkeep, and such will never end. But, I've had some house guests over and it's worked well. I look forward to many more.

After years of being frustrated with myself, I'm now finding I'm getting frustrated with the world. Not that it hasn't always been full of stupidity, but I'm seeing the stupidity creep closer and closer to home.

Going to the beach with Krys this weekend! Actually, I'm about to hop on the road. Should be AMAZING!

Movies: Mike introduced me to Bellflower which is a pretty good guy movie. Yeah, it's got explosions and cars and stuff guys like, but I mean a guy movie in that it's a story that guys in particular will relate to. I was also reminded of Moonrise Kingdom, which looked dumb when I saw the first trailer, but when I found another trailer later on, looks like it could be a fantastic movie. I'll have to watch it soon.

Germany: My aunt married her girlfriend of eight years on the 8th. It was a really nice wedding, officiated by the town magistrate. Fairly informal, so it was pretty enjoyable, but very relaxed and everybody enjoyed themselves, especially the couple. I found out there's a whole branch of family in Stuttgart and surrounding area (children of my maternal grandmother's sister) that I had only ever really heard of. They were all very interested in me, it having been 30 years since I last saw them (which of course, I don't remember).

Job: Job is going well. Demanding, hard at time, frustrating occasionally, too, but good all the same. You know how in movies, especially sci-fi movies, there's often a scene when somebody important goes "ACTIVATE SYSTEM X!" and then you see all these switches being switch, lights lighting up, and steam and cryogenic fluid flowing around, and screens lighting up and stuff? Yeah, that's what my job is like.

House: Ha ha, I think there's a 1000 things to do, but I don't do more than one a day if I'm lucky. But, it's fairly well set up and I am making slow but steady progress. Next up is the bed, since I'll have people over for Otakon. Then Detolfs, so I can finally display some of my statues and figures and such.

Otakon: All the haters can go suck it, I still love Otakon. Now, I understand why a lot of people don't like it, or don't bother coming, or have just stopped to do other things. But an abnormally large number of people I know seem to have a hate-boner for Otakon. See, now I hate sports, and I'll bring that up if it's relevant. But I know friends who love sports, and -- since they're not fanatical about it -- I let them enjoy their talk and their sports and rejoin the conversation when the topic is back to something I care for. Don't like Otakon? That's nice, those of us who are looking to enjoy it don't give a fuck.

Cooking: I need to figure out how to really get flavor into my slow-cooker recipes. I can add a lot of spices and such, and the resulting broths are fantastic, but the meat stays a bit bland.

Chess: I found an account I had on gameknot from years ago and started playing again. First game was an easy win, though I did have a particularly good move in there; I sacrificed a queen for force a rook-capture by a pawn on the last row. Next game I joined, I didn't check the opponent's rating. He or she has a 2050 or so rating, while mine is optimistically a 1500, which puts my chances of winning at about 2%. It should be a learning experience.

In general, I feel like my head is about to explode these days. In a good way. It's not headaches or anything, it's ideas. Work is very stimulating, and while I enjoy thinking about problems at work, there's a lot of other stuff I'm thinking about, too. Some are really simple, like a short essay I'd like to write, while others are much more complicated, like distribution networks without centralized control, such as in self-organizing systems. For a while I was a bit worried; many famous artists and scientists made a lot of their foundational breakthroughs in college or at the equivalent time. That is, creativity is supposed to peak fairly early, to be replaced by wisdom and experience as one gets older (and more refined). But I honestly feel as creative as ever, and I want to do something with it all.

Safe and sound back home from Germany. The wedding was very nice; good, short, to the point, and only formal enough to make it feel "official." Apparently there is a whole branch of relatives (basically all cousins of various removal) that I have in Germany that I didn't really know about. They're all quite interested in me and have extended invitations for my next visit. With any luck, taht'll be next year some time.

Made the best of a five hour layover by getting Ramen at Mitsuwa with Krys. I hadn't planned it that way, but damn if I won't take a great opportunity when I see one.

Unfortunately, one of my AC units is still broken, and I returned home to 96 degrees upstairs. The lower-level AC works just fine, and I'm accustomed to heat anyway, but it was supposed to be fixed. Oh well,

I've returned with many good, chocolate and marzipan for friends, and a feather ink-pen and very nice weighted wooden chess set for me.

Is there a limit to how much chocolate you can bring through customs? This is a legit question, I plan on bringing a lot back.

Speaking of which, I'm going to Germany next week, my first trip back in at least ten years. My aunt is getting married and I'll be visiting my maternal grandmother briefly, too. It's a short trip, so I bought a kindle (which I was trying to talk myself out of buying, but I really will make it worth it, I think). Between that, a PSP, and a cell phone, I think I'll be able to travel very lightly. If I didn't need to bring a suit, I'd probably manage to get everything into a carry-on. It'll also be my first flight out of BWI living so close. Now that I'm ten minutes from the airport, I think travel will be even more enjoyable.

Krys and I have a big summer planned, which really makes me excited when I think about how many summers I've wanted to do things but ended up always falling short.

The house is still not really what I consider "ready." There's still a fair bit of furnishing to do and things to set up. But I'm getting closer and closer to being "done" every day. That is, it'll be "done" when the major things I need to put away all the boxes and other miscellaneous items I have will have a place to belong. I doubt I'll ever be finnicky about a messy place, but I do want to be able to clean it up nicely and keep it clean. Living in a 10x10 room was hard because unless everything was in place, it felt messy.

IKEA discontinued the office cabinet that would have just been perfect, but Walmart of all places had a good substitute.

Work is fine. Ups and downs, but overall fairly good. Next week will almost be entirely vacation, actually, and while work has been very good recently, I'll be nice to get away from it for a bit.

Finally, holy crap, I am once again quite excited for Otakon. For as much as many people like to bash it, it's still one of the few cons that really makes me excited for the actual programming. I understand why a lot of people dislike Otakon (location, high temperatures, cost, etc), but like every other con, it is what you make of it. And I think it's basically in four weeks! Then, I think most people know, Krys and I will also be going to Dragon*Con this year, so like I said, we have a big summer planned.

Again, the title has little to do with the content. I just wanted a title.

Sleep No More this weekend with Krys, my second time. I'll need somebody to explain to me what to look for, since last time I mostly just wandered around not knowing there was actually a story being told.

Very happy to find out that my photoset from Sandy Hook was linked from Kotaku. I'm a photographer now. You know, a REAL one.

Found something called RetroShare. I had an idea a long time ago, about how to host a decentralized version of bit torrent (which then came to pass), but also had extra features like chat, etc. Well, somebody actually implemented it in something called RetroShare. What it does, in short, is use public-private keys to establish connections between you and your friends. Imagine FaceBook, but without the stupid policy issues and ads. That's what the idea is. I think it'll be a while before the implementation is up to snuff; it's kinda clunky so far. But it's probably going to be what ultimately kills facebook and maybe even Google Plus. Everything is private within your friends network, so it's not at all dependent on some corporate group running and fudging with it.

I still need a few things for the house before I feel ready to say I've really moved in: curtains, some furniture (now that I know what I need and where I need it), and a few storage options for the basement. I'm thinking of having a housewarming party after Otakon. One, the summer is rather busy; and, two, I'd really like to have people over when the weather is just right for using the deck and back yard.

I'll be off to Germany for my aunt's wedding in less than three weeks. It'll be a short trip, but it's been a really long time since I've been in Germany, so it'll be nice to see it again. Maybe next year I'll be able to take a longer trip, since I should have a place to stay for free in Berlin. Though I'd probably want to hit up a bunch of places.