This has to be better than the Movie

The Ballad of G.I. Joe from Olivia Wilde

Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck.
Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck!
ALAN TUDYK AS SHIPWRECK!

Comedy gold. I want them to take this cast and make a good movie.

Cameron Crowe is a Maudlin Hack, and other Pointless Bitching & Moaning

So I've been on a self imposed hiatus for a month. I've been stressed about car and money issues, and have found myself unable to write. The starter went out on the car, and since the economy is shit everything is more expensive.

On the plus side, I do have a loving girlfriend, a good job, and great friends & family. We were able to borrow a car for a few days (again, thank you Erich & Sara), and I found a box of old rail car blueprints that I've been wanting to sell on eBay that should drum up a few bucks to beat back some of the bills.

Our Pathfinder/D&D campaign has also been going quite well, in fact we didn't play this week so I find myself not quite knowing what to do with my tonight. But, I'm watching a new episode of Mythbusters (Exploding Meat!), so that's keeping me entertained.

We should probably return to regular blogging from this point forward.

The Machine Jihad

Our machines have turned against us.

You all know our tale of major appliance woe from the last couple of months, but now there is more.

It started a few days ago when the lawn mower just up and died. No warning, just stopped. No big deal, we just borrowed the neighbor's for the time being and moved on with our lives.

Today, the car died, and not just the little deaths that cars sometimes have and recover from, but a big scary death with gushing oil, smoke and what is most likely a cracked block. We can not afford to buy a car, but we must have a car. It is a conundrum, to say the least.

We do have temporary transportation for a couple of days (thank you, thank you, thank you Erich & Sara), but we need to figure out what's next beyond that.

This many things going belly up in the last two months can only mean one thing: Jihad.

The mower was only two years old and showed no hint that it was about to fail. The car, while a bit past it's prime, has given us no trouble. It was a bit overdue for an oil change, it's true, but no lights came on, no warning was issued, it just blew. Thankfully we where pulling up to a friend's house when it went south so we were in no real danger, but that doesn't change the fact that we now have no car.

The machines are out to get us in some Matrix/Terminatoresque fashion. Fear for us, and for yourselves, for they will strike when you least expect it.

Weirdness, Death, and Change.

So, E. Gary Gygax died on Tuesday, which was the beginning of the oddness.

Gary Gygax was, for those that don't know, was one of the creators of Dungeons & Dragons. He built the platform that my imagination has been using as a spring board since the 80's, and while he hasn't worked on D&D in quite some time, he was still the grandfather that all RPG players and designers paid respect too. I shall miss his presence, regret the fact that I never got to meet him, and always remember him fondly.

My father used to joke that I was putting his kids through college. In a way I suppose I did, me and a million other starry eyed little geeks out there who loved to get away from reality a few hours at a time.

Goodbye Gary. We'll miss you.

In other news, my work schedule has changed. I no longer work until 10 on Fridays, and 11 on Saturdays. I'm opening both days now, which requires a whole new sleep schedule, learning a new bus schedule, and so on. It's worth it though. More time awake at home, and only one night a week of making arrangements to feed the cat.

The crazy was provided by some of the customers at BLB01 in the last couple of days. Some examples:

• A woman approached me at the info station and said she had just finished Three Cups of Tea, and said she was looking for something inspiring. Now, I haven't read the book, and am not likely to. It's not my cup of tea, if you will excuse the pun. She kept grilling me though, expecting me to magically pull a book title out of my ass based on no information. When I tried to pawn her off on the Red Room info desk, at which point she got snappy, and said "You don't read much do you?" I resisted saying "I do ma'am, just not the boring shit that you read", and pointed her in the direction of Eat, Pray, Love, and helped the next customer.

• The guy who bought $47 dollars worth of books with $2 bills

• The nearly falling over drunk guy asking for books in Spanish

• The woman who put what looked to be a sack of garbage in the bag check

• The two guys who came in to sell books that came in the wrong door, opted for an escort instead of going around, and when I did escort them, thought it was a good idea to leave a box right in front of the elevator doors so they could go back for it

• And of course, the woman who when given directions to the elevator, said "What the hell is a mezzanine?"
  

Report from the field

BLB01 lets us use a specified bank of computers for pretty much whatever we want (I think we all know the kind of things they don't allow) with during breaks.

This includes of course writing on any blogs we may or may not have, so I'm writing from work today. It's Saturday, heavy crazy Saturday. It's been slow so far, but as the MOD I spoke with pointed out, I'll likely bring the crazy along with me.

Well, It's ten till. I should probably gird my loins and clock in.