I do taste like chicken.

A few months back I found a growth in my throat. I went to a doctor who agreed there was something, so he sent me to a Nose/Throat Specialist. That doc didn't even see it when he looked in my mouth. I showed him where it was and he said "Oh, that's just your tonsil." I had my tonsils removed when I was a kid. So he examined it futher by palpatation and by sticking a scope up my nose to see it from the top. That was an odd experience. He says it's just my tonsil grown back, which rarely happens, but does. He's 99% sure that it's nothing else, certainly nothing malignant. To be 100% sure, he said I could get it biopsied. Yes please.

So yesterday morning I went to his offices and got some tissue removed from my throat. It was a bit more invasive than I thought, though not bad, really. They took out four little samples for biopsy and the doctor reasserted that he thought it was tonsil tissue.

Since yesterday I've been on Vicodin for the pain. It's made me dowsey, dizzy, and nauseous. The pain is all but gone. I took half a dose this morning and I don't know that I'm going to take any more, possibly one more later. I should be fine. I'm supposed to get the biopsy results in a week or two.

The most interesting part of the procedure is that when they cauterized the extraction points in my throat I could smell/taste my own burning flesh, and you know what? I do taste like chicken.

DLR Pirate's Lair

Yesterday Shane, Kellie, Sandy & I went to DLR to check out the new Pirate's Lair attraction. John-George & Devon met us for half the day. We turned in our last VMK Quests (as DLR VMK Central closes for good today), and got to see the new Subs ("Resurfacing June 11") in action as Cast Members sneak a peak. The Pirate's Lair had neat effects and was lots of fun. They have integrated the Pirate's the Caribbean mythos with Tom Sawyer's Island and given Jack Sparrow a new home in Disneyland.

After the island, Shane and I ride the Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes. This was his first time ever on the boats. The evening closes with a Monorail trip out to Downtown Disney's ESPN Sport Zone for dinner to watch the Ducks in a Stanely Cup game. Not only was the restaurant busy for the game, but there was a prom going on. In fact, we only got seated "so quickly" (waited an hour) because someone left and gave us their buzzer. The name was Soap. Heh. Shane, Kellie, Sandy & I had a great time eating and chatting. It was good to shoot the bull with friends.

Star Wars author Karen Traviss

Jeff's favorite Star Wars author, Karen Traviss, was in town for a book signing. Jeff has chatted with Karen virtually over Yahoo and they've become a sort of friends. Since Jeff is off in Germany (and soon to be Iraq again), Sandy & I went down to get her latest book signed for him. The event took place at Mysterious Galaxy Books in San Diego. The staff at the bookstore were all very friendly and helpful, passing on well-wishes for me to give to my brother. The store was populated by fans and members of the 501st Legion.

Karen had a Q&A segment followed by the signing line-up. When it was our book's turn to get autographed, she happily remembered her Sgt. Clemins and was glad to meet him "by proxy," graciously posing for a couple personal pictures. She expressed her hope for his safe return from deployment and to one day meet Jeff over a pint.

May '07 - Update

It's been a busy couple of weeks since my last blog, so I'll dive right in. Earlier this month, way back on Friday the 11th Sandy and I attended a special Padres game. PetCo gave Sandy's Department access to their Suite at the ballpark. She got tickets for herself, her dad and I. The game was great, and good times were had all 'round. The Padres won over the Cards 7-0 on Retro Night. It was a shutout game that included 11 strike-outs by Padres pitcher Jake Peavy (1st Padre to get 10+ Ks in 4 consecutive starts), a "Star" caliber catch by Giles, and 3 Padre HRs. About 2/3rds through the game, Sandy & her dad were able to sit in the PetCo Dugout section seats for a couple innings.

On Saturday, May 19, 2007 Sandy & I went to Kirt & Karen's daughter Sarah's 2nd Birthday Party. Steve, Fran, Karen's parents, and others were there. Sarah's actual b-day is March 2nd, but life gets in the way sometimes. Heh. Ladybugs were the theme, hence the red and black colors. Pizza, cake, & ice cream were eaten along with personalized M&M candies. Very posh. The kids played games and enjoyed frame making crafts and coloring. Also Kirt & Karen's new van was debuted.

Sandy & I purchased DLR 1Day Parkhoppers for Mom & Dad for Mother's & Father's Day. The announced closing of DLR's VMK Central on June 3rd prompted the early trip without Sandy (who wanted Mom & Dad to get their final Quests) on Dad's day off. So last Tuesday (05/22/07) we three went on up to Disneyland. We had a fantastic time completing the quests and trippin' the park. Some highlights included the Jedi Academy show (1st time I'd ever sat through the full thing, it's cute, and would be cuter still if I knew any of the kids in it), Billy Hill & the Hillbillies, got pictures with Jack Sparrow and I had a "Dreams event" when I was given a pair of Tinkerbell Dreams pins (that I gave to Mom & Dad, of course).

Thanks to Memorial Day I got a four day weekend. It was nice and relaxing. On Sunday (05/27/07) Amy, Sandy, & I went up to Disney's El Capitan Theatre on DLR Annual Passholder Day to see Pirates of the Caribbean III - At World's End. While waiting in line at the El Cap, I took pictures of the theatre and the cast of Pirates that were there to entertain the crowd. Once inside we had time to visit the Prop Room. Prior to the movie we were entertained by a restored 1920s Wurlitzer organ - Amazing! The theatre was decorated and lit to set a Piratey Mood. What a great movie! Lot's of fun, and full of fan-service in-jokes. Sure the story had some unneeded threads, but who cares?! It was a great ride. After El Cap, we cruised on down to DLR on the way home so Amy & Sandy could pick up their final VMK Quests. I scored a 2nd set myself, along with 4 cast-only lanyard pins. We took some time to ride a few rides, and got the VIP Gimp treatment since Amy was in a wheelchair due to her recent foot surgery. The highlight of which was going Up the Haunted Mansion's Stretching Room, watching all the pictures restore their subjects to life. Creepy. Thanks Amy!

I learned last week that my brother Jeff (still stationed in Germany) is being re-deployed to Iraq in August for fourteen months. That was muy no bueno news to be sure. On the upside, I found on Monday (05/28/07) that he and his family are coming here to visit in July! That was grand to hear!!

Finally, a couple links for you surfing pleasure. I had time this last weekend to process and post some pictures from last year including the 4th of July and Halloween '06. Shane posted pictures of his recent Galapagos Trip (Wow!). Lastly, here's a Lost Season 3 Recap that Sandy sent to me, funny stuff.

Red Vine Gone Wild

Sandy posted to her blog the other day the following:

Can't say I never shared anything educational

For those of you who might be curious about this kind of thing....

With the right amount of force, a Red Vine licorice WILL, in fact, leave a red welt on a person's thigh for about a day and a half.

No thanks are needed. I'm here to help.

Here's the picture of the welt that I left in her leg and the offending confectionary. I especially like the pattern left...

This presentation of When Candy Attacks has been brought to you by the letters O and W. And by the number 8.

New York Trip Blog

In July I will be taking a trip with Sandy to New York City, meeting Kirt & Karen (and family) in Cooperstown a few days later. I've started a blog:

http://nytrip07.blogspot.com/

Click the link on the left of that page - "About this Blog" - for more info.

Star Wars Exhibit

On Sunday (04/22/07) Amy, Tony, Michelle, Steve, Sandy & I drove up to the California ScienCenter in LA for the Star Wars - Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit.

Click for full Gallery

I'd never been to the ScienCenter, frankly I'd never even heard of the place, but a few months ago Sandy found out about this show and we all thought it would be fun. It sounded similar to the exposition Sandy & I saw back in '98 at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.

This presentation was quite different. It wasn't near as big as the Smithsonian version and it had a lower "production value." But the Center made relations between modern technology and SW tech. For example, next to the medical droids was a display on real life cybernetics and implants. And next to the Land Speeder there was a display about mag-lev trains and other uses for magnetism. This included an interactive demonstration with magnets attached to Legos and a train track so you too could build your own bullet train. Unfortunately the Legos were all busted and/or missing.

All of the similar "hands-on" demos that I looked at were similar busted. The place was packed and I saw few, if any, staff to keep an eye on things... Plus this is near the end of the exhibit's run, so there you go, disappointing.

Still, I had a good time seeing the props and models. There was a Millennium Falcon cock-pit "simulator" that we sat in. It didn't move, but ran a mini-movie narrated by Anthony "C-3PO" Daniels and R2-D2 about the exploration of our solar system and galaxy. Movie was ok, but it was most nifty to sit in a replica Falcon pilot seat. We weren't supposed to take pictures inside, but I snuck one... Heh.

There were a couple dozen people wandering around in various Stormtrooper and Rebel Pilot costumes. I don't think they were officially associated with the Center, but they appeared to be welcomed and given VIP status. Hmmm... Perhaps they were volunteers. I didn't think to ask. They were quite accomodating when asked for pictures.

After we'd had our fill of the SW Exhibit we found they had a Rose Garden outside. It was beautiful. We spent quite some time wandering around. And after Steve's story about how honey bees are disappearing it was pleasing to see them doing their jobs.

The day finished with a stop on the way home in San Marcos at The Old Spaghetti Factory. I ate the usual (Manager's Favorite with Meat Sauce and "ala Homer"). A perfectly satisfying end to a fun day.

CJ's Blog, R2-D2, and Picasa.

First let me welcome CJ to the wonderful world of Blogging which you can visit here. Welcome CJ! At first I too felt pressure to supply regular content, now I do as my time/motivation allows and realize that it's all good. I'm happy you've found the same to be universal. Heh.

Speaking of the universe, 30 long years ago in a galaxy far far away, St. Lucas created Star Wars. The US Postal Service is honoring Star Wars with its own stamp series. USPS Jedi Master.com has the details. The promo features postal boxes decorated as R2-D2:

Which brings me to Picasa. The above photo album is hosted there and you can check out my full gallery here. I've just started adding pictures and have only 11 albums online as of this writing (with many more to come, so check back often). I've found that Kellie has a gallery in which she shows off her new house. Go Kellie!

Unlike other photo hosting services that I've tried and/or seen others use - this one allows the viewer to download a full-sized/resolution photo entirely free and anonymously.

Again - You do not have to pay, sign up, or give any information to view or download the photos at the full rez uploaded by the author. To download a picture, go into the album, click on the picture and then click the "download" link on the right. I prefer to upload an "Optimized 1600" format of my pictures. These are at a high enough resolution to use for most wall papers and printouts and yet compact enough to be web friendly.

If you choose you can sign up, have your own free (or pay) account for posting and hosting photos, you can buy prints, etc. But this is all optional. Let me know your gallery link so I can add you to my favorites as I did with Kellie.

Besides the service there is a Picasa program that you can install on your computer to get all sorts of nifty features. For starters, when looking at an album you can download all the pictures, instead of each picture individually.

The program will organize, edit, and generally process the photo collection on your PC. It has caption editing, search screens, red eye removal, printing and blogging features, etc. I'm still learning how best to use it and working the bugs out. Some things I like, others I don't like, but overall I'm glad to have it. The red eye fix for instance can be picky on what it will and won't clean up. Some eyes are done perfectly. Others, not so much. And then there are the "original" poops. The program backs up a copy of the pre-edited photo in a hidden folder. This is nice if you ever want to go back to the original version, but once you're sure you want that red eye gone you have to go in and manually clear this bloat out of the way. There are some other "features" that seem quirky that I'm still working out, perhaps I'll write a full review someday.

I'd liked to, but I really don't think I should...

I've been researching an upgrade to my computer so I can play SupCom. To be honest that's the prime reason for wanting to upgrade now, but certainly there are other reasons. Other programs I have that have updated (iTunes, Sound Forge, etc) can run sluggish and/or don't allow certain feature use on my existing computer. And editing video, while possible, is dreadfully slow. Upgrading, as can be expected in computers, is a must.

So I've been doing a lot of reading. I got a lot of useful info from Tom's Hardware and NewEgg. Both sites I recommend. Anyway, this is the system I've come up that I'd like to buy:

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz ($222)
• Mobo: Asus P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ($130)
• RAM: Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 2x1GB ($192)
• Vid Card: EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB, 500Mhz ($260)
• PSU: Corsair CMPSU-520HX 520W ($110)

My upgrade is looking to cost $913. That's more money than I should spend right now... So I don't think I'll be upgrading/playing SupCom for a while. We'll see, but I really shouldn't.

Then there's the idea that I really don't want to tear down my existing system. It's working fine for what it is. It might take a few days during which time it would be best to have a separate, working system, from which to download drivers, etc. for the new computer. Then when I'm done Sandy can have her own computer too. To do that the $913 upgrade goes up because I have to add at least a case, HD, DVD burner, etc.

On the upside, the longer I wait the cheaper the parts are likely to become. It's really not a good time to upgrade anyway, what with all the new equipment being released right now... Yeah, that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

Arg. lol

Look before you Leap.

I really wanted to play Supreme Commander, but my existing video card won't support it. I thought at first I was doomed as my 3 year-old computer wouldn't support the new PCI-E cards that are out there.

But the other day I found an AGP card I thought would do the trick. I bought Wednesday it for a great price even after paying for Two-Day Shipping. Last night I bought SupCom and installed it (I was curious what would happen if I ran it on my old card - it simply didn't pass verification, and wouldn't run).

So today I got my new card. A PNY GeForce 7600GS 512MB AGP Video Card, and it was pretty and smelled fresh and silicony. My nips were hard. We went out to dinner and I got home, cracked open my case, installed, turned on, and no workie workie. My motherboard is kind enough to have useful voice error messages, and it tells me it failed VGA test.

And here's where I blew it. I bust out the motherboard book and RTFM. Now. I should have done it before I bought the new card. It turns out my Motherboard doesn't support AGP 3.3v cards, only the 1.5v AGP cards. I can't have a new powered card on my motherboard.

I'm not sure what the return policy is on my video card. I'll look into that. Or I can buy a new computer, which isn't something I really wanted to do (though it would be nice, heh).

I'm just sad, very frustrated, disappointed and angry with myself. I should have known better. I should have researched further. I was just so excited and now I've gone and made a series of bonehead mistakes.

I suppose it could have been worse. At least I was able to put my old card back and everything is working fine the way it was. So that's good at least.

Bah.

Update - Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 9:45a
I'm currently researching which parts I want to use to build a new system. I decided to send the AGP card back. Though it was a nice one, I found a similar card that's cheaper and PCI-E, and if I'm upgrading I may as well make sure to get the latest architecture.

So Amazon let me print out a pre-paid UPS retun label and I sent the PNY card back for a refund. That's nice.

In the meantime I get to read in Jay's Blog how totally awesome is SupCom.

Update - Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 4:41p
Yesterday I got an e-mail that Amazon received my RMA and gave me full credit, including what I originally paid in shipping. So that's all worked out. Thanks Amazon!

As for what else I'm doing with my PC, check out this.

Tempus Fugit.

Time Flies.

I read that somewhere once. It's amazing how true it is. I honestly feel like the holidays are only just over. Actually, I hardly feel like they've already come and past! And here we are a month and a half into the New Year.

Time Flies. No kidding. Early last year for the first time I looked in the mirror and was Old. To my own eyes I looked old. To my own consciousness I, in every possible definition of the word, I felt old. I've always been young - physically, mentally, at heart, etc. But that day I was old. I haven't felt that way every day since. Far from it. But since that day I occassionally get that way again. It's not pleasant.

Time Flies. I'm 34 now, which makes me officially in my mid-thirties. That never mattered to me before. Lately it has. The world is zipping by and often I feel stuck here. I'm a rock in a flowing stream. I want and need to go down river, but I don't know how. I have no momentum and I'm not able to find/make the motivation to change my inertia.

I have no plans. I have no dreams. I'm ignorant of my future, potential or otherwise. I understand intellectually that any person has the ability to accomplish whatever they desire with enough effort. I know that I can do anything. I don't feel that though. Tomorrow is just another day, and it looks like the same day I'm having now, and the same I had yesterday.

Time Flies. Before I know it, I'm going to be 50 or 70 or Dead and what will I have done? How will my finite life have been spent? How does one begin a Legacy?

Time Flies.