Poking Badgers With Spoons

Help finding a short story

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 21:29:17 GMT

X-Posted from Facebook:

So there's a short story I remember reading a while back, but I can't remember the title or the author. I remember loving the story and was looking to see if I could find a way to read it again. What I remember of the story, it was published in a sci-fi magazine in the 1990's, possibly The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The story was about the night in the life of a clerk in a convenience store at the crossroads of time and space. Aliens would come in and buy things. A little alien dude asked if they had a snack. The clerk asked if he wanted regular or bar-b-que, and the little alien squeed BAR-BEEE-QUE!

So that's all I've got. Any help identifying this story would be awesome!

comments

The Brain Squirrels Are At It Again

Tue, 27 Mar 2018 16:01:00 GMT

It's the little things...

It's going from being introduced as 'boyfriend' to 'friend' to 'room-mate' to not being introduced at all when others are all being introduced.

It's not being asked for an opinion when all the other people in the room are being asked.

It's when someone else prods you to share something on your phone with me that you've been sharing around the room with everyone else and then you ignore the prodding as well.

It's being asked if something is wrong when you clearly have no time for the answer / don't actually want to have the answer.

It's leaving me out of plans without checking with me.

It's seeing you get along so well with everyone else that I wonder what is wrong with me.

It's when you don't realize you're doing any of these things (or maybe you do and it's all intentional).

It's SO MANY little things...

comments

Herein lies Madness

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 18:29:07 GMT

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Alice has had a couple of Chemo treatments, and so far, things are improving. She's catting much better than she was. She's still got a ways to go, but the light seems to be back in her eyes and she's getting more demanding again, too.

I've had some more dental work done (3 more fillings in my face which now brings me to a total of 6 as of now) and I have to go back in next month for even more, but that should be the last of it for a while. *crosses fingers*

My brain squirrels have been mostly quiet, but there's still some pangs of anxiety about some issues that are totally my issues and not anyone else's, but they are anxieties about others. I keep reminding myself that these things are MY issues so I am aware of them and try not to let the anxieties bleed over onto others. They don't deserve that crazy on them. Mostly, all of my anxiety issues are around my perceived worth to the people around me that I have relationships with (friends, etc.).

Surf on the Washington coast was only good on the days I COULD have gone on a day where I HAD to be at home to help with Alice, so I haven't gotten out to surf in quite a while. I keep hoping another good weekend day will come up, but it's definitely not happening this weekend.

Sorry this post is all over the place. I seem to have a lot on my mind...

comments

Holding it together. Barely.

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 16:01:56 GMT

So, I live with cats, all of which are not mine. But that doesn't mean I'm not theirs. Alice has always been a lovely cat. I've known her much longer than the year I've been living with her. She's taken to following me down to my room when I get home from work and demanding I sit on my bed quietly with her, giving her pets. I've grown very fond of her.

She now has cancer. And I'm not coping well. Tomorrow she goes back into the vet tomorrow to see what kind of cancer it is. The cancer is in her stomach and there's really only two types it could be at this point, and all signs point to Lymphoma in her stomach. She got a feeding tube put in over the weekend this last weekend. That's been an interesting experience, let me tell you.

So, I'm watching her owner try to deal with this and be tortured by this but doing the best they can for Alice, always keeping Alice in mind. I'm trying to be strong in front of her and in front of Alice and I can feel a breakdown on the horizon. I stayed home from work yesterday which meant that I got to help with feeding (through the tube) and I also got extra cuddles from Alice. It was needed.

Today I find myself back at work today and the tears are waiting just behind my eyes, waiting at any moment to push forward and drench my face. If you know of the situation and you know of the owner please be kind there, and also to me. Again, not my cat, but how can I not love her?

comments

Meanderings

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 18:46:37 GMT

Saturday I ended up not going surfing. The report changed for the worse Saturday morning but I was still going to give it a shot. Went to pick up my dear friend and she was having some serious health issues. We were visiting before I was going to go and I realized that she may want company while she was not feeling well. So I offered to stay and had a really good time watching BSG and talking with her. Wouldn't trade that day for anything in the world. It was a good one.

Sunday started with me getting some drum time in with RockBand. Everything was going GREAT until...

And that's one broken pedal right there. I'd been playing for a couple of hours and was in the middle of a track when the pedal felt funny and stopped triggering notes and you can see why. About this, I talked to a friend of mine and he said that with the way it broke, he could probably come up with a fix pretty easily. In addition, one of my RockBand Crew (in game thing) members mentioned having an extra one of these and would be happy to ship it from Vermont if I could pay shipping. So, YAY, getting this one fixed and getting a replacement! I am a fan of extra parts!

Monday came and went mostly uneventfully. Half my tongue is still pretty tingly (mostly not numb but still slightly numb) from all the dental work I've had. I actually don't mind the tingly so much, it's the fact that flavors have changed. And now, I really can't stand the taste of my own mouth. I brush and this taste won't go away. I use Altoids and they cover that for a while. I had a chat with the dentist's office on Tuesday and they said that I should try some Vitamin B Complex for that. It's supposed to help. I'll be getting to the store in the next day or so to pick some up so we'll see how that goes.

Tuesday also brought some home networking challenges. The PlayStation downstairs has been having some fits with the network. Getting network connectivity to the room where it lives downstairs has been problematic at best. Put a WiFi extender in the room next to the PlayStation room and that worked for a bit until that room was re-organized and a metal filing cabinet (aka Faraday cage) was put right in front of the repeater. I managed to fix this by plugging a power strip into the wall behind the cabinet and putting the strip on top of the cabinet and plugging the WiFi extender into that. It's an okay solution but I've got some other things in mind to help that out.

Today has been pretty straightforward so far.

comments

Ready for the Weekend

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 16:49:23 GMT

My go-box is packed. It just needs to be put in the car. My board needs to be strapped to the top of the car. I will be going to bed early tonight and getting up in the wee hours of the morning. I will be picking up Inky and then, THE COAST! Looks like it's going to be pretty damn awesome. I'll have good company and there are snacks for after throwing myself into the ocean.

Tomorrow's Surf Report for Westport:

SURF

Chest to shoulder high W medium period swell.

CONDITIONS

Semi glassy in the morning with SE winds less than 5mph. Semi glassy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting to the SW. Water temperature 58°.

Tides

Low: 12:55 AM 2.63 ft 12:58 PM 0.59 ft

High: 06:48 AM 6.64 ft 07:59 PM 7.97 ft

	WIND	Swell
6am	SE 1mph	W 5.3 ft @ 9sec
9am	SE 1mph	W 5.0 ft @ 9sec
12pm	WSW 1mph	W 4.8 ft @ 9sec
3pm	SSW 4mph	W 4.6 ft @ 9sec

comments

SPAM Musings

Thu, 15 Jun 2017 17:58:43 GMT

So, one of the tasks I have at work is going through our spam filter to see if there are any REAL messages that got caught. Doing so today, I came across a couple of subject lines that had my imagination going. Not going to open the spam, but...

"Woman caught on the street getting coffee..."
Like, was she not supposed to be on the street? Is she a dungeon prisoner? Is she not allowed coffee? Is she Mormon? How did you catch her? A net? On camera? A net? I bet it was a net. Is getting coffee illegal?
So many questions.

"Hair gel regrows ALL your hair"
I don't want it to regrow ALL my hair. I'm like a hairy guy. That'd just be awkward. All that extra nose and ear hair... Will my existing hair grow more? Will my arm hair become a pelt? Will my leg hair become a carpet? That would be a nightmare. I'd look like a damn werewolf or a bear or something.

comments

What a weekend

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 22:54:48 GMT

Friday: Def Leppard Concert
This was awesome! Went with good friends (friends who are especially fun to go to concerts with) and had a fantastic time.

Saturday: Birthday Party for Byron
This, too, was awesome! There was great food (seriously, really fantastic food made by many kitchen staff) and wonderful conversation as well.

Sunday: Home
Was going to play video games, but was too exhausted from the weekend to really put in any time. Also super stressed about the dentist on Monday.

Monday: Dentist
This was NOT a good day but it wasn't bad. The right side of my mouth had deep cleaning. Took about 2 hours. Was unpleasant, but not super bad. Had my headphones and listened to the new Green Day album, which was super helpful.

Tuesday: A Day of Rest (so to speak)
Tuesday was a pretty normal day - went to work. Built a new DNS server and retired the old one. At home after, it was a relaxing night, lounging with the giant cats of the house, and the not so giant one. And that was good, because...

Wednesday (today): Dentist
Had the right side of my mouth deep cleaned today. All the anesthetic has kind of messed me up for today. My focus is shot all to hell, and it's really kind of a challenge to work today, but I got this. I also suspect that, due to some issues during the cleaning, my adrenaline was way up and I am now working on coming down off that. I suspect that I will be sleeping well and maybe early tonight.

So tired...

comments

Can You Feel The Love Tonight?

Fri, 09 Jun 2017 18:22:03 GMT

I am so twitchy right now. I want my work day to be done and over. Tonight I get the joy of hanging out with a couple of WONDERFUL friends who are taking me to see Def Leppard! I am SO EXCITED!

This will be the 5th time I've seen Def Leppard, the 3rd time I've seen Tesla and the 1st time I've seen Poison! I'm really not sure how I managed to get this far in my life and haven't seen Poison live. But that will change tonight.

I hope everyone has as good a start to their weekend as I'm going to have.

comments

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 21:23:45 GMT

Who just remembered he has a Dreamwidth account. If you guessed "this Hufflepuff" you got it in one.

comments

Dreams are Weird

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:56:36 GMT

So, last night I dreamed I was doing some sort of investigation into the seedy activities of a corporation in a large building in a nondescript city. I was doing a physical investigation, so I put on a white ninja suit and sauntered into the building.

As long as I was wearing the suit and hood, no one could see me, even if I waved my arms in front of their faces.

I sneaked around the building, finding clues and hiding as necessary. At some point, building security sensed something was wrong and sent their own ninjas to find me, but there was something wrong with their ninja suits. They were clearly inferior as I could TOTALLY see them and dispatch them with little effort.

After a bit of me taking my mask off and unsuccessfully flirting with the ladies (what's up with that? get turned down even in my own dreams -- this is a recurring issue) I find the evidence trail I've been following leads to this elevator.

Once I step into the elevator it becomes more like a futuristic mining cart that whisks me away across the city through rails in the air. I'm thinking this must be an invisible cart as no one is even bothering to acknowledge that anything is out of the ordinary and this is DEFINITELY out of the ordinary.

I'm looking around at the city whooshing by below me when, very abruptly, a cat walks across my face, jolting me awake. Gonna need coffee today.

comments

2011, the second half - A review

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:14:06 GMT

Looking back at the journal I see that my last post of any content I provided was back in June. So, it seems to be just about the right time for my bi-annual LJ post (I'm hoping I get round to being a bit more on top of posting).

Life has been weird in all kinds of glorious ways. I have been to Reno for the first time in my life and discovered that I'm not a fan, and I probably wouldn't like Las Vegas very much for the reasons I didn't like Reno, but I did have an amazing time while I was there. The occasion for the visit was WorldCon, which was an experience and a half, let me tell you. I got back into sound production (all tech work, no actual engineering) and had forgotten how much I love it.

I got to go to my very first Counting Crows concert, which involved driving four hours each way, giant wind turbines, wind, lightning, blinking red lights in the darkness on the drive back reminiscent of an alien invasion, an awesome concert, introduction to new music I dearly love and some wonderful company. This particular trip is one I will treasure for a long time to come.

There were a couple of trips to San Francisco this last year as well. These are drives that I adore, both for the drive and for the destination and company when I get there. There will be more of these in the year to come. For my sanity, there has to be.

This last year has brought me a partner-in-crime who is up for just about any adventure. We've been to the fair, on a train, to a couple of cons, movies, dinners, concerts and the lot.

And of the cons, this year was also my first Steamcon and the first year for Geek Girl Con. Both were very much fun and I look forward to doing these in the future. With those two, the total for cons this last year was 5.

Christmas brought me a wonderful present that was given by many people. I thank you all. Seriously. It means a lot to me! This present (a Canon Rebel EOS T2i) has rekindled my creativity in photography. I'm finding all the things I can do now that I wasn't able to do with my old camera and thinking of all the new and creative ways I can use it and coming up with new and wonderful ideas for pictures.

I am excited and looking forward to the coming year for a GREAT MANY reasons.

comments

I think I will try to aspire to this:

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:23:43 GMT

comments

Conversations with Myself

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:44:35 GMT

Me: Wow, that chick is wandering around like a squirrel on lithium.

Myself: Yeah. Wait. WHAT??!

Me: A squirrel on lithium. If she weren't on lithium she'd be bouncing all over the place super fast. As it is, she's following that same path she would have been, going all over the place, only much more slowly.

Myself: Oh. Okay. ...

Myself: You're weird.

Me: I know. And I'm happy with that.

comments

My thought for the day

Thu, 26 May 2011 16:46:59 GMT

comments

Brand Loyalty and You?

Wed, 18 May 2011 16:08:39 GMT

Since the Playstation Network went down due to hacking, I've been lurking in the forums and comments to posts concerning the incident. At first I was there for the lulz. I wanted to wallow and laugh at all the gamer-rage about not being able to play online (o noze). But as I read I started really looking at what people were saying and how they were acting towards each other, and this made me start thinking. Yeah, I know. That's dangerous and I could really hurt myself, and I think I came away with more questions than answers. And I really started to look at and question myself too.

Are we tied up into consumerism so terribly that we value who we are as an individual on how loyal we are to a brand / company to the point where we feel personally attacked if someone says something bad about "our" corporation within our earshot or (heaven forbid) calls into question our company loyalty? Is our sense of self worth REALLY tied that closely to which companies we show our loyalty to? It seems we are no longer a society of smart consumers anymore (as a whole). There only seems to be brand loyalty and if you don't show the proper loyalty you are worthless in the eyes of the corporate loyalists. Our loyalty to "the company" means that we're willing to take any amount of crap "the company" from abuses of our privacy to crappy products. Sure, there may be some uproar around a particular event, but if "the company" offers an almost worthless trinket to the masses, suddenly the loyalists are placated and singing the praises of the company once more while denigrating those who point out the foibles and question the tactics or the company.

It's really sad that people are teaching their children not to be intelligent about their purchases, but rather to listen to the company with the biggest and best hype, and make purchasing decisions on that rather than whether the product in question will fit the individual's needs. I think it really is the lack of teaching rational thinking skills that bothers me the most about this.

Here's a product. It's cool! I'm not sure if it does all the things I need this type of product to do, but it's made by Brand X™ so it must be completely awesome! I'm going to buy one and if you say anything remotely negative, no matter how factual, you're a hater, just out there hating. And I'm cool because I (will) own the product from Brand X™.

This seems to be a theme I'm seeing more and more of in comment threads across the Internet. There doesn't seem to be any actual rational thinking involved and if you try to inject that rational thinking you are instantly dismissed with name calling. There seems to be a blind defense of Brand X™. This is also a phenomena I've seen recently in politics as well. I wonder where the politicians learned it from...

I know there are smart people out there who don't fall into this pattern. There are always exceptions to the rules. And I wonder if there's much we exceptions can do to fight against this. It really is difficult to combat the willfully ignorant. Now, please don't misunderstand me. There's nothing wrong with loving Product Z™. I have many products that I use and can rhapsodize about. I think we just need to be careful about feeling personally attacked if someone criticizes a product we like. No matter what Brand X™ tells you, most products are not 'one size fits all' and will not be right for everyone. That doesn't mean anyone is any better than anyone else based on the products we choose to (or not to) purchase.

Okay. I think I'm done rambling for now. Did I make you think?

comments

I am well and spoiled

Mon, 09 May 2011 17:23:29 GMT

I went down to Portland this weekend. While I was there, I took pictures for copperwise and she took me out and bought me a new car.

It is a 2011 Honda CR-V. It is VERY nice and I am now living in the future. I have named her Agatha. She is white (taffeta white to be specific). And one of the coolest things is she talks to me when I talk to her. I can ask her to do things like tune the radio or turn on/off the rear defrost or set the cabin temperature and she does it. She helps me find my way when I'm not entirely sure I know where I'm going. And, as I understand it, she will gently remind me (at first) when maintenance is due and if I fail to follow through, the gentle reminders will become nagging.

Now, I must admit to being VERY lazy about registering my old car in Washington. I never did it. So, Agatha is being registered in Washington, never in Oregon, and there will be absolutely no question that I am a Washingtonian now.

And I promise, there will be pictures later. I swear.

comments

It's nice to know I'm not the only one.

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:20:02 GMT

comments

Reno! I will be in you!

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 23:40:33 GMT

So, all the plans are coming together with the help of copperwise. I will officially be at WorldCon! Now, I've got a room with two beds and will have it to myself. So, if you're in need of crash space and want to share the price of the room, please let me know. It will not be a party room or anything of that nature, just a nice quiet crash space. I'm generally tidy when it comes to staying in a hotel room, I use a CPAP when I sleep so my snoring is to a very minimum and will be staying at the Peppermill (very conveniently since this is where the Hugo Awards will take place). If interested, please let me know!

comments

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:40:26 GMT

Caffeine of Time, a photo by tanuki_green on Flickr.

Last night I was having technical issues of all kinds. Software on my laptop wasn't running properly. The firmware update on my phone failed (yet again - but I figured out why) and the PS3 wasn't streaming properly.

It took me a while to get all of these issues resolved last night. As such, no guitar practice occurred (but will tonight after I cook my chicken thighs) and I got to bed later than I wanted.

As such, I am very tired this morning. Luckily, I have been provided with all the coffee in space and time. It has been collected by The Doctor himself in the TARDIS and has been presented to me. I have it all.

And I will savor every delicious drop.

comments

How am I feeling?

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:36:54 GMT

Recently, I've been asked a lot about how I'm feeling. This is perfectly understandable, and I am in no way sick of hearing this question. I hear the words behind it, "I'm concerned about you", "Don't scare me like that" and "You're not allowed to die." To be fair, I've also heard those words directly as well, and when I hear any of those, I feel loved.

Today, I am feeling better than yesterday, which is to say I'm feeling the best I've felt since getting The Swine Flu™. I'm still working, day by day at getting better. I tried to exercise yesterday. I had a plan of fighting gladiators on my PS3 for 30 minutes. I made it about 15 minutes before I started coughing, but I worked up a good sweat and it felt good. On top of that, I set the difficulty on medium and didn't lose a match.

Right before I came down with the flu, I went to see a doctor for the first time in about 2 1/2 years. During that visit, I was diagnosed with Diabetes. This was something that, in the back of my head, I knew might be there. My diet was a bit out of control on the carbs and I had been borderline at my previous doctor visit. So, this did not come as too much of a shock.

Starting to get things under control did become a little complicated with having the flu, however, and I wasn't able to start a lot of the treatment things for an additional week and a half. But we're there now. I'm checking my blood sugars at least three times a day. I'm taking an oral medication twice a day now and I'm taking insulin once a day. I've learned how to give myself injections and not freak out about the needle. When they told me the needle was so small I wouldn't feel it, I was very, VERY dubious, but they were right. It's not a big deal at all. I've seen a nutritionist, learned a few things and had some other things reinforced. As I get the Diabetes back under control, the goal is for me to not have to take insulin and the doctors seem to think that's a very reasonable goal.

Yesterday I had my first full physical in something like 7 years which included an EKG. I was told that there's probably nothing to worry about, but there's some irregularity with my heart. The left side is... um... underpreforming. My doctor said that it could be perfectly normal, that plenty of normal people have such issues. She also said that it could be some sort of congestive issue. There was something she didn't say but was in the back of my mind. It could be genetic. My mother died of heart issues. So, in a couple of weeks, I'll be seeing a cardiologist and probably doing a stress test to see what's going on there. When I see the cardiologist, I will be talking with them about my concerns and about my mother.

In the mean time, I will try not to worry. I am doing all the things I can do to take care of me. I'm eating better. I'm taking my medicine. I'm trying to exercise and will be able to do more as I get more energy.

And I'm making an effort to enjoy life.

comments

This is LONG overdue..

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:26:35 GMT

So, I have had some medical issues that I needed to discuss, but then some other medical issues have come up.

I have been diagnosed with diabetes. I have been borderline for many years, but what with having crappy insurance and not being able to afford my medication, it seems I've gone right over the edge.

I was all set to get my diabetes training, learn how to use my glucometer and a bit about how I should be eating now. But as I was getting my ducks in a row, it hit me like a two ton heavy thing. I got the Swine Flu. I found this out when I went to the emergency room here at Valley Medical with problems breathing and a high fever a week ago last Tuesday night. They gave me my Tamiflu and some cough syrup laced with narcotics for my cough. They told me I was good to go to work the next day and that I'd probably not miss some other events I had lined up for the weekend.

I tried to go in to work Wednesday, but was completely wiped out. I went home shortly thereafter and rested. Thursday I stayed home and started feeling worse... a lot worse. I called copperwise and told her how I was feeling and she told me to call 911 while she booked a train up here.

I did call 911 and went to the emergency room at Overlake. I asked to go to Overlake with the memories of the bad advice I received from Valley Medical very fresh in my mind. Overlake admitted me and kept an eye on me for the full day. By the time solcita arrived with copperwise fresh from the train, I was ready to go home.

copperwise did a wonderful job taking care of me this last week and I do appreciate it very much. She cleaned and cooked and did all of this while suffering me. I'm not the best person to be around when I'm sick. I know I was grumpy a lot, but I did appreciate her being here and taking care of me. She headed home yesterday, satisfied that I was on the road to recovery.

I've had doctor appointments for all sorts of various things. I now have a glucometer and am checking my blood sugars several times a day. I've seen a pulminologist and have a new CPAP AND a date for a sleep study. My last study was back in 1999. I've had an appointment with a nutritionist and several with my PCP, the most recent of which was today. I have been given the official 'okey-dokey' to return to work on Monday, and boy-howdy am I looking forward to that.

So, whew. Can I rest from being sick now?

comments

Assistance Request: Doggie sitting

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:43:08 GMT

Is there anyone in the Seattle area that can and would be willing to watch my doggie (10 yr. old chocolate cocker spaniel) from the evening of Thursday, March 17th through the evening of Monday, March 21st?

In case I can't find anyone for that task, can anyone recommend a good kennel?

Help on these tasks would be much appreciated.

Thank you very kindly.

comments

Question for the hivemind

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:01:02 GMT

Hey all y'all! I've been on a quest today in search of latin words for certain things. Specifically, I'm looking for the latin words for caffeine and/or coffee.

I have found no equivilent word for caffeine so far. This is the word I most want to see a translation for. Seriously, how does one go to the Vatican and as for the beverage with the most caffeine? There has to be a way.

The closest I have found for coffee is 'capulus' which also means either coffin or sword and I see the possibility for much confusion there.

I did find one place where coffee was translated to 'coffeum' but I fin this highly suspect.

So, hivemind, what do you know about latin that I don't where it comes to my coffee / caffeine?

comments

Conflicted

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:18:23 GMT

I have an e-mail I'm afraid to open, but I don't think I should delete either.

It's sitting in my GMail spam box.

The e-mail is from Princess Diana. Yes, THAT Princess Diana.

The subject line indicates that she urgently needs my help.

So, I'm afraid to open this because, well, she's dead and what if this is like some sort of e-mail version of that Ringu video tape? But on the other hand, she needs my help. I don't know if anyone else can help her or if this was targetted at me and I'm the only person capable of assisting. I'm still wrestling with what I should be doing here. This is a very tricky situation I am in here. What kind of Karma will I have if I don't help? What kind of horrors will befall me if I open this?

comments