Black Page

Blessed Samhain to you all

2008-10-31T12:50:52Z

Blessed Be! oh Guardians

Blessed Be! loved ones and friends

Another year's upon us

As the wheel has turned again

We invite the ancestors one by one

To join us at our meal

We raise our cups in honor

And share memories with zeal

We share a harvest's bounty

And know deep in our hearts

The past must be cleansed away

For the future to start

The veil is at it's thinnest

We walk between the worlds

Diviners bring their instruments

And mysteries become unfurled

And now the witching hour is upon us once again

We share a blessed circle with our loved ones and our friends

Blessed Be to Guardians, To deities and more still

Blessed Be To You,

Let The Harvest Your Heart Fill

So Mote It Be!

by Rev. Brightrose Aradia

Damn songs in my head

2008-10-24T18:21:03Z

. . . Damn you Interplanet Janet AND your Comet Team...

GET YOUR SONG OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

Jobs

2008-10-23T20:20:25Z

Link for a certain security minded Canadian tech potentially looking for a change of pace in Dallas.

http://www.matrixresources.com/matrix/website.nsf/HomePages/Home

This company does some good position to personnel matching.

Cats... odd things ya know

2008-10-09T14:18:44Z

GPS your cat

2008-10-08T21:11:07Z

www.mr-lee-catcam.de/ct_index_en.htm

Life, fun, and death

2008-04-25T13:16:26Z

Yesterday started out like any other Thursday, woke up to go to work, expecting to come home, eat dinner, and go hop on a game with 24 other people until it's time to crash.

Got to work and things were going quite well, made tons of progress on my projects at work, made breakthroughs with clients to move things along.

Somewhere about lunch time i think it was, I got a phone call from a close friend (and mother to my goddaughter) asking what i'm doing Saturday night. Saturday night is a complete blank slate because the wife is going out of town, LO and behold the grandparents want to pick the Q up early for the weekend, leaving me with some premium gaming time. Turned out that my ex-roommate got stuck in LA on a techie assignment and his Jimmy Buffett concert ticket was going to waste. Badass! I get to see Jimmy on Saturday night with my goddaughter and my friend.

After I get home I also find out that one of those abovementioned 24 people is my wife as she doesn't leave until Friday afternoon., This is rather monumental because her and I don't get to raid together often due to scheduling... anyway, my mom calls with the final news.

Claude Nowell, age 86, Father of 5, grandfather of a BUNCH, the man who modled my psyche of what a man was supposed to be, passed away yesterday at 4:30pm. God speed Ddaddy, may He hold you in His arms, as you look back on your life with the fondness and pride it deserves.

Sitting in a training class

2008-02-01T16:24:12Z

My trainer is going on about virtualizing processor cores.... however his statement belied where his mind wanted to be...

"This is the extreme behavior you'll notice when running Molten Core, I mean quad core.... Lets break for coffee."

Yeah, he's a gamer

The perception of it all

2008-01-29T02:07:45Z

I've been trying to be more of an active force in the rearing of the manchild. Most of what I'm doing is working with him on annunciation of an already impressive vocabulary, thought provoking questions, and physical dexterity with playing building blocks and such with him.

Wanting to start with other skills, like one's boosting one's perception of the world around them, is my current goal. Now, to me, things tend to be taken for granted, how you determine what all those damn signs means on the highway. Do you REALLY think about it at this stage? Probably not... But where does it al REALLY begin? How about recognition...

"What shape is that?"

"Circle!" he'll cry out in glee.f

"Can you draw a circle, Q?"

"It will be hard, but not impossible," he responds with a solemn note... and then scribbles madly for 30 seconds, then stopping, looking at me and saying, quite seriously, "it's done dad."

Great stuff. Love that kid.

Well tonight, me, J, Q started doing a family drawing with the crayons. I draw out three symbols, two moons and a square. We start by having him identify each symbol, then we threw him for a loop with the query, "which one of these is different, son."

"This one," he says pointing to the middle moon.

"Umm... why that one son?" i respond very confused.

"Because it's happy."

Kids, reminds us of the little things in life.

On a Plane

2008-01-14T12:44:56Z

I sit here on the plane staring out the window, amazed at the landscape below me. I've been on a plane many times, but never have I just stared out the window and admired the flowing earth below me.

So much of my time is spent on a computer or computer game becoming increasingly impressed at the resolution of this game, or the textures and atmosphere in that game. What's below me now is infinately more impressive it turns out. It makes me wonder how often a game or hardware designer stares out the window of an airplane and contemplate how they make their game, or their hardware as detailed as the beauty hurtling by from 36,000 feet above it.

Each light, building, large vehicle buzzing around like pixles on a screen, though i'm only a passenger, no interaction possible with two panes of plastic between me and an impossibly thin atmosphere. The sun in the distance trying to slip below the horizon like a stray animal being chased by the city enforcer, shining off of rooftops, swimming pools, streams and lakes like a fire coursing across the landscape in hues of orange, gold, and stark white... enough to make one's eyes water. It's truely beautful.

Even though the companies I provided for this weekend are thankful beyond words that their jobs and hard work weren't lost in a massive catastrophe of bits flying out into the void, I'm anxiously awaiting to see the glowing face of my child when i walk in the front door and he proclaims at the top of his lungs, "it's DAD!" and runs into my arms. It's enough to bring tears to my eyes. My wonderful wife making sure that the life and home that was there when I left are still inviting and waiting for my return. I think I have really begun to take those little things for granted. I must fix that.... only time will tell.

There's so much more that I want to say, just to get it out of my head; but there are thoughts and ideas coursing around like a flock of birds settling down just long enough to glimpse them, only to take flight as I type the first word. I have promised myself that I won't edit, delete or try to add to this before I post, so if it comes across as rambling it wouldn't suprise me. Sleep well world, as my son says, "it's a beautiful day."

There are few things...

2007-12-14T23:47:50Z

There are few as glorious as having your 2 year old proclaim, "I am the mighty destructo!"..... especially yielding the gold lamay sheets as a cape.

Ok, so it's been a while, sue me

2007-12-06T19:55:06Z

Well, for those who are wondering, I've been spending my waking hours doing stuff around the house, playing WoW, or having fun with my kiddo. He's an amazing person, that I really look foward to getting to know as he gets older. He's not even 3 yet and he's 45lb, and over 3 feet tall. I'm sure he got his mother's genes on that one.

My wife... she's a saint. She's potty training the below pictured child. Gods bless her, I really took that job for granted until she started REALLY getting him on the program.

blackpage @ 2007-10-05T10:40:00

2007-10-05T15:43:48Z

Ok, i'm interested now. I saw this Halo 3 grenade toss and it just made me smile... seems like something miffedkitty would do.

Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock (Music Video)

2007-08-31T13:25:16Z

Jailhouse Rock

Man, I wish my breakfast was this fun

2007-07-24T13:24:23Z

Yeah, I know... I haven't posted much. But here's a gem I hope you'll like.

There are times when the Qmonster gets on a giggling fit. He will laugh at the weirdest things and doesn't take much to egg him on. I was looking on Youtube when I ran across this perfect example of what Q does. And no... this is not my kid ;)

ummm... what day is this?

2007-06-19T07:25:41Z

Wow, don't post in forever, and I return with Cosplaying Tranformers... THAT TRANSFORM!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akNJ6S2UqsE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egizmodo%2Ecom%2F

To Reed....

2007-04-16T18:50:51Z

I wish I could understand what would make you take your own life, but moreover, how could you turn it on your daughters...

Life sometimes makes no sense.

To Aahz...

2007-04-16T18:48:32Z

to Eric "Aahz" Livings

When I first met you and you threatened my life if I harmed the emotions of my future wife, you intimidated me beyond belief. After spending time with you, I began to appreciate the nature of being a freak :) You taught me alot, and encouraged me greatly. The last time we saw each other, over drinks, we laughed and talked about life. When I said goodbye to you that day, I didn't think it would be forever. I'm a better person for knowing you.

Thank you Eric, for showing me how to be myself. Sleep well my friend.

Christmas with Alex

2006-12-25T16:39:13Z

These are by no means all "good" pictures, and I'll weed through them later.

For those who have wondered where I've been, take a look at this wonderful kid and you'll see.

First round of Christmas Pix

I'll make a more meaningful post soon as a lot has happened over the past few months.

Denial!

2006-10-09T21:04:37Z

Blech, not good.

2006-10-03T18:35:48Z

Figures… I leave “for lunch” and make it all the way to the elevators and realize... I’ve left all my paperwork at my desk…

Not bad, I run back, grab the stack and head out the door. About the time I turn onto 635, I realize... I’ve left my insurance papers sitting on the printer (printed a temporary from Progressive)…

Great, I head back, run in, grab the papers, and figure I have just about enough time to still make this happen. I get to 635 and 35 and realize… my wallet is sitting on by my keyboard.

The universe is telling me either, “don’t leave for lunch,” or “don’t go to the tax assessor’s office.” Either way, I’m listening.

Straight up ganked from nysidra

2006-09-13T19:59:21Z

Trek + NiN = ROCKIN' VIDEO! good to the end...

Ok, this is badass...

2006-08-28T14:48:02Z

At the last minute, I asked my boss if I can take next tuesday and wednesday off... so that means a 5 day weekend for me :) WOOT

Happy Birthday to my Bro gramalkin

2006-08-24T13:18:28Z

So you're what now... 43? Gratz!

Something that really sucks

2006-08-18T14:04:40Z

I love music in almost any form it arrives to me in, classical, techno, rock, traditional Uzbekistani, whatever...

What kills me is when I find musc... MUSIC I like, but the singer kills it. I'm not talking CRACK -> DEAD either. I'm talking about stepping on a roach, watching it wiggle and worm and stay alive for as long as it can, not unlike the Bush administration.

That's the way I feel about Muse's music. I love the sound of their band. Technically brilliant and different (I like different). But that singer, smearing tones up and down like a 13 year old who won't lay off the pitch bend wheel on a new synth. He's got to go. I WANT to like the band, but I just can't get past the singer.

It seems that way with so much music nowadays. One thing or another driving me off of it, leaving me with old, tired, same old that I've been listening to for years if not decades. Hell, I've gone back to listening to audio books and Old time radio (since a beautiful woman turned me on to it).

ARGGG... I want new Chemical Brothers. I want new Audio Assault. I want a new Blue Man Group, or Bob Seger, or Afrocelt Sound System, Carfax Abbey, Massive Attack...

DAMMIT I WANT NEW PINK FLOYD!

As for now, I've been reduced to Leonard Nemoy... help me people... help me.

[EDIT]

I was reminded about Mankind is Obsolete FTW! I got to see them the night VAST bailed on Necrocon. Talk about some stage presence, and OMFG the lead singer is such a hottie with a voice that goes from soothing croon, to screaming snarl and have it work beautifully.

Something that made me giggle madly

2006-08-09T14:42:51Z

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride"