Small Business Saturday

I guess that this is Small Business Saturday or something.  I could look up the exact wording.  

However, Sherman Alexie (fellow WSU grad from the same time I was there) seems to have found a way to get authors into bookstores on this Saturday after Thanksgiving.  My understanding is that there are hundreds of writers and stores now participating. 

This is very cool.

The photo was taken at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, WA by my son, who has read Alexie at school.  I purchased a used copy of Reservation Blues and got it signed.

It's Starting To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Coney Island Christmas

Burien Actors Theatre

Opening Night

November 29, 2013

It is very difficult to write a truly objective review of a play I have close personal ties to, so I will not actually try to.

This is a fun show.  It is full of comedy and drama and fun little nuggets.

I Heart live theatre.

Two trips to Freddie's

In the span of only a couple of days I made two trips to two different Freddie's.  At one there was a $3.99 plus tax purchase of a pack of M14 and at the other a $1.00 purchase of a single Lotto ticket.

I forgot to check the numbers right away and when I did a few days later I did not get a single number.  Poof, a dollar is gone and I am not actually paying off everything I owe and shopping for a condo downtown.  This is not nearly as much fun as they would lead one to believe.  So, I cannot speak to when I will ever actually go and buy another ticket.  Who knows?

That same week at a different Freddie's I tossed a pack of M14 Magic cards into the cart and when I opened them there was a foil variant Mutavault card in the pack.  The current as of this posting value on the card I pulled is forty bucks and going up.

Magic cards are a better return than lottery tickets in my experience.

My Great Grandfather

My Great Grandfather Henry Knutson arrived as a 24 year old single male from Norway.  

To the best of my knowledge this is on my mother's side, her father's father.

I am now a Doctor

ECCC Celeb Ops Loves Underdogs 2013 GISHWHES

Tape does amazing things

Yes, my Android went flying.

Yes, the screen shattered.

Yes, the case is dead.

Yes, it is over a year old.

No, the store will not fix it now.

No, the company said I am not able to get a new one with my plan since it is not close enough to the two year point.

Yes, the tape is holding.

No, my fingers are not getting cut.

Yes, I might get it fixed.

Yes, I might change companies because of them not working with me even though I want to give them more money.

Yes, the tape is holding.

It's Tom's world

A character I have generally found to be lame in the comics and boom amazing in film, basically entirely because of the actor. I found myself calling it Loki 2, even though the lead and cast and everyone involved was amazing and a great fun film. He is that good.

The smoke

Cornish in Seattle put on this adaptation at their performance space at Seattle Center. The performance I saw November 9 was cut short near the end due to the fog machine triggering the fire department, an evacuation, and the inability to get back into the theatre as a result of the smoke lingering.

Art with my mother

My mother has found a new arts and crafts project that allows her to continue being actively creative despite her limited sight.  By taking various objects and combining them and then placing them on a pole or a stick for display these pieces can be displayed in yards and gardens as yard art.  

So, I took one of the pieces she had and we put this together like a 3D chess board.

It's always a good thing to beat the Dawgs

#24 WSU 1
UW 0
November 8, 2013
Seattle, WA - Husky Soccer Field
PAC-12 Regular Season
In a week when Liverpool lost to Arsenal and PDX ousted the Rave Green from the playoffs a Cougar victory over the Dawgs makes this ex-Cougar goalkeeper coach feel a little better as a soccer fan.

Also, it has now been a decade since UW won a game in this series, sort of like the Dawgs and Ducks in football.  7-0-3 over the past decade.

This is how I roll

Dice from back in the day, PAX, a birthday gift set, and my new ones from The Doubleclicks.

DnD and MTG is covered as needed.

The story behind this photo

Mountlake Terrace Elementary

Talent Show

Fifth or Sixth Grade

Swan Lake

My Basketball Team

I really think I will let all that speak for itself.

My Sounders before the NASL Sounders

Kingdome

Summer 1979

The correct sign is back atop the building

Rrrrrrrrrainierrrrrrrr

Beeeeeerrrrrrrr

The colors this year

I do not remember the colors of Fall being quite as vivid in years past.  It appears that our longer and dryer weather into the Fall allowed for the leaves to stay on the trees longer and go through more color stages and bring us the more vivid reds.

Awesome.

Oh My Goodness Sarah

Sarah Brightman
The Paramount Theater
Seattle, WA
October 26, 2013

This was a spectacular show.  My mother was able to enjoy not only the music but a bit of the show through binoculars, so that was an extra bonus.

Name Tag

For AngelHack today I decided that there were so many guys named Jeff signed up I would just be silly and use this.  I left it on.  Some people got the reference.  One guy asked me if it really was my name.

OK Howard

I recently decided to just get over something.

There have been times in the recent past that Howard has stood up for things that I consider important and interesting. I generally dislike corporate political posturing but when he was called out he answered back at a shareholder.  He has stones.

Yes, he screwed up when the team was sold. Whether he really thought the assholes from OKC would really move the team or just flip it, I don't know or care anymore. He basically took his ball and went home.  On this blog I have ranted a number of times in the past about this topic. It still sucks, but I still want to be able to enjoy the NBA and some good coffee.

I actually met him in 02. He is generally a good guy and that came across to me as we discussed his teams.

A few months back it looked like the years without the NBA would be over and so I should be looking forward to attending a game and watching a new arena being built.  That didn't happen.  I was really bummed when I was reading up on the upcoming season.  It was like a second sucker punch.

But, I decided while having a cup of coffee at the original store, that I was past being upset at Howard.  I have ranted and whatnot, but I like the coffee.  This is a bit of a ramble but the bottom line is that I do not like being angry.

So, even though I should be (could be, whatever) celebrating another season of Sonics basketball, I have decided to stop being pissed about it.  It is doing me no good.

They've Got Nothing To Prove

Geek Girl Con 2013
Seattle, WA
October 2013

This is the third year of the event and I have had the opportunity to attend twice.  I really need to be an Agent one of these years and I do kind of feel bad I wasn't this year.  So many fellow Enforcers and Minions are around this that it would have been awesome.

I ran into an artist that I once wrote magazine articles for back in the day so that was nice to catch up.  There were fellow teachers with students I know.  One of the guys from the KK video I did last year was there. 

Still, to go and attend a couple panels, even going up to the mike and asking questions, was nice. It reminded me why I started working these cons in the first place, they are awesome.

Friday Night Concert at Wayward Coffee with The Doublelicks and Molly Lewis.  

Fully Functional.  It was mentioned that I would enjoy hearing her say that, but it simply was met with a chuckle.  It was fun to be able to text this to my bro and discuss her appearance as a Romulan with him.  Also, it was cool to discuss some of her great Trek moments with her.  Yes, a little of the fanboy came out.

Ninja gig, non amplified

Dalek in gaming

Jane and Amber for Buffy fans. This was the Husbands panel.

Lizzie panel, behind the scenes folks from the production.

Working with 4 year olds

Some days I get to play while working.

Game Day 6 months ago

6 months can fly by when one makes the right choices. 

The Gum Wall

Being a native and someone who spends a lot of time in town and has enjoyed Pike Place forever, I really have generally ignored the existence of The Gum Wall until recently even though it has been there for many years now.

It is about as disgusting as it sounds and looks, which is as it should be.

I feel sorry for the wall on the other side of the alley that someone tries to keep clean.

They still have these

The design is a bit snazzier, but we would totally get these cups with chicken broth down in The HUB and play against each other.  School vending machines still have these.  It warms my heart.

How I party some weekends

Pop the car up on the jack. 

They guys from the neighboring apartments suddenly emerge and it's a party on the patio.

Also, post a picture of auto repairs and women start making offers in exchange for your services ...

It's weird to be in the prizes.

I am at peace with the reality of Standard Constructed. For the past year as I have played MTG it really is true that the amount of money one spends on the cards and decks that are winning the big tourneys has a direct influence on whether one does well or not in a store tourney most of the time.

So, I win some games now and then with the decks I build.  However, i recently have managed to make a red white deck that is ferocious enough and comes out fast enough often enough to actually place and be playing for and winning prizes in recent tournaments.

Part of me is happy about that.  It's nice to do well.  But, it is also odd to suddenly be 2-0 in the third round against another 2-0 and be playing for stuff.  The social aspect of gaming and the competitive juices do come out.  I still had fun.  It was nice to get respect from the guys who could not imagine how my deck was so good and to then discuss the deck build with them. It was also nice to earn some store credit and packs from that success.

I had come to the conclusion that I was a pretty good limited player and have had some success with that, but I had written off the notion of doing well in Standard Constructed because of the reasons stated above.  It was nice to be a little wrong.

Time for the internet to do its thing

The beauty of the information age we live in is not social media, it is knowing that I can do a search and find out what kind of mushroom this is and follow my intellectual curiosity.

However, wow ... glad I only took these photos as opposed to picking these. I would have some legal troubles if my research is correct.

The dark side

I know some tech guys that have mocked me for years for not being wired at home.  I also totally oversold how much of a Luddite I may or may not be.  Some of my friends and family know better.  But, I also caught a lot of crap for apparently getting the Yugo of computers back in March.

Baby steps.

Baby steps.

Analog has its drawbacks

I am all about playing games old school when I can.

So, with the current D&D group I decided to keep everything on paper and not go digital.  Fortunately, I had a backup version of the character sheet, because I bumped the dial and turned on the burner and caught my character sheet on fire.  I am lucky it is all that caught fire and is an amusing anecdote and not something far worse.

I missed the chair

EMP MUSEUM

Yesterday

Dang it, my timing was such that I missed the Iron Throne.  

Ah, well. I did enjoy the notes on display from Lewis, Martin, and others.  The fantasy costumes were a treat.  I will use my membership more often.

It was also a return to the scene of the crime ... the crime of lying to Neil about The Doctor.  Given that the lie was about something that is nonlinear insofar as time, since I am actively working to get to the episode in question I will soon enough be no longer lying about it, just in retrospect.

So much for a secret Identity

A student really did this one day.  I appreciate it very much.