Mad Mountain Tale

Quick about California

2009-12-08T07:26:58Z

I am writing a quick bit about my California trip because if I put it off I will probably not do it.

Friday: After an hour and a half delay leaving Minneapolis due to mechanical problems, I arrived in Los Angeles just in time to miss the rehearsal but not to miss the pizza dinner. I met several cousins and aunts and got invited to the bachelor party, which as it turned out was a session of D&D 4.0 that lasted until about 5 AM (West coast time, so 7 AM for me). We didn't do much, mostly 'cause there were 9 of us (not including the DM) and it took a while for the characters to generate. Also didn't help I was falling asleep by that point.

Saturday: Got woken up a few hours after going to sleep to get the cousins up to pick up more relatives flying in for the wedding, then helping to set up folding chairs. It turned out that because it was the bride's second wedding my aunt was picking up the tab, so it was a shoestring wedding, held at someone's house. Now, that didn't make it any less of a grand affair, but there was a bit of grumbling about being put to work before we found out what was going on.

The wedding was of course beautiful, with great food. The ceremony was about 10 minutes or so and involved a reference to the Terrasque. The guests had to move their own chairs off to the side so the cousins could pull the tables out for dinner. I got the thrown garter (making two for me now); the bouquet exploded on contact with about six people claiming one part of it or another. Ended the night helping load a Uhaul full of folding chairs and tables to take back to a church.

Sunday was a day of rest. Saw the cousins' new baby (though no one is sure what the relationship is; 1st cousin once removed or something) and their new house. Couple of meals with large groups of people, then back to the hotel to watch the Vikings get trounced by the Cardinals. Ouch.

Monday saw the Salt Lake City Nelsons take off at 7 AM to try to get to Salt Lake City before the snow storms hit. We checked out and hung out at Aunt Pattie's house for a bit before heading through stormy LA for the airport. Though we left LAX half an hour later we only arrived one minute later in Mpls/St. Paul. Now I'm at home trying to wind down so I can wake up in a few hours for work and a snowstorm and hopefully some D&D (3.5 of course).

Good trip.

Water!

2009-09-27T02:36:00Z

I was up late last night, watching West Wing on the TV, playing a Civil War game on the desktop, and writing on the lap top. It was fun. A nice way to wind down a stressful week and prepare for a nice weekend.

Then I woke up early at 6:45 AM to hear the sound of running water comming from my living room. This has happened a few times before (problems with the sealing on the roof). So a steady stream (not a drip) was water landing on $400 of books not 12 inches from my 56 inch projection TV and several thousand dollars worth of DVDs. So instead of waking up to meet with Emeric and Harold for a nice long hike, I got to run around my apartment finding large pots and pans for five separate leaks in the cieling. The result is instead of being tired right now from hiking and hanging out with friends, I'm tired from being crabby and angry most of the day.

Long Weekend made short

2009-09-08T01:10:49Z

Friday started with work, of course, because too many other people had taken the day of for me to do so. Good thing it was pay day, otherwise the day might have gone on too long. Started the actually weekend by going to see Inglourious Basterds, which was a very good movie, though by no means historically accurate. but a good start to the weekend.

Saturday brought me to the Ren fair with Emeric, Rita, Patricia and Beckie. Andy couldn't be there, but we had a good time nonetheless. Saw some knights and fire eaters, did fencing against Emeric (who took me out 2-0), then had Emeric drop me in King of the Log after a reign of 2 years. Ended the day with a second showing of Inglourious Basterds, which is still good after a second showing.

Sunday: Cleaning, Left 4 Dead, Netflix DVDs, and no going out.

Monday saw some more cleaning, followed by Emeric's Labor Day/House warming party. Good food, good games, and good people. then a quick run.

Someday I'll have something really interesting to post, but it's not today.

bernabowus @ 2009-08-10T21:01:00

2009-08-11T02:05:28Z

Last night there was a going away party for Andy, off to Air Force basic training again. It was a fun time with burritos and mesopotamia. Andy also showed me a game of his called Anno 1404, which is a fun looking resource game. It reminded me that while I've enjoyed my Xbox games of Halo and Left 3 Dead, I really miss the Real Time strategy games like Command and conquer and Warcraft 3 that many of us used to play. I then spent some time on newegg trying to see just how cheaply I could do a computer upgrade and found out I can build a decent gaming system to upgrade my computer for less than $200, which is still a chunk of change but less than the $450 I was looking at. The monitor is still something extra, but I can stand my six year old CRT for a few more months.

In other news, I almost started dating a girl but she turned out to be a lesbian.

bernabowus @ 2009-07-11T13:07:00

2009-07-11T18:09:03Z

Still around, but stay in tune.

bernabowus @ 2009-05-19T22:28:00

2009-05-20T03:38:44Z

This last weekend was by far one of the best weekends I've had in a long time.

Friday started off after work with a jaunt to Andy and Rita's for some light gaming in the form of Betrayal at house on the Hill, Guillotine and Gloom. In none of the games did I suck. I was awesome in BHH, almost won Gloom and took the prize in Guillotine. After I got back home at Midnight I talked with Alan over gmail chat for a few hours, which is always a treat as it's hard to get his attention sometimes.

Saturday I was up early, doing some cleaning and playing some Star Trek Legacy (which is a fun game for all its faults). Finally left to meet up with my college roommate Brian and his wife, who were up in the area for an annual visit to friends in the area. We had a nice dinner followed by some Foosball, then off to O'Gara's garage for our other roommate Mitch's band's performance. It was fun, though I didn't know most of their songs. they did a nice cover of Wonderwall and an awesome Pearl Jam medley of Black/Alive/Jeremy/Evenflow that was so amazing to watch it's hard to describe. We all ventured off to the Red Dragon in Uptown where we proceeded to get plastered on special drinks chalk full of alcohol. Ended the night at Nate's house playing rockband, which is really fun when you don't have to worry about neighbors, noise or being sober enough to appreciate good music.

Sunday, after a few hours sleep on Nate's couch, people woke up and we all headed off to Chipotle for breakfast. Saying goodbye to Brian and Kristin when they dropped me off at my car (I don't drive drunk) and hoping to see them before to long, I headed back home to be ready for Emeric's cousin Patrick to drop off some furniture pieces I'm buynig form him and he and his family head off to DC. Finished the day with more Legacy and some Netflix movies, Hamburger Hill and Orca (imagine Jaws, except every time the maritime villain does something bad he celebrates by jumping for joy in true seaworld fashion).

bernabowus @ 2009-05-13T18:03:00

2009-05-13T23:08:17Z

Of course, last weekend I went out with a whole army of people (ok, 11) to see Star Trek. It was fantastic. Not perfect; could have used more Scotty and a couple of retcons that weren't explained, but what's Star Trek without a few retcons. Afterwards most of us went to a pub, then those remaiing (5 of 11) went to BW3s for some wings, ending the night at Emeric's apartment smoking some nice pipe tobacco and coming up with the worse blue's song ever (I'm so content).

Still working on the workout. I'm able to jog up to a mile now (depending on the speed of the treadmill). I don't jog around Como yet; too many people to see my and call ambulences at my attempts to work out. Plus I pace myself better on the treadmill.

bernabowus @ 2009-04-18T17:22:00

2009-04-18T22:30:02Z

I managed to get a response this week from Jennifer, who I unfortunately fell out of contact with after we left Madison. It sucked when I realized I didn't have any correct contact information. I am going to try to keep more regular contact with her, as she's one of those people I'd like to invite to major events in my life.

I have noticed a pattern with my weekends which leads itself to some interesting thoughts about my thought process. If I start a weekend saying 'I'm going to do everything I have on my to do list' then chances are it'll be Xbox for 16 hours a day. If, however, I start at a lower point, saying to myself 'This weekend is going to suck,' I'm motived to do things to prevent that and end up doing more than Xbox for 16 hours. This weekend, for example, I've purchased new running shoes, went jogging (not for a long distance, as I am more round than not still), did some writing, and a few chores.

Ok, back to stuff.

bernabowus @ 2009-04-14T06:55:00

2009-04-14T11:57:59Z

The rest the 'vacation' in Salt Lake City went well. Mostly it was sepnt hanging out while my cousins, aunts and mom dealt with Ed not leaving a will. I got to play some basketball with Aaron and John (and let me tell you, that mile difference in altitude really gets you). About the only thing I did that was productive in terms of dealing with my Uncle's death was unloading all of his guns and making sure they were safe.

From the Mountains of Salt Lake City

2009-04-05T13:28:15Z

Update on Operation UGLY DUCKLING: The event itself went well, but alas I got no hits from the girls involved. While I am dissapointed, I am not taking the rejection serioiusly. No binging with ice cream while watching the Notebook. Just going to continue working out and getting ready for UGLY DUCKLING II, which will be in June. It seems that if you go to speed dating and don't get a hit, then you get another free try. So here we go again. At the very least, I'll get another haircut and continue looking sharp.

The day after UGLY DUCKLING, before I knew I had not been selected, was marred by news of my Uncle Ed's death. He was 58 years old, only a few years older than my mom, and not in the best of shape. My mom, my sisters (including the one from Costa Rica) and I flew out to Salt Lake City Friday for a memorial service yesterday, which included a series of family and friends standing up and telling stories about Uncle Ed, who really was a great guy. He'll be missed.

Operation UGLY DUCKLING: D-3 days

2009-03-22T03:03:47Z

Operation UGLY DUCKLING, my first foray into speed dating, commences on Tuesday. I'm nervous and excited about it, largely because, as opposed to the people one randomly runs into in life, these people are looking for someone.

Preparations have been extravegent. Rita came over last week and after a quick survey of my cloths took me shopping for a new outfit, which is staying in the bag until Tuesday after work. I got a sporting new haircut. And in preparation for the big day I've been smoke free for six days.

Now it's just a question of conversation topics.

Passive me

2009-02-26T04:29:40Z

I was fuming at work today while invoicing. Invoicing doesn't require a lot of concentration, so my mind wonders, and today it picked 'Why I'm passive and how it has hurt my life since high school'. It basically comes down to I wait for things to get better, as if some form of 'deus ex machina' will come out and save me from mediocrity. It put me in kind of a mood.

But as I have been trying to do this year, instead of going home to play the Xbox and try not to think about the liquor hiding in the closet, I've been using such feelings to compel myself to be better. And it really has been working. I've been exercising more (lost five pounds since last week), my money situation is improving, and I'm starting to write again. I worked out a budget for the year that will allow me to a) buy Emeric's monolithic TV; b) upgrade my computer, c) go back to school in the fall (one class); and d) put a huge dent in my debt. I am feeling good about myself and my future for the first time since I graduated from Madison. 26, after all, is not 60.

bernabowus @ 2009-02-16T19:04:00

2009-02-17T01:21:15Z

Saturday went off as well as could be expected for me, so Sunday I did two laps around Lake Como, even going so far as to run for about 200 yards before I huffed to a quick walk. But at least I have been getting out. If I had access to a scale I would be able to tell myself how much weight I've lost (if any) since I noticed I was 91 pounds overweight, but I haven't gotten to one yet.

I'm still working on my 1st Minnesota project, though I have no idea when I'll get around to actually writing it. If it's not until after Emeric and I do our Civil War battlefields tour I'll be ok, as I'll have 1st-hand experience of the ground the regiment fought over and pictures aplenty. I doubt that we'll have time to get to ever single location that the 1st Minnesota was at, but we should be able to get some of the big ones (Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Manassas, 7 days). If I can keep up with my exercise I should be in enough shape that I can enjoy hiking the battlefields. What I don't want is a repeat of my last hike with Emeric, when we reached a great vista spot. Emeric remarked how gorgeous is was, and I said it was ok. Emeric said 'Oh, come on, if this were a video game you'd be amazed!' to which I could only respond 'If this were a video game I wouldn't be coughing up a lung!'

Speaking of video games, I'm still slowly working through War in the Pacific. I've currently got a better than 5:1 ship ratio (I've sunk 1276 for 256 lost), 2:1 aircraft, and 1.6:1 victory points. I checked the victory conditions to see how much longer the game might last as it's been about nine months already. If I can get a 3:1 victory point lead in 1944 (currently it's Nov 1943) than I win, otherwise I'll have to wait for 1945 to get a 2:1 victory point lead.

bernabowus @ 2009-02-12T20:31:00

2009-02-13T02:38:18Z

I had Andy and Rita and Frank over for dinner last night. I made pot roast, which I've never actually made before. I had to use a crockpot to cook it during the day, so it came out differently than I'm used to, but it was still good. We had dinner and pie, talked, and had fun watching Frank slam dunk recycling. I thought it was a good night.

At least I have been able to keep the apartment from sliding back into the chaos I'm used to. Now my goal is to start advancing towards 'cleaner than it was last week'. I have some reasons to do a bit this weekend. A friend from work (Hannah) is coming over on Saturday for some movies. It's not a date or anything, but it's the first time she'll have seen my place, so I want it to look good.

Tripping over my own damn feet

2009-02-10T12:53:19Z

I have been doing really well this year at eating better, exercising more, cleaning, putting more money towards debt reduction, etc. I was especially proud of no caffeine for two weeks. This weekend, while grocerie shopping, I bought a twelve-pack of iced tea which I thought said caffeine free. Turns out it actually doesn't say one way or the other, but given how it's made me jumpy I'm going to go with the 'it has caffeine' thought. Damn.

At least it's not soda.

bernabowus @ 2009-02-08T20:20:00

2009-02-09T02:36:35Z

So being sick this weekend really sucked, especially Sunday when I realized I wasn't sick so much as weak from not eating anything for two days. But I did play a lot of video games on the Xbox 360 and beat two of them (gears of war and MOH: Airborne). I really like the Achievements system that Xbox uses; there's a reason to play through a 2nd time beyond just 'let's do that again'. Playing through Airborne again to max out my abilities in weapons is kind of fun, and once I've gotten them all maxed out I can go through with uber weapons and just get high scores (and maybe not die so many friggen times). Also played some Demos I downloaded off Xbox live, including Halo Wars, which isn't too bad, and Shadowrun, which is kind of fun though I'm not sure how much of a roleplaying game it is.

I did decide that when I get a PS3 (no rush on getting it) I'm going to do two things differently than when I got the Xbox. One is I'm only going to buy one or two games so I can really enjoy them. 2nd is that if I want to play more, I might just get a membership with gamefly so I can try the games out and then decided if they're worth buying. To some extent it's about saving some money; to another, it's avoided the shame of having bought the History Channel's Civil War Game.

bernabowus @ 2009-02-05T07:05:00

2009-02-05T13:09:30Z

Last night I had my first guest since god knows when, not including the weekend my dad stayed over so the snow storm in Duluth wouldn't keep him from the Vikings playoff game. Emeric showed up and was able to enjoy my newly cleaned but still needs work apartment. I made dinner, we talked and watched the first part of Dark Knight. It was good times. Next week are Andy and Rita, and hopefully more often after that.

I also note that it's getting light enough outside when I step off the bus that soon I might actually be able to start doing my laps around Como Lake after work. It's good exercise.

It is now day 13 if no-caffein. The closest I came to Pepsi in two weeks has been some 7-Up I had at Emeric's Superbowl bash. I have noticed a decrease in the smoking and hope to have that licked soon.

bernabowus @ 2009-01-08T18:41:00

2009-01-09T00:51:26Z

I got through the entirety of HBOs' John Adams miniseries and I found that I really liked it. HBO has an amazing ability to create great shows, like Band of Brothers and Rome. I think it has something to do with greater freedom of writing than mainstream TV and the budget of a movie, along with greater time allowed for a story to be told. I'd like to check out some of HBO's other shows through Netflix.

Also, through the wonder of Xbox 360 and Netflix, I've been streaming Star Trek to my TV. I do like the original series. That being said, I do notice a lot of inconsistancies that come from writing one episode to the next instead of having a plan down (as Babylon 5 did). Probably the greatest difference in my mind between the Original Series and Next Generation was not the technology or the Characters, but the fact that by TNG the writers had estabished guidelines they could follow as to names, locations, histories, etc.

On a side note, does anyone know of any good note taking programs for computers? I'd like to be able to oreganize notes on my projects better, but nothing I've found so far works on my laptop or does what I need it to do.

Snow

2008-12-21T16:24:28Z

Three blizzards in two weeks and I've skidded out in every one of them. not that there's nothing exhilterating in loosing control of one's car while over the Mississippi River or at 55 miles per hour with traffic at a stop ahead of you. I'm worried that something might be wrong with the car, maybe the tires.

On the upside, the new laptop and 360 are working, especially the running Netlfix through Xbox for instant viewing. Lots of fun to do when I'm not skidding out across the universe.

bernabowus @ 2008-07-02T00:14:00

2008-07-02T05:13:20Z

I spent most of this weekend playing War in the Pacific and having a rocking time doing so. I played more than a month of game time and obtained a 130 ship lead over the Japanese Computer, loosing one ship in the process. I was still trying to figure out how to acutally turn the tide, but I was having fun.

Then I saved over it and deleted all that work.

This weekend I'll start again and try not to screw it up.

bernabowus @ 2008-06-18T20:29:00

2008-06-19T01:36:44Z

In terms of role playing games it has been pretty hard so far this year. SAF (the game I run) coughs and sputters in and out of existence as people's schedules get fumbled. BUt I want to keep movign with it when possible.

Probably more harsh has been the campaigns I'm playing in. In six months, I've lost five characters (six if you include the character still alive when one campaign ended). Most have died in one single hit because Andy is a freak like that. That, I have discovered, is less painful than a slow death, since with a slow death there is always the possibility of being saved, and when it fails there's that mourning. But I must soldier on....

Still playing lots of War in the Pacific. It's kind of interesting, in my mind, that even though there are a lot of Army units running around (China, Burma, various islands) the game is very much a naval combat game, meaning I'm channeling Alfred Thayer Mahan instead of Karl von Clausewitz. Throw in a little Giulio Douhet for the air power component (attacking enemy ships right up to the end) and it's a smörgåsbord of strategic theory at play.

Ok, back to World War II my way.

bernabowus @ 2008-06-07T16:55:00

2008-06-07T22:03:04Z

I got a book from my mother to help prepare for my second GRE test which I will take in Oct or Nov. I really need to kick its ass this time and get everything done instead of fucking it all up by procrastinating and taking the information down wrong. alas, as is often the case, my worst enemy is myself.

Still doing computer research. Just going over and over the information until I start getting the information down. But it looks like I might have to jump in sooner than expected because my current computer is getting more problematic. At least it looks like I can do it in small groups of purchases of $150 to $250 instead of one large purchase, which will be nice.

bernabowus @ 2008-05-30T21:03:00

2008-05-31T02:06:52Z

For the last two weeks I've been learning about computer hardware. My goal is to figure out how to build my own computer and maintain it better than I might normally. I know I could just buy a whole new computer, but I want to do it this way so that I can spread the cost out over some time without having to worry about saving up all that money.

The problem I'm running into right now concerns mostly the CPU, motherboard and Video card. Still learning about those, trying to figure out what goes with what. The rest I've got a good hold on. The first thing I'm probably going to upgrade is the case as I've noticed that my computer has been very warm the last few times I've opened it up. I'm thinking something big with extra fans and some nice cool lights.

It'll be a while before I can start this process (more towards the end of the year I'm thinking), so I have some time to decide a few things, like the CPU/Motherboard/Video Card thing, or if I want a large partitioned hard-drive or several small hard drives (I've read that this allows for faster processing if the computer doesn't have to look through a huge hard drive for the data). So lots of time for more research.

Suggestions welcome.

bernabowus @ 2008-03-10T19:14:00

2008-03-11T00:17:09Z

After my last post, I stayed up until 6 AM watching the Gilmore girls and playing War in the Pacific, a fun and intense game that I'm still learning. I'm playing it mostly to figure out how to play before my friend Dave, who introduced me to the game, finishes putting together his starting offensive and begins kicking my ass around the Pacific. I've already got three pages of notes and am trying to come up with a checklist so each round I don't forget to do something.

Sunday I spent most of the day reading Harry Potter books. Got through 2 and a half of them. They're pretty good.

Monday was root canal, which was not painful but just kind of boring. Finished the third H.P. book, then war movies and War in the Pacific. It takes a while to develop some of the skills for that game because one round in the game equals one day, and there units are so specific (you don't move fleets around, you move individual ships) that I keep having to remind myself not to move too quickly. Dave will not only have the advantage of surprise the Japanese really did in 1941, but the experience of having played the game for some time. It will be a learning process I'm really looking forward to. YAY!!

Different city, same song.

2008-03-09T03:29:09Z

Last weekend I have Beth over for dinner and a movie. Beth was my supervisor at the security company I had before I found Metro Legal, and we became friends and have had a few emails over the last few months. She's going through a divorce and mentioned when we were hanging out that she had been approached by a few guys about a date but they were all creepy. I asked her out, and since she decided I wasn't creepy, she said yes. So, tonight, we went and played pool for two hours as a date.

And then came...she thinks we are better as friends.

Same line I got from three different women in Madison, same line now.

Not that it's not a valid thing to say, but how many times can I get the same freaking response from different women at different times and places. Ok, I'm a good friend, great. Freaking wonderful! But I need more than that! I need some sense that there is more for me than being a great friend to good people.

Anyway, I've decided that I was wrong. There is a god, and he fucking hates me.

I'd get drunk after that revelation, but I'm on painkillers and antibiotics for emergency root canal on Monday. What a wonderful life.