Author: katster

Um, guess there’s Corflu for me after all.

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So yesterday, I mentioned I wasn’t going to be able to make it to Corflu. This caused a chain reaction in the universe which led to a rather good stroke of fortune which means I’ll be able to go after all. I am completely and absolutely stunned at this turn of events. (Or, as I’ve put it before, my gast has been well and truly flabbered.)

Since I have no idea who caused this stroke of good fortune (that’s what anonymous means, after all), I don’t know who to thank. So, I’ll say this. I have no idea who you are, or whether it’s one or more of you, or anything at all really except the fact you obviously think I need to go to Corflu, but thank you for making it possible for me to go. When I’m in a better financial situation, I’ll pass the favor forward.

I guess this also gives me an incentive (and a deadline!) to finally put together that first issue of Rhyme I’ve been meaning to do since 2009.

But yeah, I’ve been wandering around in a bit of a daze since I got this news yesterday.

No Corflu for you!

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Or anyway, no Corflu for me. Despite the fact it’s in San Jose, which is in driving distance, my finances just won’t allow it. I could probably get there, but I couldn’t afford to buy a con membership nor have somewhere to sleep, so I’m going to have to bow out. *sigh* I was so hoping that my finances would be a lot better than they are, but it is not to be.

Dammit. Mebbe next year.

(That said, it’s a testimony to the work I’ve been doing this last year that I’m annoyed by this turn of events as opposed to out and out falling apart over it.)

The future is now

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So I got a new hard drive for Christmas.  It astounds me that something smaller than a standard paperback novel holds 1 terabyte of data.  Even more astounding, it cost less than half of the six gigabyte drive I bought in 1998.

The future is now, and it’s truly awesome.

There are times I really hate Christmas

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No kid should ever have to write a letter like this to Santa Claus.  Never.

(Seen in local postal annex.)

[tftc] OMG fog

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[Yet another post in my occasional series “Tales from the Commute”]

The commute was ugly today. It looked like this most of the way:

It was fun fighting that, when you couldn’t read signs until you were almost on top of them, and people disappeared into the fog way too easily.

But at the bottom of my offramp, it looked like this:
No fogPhoto by retstak

Go figure.

Funny sticker

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Eating my morning snack of a banana, and this sticker made me laugh

The latest entries in the WTF serving size competition

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So I’ve been trying to be more interested in nutrition labels to get a better idea of what calorie counts and other stuff are in my food. This has now become a game, in which I attempt to find the most egregious and/or crazy entries on the nutritional label.

Today brings us two entries in the WTF serving size competition:

1) Apparently, a serving size of Tic Tacs is one Tic Tac, with the extremely precise value of 1.9 calories per serving. (Sorry the picture’s kinda blurry, was trying to take it fast.)

2) I’d like you to try and eat just one-third of a muffin at once. (The whole muffin is 600 calories. OMG.)
Muffin nutritionPhoto by retstak

Too much good stuff

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I found this in the grocery store last night.

Me: I’m afraid to look at how many calories that has.

Jill: (flipping package over): Servings per package: 12. Calories: 200. Calories from fat: 90.

Me: Yeesh! That’s one-sixth of one cup per serving.

So I guess if you really like Reese’s, this might be worth it. Just keep in mind, one cup is more than half your RDA.

For the birds

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Caught this shot of a bunch of what appeared to be pigeons on top of a light pole.  With the clouds, it made for a beautiful shot.

I can’t be this old

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A display in the Walmart near the house.

My sister said, “I don’t remember the first one.”

I said, “I’m sorry, Mario, but our princess is in another castle.”

C is for Cookie

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This made me fall over laughing. Sesame Street was good times as a kid and I loved Cookie the best. So I’m all for him getting the hosting gig on SNL.

Ode to a Banana

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See the humble banana.
Bright yellow, with a bit of green at the tip.
As a kid, I would put the sticker on my forehead
And wear it there all day.

I am an adult now;
I must put up my childish ways.
My sticker will go with the peel.

But a banana
Handy fruit in a carrying case
Is good for a mid-morning snack.

Things that make me stupidly happy

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In this case, it’s a shiny new pair of shoes to replace the beat up pair that has suffered catastrophic loss of sole integrity just in time for the rainy season.

I’m going to do my best not to trash the aglets on this pair.

Yes, I’m aware that I get stupidly happy about strange things.

A power of two birthday

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Today, I turned:

100000 (in binary)
200 (in base 4)
40 (in octal)
But only 20 in hexadecimal.

Or, in regular numbers normal people use, today I turned 32.

I’ll have more to say when I’m not typing the post on the phone.

Been meaning to share

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This is an abandoned car in the parking garage I park in.