Rorschach.net

It’s 4pm on Sunday afternoon and I am trying to stay awake. Background gunfire from Paul and Adam’s on-line battles is helping – but I may not make it. I’ve exceeded my Vitamin D allotment for the weekend and if I lay down, will not get up until Monday. Which is pretty much how I STARTED my weekend, so I am not sure I made much progress on anything.

By Friday night, I was exhausted like now – but with more cranky thrown in for good measure. It was such a busy week at work that I never truly caught up on my sleep after Tuesday’s late night. After work on Friday, Paul and I went to the gym and then headed down the road to La Jolla outdoor mall to run some errands. We extended the errand into dinner on the patio of the Red Robin and found an ice skating rink in the mall indoor food court area.

Saturday, we worked on the house. Watering plants, cleaning and giving Roe dog a much needed bath. Now instead of s stinky dog, he smells like an oatmeal cookie. I like it – but I think it’s making him feel a little bit girly. After a swim and a short nap, we went out with a couple we met at a work party a few weeks back. We went to Cafe Sevilla for some yummy cheese, olives and dates and Sangria. Catherine & Ross had just moved back here from North Carolina and also know very few people. The live Salsa music was very good – if a bit loud so we had to yell as we exchanged life stories, etc. Parking in downtown San Diego remains a pain. We gave up and decided to valet it and pulled into the valet spot across from the restaurant. Then, after taking or money, they left the car there in the spot we parked it in. What a racket We’ve decided we could earn some extra cash standing around downtown in empty spots an having people pay us to park in them.

It was after the witching hour when we got home and were up at 7:30 to drive North of Camp Pendleton for a coastal bike ride. Standing on the cliffs above the beach was beautiful. The 16 mile ride was a good distance since we hadn’t been on our bikes in a few years. My boss LeNeta and her husband Angelo were our tour guides. They’ve been reccomending stuff to us since we moved here and have the BEST ideas for places to go and things to do. After the ride we had breakfast and then came home for a swim. It was probably the nicest weekend since I’ve moved here.

I ALMOST got a picture of the coffee angel but I zoomed out instead of zooming in. Drive by photography is tricky.

I’ve been trying to get these pictures of my Mom’s visit posted for a while but my computer doesn’t like to perform this particular task. I am not sure why, but online shopping, email and graphic design seems to appeal more to it than livejournal maintenance.

My mother is an amazing woman. She’s like Mr. Clean in a smaller, more attractive body. She swept into town a few weeks ago and whipped out garage and backyard into shape in a matter of days. I am not an evil daughter. My Mom truly LIKES to clean things. I did make sure her trip included some fun activities as well. We went to IKEA – a tourist destination in and of itself. In fact, she liked it so much, we went twice. One of the more touristy sites we saw with my Mom was the Maritime Museum downtown. We’ve put up photos of us in the submarine and sailing ships. It was definitely a place will take future guests to. Besides getting to tour the ships, we walked the Embarcadero and did some serious people watching. We also weeded our backyard and Paul trimmed the palm tree. His work was rough and I was a good wife to help cool him off. I should have dunked him in the pool. Let it be noted that my Mom and Roe became almost friends.

Work is going OK. I have decided that clients should listen to me more and talk less. It amazes me how much money people will pay us to come up with ideas and suggestions and then paint the wall pink anyway. At least we get paid. There are some pretty cool projects outstanding in China and Milan right now and keep your fingers crossed I may get to christen my passport someday with a nifty business trip.

Right now I spend a lot of time traveling – but not really going anywhere. I have a icky homebound commute. Sometimes I take the scenic route. This is two blocks from my office.

I had a photo shoot last night that ran from 5:30 until midnight and no, I’ve not moved to SD to become a budding model. I am trying to get our marketing material updated and have hired a professional photographer to take shoots of some recent projects. They like to shoot at night because it is easier to control the light when the sun is down. It was late and I am tired.

Good night.

Spent some time at the events on Friday. Also picked up some spiffy dice from Chessex.

First off was the Top Cow panel. This was dominated by the premiere of the Freshmen a comic created one drunken night by Seth Green and some of his buddies when they started talking about bad superpowers. It was originally pitched as a movie but they’re starting out as a comic.

Currently it’s a 6 comic miniseries with each issue narrated by a character. The premise is in true Revenge of the Nerds fashion the overflow of the local college is housed in the Science Building. One night a Flash happens and everyone gaining superpowers based on what they were doing or thinking at that exact time. Except for Wannabe, who grew up reading comics all his life and happens to be out for pizza at the time.

The story focuses on the characters, how they come to grips with their new abilities, and over time how their powers will adapt and advance. Here’s some of the main characters:

Puppeteer – can enter the mind of anyone. Pre-psych student.
Intoxicator – can transfer his altered state (drunk, whatever) to others.
Green Thumb – Vegan that can talk to and hear plants. Goes hungry a lot and avoids the horrible screams of lawns being mowed.
The Squirrel – Hoarding guy who’s going slowly insane.
The Quaker – Big guy who can cause earthquakes by shaking his belly. He’s Amish and is astounded by technology and worried about the morals of having powers.
The Beaver – A real beaver (school mascot) let loose in the building during the flash. Super intelligence, but easily distracted by damns.

Also in the works is a Yearbook along the same lines as a who’s who.

Pics are up for my day at Comic-Con. Gonna go see a movie tonight will post about the day later.

Mass Consumerism!

Last night and today were spent wandering the exhibition hall. Had to wrap up some work things in the morning so I’ve got about 2 hours last night and 3 hours today in the hall. It’s a diverse lot and I still haven’t gone up and down every row. Last night was spent scouting out what was where and getting the freebies that we knew would go fast like an Aeon Flux t-shirt and poster. Today I hit all the places I wanted to go. Tomorrow I’ll actually go to some of the events and scour the hall row by row in between. I promise I’ll remember the camera so expect pics tomorrow.

The crowds weren’t that bad, but I think Friday and Saturday are nasty. I’ll be taking the trolley down to the con even though I was able to find parking for $10 within two blocks of the center today.

Highlights so far:
- Aeon Flux looks weird, and by that I mean it doesn’t look remotely like Peter Chung’s style.
- Lego Star Wars: Full size remote controlled R2-D2, full sized Darth Vader and Chewbacca models, and a big honkin’ Republic Attack Cruiser that took two guys 5 days to put together.
- Scott Kurtz is a big guy. Really big.
- Penny Arcade has the con thing down. Nice operation they’ve got, moving product and letting everyone have time with the talent.
- Bruce Campbell is getting a little grey in the temples.
- Marvel and EA’s Nemesis fighting game looks pretty cool. So does City of Villains, Full Spectrum Warrior 2, and The Suffering 2.
- Toys are cool, but I don’t think I’m a collector by nature.
- Those cool flourescent lightsabers are $120.

More tomorrow and pictures!

I’ve never been afraid to show my geek tendencies around people I know. I like RPGs, computer games, animation, comics, etc. and often talk with friends and family (many of them having geek-ness themselves). I’ve never really geeked out in a public setting with large crowds. In other words I’ve never attended a con.

That all changes tonight as the wife and I go after work to the Comic-Con preview night, and I take the next four days to wallow in all things geek at the San Diego Convention Center. The question is how will I react to 100,000 other geeks and fanboys all in the same place doing much the same thing. Will I stand up and ask a question at the Jhonen Vasquez (Invader Zim’s creator) panel? Will I attempt to get Bruce Campbell’s autograph? Will I buy a limited edition Penny-Arcade print?

To sum up, will I remain a geek or will I become a fanboy?

Expect updates as I brave the throngs and spend the money for the next four days. If there’s anything you want me to attend or some toys you want me to grab, drop me a line (email or my cell number hasn’t changed yet) and I’ll see what I can do.

Stu asked the question what the big deal about tags is versus categories. Clay Shirky has an essay published on why giving the power to the little people to label content how they want on this big wide Interweb is a good thing.

From my perspective it’s not quite a big deal since I run the site and I control the categories, but it’s cool to link into Technorati, and I dig the tag priority sorter on the sidebar (again, you have to see the site RSS buddies). For me it’s a way to experiment with some of the wider social software movements and link in to the bigger world.

See this is funny now becasuse I live in California instead of Kansas.

There is an angel on my way to work in the morning. I have tried unsuccessfully to get a picture of her but am constantly thwarted via being in the wrong lane, not having the camera or simply not seeing her. She’s in full angelic regalia complete with wings and halo. She’s pretty and blond and smiles brilliantly as cars pass. She leaps up on one pointed toe and in a graceful sweeping motion bring sup a sign “Espresso” over her head and back down in a continued rhythm. The heavenly espresso coffee stand makes decent coffee. I’m not sure if the angel works the stand or not but her unwavering smile is in direct contrast to the grim, road weary continence’s of the passing drivers and I remain fascinated. I think her job – though on the surface and potentially a little bizarre – must be better then what the rest are headed to.

After seeing some of the latest episodes of Justice League Unlimited it has earned the hallowed Season Pass on the TiVo. Here’s what you get as the second season wraps up:

Conspiracy, Cadmus, President Luthor, The Question, concerns about humanity’s place in a world of superpowers, and a mess of continuity and cameos from second string DC heroes. Sign me up. This is an Adult Swim type of show, not Krypto the Superdog.