Things I would like to do

Kevin, the Ragged Clown, made a list of things that he wants to get done in his lifetime. What a great idea! Certainly not a new idea, but something I should certainly be doing. Without further adieu, here is my list (subject to change).

Things to do:
- Survive in the wild alone for 7 days
- Sail to Monterey
- Sail to Baha
- Sail to Hawaii
- Sail around the world
- Own a tall ship
- Get a tattoo
- Visit
- Scotland
- England
- Ireland
- France
- Australia
- Amsterdam
- Germany
- Learn to fly a plane
- Own a motorcycle
- Join a secret society
- Search for treasure

Things to make:

- Submarine
- Underground house
- Viking long hall
- Gun
- Sword
- Modern armor
- Car

Scotland

I am hermitting up. There are too many things I wanted to do this year that I didn't get to do and I will be making up for it next year. The first of those things is the Monterey trip. I am going before new years, alone if I have to. I have from Christmas to New Years off so it will be happening. Only the adventurous need apply. We will not be turning back because it's cold or you are geting little splashes of water on you.

The second thing is Scotland. This year we went to Cosamel and that was a lot of fun. Next year will be Scotland. One of the problems is I have this crazy vision of what a trip there should be like and it differs from what other people consider a vacation. I want to travel light; backpack, all items with me at all times. No suitcases full of crap. No hotel reservations. Have a long list of things we might like to visit but no set plans. Kevin is giving me lots of good advice about this. I originally wanted to go with a sleeping bag and tent but he suggested against it, saying B&B type places will work much better and are plentiful as long as you are there when school is in.

Current list of activities (will update as submissions are made):
The Broads
The B&B that my ancestors owned (Gramma gave me the details)
Islay
Edinburgh
Stonehenge and other henges
Battlefiels: Bannockburn, Stirling
Castles

Current tentative dates: May 29th - June 13th. This would require 9 days of time off if you get Memorial day off.

So, if this sounds like something you would like to do, let me know.

One of the ways I am sort of saving up for this trip is to not drink anymore until the trip. That's pretty extreme and I am sure there will be events that will present beer to me in great quantities for free that I won't be able to pass up but the idea is to save money by not buying beer all the time. Let's see how that works out.

In other news, we are playing Diplomacy again. The world has no other game as serious and emotional as this game. What a thing it is.

-Aaron

My latest obsessions

My latest obsessions include watching TV series' that I once avoided but now seek out because I have exhausted the Netflix library. This currently includes Smallville, Hercules, Sliders, Survivor and a few other odds and ends. Ones that I have finished in this way are Always Sunny in Philadelphia, SeaQuest, 30 Rock, Big Bang Theory and a few others that I cannot remember at the moment. Fun!

Now, THIS is something that I have been obsessing over as well. Thanks to Wil Wheaton for pointing this talent out to me. She made a CD that I am probably going to buy, also I see this girl going on to do great things.

Yesterday I went sailing with my neighbors on their Catalina 30. It was great to be on a boat where I am not the one who has to pay attention. It was also neat to check out their cool boat. So much room! I think I want to move up soon.

-Aaron

Gettin' your cheap on!

I like to collect cool things to do in Santa Cruz. By that I mean the cool deals and cool events on certai ndays so I have a list of things I can do on a given day. I thought I would list some of them here.

Hulu's - Friday - Sunday you can get all-you-can-drink mimosas in three different flavors for $10.

Crow's Nest - Wednesday is all night happy hour; half price appitizers and $3 well drinks and pints. Get there early if you want a table!

Hindquarter - Monday is all-you-can-eat beef ribs. Yummy!

Buffalo Bell - $0.49 wing night on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They don't bread their wings which I think is way better than the over-breaded wings at most other places. Some argue that without breading it doesn't hold enough sauce and they are wrong.

Santa Cruz Gamers - Here is something you can do for free if you like board games. We are playing tonight if you would like to join us. You don't need to bring anything, just show up at Woodstock's Pizza at 6pm!

Costco - They certainly don't need my endorcement but consider this: If you go there on a Saturday or Sunday you can literally eat enough samples to have lunch for free. When approaching your would be free food vendor, I suggest looking at them like you are truly interested in their product and might buy a large parcel of said product if only you could try a sample first. After your sample is in hand, nod a couple times and walk away while thinking, "Sucker..."

Also, in the course of writing this blog post, I found out about this blog that is devoted to this very subject and allows you to sort by day, type of food, etc...

These are actual things.

I just wanted to post a few little internet tidbits, in case you were bored.

First, someone asked about the "Start to Crate" game rating system, so I dug the thing up. I mentioned I am playing DDO right now. If you were wondering, the StC rating is 0. You start the game looking at crates that you break open for things.

This Halloween I am dressing up as Dr. Horrible: The Rotund Years. To prime you for this, I would like you all to spend the 42 minutes and watch this thing because it is truly awesome. If you have not watched this thing and you ask me what I am with a blank stare, I will respond, "I am a mad scientist," while silently judging you.

If you ever played the original Legend of Zelda, you will die laughing at this thing. Thanks to Jordan for pointing me to it.

Here are a few more things to tide you over until your next thing.

-Aaron

New Horizons

Not a lot happening right now, just trying to save some money and enjoy life. My birthday has come and gone, thanks everyone who came to Red to wish me happy 34th. Thanks to Amelia for the bottle of mead, and I hear Dowdy is recording a song about me!

In other news, the infamous earl grey mead is brewing, looking forward to that. I bought a new game called Agricola and I really like it. I even bought customized pieces and a plastic tray to keep them in and make the game easier to play.

Big news, I and a few friends have gotten a little bored of WoW. When we heard that DDO had gone free-to-play we decided to give it a try. We are having a great time with this game! I am playing a rogue and they have made rogues better than any other game has to date. They are super sneaky and stabbity and there are a good third of the dungeons that can't even be done without a rogue to disarm the VERY deadly traps. There are also many doors that cannot be found or opened without a rogue so you end up getting 20% of your loot from having a rogue in your party. You also get exp bonuses for disabling traps in each dungeon so your party gets more exp from having a rogue. In this game rather than having tank/healer/dps you actually have a four role system where you need tank/healer/dps/rogue. It sadly does not have a Mac client so I have to play it on my Windows partition but hey, it's been worth it so far. If you want to join us, we are on the Ghallanda server (if your name is Keri, we are on the Pleasegoawayyouscarystalker server).

Winter is coming and I once again have exciting windy and rainy nights, battle with mold and mildew and the need for a reliable heater. Thanks to a wonderful gift certificate from my mom and Doug I now have a new heater and a couple of new fenders to help me weather the storm. For those brave adventurers who like fast, windy sailing, please let me know when you would like to go!

-Aaron

Flag

The above picture is my pirate flag, MY pirate flag, designed by me and sewn together by Leanne Fredrick to fly on my boat. Nice isn't it? I found out that Wells Fargo has a card customizing service that allows you to use an image to be printed on your ATM card. NEAT! I thought this would be the perfect picture! It was REJECTED! Why was this rejected? One of their guidelines for inappropriate images is:

Images of flags, unless it is one of the flag-related images from our photo gallery.

What flags are in their image gallery? Only the US flag. I have no idea what this policy serves. What flag could one have on their card that would offend someone? I personally think this is pure jingoist bullshit. Now I eagerly await your rebuttals in the comments section about why this policy makes sense.

-Aaron

P.S. They even anticipated me trying to upload the same photo again, the website automatically prevents it.

Cozumel: The Ugly

And now the final chapter to the Cozumel trip.

As far as I can tell, the people in Mexico that make road signs are a bunch of pranksters. They have rarely failed at representing some sort of hazard with an image that brings to mind naughty bits. For your enjoyment, here they are:





If any of you have ever read THIS post, then I am sure you are aware of my fascination with blowholes. I will let these pictures tell the whole tale...









I went full blowhole. You never go full blowhole.

And now the grand finale. Our first night there, we admittedly drank way too much. There are some bits that Jordan and I don't remember, but we DO remember this:



That's all for now folks!

-Aaron

Cozumel: The Bad

No vacation would be complete without a few mishaps. Here is the story of the bad.

On the first day I thought it would be a good idea to stick all of my cash, credit cards and ID in a ziplock bag and put it in my pocket so I could go swimming with it. Turns out, it didn't keep the water out and it floated.... out of my pocket... far away into the wild blue ocean. It is good to travel in groups though, Jordan was able to lend me some money to hold me over for the trip. Geed news, did not lose my passport!

In the course of the trip there was a lot of swimming. This lead to some painful ear conditions that affected Jordan, Jackie and me. It didn't feel good and there were days where some of us didn't feel like coming out to play.

There must be something in the water down there in Mexico because we also universally developed a surprising number of gastronomical conditions. We took the liberty of naming them:

- Chum butt
- Mud slide
- Inking
- Whooosghe
- Bubble gum

Senor Frog's: This place was freaking annoying. We went to the one before the ferry and it was somewhat annoying. The one in downtown Cozumel was outright obnoxious. We were seated and accosted by multiple clowns, head shaking shot givers, sombrero picture takers and a DJ that was yelling out things such as, "Yiy, yiy, yiy, arrriba, andele!" The menu outside had different prices than what was inside, I am sure you can tell why that is. There were more waiters than tables and our waiter was more than dismayed when we decided that one beer was enough and we wanted to leave. He took the liberty of clearing our tables and increasing the price of our beers while the clowns accused us with their eyes of killing their puppies.

Texans. Many of the people there were from Texas. With a few exceptions, they were very rude people. They must really dislike these very polite and friendly people who were waiting on them hand and foot because they made it clear that no such courtesy would be reciprocated. Sometimes it was hard to watch.

That was the story of the bad parts. One segment left to reveal, I challenge you to guess the title.

-Aaron

Cozumel: The Good

Cozumel was awesome! This is the story of the good parts.

After a long plane trip, an expensive meal at Senor Frog's, a ferry to the island and a cab ride to the resort, we had arrived. We got these cool little wrist bands that let us do anything we wanted for free! Of course we took full advantage of that.

Our rooms were beautiful, HUGE and the back patio lead out to a connected pool. I got to swim over to Mike and Jackie's room to bother them into drinking with me. The pools had water slides that went straight to the main pool with the swim up bar. Guarberto "Wallace" was our bartender for the whole week, he was such a great sport.

Our favorite restaurant was Mosaic where we had a lovely waiter named Jesus. He lit our drinks on fire and we had some lovely Pad Thai. We ate there mostly but there was a buffet and a couple other restaurants that we could choose to eat at. Great food, great drinks, great times.

We also made a lot of friends with this new game we learned called Liar's Dice. Many a late night ended with the words, "There are twenty-five dice on the table".

At the water you are allowed to use the snorkeling gear for free so we did that. I am really impressed with my underwater camera! It took some great underwater pictures while snorkeling and never broke down. We also took a catamaran to snorkel out in the reefs. We saw turtles and lots of neat fish, and even a shipwreck marker!

The last couple of days were spent shopping and checking out the Myan ruins. There were a lot more ruins than I was expecting to see, really cool! We also went to a restaurant called Coconuts (visualize a sign with two coconuts wearing a bikini and a sombrero and having nipples). It overlooked the sea from a cliff and they had some great conch ceviche.

We took a tour of a tequila tasting room that gave some history and information about making tequila. Yummy!

That is the story of the good. There will be two more blog posts in the following days, stay tuned!

-Aaron

Pirate Fest, the voyage home...

Pirate Fest 2009, Blow the Man Down... and we did! This was such a great success. I don't remember ever having this much fun, great food, side-splitting moments or good friends around me ever in my years sailing the forest floors.

I want to thank Randall for being the bad guy and collecting money from everyone. For the first time ever we broke even and had enough to give a little back to those who went above and beyond. Thank you Myla for arranging for all the wood to be delivered in a most convenient and cost-effective manner. Thank you Jordan and Anna for building and delivering the chairs and swanky playboy sheets for the Black Shenanigan. Thank you Amelia for bringing that excellent homebrew, especially that mead that caused many of us memory loss on Friday night.

Thank you Chunker for bringing those awesome egg rolls. Thank you Benny for the great rum pasta salad. Thank you Greg for the awesome gumbo and congratulations to you and Maria for best outfits. I forget or do not know who brought what dishes entirely but thank you all for really beefing up on the Pirate Feast this year! Last year there were maybe half the dishes but you all really put out this time round.

Thanks Randall for bringing dice and Ivanhoe, Alan and Debbie for bringing Unspeakable Words and Monsters Menace America, Tommy for bringing Toblero, Julie for bringing Apples to Apples and anyone else who brought a game at the great risk of losing pieces to the camping gods.

Thank you Niko for bringing the wide array of weapons, explosive and sharp alike. Perhaps we could drag some more fighters up there next year for a mini pirate fighting tourney!

Chunker, James, Kevin and a few others have taken some great pictures which are currently featured on Facebook. I think you may need an account to access them but HERE is the link to Chunker's and HERE is Kevin's. If anyone else has a gallery URL to send to me and add to the list they will all be added to the Santa Cruz Pirate Fest website.

Thanks to everyone for being awesome about carpooling! I hope the way we did things this year was okay with everyone and if there are any comments or suggestions please feel free to email me.

Finally, thanks for being a saucy crew and taking the weekend out to hold your steins high in the air.


-Captain Groggy Swagger

Avast!

Tomorrow Pirate Fest begins. I am extremely excited! We have some surprises in store for everyone coming. Remember to bring something for the Pirate Feast Saturday evening!

In other news, I had Rock n Roll hauled out of the water and re-painted. It was quite an ordeal and I have to give a big thank you to Vince, Randall and Maddie for putting me up in their house the whole time. Thanks also to Mark Dowdy and Randall for helping me get the boat back and forth under the bridge.

I am taking Jui-jitsu classes right now. It's a great workout! Thanks to Adam for forcing me to go, I needed it.

-Aaron

Night Watching

Late in the evening of July 4th Jordan, Anna, Darwin and some new friends Matt and Jody and myself took Rock n Roll out into the bay to watch the fireworks. It was ... amazing. It was the first time running at night for me. My new favorite phrase right now is the best way to learn is to do. The experience was surreal. I woke in the morning wondering if it all really happened. Might add pictures to this post later.

UPDATE: Here is a photo taken by Anna during the fireworks.



-Aaron

Exciting stuff!

Many things happening, which is no excuse for not posting!


Pirate Fest is in 3 weeks. Woo hoo!

In 4 weeks I go to Cozumel for a whole week with Mike, Jackie, Jordan and Anna. I am sure we will behave ourselves.

I am again playing Diplomacy. I cannot reveal what country I am playing or which countries plan on brutally stabbing me in the back at this point, but I promise I will.

Recent movies:

Year One - Okay.
Land of the Lost - Loved it.
Star Trek - Best movie of the year, will be hard to top. I hope the franchise continues!

Recent TV shows:

I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! - Pure trash. Enjoyed it.
Stargate SG1 - re-watching the whole 10 seasons in preparation of Stargate Universe.
Legend of the Seeker - Like it
Burn Notice - Still my favorite show right now. McGyver lives!

Recent books:

Seven Seas on a Shoestring - Bought in an antique shop. Quite informative and interesting!

Recent games:

House of the Dead - Rail shooter zombie game. Nice and simple.
Agricola - Like Puerto Rico but a little more complex and fun to play.
Citadels - Fun card game with roles.

In other news, I love sailing.

-Aaron

Learning to live on water

I have been asked multiple times recently about how I learned about boats, how to sail and a myriad of other things lately. Here is a little bit I have thrown together in case someone out there might be interested in being a liveaboard in the Santa Cruz harbor.

As soon as I got the idea to be a liveaboard I researched on my own, through friends and through the internet and within two months I had bought my boat and completely moved out of my former living space.

This link is a journal of someone who became a liveaboard. He is a great writer with a sense of humor and very insightful about the things you will need to know. Read everything on this site: Sleeping With Oars


This link is the noaa sailing conditions webservice. Always refer to this and refer your friends to it when planning to sail.

This is the link to the Santa Cruz Harbor. This has news, slip information, rules, regulations, etc...


Here is where I looked for boats to buy:
Craigslist
Yachtworld
Pacific Yachts
Wizard Yachts

Remember that to get into the Santa Cruz south harbor with a sailboat you will need a boat between 27 and 32 feet with a tabernacle mast. If the mast does not tabernacle it can be modified to tabernacle if it is a deck-stepped mast and not a keel-stepped mast. You will want either an outboard motor or an inboard diesel engine. For loan purposes, you will want a 1980 or newer, unless you have cash.

When I finally had the boat I needed to learn to sail. I tried scheduling a class with someone to learn but the person never showed up and I decided that if you don't need a license to sail, it couldn't be that hard. I read two books:

Sailing Fundamentals
Chapman Bible

Also on my first trip out I had my grandmother and grandfather there to answer all of the questions I still had after reading that book. They were very helpful and I suggest going out the first couple times with someone who knows how to sail. The hardest parts to understand are right-of-way, tacking/gibing and setting the sails based on the wind angle.

I have now lived on the boat for 7 months and gone on 12 sailing trips.

-Aaron

Maddie, Daddy and Daddy

In case you are not in "the know", our friends Randall and Vinny have had a baby! Maddie is healthy and cute and I have never seen her two fathers happier than they are now. For more baby goodness you can visit their baby blog and here is a picture:



-Aaron

Adventures in Interwebbing

As you may know, this service is provided to me by a company called Stagecoach Wireless. The service is pretty good, sometimes there are outages or very low bandwidth that make it impossible for me to do things like raid in WoW or watch movies in Hulu (two of my most common internet pastimes). Overall it is great to have a reliable and affordable access point from my boat, in fact it is a requirement for my living situation.

So a few weeks ago my wireless internet went down. I contacted the owner of this internet service who may or may not live there on the Harbor but now it says his voice mailbox is full an all of my support emails to his company have bounced. Now, I have pre-paid for a full year of this service, 6 months of which has been rendered. Also, I am a little worried about him. The last time I heard from him was April 23rd. I called the Harbor Police and they are looking into the matter.

In the meantime, I just could not live that long without internet service. I looked into the available wireless broadband services (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon) and decided to try the AT&T service since it has a 30 day return policy. So far it seems to work pretty well, in fact marginally faster than the wireless service I was using. The major problem seems to be with the limits of usage. I am allowed 5GB of upload/download per month. They have a handy website that you can monitor your usage with and this pro-rated billing cycle is 13 days long. For that 13 days I am allowed 2.2GB. As of today I have used 1.6GB of that watching 7 shows (~4 hours) on Hulu, zero WoW raids plus some light browsing. Something tells me this arrangement will be disappointing and expensive.

Update: The harbor called and said they were able to get him to answer and he is on vacation. One would think he would have someone take care of his business while he is away on vacation, you know, in case someone has a problem that causes them to not have internet for 18+ days. I knew that it was a likely possibility and I am sort of sorry to have bothered him but, I also feel a little bothered. I was already calling local ISPs inquiring if they would be interested in filling in that opportunity to provide service to the harbor. Even now, the problem seems to be either a mis-configured or damaged wireless bridge that took him 4 weeks to deliver to me when I first started the service. I feel like as an American, internet service is an inalienable human right. This situation is very trying for me.

-Aaron

Star Trek Experience

Well, due to some mis-information I went to see the midnight showing of Star Trek on Wednesday. The movie is EXCELLENT though I won't go into details as that would spoil it for everyone else who is going on Friday. I did make a costume:



Unfortunately I cannot afford to rent the electric wheelchair twice so I won't get to wear it on Friday, but I did have fun the first time. The theater even let me use the super secret wheelchair cave!

-Aaron

Funny pictures that will live long and prosper.

-Aaron

Pictures

I have some pictures to share. First, come take a look at my latest sailing trips HERE!

I also took a picture of a manhole cover.



Notice there are little crosses all over it. My question is, are the crosses to keep the vampires out of the sewers?

Now, I need some pictures from you. I was inspired by Spinnwebe's "Left Nipple Collection" and a picture of Brian's left nipple that he sent me one day. I would like to associate a picture of as many left nipples in my phone contact list as I can. So, if you could please email me a picture of your left nipple and your phone number, each time you call me I will be greeted on my iPhone with a full-sized image of your food-dispensing or vestigial valve depending on your gender. I am asking for your phone number because I recently borked up my phone contact list with an ill-fated iTunes sync. As an example, I have provided a picture of my left nipple that you can use in your phone if you would like!



Thanks all and have a great day!

-Aaron

Out of the weeds

Forgive me blogsphere for I have procrastinated. It has been two months since my last post.

Work has been busy lately, compounded by a new gaming group that I have joined and of course the always addictive World of Warcraft.

Things that have happened in the last two months:

- I went to a conference in Vegas
- I have gone sailing a few times
- Brian got engaged
- The Donegans moved into their new house
- Randall and Vince are about to have their baby daughter
- I filed my taxes

All very exciting, except for that last bit. At least I am a little happier about where my money is going this year.

Pirate Fest is coming up (July 17th) as well as Ren Faire (Sept 12th) and PAX (Sept 4th).

On a final note, there was an article written about me in a local online news site called The Cournalist. Let me preface this article by saying that it were me crew that were tipping too much grog, not I. We had a perfectly fine time of herding cats and filling me sails with wind. I would like to thank Graham, Daniel, Dowdy and Jordan for being a merry crew.

-Aaron

Mafia

I am playing this iPhone game called mafia. It's pretty cool I guess. I played a game a while ago called Tanoth and if I had to guess I would say they were created by the same people. In short you fight people and commit crimes for experience and money and you can similarly be attacked by other people who play. You are trying to build a large family, buy enough weapons and armor and invest in real estate so your family can thrive. It's a good distraction when I am waiting for something.

I thought I would jot down some strategies that I have noticed just for fun.

1) Don't buy health points. In fact, keep your health low. If you are low on health you cannot be attacked.

2) Buy real estate. Save up and buy a lot of it before you start buying equipment that has an upkeep cost.

3) If you attack someone and you get a lot of money from winning the fight, go to "My Hood" and you can click on the link to that person and attack them again and again, and you know aready that you are going to win!

4) Always put money in the bank, especially before you fight and before you quit the game.

5) I believe that attack is more important than defense. I have no evidence but I think defense only mitigates damage and attack is how likely you are to win the fight, and losing health is kind of a good thing. I have been putting all of my zen points into attack so far and it's working pretty well.

The whole "family" thing had me confused at first. What happens is if someone joins your family, your family count goes up by one and so does theirs. What this does for you is give you more people to hold guns and such to raise your attack and defense power. You don't actually join someone's family so you are not stuck with them like a guild. That means it is a god thing.

My family code is 379 778 489. If anyne is playing, please leave your code in the comments.

-Aaron

Santa Cruz Pirate Fest 2009

Blow the Man Down: Marooned in Paradise

After our celebration in the year 2008 we again took to the seas in search of fortune and infamy. Not far did we sail before we sighted an armada of warships sent by King George II to take us down to Davey Jone's locker. In our heroic battle with the armada we set three of their ships ablaze, but from the holds of the Black Shenanigan burst a score of ninjas. We defeated the cowardly assassins but were forced to give up the battle and flee around the horn due to the damage to our rigging.

Having escaped the armada, we're now stranded on the shores of the Galápagos Islands. Repairs to the Black Shenanigan are underway but for now we live life on this strange and beautiful paradise with strange creatures and a fine saucy crew.

For more information, visit www.santacruzpiratefest.com.

~Captain Groggy Swagger

Recent fashion trends I am not too keen on

I'm not saying nobody should do these things, everyone has a right to be their own person and wear what they like. Heck, I run around in full pirate regalia. Certainly a large portion of the population thinks I'm a complete idiot for that. I understand. I am just listing things here that I personally do not find attractive. Without further ado, let the slaughter begin.

Girl pompadour. I am a big fan of Hayden Panettiere, but not a fan of this hairstyle. I can't put my finger on why ... it just looks dumb.

Fauxhawk. I used to do this in the bath back when I was 6.

Stretched ear piercings. I have to think that this particular practice is done more for an introspective purpose than it is for attractiveness, because attractive it is not. One thing it has going for it is, it shows commitment unlike our friend the fauxhawk.

Pre-worn jeans. You pay more to buy a pair of jeans that look old and used. The problem is, those symmetrical bleached shapes and the sanded off patches look totally fake. You can tell the difference between them and actual old jeans so all you pull off is looking like a poser.

Giant glasses. We all know who started this little trend. Who in their right mind wants to look like that stupid spoiled whore anyway? Does anyone stop and think that maybe if they emulate a slutty, useless, annoying bitch that you might be perceived as one yourself?

The empire waist. I am told it is pronounced "ahm-peer" to make it sound more fancy-shmancy. This dress style speaks to me though. It says, "I am ready to gestate." So maybe the next big fashion will be bras replaced by breast pumps, we'll have to see.

Guys wearing girl pants. Woo, look at me, I'm a hipster and I can't sit down without going sterile!

And last but most certainly not least, the purse dog. What more responsible decision can one make then to purchase a small dog who's sole purpose will be to decorate your purse. These little mutant dogs actually trigger my gag reflex on occasion. Shouldn't this be considered animal cruelty?

And that concludes my list of recent fashion trends I'm not so keen on. If you are offended by this, I'm sorry, I didn't mean you, I mean all those other people who do that. Honest.

-Aaron

I have more to say

My last post was too short...

You see, the last 8 years of our government have at its core endeavored to control all of us with fear, treat us like idiots and steal from us. Our president didn't even feel the need to answer our questions and only talked to us if he felt like he absolutely had to. Our civil liberties were eroded in the name of homeland security and yet we were less secure within our borders than ever before. Natural disasters went practically unnoticed while we sent our National Guard to foreign shores to fight a war backed by lies. We as a people were held in contempt, looked down on, ignored and in this age of mass communication nobody in the world was blind to it.

I talked to someone who is British. We were talking about the election and I asked, "Why do you care about our election? We don't follow the elections of other countries with this much interest but it seems the whole world is on the edge of their seats about ours." He answered, "Because weather we like it or not, the United States is the military and economic leader of the world, and what you do æffects all of us." This reminded me of the world electoral map, a hypothetical "if the world could vote" map based on polling each country.

I have said before how ashamed I was of our government. Every time I saw an American flag I was reminded of that fact. I served in our armed forces, proudly. I was happy to hear the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star Spangled Banner and all that other patriotic stuff. The last two terms though, I couldn't bear to hear it or see it. Every little thing that happened further eroded my pride for my country and every reminder of it made me sick. Now again, after finally seeing off these wicked men I look at the flags, now becoming more common in Santa Cruz, and hearing the chant of "USA!", I now breathe in and smile. It is as if the weight has been lifted and I can stop hiding from what I am, a citizen of the United States of America. Today at the end of the inauguration I heard our national anthem and my eyes did not stay entirely dry. It's been a long time.

I don't think it is a good time to speculate on what President Obama will do for us. He has his own challenges to overcome. I give him my support and wish him all the best. A quick note though, during his beautiful speech there was a nod to atheists. It was very nice to be acknowledged as an equal by the president. It's been a couple hundred years since that happened.

UPDATE: There is a parade downtown. Things like this make me love this town.





-Aaron

A new era

I came into NextSpace today to see everyone gathered around the projector in the cafe area eating breakfast food and watching the inauguration. Everyone cheered when Biden took the oath, yelling, "Finally, Chaney is gone!" I was moved by the musical piece that was played. Obama took his oath and everyone cheered again, loudly. The feeling I had is, "Finally, I have a country that I can potentially be proud of again." Obama's speech was inspiring. I want all of those things to happen. I want the greed, waste and arrogance to stop. I want us to take responsibility, put our noses to the grindstone and become the leading example for the world once again.

In other news, on Saturday we had game day at Kevin's house. That was a lot of fun and his wife and him are very good hosts. It is always a pleasure to visit. We played a game called Mutiny that was pretty fun though I see some obvious holes in the strategy of the game. It would take some more trials to see exactly how much they could be exploited.

I also tried out the BBQ last night. I cooked some ahi tuna steaks, melted edam cheese on top, onto a cheese roll with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and some tarragon. I also grilled some nice mushrooms (I forget what they are called) and had some raspberries and blueberries. It was my first home cooked meal on board and it verified that I have all of the tools and such that I need for doing a barbecue.

Also, I made level 80 in WoW. That's pretty exciting. Now I can start doing some real raids again.

-Aaron

A pirate's life for me

On Sunday Randall and Vince and I went sailing. They brought a gallon of grog as tribute and a phatty sammich for us to gnosh on. We played a game of Ivanhoe and then cast off for the high seas. The launch was the worst yet; I had a clever idea about how backing up worked but it did not pan out like I had expected and we ended up going backwards the wrong way out of the slip. With some careful maneuvering and some help with a long pole we turned her around and were underway. The tabernacle went smoothly and we cleared the bridge. A quick call to the harbormaster and we got to show our colors and our calls to Aldo's and the Crow's Nest. Cheers came back tenfold and I now know that the true age of piracy has begun.

Out of the harbor there was not enough wind to properly move so we motored out to about 2 miles. Raising the sails on the way, going over some terms and orders, we finally cut the engines. Nothing is quite like the transition from the glug-glug of a diesel engine to the sound of wind whipping over your sails. Nothing. It is a banishing of crude mechanics from your mind to be replaced by pure, natural beauty. Here are some pictures of us being pirates:




We took 'Rock N Roll' out further than I ever have before, I think we went about 3.5 miles out. Along the way, past the mile marker Randall noticed shapes below the water, which was clearer than I thought possible. We saw jellyfish for the most part. Here is a couple pictures I caught with my new digital camera:



We tried to make it up far enough north to ogle the nude beach with the spyglass but the wind was not in our favor for northward progress. We turned south for a little wing-on-wing and got pretty close to the surfers at the point. Back down again to the harbor and we sailed all the way into the mouth before we cut to the engine.

It all is really getting easier each time and every trip is a chance to learn. I also must say, I am enjoying this very much. Please everyone, don't hesitate to show your interest and let me know when you are available.

I had thought we were meeting up with Justin and Jenn but it seems that was a slight miscalculation of dates and they are coming next Sunday. Well, that's no problem for me! We'll just meet next weekend for some sailing. I have some spots free, who wants to go sailing?

-Aaron

NOTE: I did not really take those pictures of the jellyfish. It seems some people were confused so I just wanted to clarify that.

Self similarities

Let's start this post by stating quite clearly that I am no physicist, I am probably not saying anything that has not been thought of before and I do not claim any of this as science. Let us call this philosophical poetry about the existence of everything.

There are things in our world that are easily observable programs that appear in nature. Things like the Golden Ratio matching a snail shell's spiral. Here is an example that I found of black coral growths matching the patterns in an acacia tree and a fern that follows an obvious repeating pattern of scale:



These things can be reproduced with computer programs like fractals. Some might even say that it can explain the formation of life itself and suggests that life throughout the universe might not be as rare as we think. This lead me to think about another set of self similarities. From the tiny quark through the living cell, solar system and up to the universe these spherical structures seem to repeat in increments of scale. Below in an illustration to demonstrate that point:



Trust me, the turtle belongs there. My romantic theory about the existence of everything is that this scale of self similarities extends infinitely in both directions of scale, big and small. This means there are particles that make up a quark and particles that make up those things and so on, and that the universe is itself a particle of something bigger. I have no evidence to back this up other than the precedence set by the similarities that we can observe. I also challenge that we as humans like to thing of things in terms of a beginning and end and that everything has those two things. Consider the possibility that there was no beginning of time, there will be no end of time and everything that our universe is composed of has always been there in one form or another and always will be. It may, just as an atom, be sundered apart and shared by other things in a different incarnation but infinite entirety of everything will always be and always has been and this truth exists on every level of scale.

Or maybe I am just trying to make your brains hurt.

-Aaron

The New Age of Piracy

Now that I am fully qualified to be sailing this little floating world I own, the ground rule I had mentioned earlier are to be put to action immediately. This may not all be in vain as the career choice in coming back into fashion. Please read an article that advocates modern piracy HERE.

The first rule on my boat is, if we go sailing you must be in full pirate regalia. Do not let this discourage you, for dressing like a pirate can be fun, easy and cheap!

A sash of cloth around the waist and a bandanna for the bare essentials, just find some old cloth. Maybe a simple t-shirt with a short split down the chest, or a button down shirt. Cut or shred some old pants at the knees for some slops. Some striped or knee-high socks are a great touch if you have any; A great pair of socks can make any shoes look good or just go barefoot like they used to in the old days. Rather than bringing a plastic sword, I suggest a cut up broom handle. Pirates often fought with a simple belaying pin which was a wooden dowel used to tie up a line.

The second rule aboard my boat is, bring a tribute of rum. It doesn't really need to be rum but nothing makes me happier to give the time and effort to take my friends on a sailing trip than a nice beverage to relax with later.

The third rule aboard my boat is, you are my crew, I am your skipper. You do what I say when I say it. This is for safety and smooth sailing but I try to be fair and calm. If you have a question or a problem, let me know when we are not in the middle of doing something complicated but by all means, ask away!

The fourth rule aboard my boat is, go take a serious bathroom break before we leave. You can use the head on board for potty but I am trying to avoid using it for poopy.

Those are my current rules, let the sailing begin!

EDIT: I was reminded of rule #5 which I considered an unwritten rule but it is worth mentioning. If you have boobies and are willing to let me touch them, rules 1-4 need not apply.

-Aaron

Some random liveaboard notes

I wanted to note some behavior changes I have noticed since the big move. I thought they might be interesting to think about.

Bathroom Awareness - I now seize every opportunity to use a public bathroom as early and often as possible.

Meal Scheduling - I now prefer breakfast more and dinner less due to the corresponding schedule of bowel movements. In the morning, there is nothing more uncomfortable than having to go #2 and having to put on pants and shoes, unbatton the hatch, walk up a ramp, open a gate and then provided you remembered the bathroom key, open the bathroom. With any luck the bathroom will be vacant so you don't accidentally kill an innocent bystander with the ensuing cannon fire. This is another reason that Bathroom Awareness is important.

Water Collection - I bought a little 1 liter, stainless steel water bottle. Not so much to save energy and resources by avoiding plastic bottles, but as a way of grabbing fresh water anywhere I can. Namely the bottled water dispenser at work. Drinking two liters a day and then having a third to take home usually means I won't need to use the bottled water I purchased at the store. Running out of water can suck. I tried the hose water. Not yummy.

Long Term Food - I am now constantly on the lookout for food that doesn't require much or any refrigeration and doesn't spoil. Food that requires no cooking is also really nice. Although I have a rice cooker now, I have not used it. I have actually become slightly biased toward not cooking anything inside the boat for fear that it might create more mess than I want to clean up. It occurs to me that cooking on a stove inside the cabin may distribute grease around the surfaces and odors that might be hard to get rid of. I have used the hot water kettle extensively to make ramen noodles, tea and hot buttered rum. This cooking subject is an evolving subject.

Day Bag - I bought a bag that I carry around everywhere. It contains my bathroom kit, knit gloves, knit cap, coat, towel, laptop, power cord, mouse, headset, checkbook, water bottle and ballpoint pen. I use it to carry things between my car and my boat. This includes laundry, groceries and other things I need to add or remove from my boat inventory.

Car Storage - I put things in the car that I need but don't need to be on my boat. If I go grocery shopping, this could include half of the groceries that won't make it in one trip to the boat. Convenient that I am buying mostly food that doesn't spoil to make that work okay. It also includes a giant stockpile of socks that I compiled during the move. I am still trying to determine the optimal number of socks needed to live through two weeks of laundry.

Trash Discipline - I have become infinitely more neat than I used to be. Some of my friends might recall the famous Vinny ownage, "Does Aaron own a dog?" No longer. If I have an unwashed cup in my galley, the boat looks like a pig sty. I cannot let it go even a day unorganized. Every night I hang a trash bag on my pad lock so that when I reach for the lock I also get the trash bag and I never forget to take it out. This goes a long way toward keeping everything ship shape.

Ownership Resistance - I believe I have talked about this before but it is worth mentioning in the context of this list. I no longer buy things on impulse. Everything must have a purpose that it serves daily and is worthy of the space it takes in my boat. If it is needed and not used daily, it is demoted to Car Storage. If it is not needed weekly, it is demoted to my storage space on Brommer Street. If it is not needed monthly, it has a great chance of getting thrown out, given away or sold. Beware gift givers, there are few exceptions to this rule.

I might add to this list, but this is pretty good for now. In other news, I am starting do do SCA stuff with the local group. This weekend, I will most likely be going to 12th Night. If you clicked on all three of those links and still don't know what the hell I am talking about ... I can't help you.

EDIT: Additions...


Sea Legs - I no longer feel the difference between land and the boat so going from the boat to land no longer feels funny and going from land to the boat no longer requires an adjustment to balance.

-Aaron

Sailor?!? I don't even KNOW her! Ahahahaha!

This holiday weekend I did a lot. I mean a real lot. I didn't get to play WoW nearly at all.

First it was a trip to Paso Robles to see my Sister. I had heard from her that the hardest part of dealing with Kaley is that she wants to wear her princess pajamas every morning. Naturally I bought her a Tinkerbell dress complete with wings and a princess jewelry set with a tiara, earrings, necklace and bracelets. I thought I was doing my duty as an uncle to buy these things. Unfortunately it backfired as this gave Kaley more than one thing she might want to wear in the morning. The "angry shot" of my sister was not nearly as angry as I was expecting. Better luck next year when I buy the "Fisher Price 'My First Drum Set'".

Thank you John and Thea for the crackers, smoked salmon, gift Visa and homemade grape jelly!

Thank you Mom and Doug for the foul weather gear, Johnny Walker scotch and super socks!

Thank you Randall and Vince for the awesome cookies!

Thank you Gramma and Grampa and Wrendy and Phil for the wonderful cards!

Next I met with my grandma and grandpa at the docks, along with my uncle Mitch, his two daughters Meagan and Heather, My aunt Wrendy, her husband Phil and their son Eric and daughter Jessica. We had to make two trips out because there is some six person rule I once heard about. Mitch, Grampa, Phil, Eric, Jessica and I went out first. The sun was shining and the wind was plentiful. We went all over the bay! We made it back in about two hours and docked in front of the Crow's Nest to swap crews. Then out again for more sailing. This really was one of the best days of my life. I learned so much about sailing, safety, wind, tacking, woo! I am now confident enough that I can take non-experienced people out on my boat without worry. I am not quite ready to solo yet but I am sure it will come.

SO... that means now is your chance. Reservations are open, give me a call and let me know when you want to go out. I can go after work as I get off at about 3 but it doesn't leave a lot of time with the sun setting at 5pm right now. Weekends would be better. It would also help if you can look at the wind conditions and pick a day that has near 10-20 knots of wind.

I am also starting my rod repair project. I have a sea fishing rod that my great grandfather made but some parts of it are broken. I am going to fix it up and then I will then have two rods and two reels for anyone who wants to fish while we are out.

After the wonderful sailing trip I drove to Pollock Pines to visit my Dad. After an unsuccessful computer class (my fault) we went to dinner at a local steak house. Yum, steak! I helped him out in the shop a bit and he gave me a tackle box that his dad Jesse Rhodes made. Totally cool! That's way better than buying one of those plastic pieces of junk. It has some weights, hooks and line in it already so I am almost set on tackle now too!

Sunday morning I stopped by Alan and Debbie's house in Rancho Cordova. I let them know I was interested in starting some SCA activities, including heavy fighting. Jordan and I went to one of the Canton of Caer Darth practices which we will be attending on Thursdays. Alan lent me some of Debbie's gear including a helmet, gauntlets, plate leggings and some other odds and ends. A good start! I think I shall also be attending 12th night. More info on that later.

In other news, I am tired of trying to figure out the difference between 'effect' and 'affect'. When have you ever said, "Oh, affect, not effect. That changes everything!"? Therefore, I will now merge these two words into 'æffect' despite the trouble it takes to look up the word æther and copy and paste the letter to spell æffect.

For your review

I have recently played a bunch of new games. I thought you might like to hear about them.

Fallout 3

I played Fallout 2, never the first one so I think I have a moderate standpoint between the hardcore Fallout enthusiasts and the newcomers who never experienced the isometric, top view, turn based RPG in the days of yore. The beginning did a great job of setting up your character and running you through the tutorial. I really enjoy it when a game makes the tutorial portion transparent through the storyline. This feat is only topped by games that are so intuitive that no tutorial is required. This experience was horribly marred though at the moment you exit the vault and it asks you if you wanted to change anything about your character before starting the game. Really, that was a total pussy move. After exiting the vault you are presented with a dystopian world after a nuclear holocaust. They nailed this pretty well. Mutant animals and humans running amok, people living on the trappings of the past, surviving in ways that would be considered criminal in our time but are a natural part of life there. The obvious correlation between this game and Oblivion are obvious but I think it was a natural engine to convert Fallout to. The game is challenging, has a bit of the charm of the old games and with the side quests there is a lot of enjoyment to be had. The skills system is enjoyable and has noticeable effects on your character. I am trying to think of some annoying aspects of the game (besides that blunder in the beginning) and it is hard to identify anything specific. Perhaps the optional VATS system is a little clunky. I would rather they had stuck to either FPS or VATS and not made it an optional gig. I think that overall the game is great though the scenery can get a little monotonous. There are only so many rusty cars that I can look at before I think a nice rusty gas pump would have been nicer. This is a game I will pop in and out of my XBox on occasion, satisfied with doing side quests and never completing the game completely, sort of like Oblivion.

Dead Space

The most shocking aspect of Dead Space is that it was made by EA. I was fairly comfortable with the idea that EA would only make sequels and sports games, like the upcoming "Madden 2010: Roster Update". Shocking I tell you because this game is wonderful. It has the feeling of a directed horror movie with eerie music queuing when you are about to be scared out of your seat. Shocking sequences of shadows, sound and movement that we got a taste of in Bioshock are perfected in this game. The plot is very similar to the most recent trilogy of Metroid games in that you must travel about this 3d map repairing things and picking up upgrades to allow you to move into the next area. The story is engaging and delivered in a believable way. Another wonderful feature of the game is a complete lack of a 4th wall interface. Your ammo, life and video communication are all done with in game elements like holograms or indicators on your armor and weapons. There is still a full screen map and inventory that I think could have been done in game with a little more work, but I respect the amount of time that would have taken to implement. There's room to grow, let's hope we see that done in future games. I enjoy though that I don't have to look at some hokey ammo indicator on the left edge of my screen, constantly tainting my immersion. The battle system has a unique shaped ammo element that sets it apart from other FPS games in that it adds a level of strategy beyond the standard sort, mid, long range weapon choices. My only complaint might be the upgrade system and the power node rarity. After almost completing the game I realize that my math is bad and I should have been opening all those doors that required a node to open. I also don't think the upgrades are very descriptive, intuitive or fun. I consider this the weak point of the game but really this could have been a great game without any upgrade system whatsoever. All in all I loved this game and would recommend it to anyone of appropriate age. It is even more gruesome and frightening than Bioshock was and I think it might give small children nightmares. If you like scary, you are golden.

Crossbones

I picked up this game for my iPhone and it has become my new diversion when I forget to bring my DS somewhere. Pull it out and a quick game always treats me with a grin. If you are familiar with the card game Set the idea of the game will come easily. There are four criteria of the tiles in this pirate themed game:

1) Color
2) Stripes
3) Symbols
4) Count

Each criteria has three iterations and to complete a match, you need three tiles that either match each criteria or are a complete mismatch of the iterations. I probably didn't explain it well but after you get the hang of it (with the game's easy tutorial) your head will buzz as you start to match them faster and faster. Beware of the 'Hard' setting; It will make you feel unworthy! It also has a 'hand' feature that is unique to the Set game and adds a but of hands on to the gameplay. If you can't match anything you see you can shake your iPhone for a new hand of four cards that only you have access to. I have so far been unable to participate in an online match so I am hoping this will get all of you out there tapping away at it so I can lock horns of wit with you in the near future! Until then, the single player game is a worthy opponent.

-Aaron