So I have spent the majority of today cooking. I made a Spinach and Cheddar Frittata with toast for K.’s Mother’s Day breakfast, and then I whipped up some California Rolls and Vietnamese Spring Rolls for my Mom and Sister. I’ve got the kitchen cleaned from all of that, and now I’m working on Dinner. Steak and Potatoes.

Whoo!

My back hurts from standing in the kitchen all day, but the rewards of cooking good food for important ladies makes it worth it.

Made some really spiffy stuff the other night, too. There is a picture of it on K.’s camera. Will post it when I can.

Having seen them twice I can honestly say that VNV Nation is just about the best live band I’ve ever had the honor of seeing. One of the things I like the most is Ronan’s communication with the audience. Both times he has been witty, amiable and charming. In that regard he reminds me of Warren Zevon or Tori Amos.

You know what else I like about him? The fact that he has a good sense of humor (for the most part) about the SimRonan stuff (a parody of him by a guy named Bogart that he joked about the last time we saw him) and he doesn’t have that angsty artist “you must appreciate my new material” business going on. Don’t get me wrong – I understand putting out new stuff, but I hate it when you go to see a band and they hardly play any of the songs that made them famous or you get a feeling like they resent doing so. David Bowie, as much as I love him, often seems to take that attitude about his older stuff and (If I’m not mistaken) has vowed not to play it anymore. Me? I’d be sorely disapointed if I saw Bowie and he didn’t play “Changes.”

Anyway, last night before playing “Beloved” Ronan asked the crowd “How many of you came here tonight JUST to hear this song?”

The crowd went crazy.

He said “Thank You” and bowed.

That’s some serious gratitude right there.

So yeah. Great concert. Great friends. Teasing the ladies with the kilt. Dancing next to netgoth on the floor.

HELL of a night.

—

To all the women in my life who are Mothers, Step-Mothers or Grandmothers…but especially to My Mother, My Sisters, and My amazing other half netgoth

Happy Mothers Day

Anyone who knows me knows that I owe what I am to the two women who raised me. My Dad left early, so it was My Mom and Sister who really taught me to be the Man who I turned out to be. Sure, in some respects that might have made me a bit more effeminate than I would have been had I been raised by a Man, but I’m pretty damned happy with the overall result, personally.

Being a Mother has got to be one of the hardest jobs around, and doing it alone has got to be next to impossible. My Mom had my Sister to help with me. K – You’ve pretty much done it on your own. For that you have my utmost respect and admiration, even if you don’t always feel like you have done a good job. You’ve never given up on J., no matter how hard it’s been, and that makes you an awesome Mom in my book. Some day he’s going to thank you for that. It might be a long time coming, but he will.

To my sister, K. – Happy First Mother’s Day, kiddo. I remember what it was like having A. around your age and I do not envy you some of the rough times you have ahead. M. is a beautiful baby, though, and you’re doing a hell of a job so far. I’m proud of you.

I love you all.

I would be lax if I didn’t mention two other people. blood4fngrpaint – Call me crazy, but I almost feel like an extended family member as I watch little Ronin grow inside of you. You are one of the cutest pregnant Mom’s I’ve ever seen, and I really look forward to watching you guys raise him. He’s going to be an awesome kid.

And last, but not least…Respect to my ex. You and I were meant to do one thing in the grand scheme of the universe – Bring A. into the world. Despite what happened between us and the disputes we still have on occasion, I will never deny that you have been a kick ass Mother to my Son, and for that you will always have some amount of respect from me.

—

I’m off. Got some goofin’ off I want to do before I start with the Mothers Day cooking. Hope you guys are having a great day.

..but is it even worth it to get upset anymore when the cable company people make you nervous by not showing up until the very tail end of their appointment window? The last time this happened they didn’t show up at all, and we got some kind of incredible bullshit story about how he was there but nobody answered the door (did he call? noooo) so they just closed the ticket.

Lovely, huh?

So yeah, we’re waiting for them to come and fix whatever it is that is causing our internet connection to be craptastic. It’s been frustrating. What really frightens me is that most of my friends don’t have Business Class and actually have to jump through a bunch of lame hoops before they even get to a technician.

In other news, I got my annual review this week. It was great. Got the maximum available increase. Whoo!

I’m pretty tired at the moment, which kinda sucks because we’re going to see VNV tonight.

Umm…that’s it.

But this takes the cake.

Wow.

Ganked from cavalorn

This is not a satire.

Amazing what you find on the CoH forums. 😀

I could kiss this woman. Seriously.

And on a completely opposite note, Orson Scott Card is an ass. I understand that Star Trek isn’t the finest Science Fiction ever, and that most of it is pretty lame to tell the truth, but some of the comparisons that he makes are totally fucked. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Being John Malkovich? Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Sci-Fi? Ok, I understand that they technically might fit the bill, but comparing Star Trek to Buffy is like comparing Northern Exposure to Days of Our Lives. While they may very well be in the same genre they are by no means the same thing. The only Space Opera type of show that he mentioned was Firefly, and I will totally agree that the few episodes that came out were better than most of what came out of the Star Trek franchise.

But that doesn’t mean Star Trek completely sucked.

To top it all off he points out that the people who originally watched the series did so because they didn’t know there was anything better out there. Ok, maybe that’s true in some cases but not all of them. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that most of the people who are “rabid” Trekkers have also read most of the authors on his list. Even if what he says is true, how many people wouldn’t have a clue who Harlan Ellison was if they hadn’t watched “City On The Edge Of Forever?”

My personal take? For one, he’s being a total fucking hypocrite. How much money has he milked out of Ender’s Game? He’s written at least 10 books that I could find in that series, and he’s also negotiating Movie and Video Game rights. Sounds to me like someone is just jealous that his shit hasn’t been milked for as much cash as Roddenberry’s. Secondly, and more important, he’s being damned ungrateful. In the 60’s Star Trek was to many children what Star Wars was to kids in the late 70’s – An eye opening look into a world that they had never seen before. Orson Scott Card would do well to remember that he probably owes the Star Trek franchise for igniting the Science Fiction spark in many of his readers.

And no, I’ve never read any of his books. After this, I may not. While I don’t dress up or speak Klingon I consider myself a Trekker, and Mr. Card has just slapped me and those like me in the face.

So to hell with him. Live long and prosper, beeyatch.

Ha Ha! I’m using the internet!

…but it looks like I’m going to be in Las Vegas from June 19th – 25th for a MySQL training seminar. It’s all approved on this end, I’m just waiting to hear back from the MySQL people about payment methods for the class. I’ll be staying at The Golden Nugget.

Do I even know anyone in Vegas??

Edit It’s official. I’m going.

I guess it’s just an odd coincidence, but yesterday I pointed out a bird I had never seen before to netgoth and frith_lord after it started using our new bird feeder. It was really quite pretty, but none of us had any real clue as to what it was. Today there was a picture of that type of bird on the front page of the St. Petersburg Times Floridian section.

It was a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.

Kind of long and rambly thoughts that were sparked by my Weight Watchers meeting last night.

I’ll bet my co-workers think I’m musically retarded.