Well, somewhat. The blog has been pretty much moved, but I hadn't pointed anyone to the new domain until we could get the worst the template changes out of the way. ("We" meaning my husband since he can look at CSS without going cross-eyed, and because he's just cool like that.)
So, this is the official post. Update your bookmarks, folks. The Kumquat is now located at the following domain. Be sure to write it down somewhere safe:
http://www.kamikazekumquat.com/
I know, it's hard to remember, but please try. I kind of like having my peeps drop by for a visit every now and again.
Be there or be some four-cornered geometric shape!
Monday, February 09, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
DING!
Okay, the hubby, who is so full of awesome if you were to prick him he would bleed it, bought me my own domains and hosting for my blogs for "I Love That You're A Geek Day" (also known as Valentine's to you non-geeks.)
That's right! I've leveled up! So, expect big changes.
The Crochet Cultist is a larger blog at the moment, and I haven't really gotten the whole Wordpress thing down, so I'm importing this blog first to do some learnin'. So, if you guys have trouble accessing or commenting, be patient. I will get things fixed eventually. But, I doubt it will affect things here.
I'll post the official announcement of the move and the link when it's all finished.
_______________
By the way...I have my own domains! Sqeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
That's right! I've leveled up! So, expect big changes.
The Crochet Cultist is a larger blog at the moment, and I haven't really gotten the whole Wordpress thing down, so I'm importing this blog first to do some learnin'. So, if you guys have trouble accessing or commenting, be patient. I will get things fixed eventually. But, I doubt it will affect things here.
I'll post the official announcement of the move and the link when it's all finished.
_______________
By the way...I have my own domains! Sqeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Geek Valentine's
You know, for the most part, I couldn't give a damn about Valentine's Day. For years, friends and I celebrated it as Singles Day where we would dress in black and send each other flowers and go out and it the most fattening things we could find. The way we saw it was it was a made up holiday to make guys feel bad about not being that Hollywood hero and force them to spend a bunch of money all in the name of "love". Honestly, it's very unfair to guys. They're expected to pretty much take the heat on this one because, boys, if you forget Valentine's you might as well have told her she had a fat ass and her place was in the kitchen. There will be fury and hell will be impressed.
The same goes for the damned engagement ring. DeBeers has created a made up tradition to sell diamonds that only take two to three months of a guy's salary...Personally, I would have killed my husband had he spent that much on a ring. Do you know what kind of theater room we could build with that money? Besides, diamonds are overrated. He got me a lab-grown emerald, and it's prettier than any overpriced emasculating sparkly. Guys if she wants you to spend two-months salary on an piece of jewelry, run far, far away!
Wait. Where was I? Okay, back on track.
If it's not a guilt fest for the guys, it's a day that's supposed to make up for an entire year of a couple treating each other like crap. Either way, Valentine's is ultimately a pain in the ass.
Unfortunately, though, when you become part of a couple, you feel this weird urge to celebrate it in some way. I don't know if it's that ingrained in our culture now, or if we're just that brainwashed. No matter how you try to avoid it, you feel like crap if you don't do something on Valentine's. (It's like the Borg Collective covered in hearts and fluffy bows.)
Neither Todd nor I were really into Valentine's Day as a holiday, but ignoring it didn't make it go away. So, how does a geek couple celebrate a holiday they don't care about but yet give in to their conditioning without losing cred for being the free-thinking individuals that they are?
Well, our first Valentine's, he bought me a rubber chicken.
Best. Valentine's. Ever.
The year he gave me a DS and I bought him a "White and Nerdy" hoody was one to remember.
This year, I haven't a clue what I'm going to get him. I'm thinking cubicle arsenal, but we'll see. For me, he's actually thinking about doing something that is about as romantic two geeks can get: he's thinking of purchasing my own domains for my blogs. How full of awesome is that?
What it comes down to is Hallmark can keep the teddy bears and chocolates and singing greeting cards covered in obnoxious pink. Our day is more of an appreciation of our geekiness, which is one of the many reasons we got together in the first place. There is no pressure. There are no guilt trips. (Hell, I don't think we did anything last year.) It's just an excuse to say, "Dude, I love that you're so geek!"
Non-geeks have it rough, the poor saps.
____________________
Well, they don't have to keep the chocolates. That they can promote all they want. Chocolate is melt-in-your-mouth heaven. No need to be stingy with the chocolate.
The same goes for the damned engagement ring. DeBeers has created a made up tradition to sell diamonds that only take two to three months of a guy's salary...Personally, I would have killed my husband had he spent that much on a ring. Do you know what kind of theater room we could build with that money? Besides, diamonds are overrated. He got me a lab-grown emerald, and it's prettier than any overpriced emasculating sparkly. Guys if she wants you to spend two-months salary on an piece of jewelry, run far, far away!
Wait. Where was I? Okay, back on track.
If it's not a guilt fest for the guys, it's a day that's supposed to make up for an entire year of a couple treating each other like crap. Either way, Valentine's is ultimately a pain in the ass.
Unfortunately, though, when you become part of a couple, you feel this weird urge to celebrate it in some way. I don't know if it's that ingrained in our culture now, or if we're just that brainwashed. No matter how you try to avoid it, you feel like crap if you don't do something on Valentine's. (It's like the Borg Collective covered in hearts and fluffy bows.)
Neither Todd nor I were really into Valentine's Day as a holiday, but ignoring it didn't make it go away. So, how does a geek couple celebrate a holiday they don't care about but yet give in to their conditioning without losing cred for being the free-thinking individuals that they are?
Well, our first Valentine's, he bought me a rubber chicken.
Best. Valentine's. Ever.
The year he gave me a DS and I bought him a "White and Nerdy" hoody was one to remember.
This year, I haven't a clue what I'm going to get him. I'm thinking cubicle arsenal, but we'll see. For me, he's actually thinking about doing something that is about as romantic two geeks can get: he's thinking of purchasing my own domains for my blogs. How full of awesome is that?
What it comes down to is Hallmark can keep the teddy bears and chocolates and singing greeting cards covered in obnoxious pink. Our day is more of an appreciation of our geekiness, which is one of the many reasons we got together in the first place. There is no pressure. There are no guilt trips. (Hell, I don't think we did anything last year.) It's just an excuse to say, "Dude, I love that you're so geek!"
Non-geeks have it rough, the poor saps.
____________________
Well, they don't have to keep the chocolates. That they can promote all they want. Chocolate is melt-in-your-mouth heaven. No need to be stingy with the chocolate.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
And, yet, I don't get sea or air sick. God, I'm weird.
Okay, this motion sickness thing is fucking ridiculous.
I'm sitting in the chair watching my husband play "Half-Life 2" for the first time. Yes, I know we lose gaming geek cred for having not played them, but he, up until the 360, was more of a PC MMORPG player, and I, as previously griped about, get motion sickness even watching first person shooters.
Now, having never played the Half-Life games, I wasn't aware how utterly awesome they are. I mean, I knew Valve had it together when I played "Portal" (which is gaming perfection, if you ask me), but damn, they make seriously good FPS games.
I couldn't stop watching him play it. Even as my head started pounding and my eyes wanted to cross, I couldn't stop watching. If nothing else, the game is funny as hell. It starts with the dialog and goes right into "exactly how many saw blades does it take to get to the center of that zombie horde?"
But, alas, there was only so much I could take. I took some Dramamine to battle it, but it was too late. I ended up having to lumber upstairs to lie down.
You know when you feel horribly nauseous and suddenly you realize you feel a small burp coming on and you're afraid that if it comes out it won't be alone? Yeah, it was like that.
As I laid there waiting for the room to stop spinning and try to nap while the Dramamine kicked in, there was much cackling from the hubby downstairs admist much gunfire and the odd explosion or two. I haven't seen him have this much fun with a game since "Overlord". (We still run around the house saying in whiney voices, "For the master!")
An hour and a half later, I wake up. There is not only gunfire still pounding through the house, but he hadn't even gotten up to turn on the lights once the sun went down.
That's a damn good game.
It's good enough that I realized I have had enough of this motion sickness crap keeping me away from the violence and mayhem that I deserve. I missed out on so much not being able to play FPSs. From now on, if there is a Saturday that we're home and I'm not working on a project, I'm going to wake up, dose up on Dramamine, and catch up with the rest of the gaming world. The chaos will be mine. Oh, yes, it will be mine.
Besides, "Left 4 Dead" is a zombie shooter. A zombie shooter! That couldn't get more made for me if it was a custom fit bra with retractable blades.
It just means I get to invest in one of those industrial-sized bottles of Dramamine.
That, or I keep a puke bucket by the couch.
_________________________
Hey, everyone has their glass ceiling to break through. Mine is first person shooters. It just means I get to use a machine gun to shatter the barrier.
I'm sitting in the chair watching my husband play "Half-Life 2" for the first time. Yes, I know we lose gaming geek cred for having not played them, but he, up until the 360, was more of a PC MMORPG player, and I, as previously griped about, get motion sickness even watching first person shooters.
Now, having never played the Half-Life games, I wasn't aware how utterly awesome they are. I mean, I knew Valve had it together when I played "Portal" (which is gaming perfection, if you ask me), but damn, they make seriously good FPS games.
I couldn't stop watching him play it. Even as my head started pounding and my eyes wanted to cross, I couldn't stop watching. If nothing else, the game is funny as hell. It starts with the dialog and goes right into "exactly how many saw blades does it take to get to the center of that zombie horde?"
But, alas, there was only so much I could take. I took some Dramamine to battle it, but it was too late. I ended up having to lumber upstairs to lie down.
You know when you feel horribly nauseous and suddenly you realize you feel a small burp coming on and you're afraid that if it comes out it won't be alone? Yeah, it was like that.
As I laid there waiting for the room to stop spinning and try to nap while the Dramamine kicked in, there was much cackling from the hubby downstairs admist much gunfire and the odd explosion or two. I haven't seen him have this much fun with a game since "Overlord". (We still run around the house saying in whiney voices, "For the master!")
An hour and a half later, I wake up. There is not only gunfire still pounding through the house, but he hadn't even gotten up to turn on the lights once the sun went down.
That's a damn good game.
It's good enough that I realized I have had enough of this motion sickness crap keeping me away from the violence and mayhem that I deserve. I missed out on so much not being able to play FPSs. From now on, if there is a Saturday that we're home and I'm not working on a project, I'm going to wake up, dose up on Dramamine, and catch up with the rest of the gaming world. The chaos will be mine. Oh, yes, it will be mine.
Besides, "Left 4 Dead" is a zombie shooter. A zombie shooter! That couldn't get more made for me if it was a custom fit bra with retractable blades.
It just means I get to invest in one of those industrial-sized bottles of Dramamine.
That, or I keep a puke bucket by the couch.
_________________________
Hey, everyone has their glass ceiling to break through. Mine is first person shooters. It just means I get to use a machine gun to shatter the barrier.
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Oscar Committee is blind
Okay, am I the only one that's thoroughly pissed that Heath Ledger got a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar nom?
The hubby said, "Well, he wasn't the star."
I beg to differ. I hate to break it to the studio, but we went to this movie because it was Batman and in it was the best portrayal of the Joker ever committed to film. I'm sorry, in my not-so-humble opinion, he was a co-star. This was in no way shape or form a supporting role. Two Face was more of a supporting role. The movie could have rolled on without him. But, without either Batman or the Joker, it would have just been strange little cop show better suited for TV. This movie doesn't exist without the Joker.
And, let's not forget that this role is pretty much what killed Heath Ledger. The man dies from all the trauma inflicted upon him from just pretending to be this crazed madman, and they give him "Best Supporting Actor"? Apparently, in order to get "best actor" you have to be either Tom Hanks or top dying from a role by maybe rising from the dead and healing the sick and bringing peace, joy, and bunnies to the world. And, I'm not so sure about the latter idea. That Oscar Committee is harsh and obviously populated by morons.
Yeah, I knew there was a reason I stopped watching the Oscars after overblown, teeny-bopper giggle-fest known as "Titanic" swept up. Idiots.
______________________
Go ahead. Flame me for the Titanic remark. It wasn't that good of a movie, folks. The fact it beat out "Good Will Hunting" and "L.A. Confidential" was absolutely criminal.
The hubby said, "Well, he wasn't the star."
I beg to differ. I hate to break it to the studio, but we went to this movie because it was Batman and in it was the best portrayal of the Joker ever committed to film. I'm sorry, in my not-so-humble opinion, he was a co-star. This was in no way shape or form a supporting role. Two Face was more of a supporting role. The movie could have rolled on without him. But, without either Batman or the Joker, it would have just been strange little cop show better suited for TV. This movie doesn't exist without the Joker.
And, let's not forget that this role is pretty much what killed Heath Ledger. The man dies from all the trauma inflicted upon him from just pretending to be this crazed madman, and they give him "Best Supporting Actor"? Apparently, in order to get "best actor" you have to be either Tom Hanks or top dying from a role by maybe rising from the dead and healing the sick and bringing peace, joy, and bunnies to the world. And, I'm not so sure about the latter idea. That Oscar Committee is harsh and obviously populated by morons.
Yeah, I knew there was a reason I stopped watching the Oscars after overblown, teeny-bopper giggle-fest known as "Titanic" swept up. Idiots.
______________________
Go ahead. Flame me for the Titanic remark. It wasn't that good of a movie, folks. The fact it beat out "Good Will Hunting" and "L.A. Confidential" was absolutely criminal.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Ah, yes, the RRoD
You know, I ask for so little in life. I want to be able to say my job is successful. I want our budget to work so we can buy a house. I want us to weather the economy at least well enough. I want the CPSIA to be seen for the stupidity it is and scrapped as a national embarrassment. I want makers of gaming consoles to at least put an effort into making sure the system doesn't brick if we look at it cross-eyed so that we don't have to live in paranoia every time we hit the power button!
Okay, so maybe I do ask a lot, and all of those I am working on heavily and we can only wait and see. The last one, though, I don't think is asking too much, and honestly, I think each head of the corporations who create the consoles should be forced to have a very large man with no hair or sense of humor following them around, and every time they are told of consoles bricking, that humorless man is obligated to beat the snot out of them with a rubber hose until they promise to never let it happen again.
Of course, that's just personal opinion.
So, yeah, if you haven't guessed, our 360 Elite finally bricked the other night. We pretty much figured it was coming since a) we had it since it debuted without trouble which only means it was on its way and b) we were starting to get single red rings and had at least two triple rings that Todd managed to chase away with determination and a can of air. (Seeprevious post about it.)
Now, I admit, having it for a couple of years without trouble is definitely better than all those other people who have turned their 360s in several times for being nothing but a glorified doorstop. However, it doesn't excuse the paranoia we lived under waiting for the thing to brick because, well, It's What They Do. And, I'm sorry, no one should have to expect a system to brick. Every time there was a major update, like the recent Fall Update, we would refuse to turn it on until we checked all the major gaming sites to see if it was bricking systems. That's kind of ridiculous.
I was pretty resistant to getting a 360 in the first place because I was a diehard Sony Girl. Unfortunately, when the PS3s came out with that amazing price tag and Sony started crippling the backwards compatibility, losing their major exclusives, and being all around assholes, I was willing to give the 360 a chance. I hate to admit that it's a good system, but they've got the online gaming thing down, there are a lot of good games out for it, and it's a pretty nifty media center. I like it. A lot.
So, when it finally did brick, I was emotionally torn between a sense of relief that it finally happened and a definite urge to find someone to maim.
We had an extended warranty to it from Best Buy because we aren't stupid, so it was just a matter of exchanging it for a new one...after Todd had to stand there and wait for them to figure out why the hell someone put our warranty under a PS3. (Which worked out because we got a new 360, another extended warranty because they had to take it as a return, and a few extra bucks because the Elites have come down in price, so my rage was calmed some.) But, we shouldn't even have to be going through that. I mean, my PS1 never had a problem. Ever. I bought a second generation, and until I bought the PS2, it chugged along happily without any issues. Before that, we had a Genesis and a Super Nintendo, both of which were tanks that would not quit even after my brother broke the front of the SNES by kicking it. (Also, had a Sega CD and later a Saturn, but you know, we forget those dark days.) What happened to systems you could count on?
Okay, the husband always brings up how much more complicated the systems are. He's got a point, but call me old fashioned, I still think that regardless of how complicated something is, they should at least guarantee the fucking thing will work!
The Wii is the only system we didn't even worry about. We still don't. Neither one of us have ever had a Nintendo anything that would just randomly go belly up. Unfortunately, as much as we love that comfort, the Wii doesn't have shit for games right now because the programmers can't figure the thing out. So, take the good with the bad, I guess.
Husband assures me that the new Elite will less likely go belly up because they have new motherboards that don't overheat as much. I hope he's right.
I'm not going to say that I still won't have paranoia in the back of my mind about the thing. My trust in the NextGen systems were compromised long ago, so it will take a lot for me to just accept that all is well.
At least, though, it's quieter.
________________________
We won't talk about the husband forgetting to take the Rock Band 2 disk out of the drive before returning the 360 dooming him to play Guitar Hero 3 until he can afford to replace it. I don't play it, so I just think it's funny. Had it been Fallout 3 or Lost Odyssey there would have been serious domestic violence...possibly involving a large bald man and a rubber hose...
Okay, so maybe I do ask a lot, and all of those I am working on heavily and we can only wait and see. The last one, though, I don't think is asking too much, and honestly, I think each head of the corporations who create the consoles should be forced to have a very large man with no hair or sense of humor following them around, and every time they are told of consoles bricking, that humorless man is obligated to beat the snot out of them with a rubber hose until they promise to never let it happen again.
Of course, that's just personal opinion.
So, yeah, if you haven't guessed, our 360 Elite finally bricked the other night. We pretty much figured it was coming since a) we had it since it debuted without trouble which only means it was on its way and b) we were starting to get single red rings and had at least two triple rings that Todd managed to chase away with determination and a can of air. (Seeprevious post about it.)
Now, I admit, having it for a couple of years without trouble is definitely better than all those other people who have turned their 360s in several times for being nothing but a glorified doorstop. However, it doesn't excuse the paranoia we lived under waiting for the thing to brick because, well, It's What They Do. And, I'm sorry, no one should have to expect a system to brick. Every time there was a major update, like the recent Fall Update, we would refuse to turn it on until we checked all the major gaming sites to see if it was bricking systems. That's kind of ridiculous.
I was pretty resistant to getting a 360 in the first place because I was a diehard Sony Girl. Unfortunately, when the PS3s came out with that amazing price tag and Sony started crippling the backwards compatibility, losing their major exclusives, and being all around assholes, I was willing to give the 360 a chance. I hate to admit that it's a good system, but they've got the online gaming thing down, there are a lot of good games out for it, and it's a pretty nifty media center. I like it. A lot.
So, when it finally did brick, I was emotionally torn between a sense of relief that it finally happened and a definite urge to find someone to maim.
We had an extended warranty to it from Best Buy because we aren't stupid, so it was just a matter of exchanging it for a new one...after Todd had to stand there and wait for them to figure out why the hell someone put our warranty under a PS3. (Which worked out because we got a new 360, another extended warranty because they had to take it as a return, and a few extra bucks because the Elites have come down in price, so my rage was calmed some.) But, we shouldn't even have to be going through that. I mean, my PS1 never had a problem. Ever. I bought a second generation, and until I bought the PS2, it chugged along happily without any issues. Before that, we had a Genesis and a Super Nintendo, both of which were tanks that would not quit even after my brother broke the front of the SNES by kicking it. (Also, had a Sega CD and later a Saturn, but you know, we forget those dark days.) What happened to systems you could count on?
Okay, the husband always brings up how much more complicated the systems are. He's got a point, but call me old fashioned, I still think that regardless of how complicated something is, they should at least guarantee the fucking thing will work!
The Wii is the only system we didn't even worry about. We still don't. Neither one of us have ever had a Nintendo anything that would just randomly go belly up. Unfortunately, as much as we love that comfort, the Wii doesn't have shit for games right now because the programmers can't figure the thing out. So, take the good with the bad, I guess.
Husband assures me that the new Elite will less likely go belly up because they have new motherboards that don't overheat as much. I hope he's right.
I'm not going to say that I still won't have paranoia in the back of my mind about the thing. My trust in the NextGen systems were compromised long ago, so it will take a lot for me to just accept that all is well.
At least, though, it's quieter.
________________________
We won't talk about the husband forgetting to take the Rock Band 2 disk out of the drive before returning the 360 dooming him to play Guitar Hero 3 until he can afford to replace it. I don't play it, so I just think it's funny. Had it been Fallout 3 or Lost Odyssey there would have been serious domestic violence...possibly involving a large bald man and a rubber hose...
Saturday, January 17, 2009
It started innocent enough...
So, we're driving into the parking lot of our favorite gyro restaurant when I spied the Humane Society traveling adopt-a-pet van. The puppies and doggies were outside in kennels or on leashes. My first reaction was, expectantly:
"Puppies! Fluffies! Puppies!"
Todd: "Yes, the puppies are out. Poor puppies."
Me: "I know we can't afford another kid, and I sure as hell don't want to walk one in the freezing rain at five am. But, when we get a house... *sigh* Poor puppies."
Todd: "Just don't look at them."
Me: "I can't help it. My furry radar has been triggered. I can't help it now. I will be forced to see the furries."
Todd, after a pause: "You have a furry radar? You can't help but to see furries?"
Me, after a moment of following my husband's thought process with that reference: "EEEEEEEEEW! Ew! I'll never go to a con again!"
Todd: *lots of laughing*
_________________________
Hey, look, everyone has their limits. Furries and adult babies are mine. Especially adult babies. Ugh. To each his own, ya'll, but man, there is no way fiction is stranger than real life.
"Puppies! Fluffies! Puppies!"
Todd: "Yes, the puppies are out. Poor puppies."
Me: "I know we can't afford another kid, and I sure as hell don't want to walk one in the freezing rain at five am. But, when we get a house... *sigh* Poor puppies."
Todd: "Just don't look at them."
Me: "I can't help it. My furry radar has been triggered. I can't help it now. I will be forced to see the furries."
Todd, after a pause: "You have a furry radar? You can't help but to see furries?"
Me, after a moment of following my husband's thought process with that reference: "EEEEEEEEEW! Ew! I'll never go to a con again!"
Todd: *lots of laughing*
_________________________
Hey, look, everyone has their limits. Furries and adult babies are mine. Especially adult babies. Ugh. To each his own, ya'll, but man, there is no way fiction is stranger than real life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
